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The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
Published by Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, 1. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Sec re
tary_ and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Assistant Secretary, L. B. McDonald;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
FRANK L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E. B. MUNCH, EDWARD VAN HARLINGEN, THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, E. J. NEALII,
FREDERICK B. DIEHL, A. J. NICKLEN
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Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
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TELEPHONES—LEXINGTON 1760-1771
Cable Address: "Elblll, New York"
Vol. 86
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 4, 1928
No. 5
Is the Industry Undermanned?
T T is the opinion of A. G. Gulbransen, president of the Gulbran-
-•• sen Co., as stated at the recent convention of the company's
mid-Western dealers, and also on other occasions, that the public
properly approached will buy pianos in liberal numbers, but that the
retail division of the industry is seriously undermanned and is,
therefore, not capable of covering the field as it should be covered.
This lack of sufficient selling force results in one of two things—
either the dealer spreads his efforts over too wide a territory to
be handled properly and efficiently, or he is forced to concentrate
on certain groups or types of prospects and, therefore, loses out
with the general run of possible customers.
It is a noteworthy fact that dealers who consistently operate
with large sales staffs, and particularly with plenty of outside
men, seem to get a very substantial portion of the business in
their respective territories, which is proof of the oft-repeated
statement that volume of sales depends in many cases on volume
of contacts. If the individual salesman, for instance, increases
J^is number of calls by 50 per cent, he may be expected to in-
crease his percentage of sales in a relatively like proportion.
I National advertising and widespread promotion work are
ljjiecessary and helpful to the trade, but the real success of any-
such campaign depends upon the force with which the arguments
and the appeals are brought directly to the attention of the public
by the men on the firing-line. Certainly the retail piano field is
not in any sense overcrowded. It is true that warerooms may be
grouped together in a way that would seem to indicate a large
number, but when the territory covered by these groups of ware-
rooms is considered, they are in many cases all too few.
According to the Government census of distribution covering
a score or more cities throughout the country, Seattle, the best-
equipped city, has only one music store to every 9,286 of the
population; Chicago, one store to every 10,363; Kansas City, one
to every 20,416, and Syracuse only one music store to every 23,214
of the population, and according to the Government definition,
classification as music stores does not mean that establishments
rriust of necessity provide outlets for pianos. Even Cincinnati,
FEBRUARY 4, 1928
particularly well equipped in the matter of music stores, has only
one to something like 5,300 of the population.
With this limited number of outlets liberally manned, there
would be little danger of exhausting the field of prospects, but
referring to the Federal census again, in eight leading cities there
were listed 495 music store, 289 of them being in Chicago alone,
and for all these stores there were only 2,984 employes, of which
barely 50 per cent were classified as sales people. In other words,
there were last year, according to the census, only about three
individuals per store engaged in selling musical instruments, in-
cluding pianos. Certainly on that basis it cannot be expected that
persistent and effective contact with the public can be maintained
at all times.
It takes considerable courage for the average dealer to in-
crease his sales staff under conditions such as have existed in the
trade during the past year or so, particularly if he seeks to build
up a permanent organization of the right caliber and is willing to
carry the proper kind of men financially until they can produce
profitable results. Yet that is a matter which will have to be
considered seriously by dealers as a whole if the retail distribution
of pianos is to be increased in any big way. Pianos are sold
through contact and not by telepathy. It takes sales people to make
contact.
& X X
They Came to the Front When Needed
O more laudable action resulted from the meetings of the
executive bodies of the several trade organizations last week
than was taken at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce when the National Piano
Manufacturers' Association and the National Association of Music
Merchants took upon themselves the burden of meeting any defi-
cit in revenue that might be experienced by the Chamber during
the year. The action was taken primarily to insure the continuance,
without curtailment, of the widespread and important activities of
the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music.
Fortunately the anticipated deficit represents a comparatively
modest amount, but large enough, nevertheless, to threaten some
of the important functions of the Bureau were necessary funds
not made available. The action of the piano men was, no doubt,
influenced in no small measure by the declarations of a number of
prominent educators and musical authorities who took occasion to
attend the meeting of the Music Advancement Committee and
emphasize most strongly the great importance of the Bureau's
work for the cause of musical education and appreciation. It
brought before the trade members most forcibly the wide scope
of the Bureau's work and the many contacts that it has estab-
lished. Certainly under existing conditions the industry cannot
•afford to suffer the discontinuance of any part of this work be-
cause of the lack of a few thousand dollars.
n
$ w
Piano First — Then the Style Name
piano man in discussing trade promotion activ-
A VETERAN
ities recently saw fit to decry the practice of devising fancy
names for new types of instruments. "We see trade announce-
ments and newspaper advertisements featuring names for pianos
that are fanciful and perhaps clever, but they give no indica-
tion of the type of products presented. There may be a cut
of a piano in the advertisement, or the descriptive matter may lead
the reader to suspect what is being offered, but in many cases to
the uninitiated the new instrument remains more or less of a mys-
tery. Why not tack the word 'piano' to every such fancy name?
That is what we are selling. It is the basic instrument, and no
special title, whether it represents a new type of reproducing piano,
or some other type of product, should be of a character to over-
shadow the fact that it is really a piano with trimmings."
Perhaps our friend is a bit pessimistic, for in the great ma-
jority of cases, regardless of the descriptive terms used, it is made
quite evident that what is being offered is a piano, in a new form
perhaps, but, nevertheless, a piano. There are just a sufficient num-
ber of cases, however, where the special titles have been featured
in a way as to perhaps cause confusion, to make the warning worth
while. Let the piano be featured by its right name in every in-
stance, and let the special name be subordinated. That is one way
to realize the most from promotion work.