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what not; to maintain a profit and stay
in business.
Fictitious Trade-in Allowance
"An interesting example would be
our experience at the time we opened
one of our stores several years ago. One
manufacturer that we represented al-
ready had a dealer in the town who sold
their pianos under a certain stencil or
brand name. We agreed also to repre-
sent them and sold the same identical
piano under a different brand name.
We priced the piano, including our
standard mark up, at $295.00. A com-
petitor priced the same identical piano
with only the difference of the name at
$495.00. This caused considerable con-
fusion from time to time when the com-
petitor would and could offer as much
as $200.00 trade-in allowance on an
old piano valued possibly at $25.00.
Actually a customer would receive $25.
more as an allowance on our piano
than the $200. on the competitor's
piano. That firm is now out of business.
"Another illustration might be the
experience of a customer who ten years
ago purchased a used piano for $85.00
from one of our stores. When he de-
cided to purchase a new piano, a com-
petitor offered an allowance of $125.00
whereas our salesman could offer only
$50.00. We lost the sale. However, with-
in the next few weeks the customer
found a record of the same style piano
having been sold to one customer at the
full price of $725.00, to another cus-
tomer at a cash discount of $125.00 or
$600.00, and he himself had been al-
lowed a trade-in allowance of $125.00
with # balance due of $600.00. Actually
the customer got nothing for his piano.
I do not believe he appreciates the deal
he was given.
Teacher Commissions
"Another of the most common com-
plaints in the merchandising of musical
instruments, and one which is appar-
ently destined soon for some official ac-
tion, is the old evil of paying commis-
sions to teachers, that is, without the
customers knowledge that the teacher is
acting as a salesman. This practice
seems to be as old as the musical in-
strument business.
"Recently an old friend, who was at
one time a concert artist, told a story
about a friend of his who was also a
well known concert artist about 25 or
30 years ago. He had a studio in a large
city. In the same building and on the
floor above a prominent piano sales
room. The sales room had a hidden
buzzer system to the concert artist's
studio. When one of the salesmen had
a good prospect for a piano and was
having some trouble in closing, he
26
would arrange to buzz the studio and
the artist would come down and uncon-
cernedly saunter into the sales room
whereupon the salesman would remark
"Oh, here is Mr. So and So, the concert
artist. I wonder if you would please tell
this customer what you think about this
piano." There is no need to finish the
story.
"This may have been considered
smart business 25 to 30 years ago, but
I do believe that today's better business
attitudes would hardly condone such
tactics. In that age many of the old
time teachers went up and down "piano
row" in the large cities to find out who
would pay the largest commission for
a sale that the teacher could influence.
"Of course, there is no reason why a
teacher should not sell pianos as long
as the customer knows the teacher is
acting as a salesman. The problem we
are discussing is the practice of the
teacher who is interested only in the
customer buying a piano where the
teacher will receive a commission.
"Many teachers seem to acquire a
possessive feeling towards their pupils.
This is a natural reaction to their in-
terest in seeing that the pupil does ac-
quire what the teacher believes to be a
proper instrument. It is the natural and
courteous thing for the parents to con-
sider the teacher at least partly in mak-
ing a selection. But I wonder how these
same parents would feel if they knew
that the teacher was interested in their
buying a piano only from a dealer who
paid them a commission, rather than
honestly helping them to select the best
instrument.
An Expose
"One of the sadest stories I recall
was an instance where a family pur-
chased a piano from a prominent music
store. When the teacher heard about the
purchase he went to the home and
examined the piano which he explained
was not to his satisfaction. The teacher
then went to the dealer demanding an
arrangement for a commission. The
dealer (with a certain plan in mind)
agreed and the piano was returned to
the store. It was placed in a prominent
position on the sales floor. Then the
parents and teacher were invited in.
The teacher unknowingly was shown the
same piano and found it to be exactly
what the pupil should have. The story
now goes that the dealer who had been
very much incensed at the whole situa-
tion proceeded to tell the parents exact-
ly what had happened.
"From one of our large cities come
many stories about the method of one
dealer who has approached a large
number of teachers showing them the
factory cost of pianos and making an
agreement with them to divide the
profits on a 50-50 basis on all sales
they can make. I understand the dealer
has sold so many pianos that the manu-
facturer represented has offered him
some sort of prize in recognition of his
success.
"From all over the country come
letters of condemnation of the teach-
er commission practice not only in
the piano business but especially the
band instrument business. Many believe
that it is almost impossible to operate
any sizeable business without tying in
in some way with the school band di-
rectors or instrument teachers.
"Certainly there is no individual
more important to the continued success
of the music business than the music
teacher. It is our duty to help and en-
courage them in every way possible. In
fact, with the present surge of interest
in music, it is imperative that we urge
more young people to enter this profes-
sion to fill the present and ever more
noticeable shortage of good teachers.
The natural questions to be asked with
reference to our trade practice problems
are, "What has been done, what is be-
ing done, and what can be done about
them?"
Remedies
"First, I will mention the meeting of
the trade practice committee of the Mus-
ical Instruments and Accessories Indus-
try held February 2, 1944, under the
auspices of the Federal Trade Commis-
sion. At this meeting trade practice
rules were discussed and passed upon.
The committee that met at that time in-
eluded representatives from the N.A.
M.M., the National Association of
Band Instrument Manufacturers, the Na-
tional Association of Musical Merchan-
dise Wholesalers, the National Associa-
tion of the Musical Merchandise Man-
ufacturers, the Musical Accessory Man-
ufacturers Asso. and the Music Mer-
chants Association of Ohio. The meeting
was held in Cincinnati.
"Seventeen rules were drawn up cov-
ering (1) misrepresentation and mis-
branding, (2) deceptive testimonials,
(3) misrepresentation as to the design-
ing, use, or endorsement of musical in-
struments, (4) misrepresentation as to
price reduction, '(5) use of "bait" ad-
vertising, (6) desception as to rebuilt,
used, converted, reconstruqted, restyled,
repossessed or second-hand products,
(7) misrepresentation as to being man-
ufacturer, importer, wholesaler, jobber,
distributor, or retailer and prices re-
lated thereto, (8) deception as to origin
(9) misrepresentation as to installment
sales contracts, their terms or condi-
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1952
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