Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Talking with a leading manufacturer recently, he remarked:
"I have been much interested in the policy which The Review has
urged, that manufacturers should establish the prices at which their
pianos shall be sold at retail. I feel, with The Review, that this is
the keynote to the business situation, and the quicker that it is put
in general use the better it will be for the entire industry."
Our friend is correct, and gradually we are winning over the
support of conservative business men to the belief that the manu-
facturers themselves should establish the price at which their pro-
ducts shall be offered to home purchasers. If 25 per cent, of the
piano manufacturers to-day should enter into this agreement, it
would at once fix the status of every instrument, because those who
remain outside would have to fall in line, or the general public
would place a certain grading upon their instruments which would
not be beneficial to them.
I
F manufacturers establish their own prices, it will do away
at one swoop with misrepresentation and fraud on the part of
some dealers who are to-day asking for low-grade instruments,
prices which should entitle the purchasers to own high-grade pianos.
One weakness to the. proposition to-day lies in the fact that some
manufacturers of cheap instruments know that some of their dealers
are receiving more than they should from retail purchasers for those
pianos, and they fear that if they establish an honest price on their
own instruments that it will offend some of the men who are handling
a large percentage of their product, simply because they will be
choked off, through the nationalization of prices, from getting exor-
bitant rates for low-grade pianos.
Of course, they will hesitate, but some day the move will ha\e
to be made, iest the piano business, outside of half a dozen of the
great names, will be reduced to the basis of the sewing machine
trade.
T
HEN again, if this move were made, it would do much to regu-
late terms on which pianos are sold and to lessen the period
over which the deferred payments are to run.
We have been presenting arguments along these lines because
' we believe that sooner or later the entire piano trade must meet the
situation broadly which is being forced upon it by some unscrupulous
dealers. It is nonsense to talk about one price when that is not a
national one established by the manufacturers themselves. Of
course, there must be differences at points where there are extreme
freight tariffs, but this matter can be easily adjusted.
S
TORE attractiveness is a business essential which should not be
overlooked by any live piano merchant. It doesn't pay to stop
putting in good windows just as soon as the holidays are over. The
time to dress windows is' all the year round. The holidays, it is true,
call for something extra, but good, snappy, effective, business-bring-
ing windows should be in line all the time.
Lyon & Healy, the great Chicago house, fully appreciates the
advantage of attractive windows, and it is rare indeed to pass this
great establishment without observing something in the musical line
•which causes passers-by to halt and study for a while. A great
many piano men are content to run along in an indifferent manner
for eleven months in the year, and then try to make a little flurry
just at holiday time. No wonder that some think there is nothing
in advertising, and not very much in window dressing either.
T
HE facts are that no man can expect to get good returns from
publicity who expends a few dollars for advertising during
holidays, and dresses up his windows a trifle at that time. It is
like the advertiser in a trade journal who puts in a small card, and
wonders why it doesn't bring him enormous returns. The progres-
sive business element of the trade know that in order to make money
they must spend money, and the fact is well known among adver-
tisers that one or two insertions in a local newspaper seldom produce
very much effect. It takes steady, continuous advertising to bring
results. People have to get acquainted with the name as well as the
goods before they begin to give the dealer's advertisement serious
consideration, but with the window the case is somewhat differ-
ent. The appeal is direct, and the actual goods are there
before the eyes of the passing throng. An estimate can be made of
both their style and quality. It doesn't pay to slow up in the slight-
est degree; whether, one is appealing to a particular trade or the
general public, it is publicity all the time, and an advertiser must
keep on educating himself all of the time. He must be a voracious
reader of the newspapers and magazines especially. He ought to
keep on reading history all of the time. Literature on merchandise
is not so important, as he gets his information first hand from the
merchandise itself and from the merchandise man, but he must
always keep abreast of the times.
W
HILE the music trade may need a reformation, it does not
need a revolution, and sensationalists can have no place of
respect in an industry when they attempt to question its financial
security. We are not going to pieces at the present, and the walls
are not crumbling, and we hardly need the warnings from the yellow
trade journals to secure the business interests. There was a little
girl ,in a Pennsylvania town, who in saying her prayers the other
night was told to pray for her father and mother, who were both
very ill, and for one of the servants, who had lost her husband. She
faithfully did as she was told, and then, impressed with the dreary
condition of things, added to her own account: "And now, O God,
take good care of yourself, for if anything should happen to you
we should all go to pieces. Amen!"
D
URING the winter months there is always more or less com-
plaining on the part of dealers that pianos are not received
in proper condition—that the polish has lost its luster, the varnish is
checked, as well as various other complaints.
This is particularly and especially true of fine case work, and
it is pretty difficult to adjust matters of this kind in a satisfactory
manner. We saw recently in a Western town a beautiful piano
that was actually perspiring. It. was as dew on the grass on a sum-
mer morning'. The case had been frozen. Possibly it may seem
a little strange to speak of frozen pianos, but w r e have seen frozen
fish, frozen meat and frozen feet, but refrigerated pianos may seem
ridiculous, but is it ridiculous? Moisture is never entirely elimi-
nated from wood, and kiln-dried lumber absorbs moisture faster
than dry lumber, and moisture congeals in a low temperature.
P
IANOS are manufactured and finished in factories where the
temperature ranges from 72 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. They
may be absolutely perfect in finish when shipped, but they are packed
into cars, and perhaps are two or three weeks reaching their desti-
nation, and during the extremely cold weather they are frozen clear
thrgugh. The dealers, instead of allowing these instruments to
remain in moderately heated quarters to undergo the thawing pro-
cess, immediately remove them into warerooms where the tempera-
ture is perhaps about the same as at the factory. The pianos begin
to thaw and to perspire, and the dealers begin to complain. But
complaints along these lines are entirely without reason. Piano •
manufacturers can do a great many things, but they have not as yet
found out any way in which they can regulate the climate of the
various States through which piano shipments pass during winter
months.
I
P might be possible to remove the source of these complaints if
there were enough steam-heated cars to go round, but there are
not, and dealers should use extreme caution in removing pianos from
ice cold cars to warm rooms. Better let them stand for a few days
in a cold storage room adjoining the wareroom, so that they may
thaw gradually. The sudden moving from a cold car into a hot
room will ruin the finest finish in the world.
P
LAYER pianos will be more in evidence during the present
year than ever before, and it must be conceded by those who
have watched the growth of this popular trade favorite that the in-
side player is to-day a powerful factor in piano selling. New claim-
ants for trade patronage are constantly being added, and the inside
player mechanism is being developed constantly on more advanced
lines. Betterments are being made which have a tendency to re-
duce the space required for the interior mechanism and to add to its
attraction as a medium through which music may be produced.
I
N a recent case of some notoriety a lawyer who is noted for his
flowery oratory was defending the accused. Wishing to em-
phasize the tender relation that had existed between his client and
the complainant, he exclaimed in the middle of an impassioned
speech : "What does Omar say on this subject? 'A dog and a bone
and a hank of hair and thou singing beside me in the wilderness.' "
And to this clay he doesn't understand why his respectfully attentive
audience laughed.