Music Trade Review

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CONVENTION
I Continued from page 181
long and difficult road anead. Results
have been better than we dared hope
a year ago. The industry should recog-
nize, however, that we are in competi-
tion for public attention with other
larger and better organized groups,
and over a number of years it will re-
quire the expenditure of large sums
of money and the reactivation of a
program similar to that sponsored by
the Music Industry Chamber of Com-
merce and financed by the same type
of stamp purchase. This suggestion
has been made time and time and again
at regional meetings. While our in-
dustry seems to have pioneered in this
method of financing trade promotion,
it is being followed by a number of
other trade groups today. If, in the
judgment of this Board, such a plan
is sound, then immediate steps should
be taken to put it into effect.
"It will be much easier to secure
trade acceptance in these days of "easy
sales" than a year from now when we
are likely to have a price conscious
consuming public. The funds thus se-
cured should be used exclusively for
the promotion of music and should be
separately administered from the oper-
ating funds of the Association which
would be contributed by members as
dues.
"Other industries are making ag-
gressive merchandising and promo-
tional plans. Some of these have been
made public—others are still under
wraps.
Bold planning, courageous
Church Music
"We have recognized the need for
high ethical standards in the develop-
ment of a program of music in the
church. To that end your Executive
Secretary and the committee chairman,
H. C. Wildermuth, have carried on an
extensive correspondence with recog-
nized leaders in the field of church
music. They have welcomed our inter-
est and have made several suggestions.
We are very much encouraged.
Music in Industry
"Mr. Clark, the chairman of our
Music In Industry Committee, has been
A large gathering enjoyed the Chicago P. & O. Dinner
in touch with his associates and we
have had some contact with a new
group known as the Industrial Male
Chorus Association. Conditions beyond
our control have prevented the devel-
opment of a comprehensive program in
this field. We have not pressed this
phase of the problem because the ele-
ment of timing is important. Person-
Another view of the Chicago P. & O. Dinner
leadership right now are necessary to
preserve for music its rightful claim
upon the public for its share of the
consumer's dollar. Please believe me,
gentlemen, these are not idle words. I
hesitated a long time before I decided
to place this problem before you at
this time. And in all sincerity I say
to you that unless we make a start now
conditions over which we have no con-
trol will make it impossible to do so in
the future. A definite program should
be prepared for presentation to and
acceptance by the annual meeting.
THE MUStC TRADE REVIEW. FEBRUARY, 1946
lanta 'before Thanksgiving.' The meet-
ings were held. An additional meeting
was held at Miami. Meetings now
have been held in all parts of the
country with the exception of Metro-
politan New York, the Washington-
Baltimore-Virginia area and, of course,
the far west. If the annual convention
is held in New York, as we now antici-
pate, no regional meeting would seem
to be necessary. Because of present
commitments of staff time, a Pacific
Coast series probably should not be at-
tempted until next fall. In the interest
of membership stimulation it might be
nel managers are concerned with prob-
lems of labor unrest, practically all ma-
jor industries have problems of re-
conversion and would be unwilling to
embark upon new types of employee
activities, but equally important from
our point of view is the unavailability
of instruments. This program requires
careful advance planning and the de-
velopment of important new contacts.
Trade Show and Convention
"At the last Board meeting you in-
structed me to hold regional meetings
at Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas and At-
desirable to hold a typical regional
meeting somewhere in the southeast
area not represented at the Atlanta
meeting and smaller ones, less formal
meetings, at Pittsburgh, Cleveland and
somewhere in Central Michigan, Grand
Rapids perhaps.
"I hope the Board appreciates that
each of the meetings held and those to
be held represent in miniature the
necessity for the same careful planning
involved in holding the annual conven-
tion, exclusive of the trade show man-
agement.
"Later in the meeting I shall report
to you on the trade show-convention.
The 12-Point Program
"Very
hurriedly
and
somewhat
sketchily I have outlined where we
stand with respect to the 12-point
program. I've assumed you are not too
much concerned with the mechanics in-
volved but are interested in the end
results. From the standpoint of head-
quarters operation the period just clos-
ing was concerned with these steps:
1—Implementation of the new by-
laws, including the new basis of
financial support,
2—Creating the committee structure
to implement the program just
discussed,
3—The effort to have pianos and
other musical instruments decon-
trolled by OPA,
4—Preparation for the Sales Train-
ing Conference and the follow-up
work involved,
5—The concluding series of regional
meetings.
(Turn to Pag* 26
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