Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JUNE, 1U1
try reports 5,682,000 volumes relating
to music published in 1939; in 1937,
6,722,000, a drop of 16%. Want some
comment? Run a newspaper ad that
you are selling pianos at from 76c a
pound to $1.43 a pound—divide the re-
tail price by the weight, feature this
and get 'em talking.
GENERAL condensation of
piano styles is bound to
occur. Time will be used to
make and sell a limited num-
ber of models, but in larger quantities.
This will be a good move, as right now,
2 or 3 styles give the greatest percent-
age of a mfr's sales. One mfr has a
style " D " that has been perking
crescendo for 4 years, accounting for
half of the company's sales in numbers.
This situation is amazing, and the in-
strument must have just that deft touch
of artistry, appealing as it does to so
many people. It will continue to sell,
too, so the aim of having only a few
good "sellers" instead of a big group, is
both idealistic and idea-istic.
ATEST catalog of lists from a big
company, guaranteed 98% ac-
• curate, must have let the piano
• classification stand since 1925,
for here is what this co. says exists in
piano business: 46 piano action
makers; 5,928 piano-organ dealers;
167 piano-organ mfrs; 133 piano-
organ supply houses; 8 piano back
mfrs; 35 piano case makers; 30 piano
felt makers; 28 piano hammer mfrs; 11
piano key makers; 12 piano string
makers; 28 piano player mfrs; 34 piano
wire makers; 48 piano hardware mfrs;
48 piano stool mfrs; 26 piano player
action mfrs. All of this is a revelation
to what one can buy in the list busi-
ness. Even specializing on pianos, it
is rough enough to keep lists right, but
it is wondered how a Co. in business to
sell lists, can be so far astray on the
piano situation.
Or maybe, we're
asleep!
I
EARSON Co., Indianapolis—10
stores, pianos, radio, musical
insts. and furniture, did $ 1 , -
815,000 in 1940, netting
$65,000; in 1939, $1,773,000,; net of
P
$47,000. 1940 figures 3%% net on
sales, which unless the boss drew out
a big salary—about department store
nets. Grinnell made $87,000first7 mos.
of 1940 ($182,000 for year 1939) but
not knowing sales, no comparison is
possible. Retail piano sales should net
12%—and with smaller dealers, more
—but maintenance of volume requires
intensive selling, which is expensive.
Freuently, less volume gives more
nets.
I T H I N 30 years, every
piano mfr has either moved
or quit producing pianos in
Boston — except one, the
Ivers & Pond Piano Co. at present,
Ivers & Pond is the only symbol of that
once great city piano production, and
the company is to be congratulated on
being the only one to continue the pres-
tige of Boston. I & P also absorbed
the Poole—Emerson, Everett, Mason &
Hamlin, Chickering have moved. Other
producers were: National, Briggs, Mer-
rill, Henry F. Miller, McPhail, Hallet
& Davis, and maybe I've missed one
or not. Vose still there but recently
announced selling entire stock to
Wanamaker's. I don't count F. G.
Smith, etc. as in Boston. Hale—Tuners
Suply Co., Winter Hill,—still as vigor-
ous as ever in the supply field. I got
my early training with this group and
no one can spot the reason for the de-
pletion of Boston as a piano making
center, especially as*a retail absorber
of instruments, Boston is still a good
market. "Our best" to Ivers & Pond,
however, for their vigor to withstand
the changing conditions for many years
to come.
W
LD timers will remember Bos-
ton as the home of such
notables as Edward S. Pay-
son, Wm. H. Poole, John
Anderson, Geo. F. Blake, Major W. S.
Rich, C. C. Briggs, Wm. Merrill, E. N.
Kimball, Jr., E. E. Conway, Willard A.
Vose, A. M. Wright, Edward Mason,
Henry F. Miller. Carle C. Conway
Henry F. Miller, and Wm. Miller. Carle
C. Conway ex-Hallet & Daivs,, left
pianos and heads Continental Can
Co.) Cambridge had 3 action plants;
O