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THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
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IS THE ONLY ANNUAL
REVIEW OP
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THE NATIONAL MUSIC SHOW
FOR MUSICJRADE PURPOSES
Results Obtained in Public Interest Not Commensurate with Labor and Expenditures, in Opinion of Manufacturer;
Submits Working Plan as Alternative.
By C. C. Conway
At the end of a week of close
attendance on the National Music
Show, of painstaking scrutiny and
careful study of the subject, I am
forced to the conclusion that as
now operated—as a public exhibi-
tion—to use an old simile, "the
game is not worth the candle."
Please understand clearly that
I do not attribute this condition to
any failure of effort or accom-
plishment on the part of any man,
or set of men, or human element
whatsoever in connection with the
undertaking. But it is simply that
the plan upon which we have been
operating has, in my opinion,
proven to be infeasible, so far as
attainment of the objects we have
had in view is concerned.
This year's show, which I con-
sider in many ways the best we
have ever held, and which has ex-
ceeded in attendance any previous
one, proves, to my mind at least,
that the degree of public interest
aroused by it, and the concrete
good accomplished by it, do not
justify the expenditure of effort,
time and money devoted to it.
BRILLIANT ATTAINMENTS.
By our co-operative stamp plan
the manufacturers and dealers
have demonstrated their ability
and willingness to raise ample
funds for the creation and distri-
bution of music propaganda in the
great untouched field that lies so
fertile and inviting before it. The
National Bureau for the Advance-
ment of Music has demonstrated
its ability to employ such funds to
splendid purpose in arousing wide-
spread interest and enthusiastic
public co-operation in the move-
ment it has set on foot. Charles
H. Green has demonstrated his
ability to co-ordinate the forces
of the music industries in a cohe-
sive and cordial effort for the com-
mon good and to stage their
united efforts in a concrete dis-
play that is a high credit to the
trade.
New York's Music Week has
been a triumph in which all music
men may glory. It is a festal
event that should, and doubtless
will, become an annual fixture, not
only in the Metropolis, but in all
the leading cities of the country.
Too high a word of praise cannot
be given the men who have initi-
ated, nurtured, promoted
and
crowned with successful accomplishment this great
movement in the interest of music. It has requir-
ed the most delicate finesse, the most discriminate
judgment and a vast amount of imagination and
big, broad vision to "put it over," and I think it will
be conceded by all who were privileged to enjoy
the events of this great week of music that all
these qualifications were evidenced in the fullest
measure.
PUBLIC INTEREST NOT ENOUGH.
But the brilliant success of Music Week as a
whole, the widespread interest aroused, the hearty
co-operation of the public at all points of contact,
and the vast amount of abstract good accomplished
by it, merely serve to accentuate the point I am
striving to emphasize: That the attraction of pub-
C. C. CONWAY.
lie interest is not the proper function of the Na-
tional Music Show, and, obversely, that the Na-
tional Music Show is not the proper vehicle for the
attracting of public interest.
In the first place, it is, as now constituted, an at-
tempt to combine the practical and the ethical in
a single display intended to serve two divergent pur-
poses. It is primarily a trade exhibit, and secondar-
ily a public show. And experience has shown that in
the working out of it each function operates to the
detriment of the other. As a trade exhibit, the pres-
ence of the public in considerable numbers acts as an
embarrassment and a deterrent to the transaction of
business that otherwise
would be accomplished.
As a public show it falls far short of the spectacu-
lar splendor, novelty and brilliance that the public
demands in order to evoke any
great outpouring.
ARTISTIC EFFECT WAS FINE
On the other hand, the purely
ethical features of Music Week,
the concerts, oratorios, school
sings, special musical perform-
ances, recitals, etc., demonstrated
conclusively that these are the
true vehicles for arousing keen
public interest and attracting the
music loving crowds. In fact, the
purely "show" features of the mu-
sic show itself proved to be the
big drawing cards of the exhibit
almost to the exclusion of the
technical and commercial phases
of the display. The great bulk
of the crowds that attended the
show, that is, of the people outside
the music trade, flocked to the
scenes of recitals, concerts, pic-
turesque displays, etc., and spent
the greater part of their time in
these, evincing but scant interest
in the instruments, as such, and
presenting much more the aspect
of sightseers than of persons in-
terested in pianos, phonographs,
etc.
In the booths on which elabo-
rate decorative effort had been be-
stowed or some spectacular form
of entertainment had been pro-
vided, there was more or less
evidence of public interest ob-
servable at all times, while in the
booths which confined their func-
tions to a business like display of
their wares the public showed but
little interest.
REAL STRENGTH OF SHOW.
But—and this is an important
"but" to my mind—in the booths
on the second and third floors
where the technical, practical and
commercial
predominated
over
the spectacular, there was a steady
flow of persons who had the mark
"music trade" branded upon them
in indelible characters.
These
were the busiest spots in the show
and they were busy to some defi-
nite purpose, for these were the
men of the trade, bent upon seeing,
hearing and talking for purely prac-
tical purposes. They were glean-
ing information, imbibing ideas and
transacting actual business, and
these people were the backbone
and sinew of the Music Show
crowds.
And this brings me to the point
I am seeking to draw the attention
and thought of the music trade to: The proper
functions of the National Music Show of the
future.
That there should be an annual dis-
play of the products of the music industries I
am an earnest and enthusiastic believer. I am a
believer in such an exhibit in connection with our
annual conventions and have a profound convic-
tion of the great good to be accomplished by them.
But I believe just as firmly and earnestly that they
should be confined solely to the functions of
supplying information and the exchange of ideas
inside the music trade, that they should be made
purely the practical commercial and industrial ex-
hibits of the merchandise we are making and deal-
ing in, and the various adjuncts appertaining there-
(Continucd on page 8.)
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