Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC
Cditor and Proprietor.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
J. B. SP1LLANE,
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GEO. B. KELLER,
WM. B. WHITE,
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EMILIE FRANCIS BAUER,
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Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
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Lyman BilL
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in Its
THE ARTISTS* "Artists' Department" all the current musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or service of the trade
DEPARTMENT section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and therefore
augments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
m i r n n u v . / PIANO T n e directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
DIK.ECTOKT «f PIANO f o u n ( j o n another page will be of great value, as a reference
MANVFACTUR.ER.S
f or dealers and others.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE—NVMBER 1745 GRAMERCY.
NEW YORH, JUNE 17. 19O5.
T the Piano Manufacturers' Convention, the proposition to
hold a trade exhibition was not viewed with favor. There is, (
however, more in this exhibit or project than appears noticeable
at the first glance.
It is worthy the most serious consideration, and if the right
men were behind the enterprise, a music trade exposition, in either
New York or Chicago, would pay, and pay well, besides being
an incalculable benefit to the entire trade.
Suppose, for instance, that instead of holding the convention
next year in some out of the way town in Indiana, the dealers and
manufacturers should hold a convention together, in the city of
New York, and that Madison Square Garden were leased for
exposition purposes for the week. If this exhibition then were in
the hands of capable men who would give a breadth and scope to
the whole enterprise, would it not naturally draw hundreds of
dealers to town from all over America, who could see for the first
time in their lives the product of the various manufacturers side by
side, and then could give each intelligent comparison with the other?
A
I
T, too, would be of vast benefit to manufacturers, for a large
number of them are not at all familiar with the products of
many of their competitors, save through the reports which reach
them from their traveling representatives. It would certainly give
an impetus to the entire industry, and it would show the highest
type which the manufacturers have been able to produce in piano
construction. Probably this kind of an exposition would result,
after a year or two, in interesting every piano manufacturer of
note in this country, and dealers would look forward to these an-
unal expositions with as much interest as the furniture men do
towards the great furniture expositions which are held in Grand
Rapids and New York. The exposition could be broadened so
as to include every line of musical product. There could be, of
course, special musical entertainment features, and if thought de-
sirable, these could be made of sufficient interest to attract the pub-
lic and sell tickets of admittance.
T
H E exposition idea should not be passed over lightly, for
there is a great deal in it, and a large music trade exposition
would be given a powerful impetus if it were to be held under the
auspices of the Piano Manufacturers' Association.
REVIEW
How much better and more enjoyable the whole convention
proposition would become if the 'dealers knew that they could visit
a certain city and see all the best work produced by the most im-
portant piano manufacturers in this country! • They could see their
own lines and compare them with their competitors, and it would
form the most interesting of all trade exhibits. If would be worthy
of a long pilgrimage. Then in the larger cities they could select
their own hotels away from the crowds and noise, if they so desired,
or they could mingle with the busy throng and drink innumerable
healths to every one, if so inclined. They would not be at the mercy
of conscienceless landlords, who, in the smaller towns, seem,to look
upon convention members as their legitimate prey.
•-•'.
I
T is-a -big proposition and must be handled in a large way. It
will require considerable time and expenditure of money as
well, but it will come some day in this good old trade of ours. It
will come just as sure as the place of association meetings will be
canceled in the smaller towns, for that time is coming, and very
rapidly, too.
The American business man does not wish to be forced to
pay tribute to a hotel keeper, and put up with certain inconven-
iences in the way of rooms and accommodations, poorly cooked food
to which he is not accustomed, and when lie pays the high-water
price he has a reasonable basis for objection to low-water service.
S
UPPOSE the Dealers' Association should not merely pass reso-
lutions, but should agree to stand by them to the effect that
hereafter no free tunings or free music lessons would be considered
in piano sales. There would at once be a practical point made
through association work which would effect the pocket-book of
every piano merchant in this country. A princely sum would be
saved in profits annually for the entire industry, if these concessions
were entirely eliminated, and why, in the name of good business
sense, should they not be ? What other trade even considers a con-
cession after a sale is made?
With all other lines of manufacture it is hard work up to the time
of the sales closing, but when the papers are signed that «nds it;
but with the sale of a piano it does not. It is free tunings, free
music lessons, free stool, free cover, and in some cases, free lunches,
all of which cuts down the original profit on the piano.
o
NE stroke like this would do more to build up the Dealers'
Association than almost any other act that, might be agreed
upon.
The San Francisco Dealers' Association has been doing some
mighty good work. - The members have taken a clear headed, prac-
tical view of the situation, and have realized that many abuses have
crept in, and which have been continued simply because each man
has fallen into the habit of doing as much as his neighbor. In the
meantime they have all been losing money that might have been
saved and turned into profits.
There is no reason in the world why the piano merchants of
this country should not make up their minds to at once eliminate
a lot of these old moss-covered customs which have crept in, and
have been permitted to remain, simply because some one has not
had the courage to come out boldly and attack the whole proposi-
tion as an antiquated appendage attached to an already heavily
laden mercantile craft.
T
H E R E are a lot of absurd customs which have crept into
this trade, one man going a little better than his neighbor,
until, when we come to survey the situation from an independent
viewpoint, it must be admitted that there is a mass of tommyrot
which ought to be swept away and good sound business principles
introduced to replace the worn out and expensive customs. Take
the piano guarantee of to-day. What does it amount to? Every
manufacturer who takes a pride in his work and his name will
willingly make good any legitimate claims which may come through
poor workmanship or material, but simply through this universal
guarantee there* are thousands of illegal and dishonest claims made
upon manufacturers, all of which means time and money. It means
worriment in answering letters to dealers who have unruly and
dissatisfied cusfomers who think they can hold up the manufacturer
who has guaranteed every instrument to stand everything from
a tornado to a Togo's battery. They have the most absurd and non-
sensical complaints to make, which some manufacturers are weak
enough to allow, simply because they fear that it will make trouble