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bill is passed, it will repeal every Federal excise
and sales tax except those on liquor and tobacco.
This, of course, would be a 50?r relief in the tax
which is now levied on musical instruments. At the
same time, however, due to the fact that musical in-
struments are used more for education than for any
other purpose, there still may be an opportunity to
have the excise tax removed completely provided
there is concerted effort enough on the part of the
members of the industry. Both the N.A.M.M. and
the National Piano Manufacturers Association have
sent a protest regarding this tax to the Ways and
Means Committee of the House of Representatives
and in the plea to have the tax removed, have very
forcibly pointed to the fact that musical instruments
are used more for education than ever before, for
which they have become very essential. If a dealer
has not yet written to his Congressman, who is prob-
ably in his home territory at the present time, there
is still time to do so and make an earnest plea for
the removal of this musical instrument tax. Congress
will not convene until January 4th. There is still
about six weeks in which to contact your Congress-
man.
Piano Versus Television
I
T is gratifying to note that the production of
pianos is steadily increasing. This year, more
straight pianos may be produced than in any
year in the history of the business. Some people will
say, of course, that there were 364,000 pianos pro-
duced in one year several years ago. but it must be
realized that 70% of these instruments were player
pianos. So. when it comes to producing straight
pianos, the year J953 may be the best that's ever
been had by the music industry. It is also interesting
to note that these instruments have been produced by
fewer piano manufacturers than we had in the indus-
try when the production was up over the 300,000
mark. At that time there were approximately 148
piano manufacturers. Now there are 23. So, each one
of these piano manufacturers getting their share of
the business should be rather well satisfied with their
annual business this year. Not only that, but they
should look toward the future with a great deal of
confidence because we are seeing all around us stim-
ulated interest in piano playing, with many articles
being published on the subject under headings like.
"Piano Playing is a Joyful Pastime" and stories like
the one which appeared recently in the New York
"World Telegram & Sun", about the man 85 years
old who, the neighbors all say, plays 'good and
loud'. As one neighbor put it, "He's gone through
four pianos in fifteen years, wears holes right through
the wood, but we don't mind. The music keeps us
humming — keeps him young." Furthermore, we
don't see any stories published about the piano busi-
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, NOVEMBER, 1953
ness like those we have been reading about the
television business. Recently, on the front page of
one of the leading papers in the country, there was
the heading, "First home reception of color TV
proves effective in operatic field." And, on another
page in the same paper, was the headline, "Market
Glut Dims TV Sales Picture." "Distributors Believed
Holding Major Share of 2.500,000 sets in Ware-
hous." So, if one watches the papers and sees some
terribly drastic reductions in the prices of television,
this seems to be the reason for it. As the story goes,
it states that the television stores do no have exces-
sive stock, but that the distributors have 2,500,000 un-
sold sets, which has forced some of them to the wall
in the last few months. Yet, it points out that tele-
vision stores stand on the threshold of what is
normally the busiest two months of their sales year,
including the Christmas rush. Following this, how-
ever, comes the comment that "There is a fly that
looks like a dinosaur in the television ointment, that
is, color. Dealers all over the country are fearful
that the public, knowing color television is coming
early next year, will not buy many black and white
sets in the next two months." But, if color does
come next year, there will probably be no more than
100,000 sets produced and they will cost $700 to
$1,000. and when the FCC puts their okay on the
color transmitters, they will be the kind that can be
received on black and white sets as well as those
which produce color. So, in view of the above, why
not get out and sell more pianos.
EDITOR
II