Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
11
THE QUESTION OF MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICES DISCUSSED—(Continued from page 9)
$395 and any money made on it; that if we per-
sist in the manufacture of cheap player-pianos
we will educate the public to the wrong idea
of the player, with the result that people will
go back to buying straight pianos. It is not in-
frequent that we have a customer come into oui
place of business and say, 'No, I don't care to
hear a player; my neighbor has one.'
"In my opinion the majority of sales in the
very near future will be for pianos at $300 and
grand pianos between $500 and $700. Concerns
who are manufacturing high grade players sell-
ing in the neighborhood of $650 will do the
player business.
"So far as advertising the pianos is concerned,
I should say the minimum on players is too low;
that $425 should be the minimum on a fairly
good player and that the advertising of specific
terms be eliminated, and to sell more pianos and
less terms. I think the advertising of the terms
is a subject that you should give even more
prominence to than the advertising of prices, as
one of the piano man's greatest losses is re-
possession."
EARNEST DEALERS SHOULD BE IN ACCORD WITH PLAN
Wishes Question Had Been Brought Up at Meeting of Milwaukee Association for Action, Declares
Edmund Gram—Favors Minimum Advertised Price for Own Establishment—Other Dealers' Views
MILWAUKEE, WIS., May 28.—Local piano dealers
who for many years have been devoting their
time and energy unselfishly to the elevation of
the piano business could not be in greater ac-
cord with the movement for the establishment
of minimum advertising prices to be abided by
by the various dealers.
From all indications the Milwaukee Associa-
tion of Music Industries, recently organized for
below those prices, and at the same time as-
sure him that the pianos are of first-class calibre
is a phenomenon. I am certainly heartily in
favor of the establishment of an advertising
minimum, and I would go further than that,
were it possible. It would be a fine idea to
supplement the movement for the establish-
ment of an advertising minimum with an en-
deavor to eliminate in some manner all ten-
dency to cheapness in the inner circle and not
simply limit the idea to the factor of publicity."
"The idea is beautiful, and perhaps it may be
worked out, but not -until a certain element is
eliminated from the business," said Hugh W.
Randall, vice-president of the J. B. Bradford
Piano Co., which for many years has handled the
Mason & Hamlin, Melville Clark, Sohmer and
others.
"There is a certain faction in different parts
of the country that makes its living through the
methods which the piano minimum would pre-
clude," he continued. "In waging this campaign
for a higher piano sales platform, the various ad-
vertising* clubs would be material factors in
keeping price "bunk" out of publications, and
the unprincipled dealers would be restricted to
their own windows in the promotion of their
undependable and false-bottom methods. The
idea is surely well worth trying."
"What a wonderful thing it would be to raise
the piano dealing plane to a higher level by
inaugurating a real, organized campaign to es-
tablish a minimum price on pianos and players
and have every dealer revere it as his stand-
ard," said Charles J. Orth, handling the Strich
& Zeidler, Winter, Rudolf and others. "The pub-
lic must be taught to see actual values—not bar-
gains, for in the highest fields of piano transac-
tion so-called 'bargains' have no place,* 1 con-
tinued Mr. Orth. "I am strong for the estab-
lishment of a minimum at $225 for uprights
and $450 for players, and, more than that, it
would be still a greater accomplishment if the
'cheap' element could in some manner be
squelched, and the minimum made to apply to
actual sales as well as to the advertising me-
diums."
E. A. KIESELHORST OFFERS SOME INTERESTING VIEWS
Believes That Fixing a Minimum Price Above Price of Cheapest Instrument Would Give the Pub-
lic Wrong Impression—Believes $395 Too High as Minimum Price for Players
Edmund Gram
the purpose of promoting the legitimate busi-
ness interests and social benefits of the musical
instruments circle of Milwaukee, will support
this movement to elevate the piano business.
"I wish that the matter of establishing mini-
mum advertising prices had been called to my
attention before the last meeting of the Mil-
waukee Association, for it would certainly have
met with response," said Edmund Gram, presi-
dent of the Gram Piano Co., and president of the
Milwaukee Association of Music Industries.
Mr. Gram is highly enthusiastic over the pros-
pects of establishing a minimum publicity price
of $225 for uprights and $450 for players. "A
fine idea," he said, "of which I am greatly in
favor. Its benefits would be far-reaching and
lasting. Prices in some parts are being slashed
to such a low level that there is danger of the
business at large suffering. The public must
be taught to appreciate values, and the way to
bring about a more favorable condition is to
adopt the regulating factor of minimum price."
