Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in tbe 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, Kug Profits, Sales Man-
agement, Soda Fountain, Talking Machine World & Radio-Music Merchant, Tires; and
operates in association with Building Investment, Draperies and Tire Rate-Book.
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillan^e, Randolph Brown; Secretary
and Treasurer., Edward Lyman Bill; Comptroller, T. T. 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
I
SEPTEMBER, 1930
A Campaign Worth Watching
HE announcement that Lyon & Healy, J. W. Jenkins
Sons Music Co., N. Stetson & Co. and other Stein-
way retailers throughout the country are planning ex-
tensive newspaper campaigns in their local territories presenting
the Steinway pianos in a most impressive way, is a matter for con-
gratulation on the part of the entire trade, for the copy will be
such as will dignify the entire piano business and encourage a
healthy interest in the instrument itself. Two factors to bt
stressed in the copy, or at least most of it, are the importance of
the piano in the fine home and the equal importance of the piano in
musical training of the thild. It will be the sort of copy that will
lend dignity to the instrument and the industry and should have a
distinct effect in restoring confidence in the trade during the months
to come. Coupled with the extensive magazine advertising of
* Steinway & Sons it will represent powerful propaganda for the
basic musical instrument.
•• • •
.
I
We Need Facts About the Industry
N the piano trade, and, for that matter, in practically every
other division in the music industry, the crying need is
for accurate statistics covering production and sales. Just
now, beyond the figures prepared at two years intervals by the Bu-
reau of the Census and which, from the very nature of things, must
be more or less inaccurate, there is available no definite informa-
tion as to what the trade is doing in the matter of production over
any given period. Such figures as are available are admittedly
guesswork, for, on the one hand, a half-dozen members of the trade
will make their guesses as to production and shipments and the
consensus of opinion is supposed to represent something, while on
the other hand, fifty or sixty per cent of the manufacturers will
provide information for the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce, and on that basis an attempt is made to gauge the entire
industry.
Attempts have been made, and seriously, to have every manu-
facturer of musical instruments supply production figures to the
Chamber with the assurance that they would be held strictly con-
fidential and will be used only as a basis for calculating the pro-
duction and sales of the industry as a whole. But the result over
all these years has been distinctly discouraging. Is it that the piano
men, for instance, do not want to know the facts about their in-
SEPTEMBER, 1930
dustry which are admittedly at the present time nothing to brag about
or is it that they would rather remain in darkness than take a chance
that a competitor might gain some more or less useless informa-
tion through the violation of a confidence—something, by the way,
that has not yet happened. If real production facts were made
available the result would be surprising and not at all encouraging
to certain elements in the trade. Simply quoting big figures to
bolster up courage is much like the small boy who whistles in the
dark, and offers very little real protection. Let's get the facts—
the machinery is organized to handle them and it will give the trade
something real to shoot at.
During the past few weeks the writer has had occasion to investi-
gate a number of important industrial fields and has found that in
at least eighty per cent of the leading industries complete statistics
on production and sales were available, in every case up to the end
of 1929 and in many instances covering the first six months of 1930.
These figures were compiled by the industries themselves and were
not dependent upon the Government's bi-annual manufacturers'
census figures. With such examples of knowing what it is all
about why -should the music industry be lagging?
F
A Bonus for Wrecking Old Pianos
OR several years past the burning of old pianos has been
the subject of much discussion and some little practical
experimenting, but there has been no real organized ef-
fort, beyond the purely conversational, to popularize the movement.
Until the Starr Piano Co. recently made its offer to reimburse its
dealer to the extent of from five to twenty dollars per instrument
for all old pianos actually destroyed. Here is real encouragement
for the movement, for if the dealer has made a proper allow-
ance on a dilapidated piano, the Starr Co.'s bonus should at least
cover half his allowance, and he should be willing to sacrifice the
balance in order to get the old instrument definitely out of his ter-
ritory.
Replacing useless old pianos with new ones may not solve en-
tirely the problem of the piano trade, but it will certainly stimulate
sales in many localities where dealers see fit to follow the practice.
It is to be hoped that other manufacturers will follow the lead
of the Starr Co. and encourage their dealers with allowances of one
sort or another for old pianos thrown on the scrap heap or the
bonfire. Several automobile manufacturers, including Ford, have
demonstrated that the plan is good.
I
Two of the "Old Guard" Pass On
S
Defending the Piano
N the passing of William H. Daniels, head of Denton, Cottier
& Daniels, Buffalo, N. Y., and Frank C. Decker, head of
Decker & Son, New York, during the month, the music
trade has lost two men who, over a period of a half century or
more, have contributed in full measure to the success and prestige
of the industry, one as a leading distributor of musical instruments at
retail and the other as a producer of pianos. The passing of these
members of the "old guard" of the music trade should give pause
for thought by the men who are picking up the tools that have been
laid down and will carry on in the same broad spirit of progress
and integrity. They have left a heritage well worthy of preserving
and which should prove an inspiration for further accomplishment.
1NCE a couple of syndicate writers took a fall out of the
piano there have been many more columns of editorial
and news copy published defending that instrument. In
this particular case, the sleeping dog did not lie and perhaps the
stirring up was needed to arouse piano men to the defense of their
own. Certainly the propaganda in favor of the instrument has far
exceeded, in volume, that against it.