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any reason, with price controls now lifted, that whole-
sale and retail prices of pianos should be increased?
In order to keep the business humming along it would
seem to us that every effort should be made to keep
prices as near the present level as possible and work
hard as possible for the elimination of the 10% ex-
cise tax on the wholesale price. There are thousands
of people who would buy pianos if they could buy
them at somewhat of a lower cost. This has continu-
ously been manifested when there has been an op-
portunity for dealers to dispose of some merchandise
at prices less than those in general use. Even a slight
reduction in prices in some instances created a tre-
mendous demand. So, through these experiences it
should be proof enough that lower prices may bring
additional business, whereas price increases may
have a retarding effect. People have money and the
time they take it out and spend it is when they are
getting, or at least think they are getting, something
that proves to be the real value for what they are
spending.
The Jiusic [ffiade
REVIEW
Established 1879
CARLETON CHACE, Editor
Alex H. Kolbe, Publisher
V. T. Costello
Associate Editor
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION
OF MUSIC
MERCHANTS
Alexander Hart
Technical Editor
THE POORES7
CHltD IS RICH
WITH MUSICAl
* tUAININC
O
Dorothy Elizabeth Bloom
Circulation Manager
Published monthly at 510 RKO Building, Radio
City, 1270 Sixth Avenue, New York 20, N. Y.
Telephone: Circle 7-5842-5843-5844
Vol. 112
MARCH,
1953
No. 3
Business-As We See It
T
HE lifting of price ceilings on musical instru-
ments, which took place last month, will prob-
ably be hailed with considerable satisfaction
by both manufacturers and dealers. It will be interest-
ing to watch the effect of this edict which by every
right transfers the control of the
price situation to supply and de-
mand and competition. Although
piano prices have been consider-
ably higher than they used to be,
there has been much criticism
that they are too high, and that
the piano business would have
been much better had they not
been so high. However, we point
to the fact that approximately
154,000 instruments were manu-
CARLETON CHACE
factured in 1952, which was sup-
posed to have been a year in which production was
curtailed by government restraint. This manifests
conclusively that there must be a genuine demand
for pianos. Let us say that the piano business in the
last year has really been a healthy business, and
most manufacturers, practically all of them as well
as dealers, have been very well satisfied with the
business they have done. Therefore, should there be
10
Anent ISAMM Membership
UR Editorial last month on the decline in the
membership of the National Association of Music
Merchants has brought some interesting comments
from various sources throughout the country, but
there are two that seem to stand out above the others;
one is that the drop in membership has been caused
by the fact that there are a great many "free riders"
who enjoy many of the advantages put forth by the
work of the association, since they have always been
invited to the regional meetings and other functions
which are carried on by that organization although
not members. The other seems to involve the matter
of the policy of levying dues. A dealer called us on
the phone and said that in view of the fact that it
was an Association of Music Merchants, his piano
and musical instrument business amounted to approx-
imately 20% of the total, the rest of it being television,
radio and phonograph records. He felt that he should
not be compelled to pay dues on the total of his busi-
ness, when his television business seemed to amount
to the greatest volume, though he made the least
profit due to the uncertainty of television merchan-
dising, etc. He was perfecty willing, he said, to pay
at least $75 for dues and possibly a little more and
he wondered whether there were not a lot of dealers
throughout the country who felt the same way he
does. Whether anything of this kind could be worked
out for the benefit of dealers of this type is naturally
up to the heads of the association when they meet
in Chicago. The dealer who told us all this admitted
he appreciated to the fullest extent the wonderful
work the association is doing, and wished he was a
member, but felt that he couldn't afford the dues as
stipulated. Is there a solution?
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, MARCH. 1953