"It is about time that the piano men who re-
spect their business and wish to preserve its
reputation and standing were getting together
in some move to maintain a minimum level on
which to address the public," said L. T. Jentz,
who represents the Krakauer, Stultz & Bauer,
Bogart, Merrill and others in this city.
"This practice of littering the windows with
a big variety of pianos knocked down to rock-
bottom prices is doing nothing but detracting
from the reputation of the piano business,"
continued Mr. Jentz, "and there is nothing ab-
normal about establishing $250 as a minimum on
uprights and $450 on players. Furthermore, I
wish to say that any man who can conscientious-
ly sell a customer in his store any instruments
Concerning the New York piano merchants'
proposal to set a minimum price for advertising
pianos and player pianos, E. A. Kieselhorst of
the Kieselhorst Piano Co., St. Louis, Mo., thinks
it would be a decided mistake to set a minimum
above the actual selling price.
"There is one thing we must guard carefully
against," said Mr. Kieselhorst, "that is permit-
ting the public to get the impression that the old
graft still is in the piano business. We have
been educating the public to believe that the
piano business is on an equitable business basis
and pianos are sold for what they are worth,
based on the cost of making.
"If we can sell a well made, reliable piano for
$195, I think we should advertise that fact. I
see no object in advertising a higher figure and
permitting the prospective piano customer to
believe that he can buy a "best Victrola" for
less. There is a large number of people who
believe that the best Victrola costs $200. I do
not know why they believe that, but they do.
Of course they learn differently when they come
to buy, but that is not a part of this argument.
I am talking of the people who get their im-
pressions from advertisements.
"I think $395 for a player is too high. . Re-
cently the Gulbransen-Dickinson have been
advertising a 'nationally priced player' for $375.
Certainly no dealer should arbitrarily price
goods above that figure when he has something
that he can sell at that, for this advertising fixes
a price for a reliable player-piano.
"My suggestion is to advertise goods honestly
and to censor out of all advertising anything
that sounds cheap. We do not at any time use
the word 'cheap' in advertising this house, nor
do we use any words that we think lowers in
any way the quality or standing of our mer-
chandise.
"Our advertising plan is based on the slogan,
'A piano in every home,' and while we are
working along this line, I cannot see any objec-
tion to advertising terms, for it is the homes that
must buy on terms that are. to be reached by
advertising.
"I believe it is the duty of the piano mer-
chants to advertise their goods at low prices
and to state their terms in positive figures, so
that the public may know that here is a piano
house of long standing, a reliable house, one
that stands by its merchandise and handles only
good instruments, that are within the reach of
all. The farther the trade stays away from too
cheap goods, or from placing the ideas of value
too high, the better for the trade.
"We are very careful not to give the im-
pression that our low priced pianos are as good
as those that cost more, but we want the people
to come to us for any priced piano they may
want, rather than to get the idea that they must
go elsewhere, where they will not get a reliable
instrument.
"I think it is a good idea to advertise below
$200, because $200 sounds to a lot of persons
like a lot more money than $199. The very
sound of $200 is big to the average individual.
As long as we can keep a piano below $200 we
can reach people we could not reach any other
way. It is not hard to convince customers to
buy a piano for $270, while if you advertised
a minimum of $225 it would sound almost as
much and they would buy a Victrola and let it
go at that."
CLEVELAND RETAILERS OFFER VARIOUS OPINIONS
Fixing of Minimum Advertised Prices a Capital Idea, But Not Practical, Says Henry Dreher—Too
Many Dishonest Merchants to Kill Success of Plan, Declares A. W. West—Other Views
CLEVELAND. O., May 21.—A number of Cleve-
land piano men were interviewed on the prop-
osition discussed by the piano dealers of New
York that $225 should be the minimum price
at which pianos should be advertised and $450
the price at which players should be adver-
tised for sale.
Oscar Dreher said: "I think the plan as out-
lined is altogether too ideal for any practical
consideration by piano dealers. It is a capital
idea, but in my mind could never be carried out
successfully.
The high-class piano houses
would not consent to any such arrangement be-
cause it is known that the dishonest dealers
would not live up to it in any sense of the word.
If you could get the manufacturers of pianos
back of the plan, that is to make a rule with
(Continued on page 12)