Presto Buyers' Guide
Analyzes and Classifies
All American P i a n o s
and in Detail Tells of
Their Makers.
PRESTO
Established 1884. THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Year Book
The Only Complete
Annual Review of the
American Music In-
dustries and Trades.
to Cent.; $2.00 a Year
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1925
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE MUSIC BUSINESS?
A Study of Current Economic, Sociological, and Educational Conditions Reveals the Grave Causes That May
Suggest the Highly Desirable Remedy Sought by Earnest Men in Every Phase of the Music Industry
MUSIC AND EDUCATION CONSIDERED
How Much Music Goods Sales and Dealers' Profits Depend on Music Classes in Public and Private Schools Is a
Fact Plain to Every Dealer Who Studies Cause and Effect in His Business
By W. Otto Miessner
The following address of W. Otto Miessner, presi-
dent of the Miessner Piano Company, Milwaukee,
and a prominent figure in music educational move-
ments of a national scope, was a leading event at the
convention this week of the Illinois Music Merchants'
Association, held in Rockford. Because of his keen
interest in the future of the piano and the causes that
hurtfully influence its sales, as well as his activity in
the promotion of music study in schools, Mr. Miess-
ner's address aroused the interest of the convention
to a degree of warmth which was an earnest of future
action along the line of suggestion laid down by the
speaker.
What is wrong with the music business? Music
merchants and manufacturers may well ask this
question, because the industry is facing a crisis. The
main stay of the business seems to have been slipping
gradually since 1909. Government statistics indicate
an average annual production of approximately one-
third fewer pianos for the five-year period 1919-1924
than for the ten-year period 1909-1919. Even leaders
in the industry are hard pressed to find a profit in
this declining market. Many show recurring annual
deficits.
Now is the time to face the facts. Intelligent study
of current economic, sociological and educational
conditions may reveal the remedy. At least, it will
locate the cause. The industry, has been treating the
symptoms with price potions and quack methods.
The public has become callous to lure and bait ads,
indifferent to superficial buying appeals, wary of dis-
honest business practices. A piano salesman is con-
sidered a brother to the confidence man, the lightning-
rod agent and the gold-brick artist. The desire for
elevating enjoyment, and for music in particular, has
yielded to multiplied desires for material pleasures.
"Here is the seat of the canker that is undermining
the music industry.
Demand Is the Result of Desire.
"But," you object, "there is more music in this
country today than ever before!" There is—of the
push-button kind. Canned music is like canned fruit.
Radio music is more like evaporated fruit; the pris-
tine flavor is lost in the ether. These canned foods
lack the kick of the fresh variety. Sentiment and
association play a large part in enjoyment.
Demand is the result of desire, but the first step is
interest. People must be exposed to music before
they can become interested in it. Music must be
heard to be enjoyed. Public music in parks, theaters,
hotels, churches and schools serves this purpose.
Canned home-music is better than none. Its chief
purpose is to make music lovers. However, a suc-
cessful music industry depends upon a nation of
music makers. The instinct to play lies latent in
every individual. We must arouse it.
People Buy Uses, Not Things.
You may think that the people buy things, but
you are mistaken. You may think that the piano is
furniture, but you are wrong again. People buy use,
comfort, convenience, luxury, beauty, pleasure, thrills
and excitement. They buy food, clothing and shelter
for sustenance and comfort. But the American peo-
ple spend far more for luxury and for beauty than
they spent for mere physical necessities. New
fashions in furniture and furnishings doubled the vol-
ume in these industries from 1914 to 1921.
The production of pianos declined by one third
from 1914 to 1921. The volume doubled in furniture,
in refrigerators, in hardware and tools, in clothing,
in confections and soft drinks, in sporting goods, in
statuary art goods and jewelry, and in tobacco; it
trebled in washing machines, automobiles, in books,
\V. OTTO MIESSNER.
magazines and newspapers. Comparisons with 1909
show even more astounding increases in these lines
and a yet greater decrease in the number of pianos
built, for 1909 was the peak year in production of
pianos. The list of needs and desires has increased a
hundred-fold within the past ten years. New styles,
new fashions, new inventions clamor for public
recognition. Co-operative merchandising, skillful
advertising and intelligent salesmanship attract atten-
tion, fan the flame of desire and create the public de-
mand. The public is ninety per cent eye-minded.
