Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
January,
1933
used pianos were sold in this country during the year for
every new one.
We have no figures regarding the sale of used pianos in
England but as the concern of the moment is new pianos,
those figures do not matter. The question is why can English
manufacturers and dealers sell twice as many pianos in a
poor year to a population of only forty per cent of ours ? The
facts give pause to those who proclaim American business
efficiency.
must rebuild from the bottom up and will be under a distinct
handicap as compared with those who have kept at least some
beacon light of advertising lit constantly. Some excellent com-
ment on this question was recently offered by the Peck Adver-
tising Agency of New York who, under the caption, "Don't
Sell Your Trade-Mark Short," said as follows:
"Dear old Economy . . . what sins are being committed in
thy name! And the amazing thing about it is that the sinners
are otherwise sane, progressive, far-sighted business men. Are
you, too, an unconscious victim of the present-day epidemic
of unsound curtailment? Are you, too, blindly following the
DON'T SELL YOUR TRADE-MARK SHORT
sheep who are acting 'penny wise and pound foolish' to the
BY SKIMPING ON ADVERTISING
eventual downfall of their business? To the manufacturer
D M I T T E D L Y these are days for economy and of a trade-marked product, the lessening of advertising expen-
for watching all types of expenditures very closely, diture may only too clearly point the w r ay to future disaster,
yet there is a wide difference betw r een real and false not merely in an immediate dip in sales, but . . . of greater
economy, the sort that makes the stability of a busi- importance . . . in the permanent loss of consumer acceptance.
ness and the other type that, persisted in, will undermine its As we see it, the trouble lies not with a curtailment, itself,
foundation.
but rather in the manner in which the lesser appropriation is
Take advertising as an example. Many companies have used. Fewer dollars may mean a thinning of advertising
found it wise to curtail which, on a sane basis is a proper step, effectiveness, whereas the same fewer dollars, wisely spent,
but others have become panicky - and eliminated their adver- may do the work of many.''
tising altogether. The result is that they are surely but
not so slowly passing out of the eye and mind of the trade
and public. The reputation and business prestige which they
have developed over a period of years and upon which they
have spent thousand's of dollars in publicity are thrown into
the discard. As a consequence, when conditions change, they
A
WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR THE PIANO DEALER
SOME GENERAL COMMENTS
N
O T in many years has there appeared in a music trade
paper an article that has aroused such wide interest
as that appearing in last month's REVIEW from the
pen of Walter L. Bond, secretary and treasurer of
the Weaver Piano Co., York, Pa. "What is the Future for
the Piano Retailer?" asked Mr. Bond and then he proceeded
to present his views based on actual and successful experience.
The piano trade, he declared in substance, has not only suf-
fered from the indifference of many of its members but has
also been a victim of attacks from without by representatives
of other industries who saw in piano dealers excellent repre-
sentatives for their own particular products, whether they be
electric refrigerators or other specialties.
Mr. Bond pointed out that many of the present-day troubles
of the piano trade can be laid to the door of indifference on
the part of manufacturers and dealers who saw such quick
profits in player pianos that they neglected almost entirely
the work of encouraging children to take piano instruction.
For years they told the public that the piano could be played
automatically and without training and almost when it was
too late turned about face and devoted themselves to the child
appeal. That the results, in the matter of greatly widened
interest in piano playing, have been as extensive as they are,
even in the face of existing conditions, emphasized the will-
ingness of the public to accept that doctrine at its real value.
So wide has this interest grown that people who sold their
pianos some years ago have been converted and are buying
other pianos to fill the vacant spots in their home equipment.
It is time for the dealer who has faith in the future of the
piano business to take inventory. As Mr. Bond says in closing:
"If the above statements are 'facts' the piano retailer should
muster all of his enthusiasm and ingenuity and integrity, to
sell the maximum number of pianos during the balance of
this depression. Retailers in all lines are fighting for their
commercial existence. T o survive in business seems to require
faith in the future, a love for the business and courage to fight
the battles that are necessary. The faith that is required must
be an enthusiastic expressive faith. The love for the busi-
ness must be founded upon a substantial respect for the benefit
derived by those who study and use the piano. Courage to
carry on must be accompanied by energy directed at the sale
of pianos.
"Is it not, therefore, time to take an inventory of the future
possibilities of the piano and to determine if there are fallacies
in the reasoning contained in this article and to add to this
article any other pertinent facts?"
The many letters received by both Mr. Bond and at T H E
REVIEW office from dealers as well as manufacturers all show
a hearty accord with the sentiments presented. That is as
it should be, but the question now is what is going to be done
about it? Simply to agree that there are genuine possibilities
in the piano business means nothing unless a really earnest
effort is made to capitalize those possibilities. What some of
the members of the trade think of Mr. Bond's views may be
gleaned from the letters reproduced on page 8 of this issue
of T H E REVIEW.