Music Trade Review

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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL. LXX. No. 24
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
June 12, 1920
Single Copies 10 Cent*
$2.00 Per Year
Associations
I
T has been remarked several times in the past year that there are at present, or promise to.-be, too many
separate associations in the trade'—associations representing this or that division or faction of the industry
with many objectives overlapping and presenting the danger of certain association activities working at
cross-purposes. Were the present number of associations in existence some years ago, the statement that
there were too many might have carried some weight, but through the medium of the Music Industries Chamber
of Commerce the various and sundry trade bodies are now working more or less along common lines and are
individual in their operations only so far as certain other activities affect some particular section of the trade
and are not of interest to the other sections.
It sometimes happens, even to-day, that certain concerns are called upon through the ramifications of
their business to be represented in several trade bodies—that is, if they are really inclined to support the association
program in full—but in all such cases these same concerns stand to derive distinct benefits from each of the
associations with which their representatives are affiliated. There is, so far as can be seen, no association that
could really be consolidated with others, or eliminated entirely, without leaving a distinct gap in the organization
chain. On occasions there has been some talk among piano manufacturers of the burden of supporting morally
and financially the work of both national and local associations, and in some cases State associations, but while
the national association is distinctly necessary for the welding together of the interests of the industry throughout
the country, the local association is equally important in its own particular field for the handling of problems that
are distinctly local in their scope and effect. A particular instance of this lies in the handling of the strike in
New York last Fall by local associations. This was a matter in which the trade throughout the country was
naturally interested, but it was likewise a matter that could only be handled successfully through a local
association, the interests of which were most directly affected.
The Chamber of Commerce plan, heralded as visionary at the outset by many trade members, has proven
distinctly practical, and under the present method of operation distinctly progressive. The plan depends for its
success upon the organization of national and local associations among the various divisions of the industry—
associations that not only bring and hold together the division members for their own best interests, but weld
them into live units in supporting the Chamber of Commerce in carrying on the work of that organization.
During the past year or so several local associations, particularly among retailers, have almost been allowed to
die through lack of interest on the part of the members, and this lack of interest can be duly credited to the fact
that the average association is not sufficient within itself really to prove a powerful factor, either for the
elimination of evils or for the betterment of the trade.
It is by co-operating with other associations and directly, or through them, with the national organization,
or with the Chamber of Commerce, that these local bodies can remain helpful and grow. The interests of the
trade in all sections of the country, and the interests of the several divisions of the trade, are so closely allied that
a certain amount of co-operation is essential, whether or not the local executives are inclined to promote it. A
thorough realization of this fact, and likewise of the fact that no one section of the trade can stand aloof from all
the other sections, will serve to answer the association question and to make for permanent, stronger organization.
In •emphasizing this close relationship between the various factors and divisions of the industry the Chamber of
Commerce is performing a service that is distinctly worthy of commendation. There cannot be too many
associations if they are all w r orking to a common end and for the common good and under intelligent direction.
The danger comes when they insist upon operating as individual units, with the result that there is a duplication
of effort and at times a conflict of interests. If the industry is to be regarded as an industry, and not simply as a
conglomeration of individual ideas, the trend of association work must be toward unification.