Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1932 Vol. 91 N. 8

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING
PIANO manufacturer in the East had a real
grievance recently when he displayed an order from
a successful dealer for the immediate shipment of
a particular style of grand. Within the month the
dealer had ordered seven grands of that style, each order being
by telegraph and demanding prompt delivery, because no
other instruments of the style were left on the wareroom
floor. The manufacturer had urged on several occasions that
the dealer order two or three of the model in order to have
one available after a sale had been made. "Can't afford to
stock up," was the dealer's answer, yet in a few days there
would come another rush order.
This case is not as uncommon as it would seem and the
situation works to the disadvantage of the dealer as well as
the manufacturer. In the first place the dealer is without
a sample of his best selling model between factory deliveries
and the manufacturer is forced to upset his schedule fre-
quently in order to render special service. In this case it
would be just as logical for the dealer to carry a spare piano
as it is for him to carry a spare tire on his car. It repre-
sents insurance against a lost sale and the dangers that arise
when a piano is rushed through the factory.
To talk of a shortage of pianos this Fall may sound funny
to some dealers yet a survey of the comparatively few fac-
tories now operating indicates that even a ten per cent increase
in current orders would result in delayed deliveries and con-
sequent losses. For every piano that is sold from catalog
there are fifty sold as the result of having the instrument on
hand for actual inspection. It does not mean that the retailer
need carry a burdensome stock but it is to his interest to
have on hand a representative line that can stand the strain
of one or two sales without requiring a call for help to the
factory.
Pianos are not built overnight. It takes time and plenty
of it to produce an instrument that will prove of credit to
the man who makes it and the man who sells it. The retailer
who is not willing to carry a representative stock and in
addition make known his requirements for the immediate
future is a mighty poor merchant.
and a proper one, that bargains have long since been cleaned
out of the stores and that low-priced merchandise today is
generally trashy and has been made especially for the low-
priced market.
This tendency towards establishing higher price levels is one
that should be encouraged by the music trade and particularly
by the piano man, for certain it is that prospects have, through
bargain advertising, developed an entirely false idea of piano
values. They must be educated to the fact that there is a
minimum price at which good grands can be bought at
retail, excepting the small quantity of real distressed mer-
chandise, and that this minimum figure is certainly not
under $300.
Manufacturers of quality pianos have, without exception,
made radical price adjustments warranted in a certain mea-
sure by lower prices of raw materials but, nevertheless, in a
large part as a concession to the trend of the times. It is
significant, however, that not only these sensible price adjust-
ments but likewise the general price slashing by certain types
of dealers have not served to increase unit sales to any
appreciable degree.
There are people in this country who still have enough
money to buy good pianos and who will buy them today.
Juggling prices will not serve to stimulate these sales to any
extent but will, on the contrary, simply reduce the potential
profit of both dealer and manufacturer. The piano is not
seasonal in the sense that instruments not sold this year can
be sold next, therefore there is no real excuse for wild un-
loading to make room for current styles. The trading-up
movement, in fact, is more evident in seasonal goods than in
stable commodities. Clothing prices, for instance, are ex-
periencing a distinct upward movement and to a certain
extent so are general furniture prices. Why not pianos?
The persistent advertiser of piano bargains will always be
with us but his tactics should not prevent the merchandisers
of quality instruments at fair prices from maintaining theii
stand and carrying on the fight to impress the public with
the fact that a good piano is worth a fair price, consistent
with the efforts put into its production as well as its perma-
nent character. If the volume of business is bound to be
limited for the present, why not, at least, handle it at a
profit rather than a loss?
THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF
SOUND PRICE LEVELS
WHAT IS THE DEALER GOING
TO DO ABOUT SHEET MUSIC?
G
H
OVER-CAREFUL ORDERING
THAT MEANS LOST BUSINESS
A
E T T I N G under the smoke" screens now being
thrown about with abandon by the major political
parties, one in an endeavor to prove that its policies
have already brought about improved conditions
and the other outlining situations that they promise to cure,
it is quite evident to the casual observer that there is a defi-
nite move toward price adjustments to a higher level. In
short, the bargain atmosphere is being dissipated to a large
extent, probably in realization of the fact that the public is
buying according to its needs and not simply because of price
appeal. Moreover, there seems to be a general impression,
O W is the bulk of standard and teaching music go-
ing to be distributed in your territory during the
season just opened, through your store or by the
publishers direct? This is the question that every
music dealer should be in a position to answer right now if
he is honest with himself and the answer lies not so much in
what the publishers might do as in what the dealer himself is
doing to take care of that local business.
You have heard much discussion between publishers and
dealers during the past iew years on the subject of competi-
tion, the result being the drawing up and adoption by both the
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW, October, 1932
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
publishers' and dealers' associations of a Code of Ethics de-
signed to remedy the matter. The publishers have admitted
that the dealer's store is the logical outlet for their music, but
to have that outlet effective the dealer must carry a representa-
tive stock and render prompt service in his community. The
publishers declare that they would much rather sell through
the dealer and thus limit the number of accounts on the books
than to sell direct and suffer the added expense and trouble.
