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EDITORIALLY
IF IT IS NOT COMPLETE
IT IS NOT A DIRECTORY
T
HERE is no compromising in the matter of directories.
A directory is either complete or it is not a directory
regardless of the number of so-called conditions that are
set forth in connection with its compilation. Music
merchants would do well, therefore, to view askance any so-
called listing of quality products which on the face of it is
incomplete. Such a list serves to discredit many worthy con-
cerns in the industry simply because they do not seek to gain
entrance into the roll of the select with special advertising
appropriations. There have been directories in the trade,
many of them, and they have received generous advertising
support, but at least every concern is listed regardless of
advertising affiliations. If and when T H E REVIEW sees fit to
publish a directory it will be a complete listing so far as
possible of the companies in that section of the industry rep-
resented. Just now our advertisers will be found each month
in the advertising directory on the last page of the paper and
listed as such.
WHAT THE CENSUS OF RETAIL
DISTRIBUTION REVEALS
T
^
HE members of the music trade who take pleasure in
compiling and quoting figures regarding various trad'e
activities, particularly in the retail distributing field,
and are fond of presenting general figures supposed to
represent a cross-section of the industry as a whole, will prob-
ably find some surprising things in the returns of the Census
of Retail Distribution for 1930 which are now being issued
by the Bureau of the Census.
Perhaps some of the government figures are wrong, but
inasmuch as they have been compiled at a cost of millions ot
dollars and through the personal efforts, of thousands of
trained employes, they must have some basis in fact. In every
respect it is the most extensive survey of retail distribution
ever made, and while there unquestionably are errors, the
casual critic must be sure that the errors he finds are not
simply figures contrary to his own personal beliefs.
During the past couple of years we have frequently had
our attention called to the apparent inadequacy of the retail
structure. Men coming into the industry from outside have
been particularly frank in their criticism of this structure,
holding that the outlets for musical instrument sales were in
no case in proper proportion to the population.
If the music tradesman is talking only in terms of pianos
then probably he is right, but if he includes other musical
items, among them radio, then most sections of the country
would seem adequately supplied with outlets. As a matter
of fact the average annual sales reported by musical instru-
ment retailers in some parts of the country would lead to
the belief that the number of stores might well be cut in half
in order that each of those remaining might be able to secure
enough business to realize a fair and reasonable profit.
The opening article in T H E REVIEW this month is devoted
to a discussion of the preliminary census figures in thirty-one
8
of the largest cities of the country as they reflect on the retail
music business. Although it would not be feasible to print
the information contained in the census reports covering
some hundreds of communities, a casual survey seems to prove
that conditions in these thirty-one cities are typical of those
which prevail generally. In some cities the average annual
sales per store are most substantial, but in many others the
average sales, with general overhead costs d'educted, leave
barely a living profit for the merchant, even if that much.
When the Census reports are complete the average music
merchant can put them to good use by comparing the reports
of his town with those of other communities similarly located
and with the same approximate population. The figures at
least have been compiled through careful personal effort, and
although they may not be as satisfying as some trade men
would like to see them at least they are the result of an
unbiased survey and therefore far superior to conjectures
made in comfort at an office desk.
TRADING IN PIANOS FOR
ELECTRIC REFRIGERATORS
I
F a specialist in electric refrigerators or some other com-
modity offers to take pianos in part payment for his own
merchandise we might think nothing of it beyond wonder-
ing what he is going to do with the instruments after he
gets them. When, however, a music company advertises to
trade in a piano for a new refrigerator we begin to wonder
just how long that company is going to remain in the music
business.
Figures compiled by T H E REVIEW show that close to thirty
per cent of music merchants are at present handling refrigera-
tors of one make or another, purely as an adjunct to the music
business for enlivening summer trade without in any way
distracting the public mind from the fact that they are pri-
marily music merchants. When they simply use musical in-
struments as feeders for another department then they cease
to be music merchants.
THE BARGAIN HUNTER WANTS
MUCH FOR HIS MONEY
A
NSWERING the general cry that the buying pub-
lic is at present bargain minded and is purchasing
merchandise on a price rather than a quality basis,
several factors in the piano trade saw fit during
the past year or so to produce instruments directly intended to
meet the situation as it was supposed to exist. In short, they
confined their efforts to producing instruments to meet a
definite low price through the introduction of economies in
construction that were perhaps sound enough basically but did
not always appeal to those who had in mind an orthodox in-
strument.
Developments have proven that a large portion of the pub-
lic, seeking to buy pianos with the price consideration first in
mind, do not want something that has been especially de-
signed to be offered at a low price. What they want, and
insist on, is something that is apparently worth much more
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
August, 1931