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the increase in the population of the country, but
in the last six years it has shown a small steady gain
fluctuating somewhat year by year until last year
it reached approximately 148,000 instruments. For
several years, the aim of the piano manufacturers
has been to boost the production up to 300,000 in-
struments. It must be taken into consideration, how-
ever, that when the production was 364,000 there
were some 200 piano manufacturers, whereas at the
present time there are only 23. In the meantime,
the electronic organ has come into being and al-
though it has not interfered with a large percentage
of piano sales, undoubtedly there are instances where
an organ has been purchased instead of a piano.
The Jiusic 'Juade
REVIEW
Established 1879
CARLETON CHACE, Editor
Alex H. Kolbe, Publisher
Some Dealers Say "Yes"; Others Say "No".
A. C. Osborne
Alexander Hart
Associate Editor
Technical Editor
V. T. Costello
Terry Ruffolo
Production Manager
Circulation Manager
Published monthly at 510 Americas Building, Radio
City, 1270 Sixth Avenue, New York 20, N. Y.
Telephone: Circle 7-5842-5843-5844
Vol. 113
OCTOBER, 1954
No. 10
Business-As We See It
E
VIDENTLY from all reports, the piano industry
is endeavoring to find something that will give
the piano business a 'shot in the arm'. Evident-
ly, also, there are many who are not satisfied with
the slow growth of the increase in the number of
people who play the piano manu-
ally, as the outcome of the vari-
ous promotions which have been
put in effect on which during the
last six years approximately half
a million dollars have been spent.
So now there has been some agi-
tation to revive the player piano,
which in its heyday boosted piano
sales in its peak year to 364,000
instruments, and there is stated
CARLETON C H A C E in a very enlightening article
which was published last month
in the "Nation's Business" that in 1923 the pro-
duction was 343,050. This article states that these
were uprights and grands, but it does not point out
that 70% of these instruments or 240,135 were play-
er pianos, leaving therefore 102,915 straight pianos.
To be sure, the increase in piano production over
the last decade may not have been in keeping with
10
I
N order to get the consensus of dealers through-
out the country regarding the revival of the
player piano, the REVIEW this month addressed
a letter to a large number of the music merchants,
both large and small, who handle pianos and many
of the answers which have been received are pub-
lished in this issue. It seems that there is an approx-
imate 50-50 opinion on this subject, but where dealers
do say that the player piano would be an asset, they
point out very forcibly the fact that it must be pro-
duced at a moderate price, that it must be a small
unit which can be contained within spinet pianos,
and in most instances they say that undoubtedly
some could be sold but that the contemplated demand
would be considerably smaller than some people an-
ticipate. On the other hand, many dealers feel that
the introduction of a player piano will be highly
detrimental and that it will nullify all the fine work
which is being done by the American Music Confer-
ence and the Music Educators National Conference
toward establishing group piano lessons in the
schools, colleges and other institutions. Also that it
will so enthuse the teen-age generation of today that
they will lose entire interest in learning how to play
the piano manually, and we will be back some day
right where we were at the time that piano produc-
tion went down to 27,000 instruments in 1932.
Let's Have Mature Thought on this Question
TTNDOUBTEDLY the question of introducing a
\^J player piano again is a very moot one. It needs
considerable mature thought. We personally,
have very definite ideas regarding this and feel that
should the player be introduced again it will create
a great interest among a generation which has never
seen a player piano. There will be a natural craze
for it which probably will last for a certain period,
but we believe it is questionable whether it is a per-
manent craze which will benefit the piano industry
for many years enough so as to not endanger the
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, OCTOBER, 1954