The fly in the ointment, however, is that all too many deal-
ers carry limited stocks, do not keep them before their cus-
tomers in a manner to attract attention and sales, render little
real service to the local teachers or students and spend little
or no time and effort in direct promotion work. The charge
is broad and does not apply to every music retailer, but it
does apply to a sufficient number of cases to give the publish-
ers a logical argument for their direct selling tactics. The
dealer who operates on the basis that, although carrying only
half a stock, he can order anything else that is needed by a
customer from his publisher is rendering no local service, for
the customer himself can use the mails and save a trip to the
store. The purpose of carrying stocks is not alone to have
the music on hand when asked for but to see that it is prop-
erly and regularly brought to the attention of those likely to
be interested so that it will create sales instead of hibernating
on the shelves waiting for orders.
There are going to be many charges of bad faith made
against publishers during the next few months, but before any
such charge is considered, or even made, the fair thing is for
the dealer to analyze his own affairs and see how he has
measured up in giving proper representation. If the pub-
lisher who is some hundred miles away can dig sales out of a
territory by direct-mail and an occasional call there seems to
be no reason why the local dealer should not be able to do
much more business through the use of that same mail and
the increased opportunities for personal contact. Every time
a teacher or student leaves a music store without being intro-
duced at least to one or more new selections or new books,
the dealer is simply letting go of that opportunity which he
has for years insisted is his due.
This contacting and this proper presentation of not only
new music but outstanding selections among the older stand-
ards requires intelligent salesmanship. The sales person who
handles it is some degrees above the ordinary order-filling
clerk and must be properly compensated for his higher intel-
ligence, his musical training and his salesmanship. The sales-
man for the automobile, for the electric refrigerator, knows
what he is talking about when he is interviewing customers,
so why should not the music salesman be equally able to talk
on a level with the customer and present those intelligent
arguments that will appeal?
At the annual convention of the National Association of
Music Merchants in Chicago last year an entire session was
devoted to a discussion on sheet music departments and it
was the consensus of opinion on the part of those who main-
tained departments properly stocked and staffed that they pay
substantial profits on themselves without taking into considera-
tion their value in building up a store following and bringing
in prospects for musical instruments.
All publishers are not lily white by any manner of means
and there are some who will continue to invade the dealer
territory regardless of his efforts or the existence of codes,
but a great majority are sincere in their desire to insure the
dealer full protection in the territory in which he gives them
proper representation and will, in addition, aid him in his
promotion work to the end that all may profit.
That the sheet music business is a stable business is attested
to by the fact that it has suffered less in proportion than any
other division of the music trade and, for that matter, less
than 90 per cent of the country's industries. Such a business
offers real opportunity, much of which should not be lost be-
cause the retailer is inclined to wait for the business to come
to him rather than put money and effort into going after the
business. The Code of Ethics is designed to give him a free
reign in the development of the territory and it rests upon
him more than upon the publisher as to whether that code is
a scrap of paper or a worthwhile instrument that will mean
the growth of a new era in music sales.
CHICKERING GOES BACK TO
BRADFORD'S IN MILWAUKEE
NEW STATE TAX NOW
EFFECTIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA
Announcement has been made of the ap-
pointment of Bradford's as distributors of
the Chickering in Milwaukee territory. The
arrangements were made with Paul Fink,
representative of the Aeolian-American Piano
Corp., who spent several days in Milwaukee
and stayed the week-end at the summer home
at Pine Lake of Hugh W. Randall, president
of Bradford's. Commenting on the appoint-
ment, Mr. Randall said:
"We were the oldest dealers for Chickering
& Sons in the Middle West. We represented
them from 1872 until 1922, and are very
happy to welcome the Chickering back to
our home again. Many thousands of Chick-
ering pianos have been sold in Wisconsin
by us and I feel that, with its quality being
better than it has ever been, there shall
be a great demand for the Chickering piano
in this vicinity."
Bradford's, whose slogan is "Wisconsin's
Oldest, Largest and Most Complete Music
House," was established in 1872.
Music dealers in Pennsylvania will be
liable to the Retail Sales Tax of one per cent
which became effective September 1, and will
be enforced until February 28, 1933. Re-
turns are payable by retail merchants on or
before April 1, 1933.
The new tax applies to all tangible per-
sonal property. Such articles as food, cloth-
ing, etc., are affected, but not water, gas,
electricity or real estate. The tax will be
collected from approximately 200,000 retail
THE MUSIC TRADE
merchants and is expected to yield betw r een
$12,000,000 and $15,000,000, which will be
used for unemployment relief. This tax is
in addition to the 1-mill mercantile tax levied
annually on all retailers in the State.
Furniture, pianos, radios, and other mer-
chandise handled by music merchants come
under the new tax. Merchants are required
to keep sales records for a period of two
years and broad inquisitorial powers are
conferred upon the State Revenue Depart-
ment for collection of the tax.
Violation of the sales tax law carries heavy
penalties.
HARDMAN, PECK & Co,
Manufacturers of
Fine Pianos for 91 years
New York
433 Fifth Avenue
REVIEW, October, 1932

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