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The Growing Relation of Sales to School
Attendance Proves the Piano a Necessit
T
HE business picture is still confus-
A Year End Message
sirable, but necessary. No substitute tor
it has ever been found and in addition
to those who come to our stores to buy,
ing, due partly to the constant
flood
by JAMES V. SILL, President
of regulations and rumors from National Piano Manufacturers Association there are countless thousands more who
need a piano and don't know it.
Washington and to the conflicting opin-
ions of business leaders. This uncer-
Until recently, almost all retail piano
tainty involves the manufacturer, the
advertising was aimed at influencing
merchant and even the retail buyer.
prospective buyers to choose a certain
There has been considerable decline
brand, or to buy from a certain store,
in the production of consumer durable
but this trend is changing. More and
goods, including pianos, but this is not
more music merchants, including a
yet apparent because of inventories al-
number of the smaller ones, are now
ready accumulated. These inventories
devoting much of their advertising space
probably averted a critical shortage this
to telling people what a piano will do
fall, as it would have been impossible to
for them. These farseeing merchants arc
produce the goods needed now from
the real leaders of our industry because
current allotments of critical materials.
they are building good-will for the
Piano manufacturers' back-orders are
piano, are helping to increase public -.
fairly substantial, and some have re-
approval of the class program in
ported their inventories well below nor-
schools, and are improving their own
mal with no increase possible unless
positions by creating a greater market.
controls are eased.
During the past year the National
Consistant Promotion Necessary
Piano Manufacturers Association has
We constantly hear questions about
continued to promote the establishment 1
the potential market for pianos. In
JAMES V. SILL
of piano classes, because it seems to be
many commodities, such as clothing,
the most direct and practical way to in- .
food and other living essentials, the de- depends on our own enterprise, since
crease piano study by individuals.
we have neither market limit nor satura-
mand makes the market. In our busi-
Every parent would try to provide a
tion
point
to
contend
with.
ness it takes consistent advertising and
piano
and lessons if sure their children
Piano study is a part of the normal
other forms of promotion to make H
would
learn to play. In the past they
education of children; therefore, the
good market. Ours is a selling business,
would
ask
the children, who, thinking
volume of piano sales in any period is
yet those in it often judge conditions by
it would be work and not realizing the
related
to
school
attendance.
For
the
the way people are buying at any given
benefits to be derived, often answered
next few years the number of children
time. It is easy to confuse selling with
in the negative. Class work has changed <
in school will reach an all-time high, so
buying. It is not unusual in this busi-
this;
it has proven that many children
if we do our part, there should be a
ness for one merchant to report, "poor
are potential piano students and because
good
market
for
our
product.
buying" while another enjoys "good
of the way in which the lessons are pre-
A Piano is a Necessity
selling" at the same time.
sented, they are not only interested but
Our industry still controls one of the
Aside from temporary periods like
often enthusiastic and end up by selling -<
greatest known sources of education and
the present, when we are under arbi-
entertainment. A piano is not only de-
(Turn to Bottom of Page 8)
trary controls, the future of the industry
ERLANDSON
(Continued from
Page 5)
life. They are becoming our masters,
and we today are becoming servants of
the government to an alarming degree.
Subservience to autocratic rule is the
beginning of the end of democracy.
At this Christmas season. I can w-ish
the readers of this magazine the sin-
cere hope that they will renew their
faith and loyalty to the great principles
of the Church to which they belong. I
trust that all true Americans in the
music business, as well as out of it, will
recognize the importance of a deep and
abiding faith in the principles which
made America.
Christian Ideals Must Prevail
We must recognize the fact that while
legally religion and government are
separate; yet sincere serious minded
men and women motivated by Christian
ideals and standards must retain control
of government. If not, and the Ameri-
can government comes into the control
of atheists and non-believers, then the
democratic philosophy of the sovereign-
ty of the individual will disappear and
the State come to exist above the indi-
vidual. That is why this Christmas sea-
son is the time for all to re-dedicate
themselves anew to their church, their
Cod and their country.
I trust, too, we will return to the
philosophy—"The best government is
the least government". I hope that our
Christmas season will renew in all of
us a deep understanding of the impor-
tance of eternal vigilance for, and di-
rect participation in, better government.
If we concern ourselves with the
problem of better government in the
ward, city and county levels in which
we live, we will bring a better govern-
ment to the state and nation. Unless we
protect the government we have and re-
turn it to the principles of free enter-
prise and the right of personal initia-
tive, there will be a time when our
music business will not be worth pur-
suing and that time may not be too far
off.
I wish for each and every one of you
a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year with the opportunity to sell "White
Christmas" and similar songs for many
years to come.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, DECEMBER,
I95I