Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MUSIC TMDE
1
->—-—-.^A
PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 26, 1918
jraiffHBrfiKrfti^i^i^i^K^fiiy^^
?fsi?rfii?ra[^i}r^i?rftigffi^ii^^
The Player-Piano Idea of Music Has Never Been "Sold" to the Public,
and Changing Conditions Render a Revision of Selling Methods and Much
More Intensive Education of the Public By the Dealer Absolutely Imperative
Some day, no doubt, the world will have
ceased from the clash of arms; but that does
not mean that every reform, every improve-
ment, every desirable change in the conduct of.
our trade, must wait till the coming victory is
won. That victory is as certain as the rising
of to-morrow's sun; and each day brings it
nearer. But when it will have been consum-
mated is another matter, and we shall be very
foolish if we worry about that side of it at all.
No! our job is to continue doing our duty to
the nation and to the cause in which that nation
is engaged and to which it is pledged, not for-
getting to keep our business going steadily in
the meantime.
Among the things we must do to keep going
this business of ours which is so important to
us all, steadily going, is to get closer to the
people. Of course, to this the dealer will an-
swer that he is keeping as close as possible al-
ready; but the reply must be that we are not
talking about bargain advertising or anything
like that. We mean that the dealer, and still
more the manufacturer, must make up his mind
that from now on he will not fool himself with
the belief that the player-piano and music roll
business is going to take care of its own de-
mand. It is perfectly true that the present
momentary situation is such that a seller's mar-
ket exists. But this is a momentary condition
only. At the most, it will not last longer than
the war. It is, therefore, highly important that
we begin right now to get ourselves into trim
to take care of the conditions which will exist
just as soon as the seller's market becomes a
buyer's market again.
"Bought—Not Sold"
It has been said many times in the past that
the player-piano has always been bought and
never been sold. The record of the Aeolian
Co. in its retail stores, and of some other re-
tailers, shows indeed that the statement is over-
drawn as a generalization; but its essential ac-
curacy with respect to the general practice of
the trade cannot be denied. We have not, as a
ti J ade,.been close to the people. We have not
brought home to the people throughout the
country the real, right-to-home personal mean-
ing of the player-piano to them. We have let
them form thpir own opinions of the player-
piano and we have done nothing systematic to
guide them into a knowledge of what they
should expect, how they should act, with the
player-piano. We have let them set their own
standards and then we have wondered why they
have not taken up the instrument, made it their
own, appreciated its possibilities fully, and taken
it to their hearts.
A New Era
Now, we may think what we please to think
about these matters, but we cannot escape the
facts. A new era is opening for all the world,
in political, economic and social relations. New
ideas are coming forth to fruition and business
men must adjust themselves to the conditions
they will have to face. The musical instru-
ment trades have always had a reputation for
being especially conservative and the piano men
particularly have seemed to shun new ideas with
a positive horror.
But this condition of af-
fairs must not be permitted to stand between
the public and the player-piano. The player-
piano is not a piano; it is a piano plus something
else. The something else is the more impor-
tant element. The player-piano is to-day's in-
strument; the piano is the instrument of yester-
day. The player-piano will have to be put across
by methods adapted to the new conditions which
the world is already evolving out of the welter
of the world war. We shall have to make up
our minds to begin all over again, to sell the
player-piano idea of music to the people of
the world. Unless we make up our mind to do
this, the player-piano will take a back seat.
Of the various and not impossible practical
methods of doing these necessary things, we can
speak now only most sketchily. The object of
words like these is to promote and stimulate
constructive thinking by business men.
We
cannot tell a business man how he shall exactly
run his own business. That sort of thing, gone
mad, has been the Prussian idea, and is now
busily engaged in destroying itself. But we
can and should try to discover principles ap-
plicable universally to business problems, and
state these in such a manner that they can be
utilized for the betterment of any individual
business. That is what we are now trying to do.
Individualism
TJie idea of getting close to the people is the
foundation of all successful selling campaigns.
The individualism of the piano-making business
and the comparatively small scale of individual
concerns renders very difficult either a com-
munity of action among all concerns in the in-
dustry or effective national action by any indi-
vidual concern. Yet there can be no doubt
whatever that the work already done through
the National Bureau for the Advancement of
Music shows one direction which should be pur-
sued to the utmost. Whatever can be done,
even indirectly, to bring about a greater love
for, and familiarity with, the idea of music in
the home is absolutely right and proper. Yet
it must be steadily remembered that it is use-
less to talk about music in the home unless and
until we can show the people that some instru-
mentality exists for bringing this music to the
home and keeping it there in such a way that
even supposedly unmusical people will know
that they can get it on call, even though they
cannot play the piano themselves. The aim
of all our work must be, not merely to tell peo-
ple they should have music in the home, not
merely, indeed, to show them that the player-
piano will give music when they want it; but to
make them believe that the player-piano is the
best "music-in-the-home" instrument and that
they really want what the player-piano has to
give them.
"Put It Across"
That the player-piano is indeed truly all this
no one who knows the facts can dream of de-
nying. As little, however, can one deny that
we have not been putting the player-piano
across. It is still the instrument which makes
"mechanical music"; and the masses of the peo-
ple still regard it as a very, very poor substi-
tute for "real hand playing." Years of stupid
and short-sighted exploitation have firmly fixed
these notions in the public mind. They cannot
be driven out merely by wishing. It is going
to be absolutely necessary for us to revise
methods for putting the truth about the repro-
ducing and the player-pianos up to the Ameri-
can people; and that means, as far as the writer
can see, undertaking a national campaign of
intensive local musical promotion. Community
sings, public school music, music dealer's re-
citals, all things of these sorts are to be sedu-
lously cultivated during the coming years; and
especially the possibilities of the player-piano
must be brought forward as the home parallel
to the community musical society. That is the
big task as we see it; and we are convinced
that unless some idea such as this penetrates
the trade's general consciousness during the next
few months there will be found once more,
when the crisis comes, an unready industry and
a lost opportunity. Let us begin, now, to agi-
tate the question of "selling" the player once
more to the people, and selling it right this
time.
The Warde Piano Co., now located at 124
West Twenty-fourth street, have leased new
headquarters at 66-70 Kast 125th street, New
York City.