September 18, 1920.
ADVERTISING SHEET MUSIC.
The problem of advertising seems more
perplexing to the sheet music publishers than
to other ambitious producers. It has become
more a matter of paralyzing the public ear
than catching the public eye. Printer's ink
doesn't give sufficient emphasis to the average
"pop" song, written to tickle the more or less
satiated lover of jazz and rag-time. The
methods of the eastern top-story publishers,
and the denizens of Hit Alley, have created a
species of brain storm in the music trade. The
cheap singers of the movies and cabarets, the
howlers that fill the department stores with
noise resembling a ship's landing, and other
devices designed to challenge the "attention of
novelty seekers, have caused the more digni-
fied systems of publicity to seem tame.
But to the trade the methods referred to are
not necessary. The man who makes his living
by selling the things that are musical, knows
what he can commend and dispose of. He
knows that the sample copy is not an invest-
Music Dealers Everywhere
TAKE WARNING!
Prepare to meet a nation-wide demand for
these new and beautiful song numbers.
30 Cents (Retail)
"Love Is the Dream of Ages"
The song exquisite.
CHORUS.
Love is the dream of ages,
As old as the sea and sky,
Living in youthful splendor
Till the waters of life run dry;
Always telling the story
That ever is sweet and new—
The story of a heart's desire,
The yearning I feel for you.
"A Castle in Dreamland"
Fox-trot Song.
CHORUS.
Just a castle I'm building in Dreamland,
A sweet little castle for two,
Where the roses are blooming so fragrant
And the sweetest rose is you.
The king of this castle is Cupid
And we'll never know thoughts that are blue
In this dear little castle in Dreamland—
The castle I'm building for you.
10-Cent Numbers (Retail)
"Dixieland Is Songland"
One-step Dixie Song.
"Dear Land of Nowhere"
Classic Waltz Ballad.
These songs will be persistently advertised in
trade mediums and national magazines. In
melody and beautiful word harmony, they
challenge any four numbers now on sale.
ORDER THEM TODAY.
YOU WILL NEED THEM VERY SOON.
F. B. LOVETT, Publisher
169 Adams Ave. East, Detroit, Mich.
Save Thee Alone, Sweetheart
Just oat. Being programmed by many professional singers
and pronounced a coming hit. 7c to tho trade. Order from
your jobber or direct.
Published by
FRANK J. MAROWSKt, 41 Hager Street, Buffalo, N. Y.
27
PRESTO
merit, and that one good "find," by which new
interest may be aroused among his customers,
is worth a great deal to his business. Natur-
ally, to him the department store method of
advertising songs are not essential. He will get
returns from it anyway. But he is interested
in what the publishers are putting forth, and
he wants to know about them. And the ambi-
tious publisher knows, too, that the well read
trade paper can get the attention of the kind
of dealers who push sheet music because it is
a part of their business. And the well read
trade paper is the means of that sort of intro-
duction.
Presto has not made much of a feature of
sheet music advertising for reasons suggested
in this article. But it is glad to receive the
publicity matter of legitimate publishers. And,
as an evidence that this paper "makes good"
here is an extract from a letter from, F. B.
Lovett, of "the Catalogue of Ten," Detroit,
who ran a trial adv. in this paper:
Am well pleased with the display of my little adv.
In the first mail after receiving copy of Presto came
an order from a Wisconsin dealer, another from an
Illinois dealer. This speaks well for Presto as an
advertising medium.
It is very many years since there was any
question of the value of Presto as a medium
for the m/usic industries, in any of its branches.
The files of the paper contain literally hun-
dreds of such evidences as that of the Detroit
sheet music publisher. The way for the legiti-
mate musk publishers to recover their old-
time place in the business world is to let the
dealers know they are alive, and that Hit
Alley is not bounded by the limits of the
U. S. A.
FIRST SHEET MUSIC ADVS.
A paragraph in last Monday's Chicago
Tribune asks: "Do you remember away back
when Ross & Gossage, State street merchants,
gave away sheet music with every purchase?"
At the time "way back," to which the para-
grephist turns, sheet music was a commodity
having value. Ross & Gossage—now Carson
Pirie Scott & Co.—did not deal in sheet music,
nor did any other general merchandise store.
The department stores had not yet appeared,
and "Stein's Dollar Store" on Clark street,
Chicago, where the Grand Opera House now
stands, was the nearest approach to one in
this country. In fact, Stein was the father of
what are now known as "ten cent stores," for
he first cut the price and had a fixed selling
sum, or maximum price, for everything in his
stock.
That Ross & Gossage gave away sheet
music at their store at the corner now occu-
pied by Hillman's, was due to the enterprise
of a pair of young men who had established
the first enterprise by which sheetrmasiic was
made to carry advertisements. The concern
was known as the Enterprise Publishing Co.,
with office at Madison and Halsted streets, on
the West Side. The first piece of music thus
put forth was called the "Enterprise Polka,"
and it bore the name of D. C. Addison as
composer.
That "polka," a dance form now obsolete but
at that time very popular, was the first piece
of music ever printed for advertising purposes.
It carried a lot of advertising cards on the
back sheet, and on the title page appeared the
line, "With compliments of Ross & Gossage,"
or whichever of the other advertisers may
have been handing out copies of the composi-
tion. Of course a part of the enterprise was
that of securing orders in advance for as large
an edition of the piece for each advertiser as
possible. The publishers put forth a number
of the pieces of various kinds, from songs to
"grand marches," and the stores advertised by
them had neat cabinets placed near the en-
trances upon which the music was piled up
with the invitation to customers to "take
one."
This item is interesting because it has ref-
erence to the first application of sheet music
to commercial purposes. Since the time when
Ross & Gossage gave away sheet music, hun-
dreds of similar enterprises have sprung up.
Finally, sheet music has so far fallen from its
place of semi-exclusiveness as to be sold for so
small a price that to even give it away would
not seem an attractive proposition. It would
be impossible to interest any dignified busi-
ness house of today in that kind of a gift
scheme, and the house of Ross & Gossage was
the Marshall Field & Co. of its day. Further,
the same sheet music was, at the same time
"way back when," handed out to all the ladies
LESLEY'S
PATCHING VARNISH
dries in 10 seconds, flows without showing the lap. With it dam-
aged varnish can be repaired invisibly. New price, 1 pt. $ I; 1 qt.
$1.90. Complete repair outfit $3.50. P. O. B. Indianapolis, Ind.
LESLEY'S CHEMICAL COMPANY, Indianapolis, Ind.
If you are not handling the
McKINLEY EDITION OF
10c MUSIC
Comprising Standard,
Classic and Teaching Music
you are losing an opportunity to make money
Dealers Realize
150%
PROFIT
On Sales of McKinley Music
It is the most popular library of 10c music
on the market. Selections contained in this
Edition are used by the most prominent
teachers in the country — Students, Accom-
plished Musicians, and the Music Loving
Public in general.
It is conveniently handled; arranged in
compact form, and is labor saving in serving
the customers.
The dealer is supplied with catalogs bear-
ing the business imprint which serves to
bring more customers to the store than any
other advertising medium that could be em-
ployed.
WRITE US FOR SAMPLES AND PAR-
TICULARS TODAY
Our Jobbing Department is the largest and
most complete in the country. We can sup-
ply you with every want in the sheet music
line. We fill all orders the day they are
received.
McKinley Music Company
The Largest Sheet Music House
in the World
CHICAGO
1501-13 E. 55th St.
NEW YORK
145 W. 45th St.
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