Presto

PRESTO-TIMES
June 25, 1927.
for example, to secure a decision from the
Brown family to bring itself up to date by
buying a baby grand piano while at the same
The American Music Trade Weekly
time the Browns are being beset to buy a new
radio, a new automobile, a new fur coat, or to
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
join a country club. It is the effort of every
industry to bring the public to a proper knowl-
Editors
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT •
edge and appreciation of its products as a
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
means to the greater consumption of them.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
* * *
President Moorecraft of the New York
Entered as second-cla?s matter Jan. 29, 1896. at i
Post Office, Chicago. Illinois, under Act of March 3, IS
State Music Merchants' Association has not
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
only hope but assurance that the 600 music
PayabjA In advance. No extra charge In United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
dealers
of the state will eventually be enrolled
application.
as active members of the organization. Mr.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
CONTEST AS MEANS TO SALES Moorecraft, who has great faith in the per-
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
In a news page of this issue, Mr. Frank J. sonal approach has written a personal letter
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
Bayley tells about the assured success of the to every dealer who has not yet seen the light:
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
forthcoming piano playing tournament in De- "It is our desire to have you use the associa-
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the troit,"in connection with the convention of the tion headquarters at Syracuse as a sort of
editorial or news columns of Presto-Times.
state association of the music trade. But he clearing house for ideas of interest to the New
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of pro-
York State trade, and we wou'd sincerely like
duction will be charged if of commercial character, only suggests beliefs which he has often ex-
to
have you as an active member," he said.
pressed—that such contests are not an end
or other than strictly news interest.
"Dues
are $15 per year, and upon joining the
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is but a means of great potency towards achiev-
requested that their subjects and senders be carefully ing desirable results. Just as Col. Lindbergh State Association you automatically become
indicated.
in his amazing feat accomplished much for a member of the National Association, the
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat- aviation, so a piano contest champion, who above dues covering both bodies."
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
* * *
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before wins the honors in a spectacular final test, in-
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full directly aids piano sales.
Mr. James A. Bates, the Mildletown, N. Y.,
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
Mr. Bayley often has stated that the piano music dealer, is one man who looks backward
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than man who asks him, "How many pianos did the not to see how far he has come, but to renew
Wednesday noon.
contest sell?" does not understand the true his joy at incidents along the road of life. In
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
purposes
of the tournaments. If a tournament an interview given to a Presto-Times man, he
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
in a city so increases enthusiasm for the piano relates his interesting experiences selling or-
that twenty or fifty children become possessed gans when the instruments urgently invited
SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1927.
of the ambition to take piano lessons, they the attention of music houses almost to the
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press may be classed as prospective piano buyers. exclusion of everything else. We live in an
at 11 a. m. Thursday. Any news transpiring Indirectly, their parents have been imbued organ period today, but it is a revival with
after that hour cannot be expected in the cur- with the desire to purchase a piano.
few of the characteristics of the old organ day
rent issue. Nothing received at the office that
which Mr. Bates so clearly and lovingly pic-
is not strictly news of importance can have
tures
in his interview.
attention after 9 a. m. on Thursday. If they
AIDS
PIANO
IN
SCHOOLS
* * *
concern the interests of manufacturers or
The appointment of a Special Piano Com-
dealers such items will appear the week follow-
Competition between two daily newspapers
ing. Copy for advertising designed for the mittee by the Music Supervisors' National
current issue must reach the office not later Conference is of great significance to the piano of Denver, Colo., is the life of piano playing
than Wednesday noon of each week.
trade. It assures a potent aid to piano sales promotion. When one paper, seeking new
promotion, a natural sequence to increased readers, offered a succession of "free" induce-
piano
study in schools. The committee has ments to improve the mind, another started a
SIMPLIFYING THE LINE
functions
similar to the Committee on Instru- "Melody Way Club" and cut the ground from
Manufacturers in the music industry, faced
mental
Affairs,
which has been enabled to do under its competitor's feet, so to speak. Ac-
with the problem of steadily declining price
so
much
for
the
development of bands and cording to our Denver correspondent, the
levels for their class of products, encounter
"Melody Way Club" has caught on in an amaz-
orchestras
in
the
schools.
another problem in making as good a profit
this year as they did last year. As prices go
The Special Piano Committee appointed by ing way.
=H *
*
down under the stress of competition, the usual the national organization of Music Supervis-
The Detroit group of the Michigan Music
course is to hammer down production costs ors should have the effect of liberalizing many
with the hope of at least preserving the same school superintendents who are apathetic or Merchants Association, which has undertaken
relative margin or percentage of profit per unit actually opposed to piano study in the schools. the management of the convention at the
of sale. However, this usually means smaller If the piano committee will bring about results Book-Cadillac Hotel, August 15 to 18, frankly
actual money profit per unit, and the problem for the piano such as the Committee on In- plans a spectacular finale to the piano play-
then becomes one of selling enough more units strumental Affairs has accomplished for brass, ing tournament—a carnival during which
at the lower price to make the same annual net reed and stringed instruments, there will be the populace will howl its congraulations to
profit as before. This effort to increase sales a large increase in school piano classes in the champion.
* * *
volume may so add to a company's cost of do- many places and a more favorable attitude
Standardization in the piano industry is the
ing business that the savings it makes in pro- towards piano classes everywhere.
duction are lost in the distribution of its prod-
Mr. C. M. Tremaine, director of the Na- engineering term for co-operation. It means
uct. In that case, even with the greater vol- tional Bureau for the Advancement of Music, adopting for the common good the accepted
ume sold, net profit may not be as good as in has been personally active in achieving a pur- experience of the majority expressed, to avoid
previous years.
pose which has been his ambition for a long misunderstanding, in basic technical termin-
Such an exigency directs attention to the time—the addition of a special piano con- ology.
* * *
merits of standardization in production and mittee by the supervisors' national body. He
Formerly
the
gospel
of standardization of
the simplification of the line as a safeguard is secretary of the Committee on Instrumental
products
was
preached
as offering to manu-
against smaller net profit. Simplification is Affairs and a natural selection for secretary
facturers
salvation
from
the evils of waste;
favored by groups of musical merchandise of the new piano committee.
but
now
a
step
beyond
that
is taken and Sim-
manufacturers and it goes hand in hand with
plified
Practice
is
the
watchword.
standardization. It has been definitely proven
Competition today is the rivalry for busi-
* * *
in numerous instances that "simplification" re- ness between industries. It is the effort of one
duces both the costs of production and distri- industry to secure public acceptance of its
Another promotion idea which everybody
bution. It has likewise been definitely proven commodity against the effort of many other admits is going to help business is that for
that "diversification" adds to both production industries, each seeking to do the same thing. getting piano class instruction into the public
and selling costs. To add another number to It is the effort of the Jones-Smith Piano Co., schools of this country.
the line might be all right if they, at the same
time, dropped or discarded some slow-moving
or seldom-wanted line number. The practice
of striving for greater volume by adding new
lines, meanwhile hanging on to all the old
ones, soon makes the whole line top-heavy,
and inventory rapidly piles up with items that
do not turn over. Profits that would other-
wise have been made on the live lines are ab-
sorbed in the costs of carrying the dead ones
in stock. As the variety increases, the burden
on plant facilities and the whole production
personnel increases, and sooner or later manu-
facturing costs go up instead of down.
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