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EDITORIALLY SPEAKING
THIS IS THE TIME WHEN TRADE
ASSOCIATIONS ARE IMPORTANT
W
I T H SO many problems in his own organiza-
tion to contend with, the average business man,
including the makers and sellers of musical in-
struments, has not the time nor the inclination
to give any great amount of thought to association activities.
There are two reasons for this, the first being that too many
trade members regard association membership simply in the
light of an excuse to get away from home and attend a con-
vention once a year. And, second, because the association
cannot remedy existing conditions and therefore lose a cer-
tain amount of standing when business is off.
As a matter of fact, however, in times such as these, a trade
association actually gains in importance, for, properly or-
ganized and managed, it is in a position to aid in the solution
of many problems that would stump the individual trade
member if only for financial reasons. Just now, for instance,
the country is faced with substantial increases in taxes, both
national and local. Where every business and citizen is called
upon to stand an equitable share of the increase, all might
be well, but every industry is going to try to saddle the bur-
den on some other line of business, whether it be sales taxes
or what not, and the weakest industry is going to be the one
to carry the heaviest burden. This is not theory but fact
based on past history.
In view of the existing situation and the threatening pros-
pect it will prove disastrous to the industry if the national
associations are allowed to languish and die. Perhaps it may
be necessary to curtail their activity, in fact it has been, but
nevertheless they represent the first and last line of defense
upon which the industry must depend in fighting for the pro-
tection of its interests, in tax matters and in other crises that
are likely to develop because of the business situation. The
payment of the necessary dues may prove burdensome, but it
will be much more costly for individual manufacturers and
dealers to carry on their own battle. In short, the associations
must be preserved, if only in skeleton form, to provide a rally-
ing point for the industries in any defensive move. The need
is vital.
A NEW CAMPAIGN THAT BRINGS
LARGER UNIT RADIO SALES
T
HE M I D G E T radio has a battle on its hands, with
its enemy represented by the very men who produced
and promoted it. Having been manufactured as a stop-
gap, it took popular fancy to such an extent that it
served to kill sales of hundreds of thousands of higher priced
instruments with the resultant loss to the trade. Now we
find manufacturers not only urging dealers to concentrate on
higher priced units but actually offering substantial prices for
those retailers who can show the largest percentage of large
unit sales as compared with midgets.
The encouraging feature is that retailers themselves have
seen the fallacy of selling midgets to all and sundry instead
of confining that business to the buying element of small fi-
nancial resources. The result has been that these retailers
are keeping midget sets in the background and stepping up
their unit sales to a point where the figures are most respect-
able.
It has been, and is, a hard fight but it provides a lesson that
should not be lost on the other divisions of the music trade.
The campaign has proved that higher priced units can be sold
with the proper efforts put forth. When the bulk of sales
are on cheap instruments, whether they be pianos, stringed
instruments or radios, then salesmanship is lacking. It in-
dicates poor business sense. The sort that follows the line of
least resistance.
CLOSER RETAIL CREDITS
MEAN SOUNDER BUSINESS
T
HE AVERAGE merchant goes to his bank and finds
that his line of credit has been pruned severely, maybe
as much as fifty per cent even though his business stand-
ing is sound. He also finds that loan terms have been
shortened and that more collateral is demanded than for many
years past. In short it has become much harder and more
expensive for him to finance his business.
Does the music merchant return to his store and put the
bank's policy into effect in handling his own credit matters?
Not so that you can notice it. Four times out of five, he
continues to sell on a basis of ten per cent or nothing down
with three or four years to pay the balance, and thus ties up
a great amount of cash capital that is hard to replace. He
reasons that, with credit tight, he must ease the situation for
his customers to get their business, and the result is a fine
bunch of paper that he cannot pass on to the bank, manufac-
turer, or even the finance company. Then he discovers that
he is short of cash with which to pay his bills, which means
that the manufacturer is held up as is everyone who depends
upon him for business.
Sound credit terms were never so necessary as right now.
The man who can pay several hundred dollars for a piano
should be able to meet these obligations within a reasonable
time. As a matter of fact, one New York retailer demands
at least twenty-five per cent down and the balance in eighteen
months. Nine times out of ten, his terms are met and the
ten per cent of business that he does lose to other companies
is more than offset by the grief he avoids. It is the equity
that makes any sales stick, and, the sooner the customer secures
a substantial equity in the instrument the less likely he would
be to let payments lag.
VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF
SAFETY IN TAX MATTERS
W
ATCH Washington, and it would not be bad
policy to keep an eye on State Legislatures and
Municipal assemblies, for a wave of tax in-
creases is on the way. Already the automobile
industry, the radio men and representatives of many other
lines of business have appeared before the Ways and Means
Committee in Washington in protest against the proposed five
per cent sales tax on specified products, and it will be well for
representatives of other branches of the music trades 1 to see
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
February,
1932