Music depends upon ear-mindedness. That is why
music is losing out.
Service Before Self.
The music merchant has got to stop thinking of
himself, his store and his line and think in terms of
the customer's needs. Not "What will I get out of
this?" but "What can I give," "How can I help to
bring the love of music into every home, to create
the desire for more music in the heart of every man,
woman and child?" Interest in music must come
first. Lasting love for music depends on developing
the taste for good music. These must lead to a de-
sire to make music, without which there can be no
demand for musical instruments, particularly pianos
and other instruments meant for individual playing
or participation.
Users Determine Markets.
How can we make America musical? What is
meant by being "musical?" When is a man musical?
When he finds pleasure in music and has some skill
in making music. Do the spectators watching a
construction project constitute the market for ma-
chine tools and materials? Indirectly so. In this
age of machinery, called the Industrial Revolution,
machinists have had to be trained. In the manual
training departments, every boy has a chance to learn
the uses of tools and machines and to develop the
skill of his hands. In the home economic depart-
ments, every girl may learn the household arts and
the uses of modern home equipment. In the com-
merce departments any student may acquire skill in
modern business methods and the uses of modern
office equipment.
Making Prospects.
A notable example of the effect of stimulating de-
mand for a particular article is found in the textile
industry. There was no demand for bathing suits in
towns remote from oceans, lakes or streams. Manu-
facturers of bathing suits therefore conducted a na-
tional campaign for the establishment of natatoriums
and public bathing pools, particularly in the inland
cities. National advertising pictured the pleasure and
health to be found in swimming and in aquatic sports.
Contests were staged and newspaper publicity cre-
ated. Why should anyone want to swim the English
Channel? Who finances the American bathing beauty
contests? The answer is that it makes wonderful
publicity!
Another striking example is the publicity given to
baseball and football. Why will a college man sub-
mit to the discipline administered to football players?
Why should he take the brutal knocks and the risks
of permanent physical injury? The answer is the
game, the glory and the publicity! The amateur, not
the professional, makes the market!
Suppose that automobile markets depended upon
the spectators at auto races. Suppose that the only
drivers were professional racers or expert chauffeurs
who had acquired their skill at the expense of long
years of training, and suppose there were no "boob"
drivers, how many cars would there be in America?
How big a bank-balance would Henry have? The
amateur, not the professional, makes the market!
How America Became Artistic.
The clothing business doubled from 1914 to 1921,
but the people did not buy so much more cotton,
wool and silk. They did not even buy so much more
warmth or comfort. They bought appearance, beauty
and style. They had to be educated to want these
esthetic values. The beauty shows, theaters, movie
stars and actresses set the example yesterday. To-
day, society follows suit. Tomorrow, Sadie and
Sally sport the imitations.
The call for cosmetics is many times greater than
the market for music. Suppose lipsticks were limited
to the stage. Then, where would the market be? As
it is, every woman, God bless her, is an artist. The
amateur, not the professional, makes the market!
How America Became Literate.
One more illustration will bring the analogies
nearer to music. The volume of printed matter,
books, magazines and newspapers, almost trebled
from 1914 to 1921. It amounted to well over two
billion dollars, possibly three billion, at retail, in 1921.
Now just suppose that this vast market depended
upon only such readers as could afford to learn the
art of reading from private teachers. Where would
the market be? How many people would still be
illiterate? Probably almost as many as are now
unmusical! Education for the masses dates back to
about 1844, or eighty-one years ago, with the estab-
lishment of the public school system. Today, ele-
mentary education is compulsory. In 1910 the per-
ccnta.ge of illiterates in the United States was 7.7%,
in 1920 it was only 6%. The amateur, not the pro-
fessional, makes the market.
Make America Musical.
Before we can answer the question of how to
"Make America Musical," we must first find out what
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