Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
USIGAL
RUMENTS?
No Need to Sign Your Name
and Address
City and State
1. Please indicate number of persons in your family over 6 years
of age.
Father
Mother
Sons
Daughters
(Pletm^ write in number of
HOiiM—da lighten*)
(Please eherk)
2. IN there a piano in your home.?
Upright (
)
(irand (
Player (
)
( Pl«*ns<" check)
imes
3. What manufacturer made your piano?
A MIL Y
4. If you have any children old enough, are they learning to play?
At home with private teacher (
)
At public school
(
)
At a music school
(
)
5. If public school classes have not yet been established in your
city, would you like to have them made a part of the school
course, and would you send your children to such classes?
5. Would you say that two or more members of your family
influenced the purchase of your piano, if you have one?
7. What magazine that you take in your home is most generally
read and liked by all members of your family—taking the
family as a whole? Will you please discuss this question
with all the members of your family before answering,? Or,
to put it another way,
Here Appeared Questions Relative to Family Preferences in
Magazines
WILS01N
more members of the family influenced the pur-
chase of the phonograph, radio, or other musi-
cal instruments owned as well as of the piano.
The results of this survey showed that 76 per
cent of piano sales were influenced by two or
more members of the family; the same applying
to 78 per cent of radio sales, 73 per cent of
phonograph sales, and 59 per cent of general
musical instrument sales, such as band and
orchestra instruments. The difference between
the 76 per cent in these four cities and the 80
per cent in the others is not sufficient to upset
the calculations, and the average music mer-
and who must depend upon some older mem-
ber of the family for the purchase.
In the matter of records, the average dealer
will tell you offhand that most of the buying
is done by the younger ones of the family,
that is so far as popular selections are con-
cerned; with the older ones going in chiefly for
records of more serious selections. Yet, the
Victor-Crowell survey brought out the fact that
the mother is credited with buying 36.3 per cent
of records, the father 30.1 per cent, the son 13.1
per cent, and daughter 20.5 per cent. No effort
was made to determine what types of records
were bought by these various mem-
bers of the family, but with father
buying over 30 per cent he is worth
catering to, and mother with her 36
per cent should be received with a
low bow. Here again, however, we
find Jhe entire family in the ranks
of buyers. Perhaps there is more
individual initiative shown in the
record s e l e c t i o n s because the
amount involved is comparably
small, but the taste of each mem-
ber of the family has a part in
building up the record, library, and
therefore the advertising and sales
appeals must be designed for the
entire family.
Radio
chant located in cities
of similar size might
well adapt the happy
medium of 78 per
cent as a basis of
making his family-
wide approach.
This Victor-Crowell survey is interesting
from another angle. In the case of the piano,
the phonograph, and the radio which are used
generally by several members of the family,
an average of 75 per cent of the sales were in-
fluenced by two or more members of the fam-
ily; yet in other musical instruments only 59
per cent were so influenced. The reason for
this is easily seen in that the saxophone, the
violin, or other similar instruments, are indi-
vidual instruments although it means a great
deal to the other members of the family
whether the tone is sweet or sour. Under ordi-
nary circumstances it would seem as though
the percentage of these instruments bought
through individual selection would be larger,
but perhaps this is due to the number of
youngsters of school age who have engaged in
the playing of band and orchestra instruments
Getting back to the survey made
for the National Piano
M a n u facturers Asso-
ciation for a moment, there were a
number of things brought out that
did not directly concern buying
habits. In the cities covered, for
instance, it was found that in the
average family there were 3.6 per-
sons over six years of age, and
therefore capable either of playing
musical instruments or appreciating
the music produced by those more
or less automatic in the operation.
It brought forth also a great amount
of information regarding the num-
ber of pianos in the homes of the
communities covered, about 40 per
cent of the families being thus sup-
plied. In most cases it brought
forth the names of the instruments
through which could be gained a
fair idea of quality, and also information as
to the number of children studying piano, play-
ing at home with private teachers, in public-
schools, and at music schools. Parents were
also asked if they would like to have group
instruction classes introduced as part of the
regular courses in the schools and whether they
would send their children to such classes if
established, with a satisfying number answering
in the affirmative.
The American home to-day is, according to
authorities, somewhat different than it was a
generation or two ago. Then the father or
mother was actually the head of the family and
liis or her decisions were final. Now we find the
youngsters given greater freedom of speech in
the home. Their education is broader and their
opinions hold a certain amount of weight. In
the '80's perhaps, the young lady of the house
would have hailed any kind of instrument as a
gift from heaven.
In order to make no mistakes, therefore, the
music merchant who wants to enjoy the maxi-
mum of returns from his advertising and the
maximum of sales through the efforts of his
staff, will do well to consider the fact that the
more members of the family be can convince
of the value and desirability of the product he
sells, the more likely is he to capture the
business.
Musical
Instruments