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The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
'
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
Published on the First of the Month by
Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
Publishers of Antiquarian, Automotive Electricity, India Rubber World, Materials
Handling & Distribution, Music Trade Review, Novelty News, Rug Profits, Sales Man-
agement, Soda Fountain, Talking Machine World & Radio-Music Merchant, Tires; and
operatea in association with Building Investment, Draperies and Tire Rate-Book.
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secretary
and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Comptroller, T. J. Kelly; Assistant Treasurer,
Win.
A. Low.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
F. L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
E. B. MUNCH, Eastern Representative
WESTERN DIVISION: FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
333 No. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Telephone: State 1266
Telephone:
Lexington 1760-71
Cable:
Elbill New York
In order to insure proper attention all communications should
be addressed to the publication and not to individuals.
Vol. 89
W
APRIL, 1930
The Public Is Skeptical
HEN the music merchant, in advertising his pianos,
radios or other instruments, declares in bold type
that they "represent the greatest values ever
offered," "lowest prices in the city," "the supreme achievement of
the industry" or are "amazing bargains," just how much faith has
the public in those modest statements. According to a survey made
by the Better Business Bureau of Louisville, Ky., less than four per
cent of consumers believe fully in comparative price advertising,
although a slightly larger percentage were influenced to some extent
by such advertising.
The survey proved that the amount of confidence varied with
different types of merchandise. For instance, twenty-four men had
some confidence in the comparative price advertising of musical in-
struments, while thirty-four declared they were not influenced by it.
Thirteen women believed in comparative price statements regarding
musical instruments while thirty-five had their doubts.
This survey and others are calculated to make the advertiser stop
and think before he becomes too careless in his comparative price
statements. If ninety-six per cent of newspaper readers lack com-
plete faith in the statements then the policy is a dangerous one and
it should be avoided whenever possible by merchants, particularly
music merchants, whose business is, or should be, built on confidence.
There are times, perhaps, when comparative statements and price
advertising are absolutely truthful and calculated to give the reader a
proper picture of the exceptional values offered, but like many other
selling schemes, it has been done to death by nondescript merchants
who have shown little regard for the truth. It does not take many
experiences for the average consumer to learn to distrust these ex-
travagant statements, but the average man or woman does not take
the trouble to differentiate between those who may be right and
those who are undoubtedly wrong.
It is significant that when it comes to articles of ordinary use
such as clothing, where the average person can judge values more
or less accurately, the confidence in comparative prices is more gen-
eral than in those lines where the manufacturer's or dealer's word
must be relied upon to a certain extent, as in the case of musical in-
struments and jewelry. The music business is built on confidence
because the average buyer has no means of judging accurately the
value he is receiving for his money. Under such circumstances it
will prove a benefit to the entire industry if comparative prices are
done away with so far as possible, and, when used, represent actual
tacts.
l
APRIL, 1930
^ Gulbransen Reviews the Situation
H E analysis of the existing situation in the piano trade
as outlined by A. G. Gulbransen, head of the Gulbran-
sen Co., and published elsewhere in The Review this
month, is worthy of the earnest study of every member of the in-
dustry and particularly the retailers, for this veteran piano man has
summed up the matter in a manner that indicates long and careful
study. Moreover, what Mr. Gulbransen says is based on actual
facts and is in line with what The Review has found in its contacts
with the trade throughout the country.
It is all well enough for dealers, and for that matter manufac-
turers, to sit and complain that pianos cannot be sold and wait for
something to happen to bring back business. This spirit of helpless-
ness might be condoned as warranted by conditions were it not for
the fact that there are scores upon scores of piano concerns in this
country to-day who are going after business aggressively and getting
it. In many cases it is costing a little more in effort and money to
do a worth-while business than it did some years ago, but the main
point is that this intelligent and consistent effort is actually getting
results.
Not long ago we had occasion to comment upon the fact that cer-
tain named concerns had enjoyed a larger volume in piano business
in 1929 than they did in 1928. The response was that these concerns
were large and financially strong and represented isolated cases, in
other words, exceptions to the rule. Yet there is a concern in
Newark, N. J., almost in the heart of the metropolitan district of
New York, which sold four carloads of one make of piano in I ? eb-
ruary, while another music house only sixteen miles from New York-
sold twenty-seven grands in January and has subordinated its other
lines in favor of pianos.
This is not to say that the public is fighting to get into piano stores
and make purchases, but our records fail to show that this situation
existed at any time in trade history. More intelligent effort is re-
quired to sell pianos to-day than ever before, but the same applies to
practically every other line of retail business. Mr. Gulbransen says
that the piano business has come back but that the trade as a whole
is not grasping the opportunity firmly enough—and he is right.
R
Piano Costs Going Up
EDUCED production invariably means higher cost per
unit. This has been found to apply with particular
force to the making of pianos with the result that sev-
eral manufacturers have found it necessary to announce price in-
creases and others will undoubtedly take action along the same line
within the near future. Where factory equipment and overhead that
can take care of 2,000 pianos under ordinary conditions is utilized
for making only a thousand or less, then the cost per instrument
must go up. The manufacturers who are carrying this burden with-
out passing any of it on are doing business at a loss, which repre-
sents an unhealthy condition both for the manufacturer and the
dealers who are distributing his products. It means eventually the
marketing of distress merchandise, and the upsetting of price and
quality standards. When piano production increases downward re-
visions of wholesale prices may be expected, but until that time the
movement is likely to be steadily upward. Here is another good
reason for greater selling effort.
A
Radio Getting Back to Normal
CCORDING to the Radio Manufacturers' Association
the amount of distress merchandise which has been put
on the market since the first of the year has been prac-
tically cleaned up, and the trade has now settled down to the mer-
chandising of new products at normal prices. This will be good
news to those music merchants who have seen the value of many of
their radio inventories showing a steady decline. Here's hoping it's
true.