Music Trade Review
Issue: 1920 Vol. 71 N. 14 - Page 3
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MUJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXl. No. 14
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Oct. 2, 1920
Single Copies 10 Cent!
18.00 Per Year
Confidence
NE of the agreeable features of the present trade situation is a better understanding between the
majority of piano merchants and the piano manufacturers—an understanding that should, and for
that matter does, go far to solve the problems and smooth out the.rough spots in our trade today.
This understanding between the producing and distributing factors in the trade is the direct result
of the confidence that has been built up by a majority of manufacturers through years of fair dealing with the
distributors of their products.
It is no unusual thing to find piano merchants who attribute a large part of their success to the sound
advice and the co-operation ottered them by the manufacturers. .This is in no sense philanthropy, because
the manufacturer's success rests entirely upon the success of his distributing agents and their cause is quite
as much his cause.
There have been, and perhaps are today, certain manufacturers who have sacrificed their dealers' inter-
ests in an effort to build big sales totals and profits unduly, but if is only a question of time when the dealers realize
the fact that they are not getting proper treatment, and the reaction upon the manufacturer is quick and direct.
The manufacturer who gives his dealers wise counsel regarding buying, who watches the dealers' credits care-
full v—often perhaps for self-protection—and who advises against overstocking and other unwise business
methods, at the proper time, has been responsible for keeping more than one dealer off the rocks.
The wholesale traveler, on the other hand, who carries with him a knowledge of successful business
methods in many sections of the country, and an understanding of how those methods can be applied in cer-
tain territories, has been able to offer to the retailer information of practical value that would otherwise be
unavailable. The average retail merchant has his own territory to watch and has little time for observing
the tactics of his contemporaries in other sections, and it is the traveling man who is called upon to carry
information of the sort that is always helpful.
When we see piano merchants stand up in convention, as they did in Ohio, and defend the manufac-
turer, even to the extent of singing his praises, as well as justifying existing high prices by describing some
of the problems with which the manufacturer is faced today, there is no doubt about the understanding that
exists between these two important factors of the piano trade. The confidence that rests between the merchant
and the manufacturer may perhaps prove the salvation of the industry should a period of general business
depression arrive.
The manufacturer who sells intelligently and does not endeavor to meet the problems of overproduction
at the expense of the retailer who accepts his advice in the matter of buying, is holding confidence and keep-
ing his business sound. The manufacturer who, on the other hand, protects his own interests at the expense
of the retailer is only going so far before his tactics are discovered, and his business suffers as a result.
" All the associations in the country will not achieve as much in promoting confidence and understanding
between the manufacturer and merchant as can be accomplished by the common-sense attitude of members of
these two branches of the industry. It is not a question of organized understanding, but of individual under-
standing. The manufacturer who has the confidence of his dealers enjoys an enviable position, which he would
not, or at least should not, sacrifice under any condition. The interests of the purchaser and the distributor
in the trade are too closely interwoven to permit of one protecting his business at the expense of the other.
The manufacturer whose motto is "sell the goods," regardless of how they are sold, or whether the dealer
in buying them is working for the best interests of his business, is not building for the future. Confidence is
the biggest thing in business, and the fact that it exists so widely in the piano trade between manufacturers
and merchants argues much for the soundness of our particular industry.
O
MUJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXl. No. 14
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Oct. 2, 1920
Single Copies 10 Cent!
18.00 Per Year
Confidence
NE of the agreeable features of the present trade situation is a better understanding between the
majority of piano merchants and the piano manufacturers—an understanding that should, and for
that matter does, go far to solve the problems and smooth out the.rough spots in our trade today.
This understanding between the producing and distributing factors in the trade is the direct result
of the confidence that has been built up by a majority of manufacturers through years of fair dealing with the
distributors of their products.
It is no unusual thing to find piano merchants who attribute a large part of their success to the sound
advice and the co-operation ottered them by the manufacturers. .This is in no sense philanthropy, because
the manufacturer's success rests entirely upon the success of his distributing agents and their cause is quite
as much his cause.
There have been, and perhaps are today, certain manufacturers who have sacrificed their dealers' inter-
ests in an effort to build big sales totals and profits unduly, but if is only a question of time when the dealers realize
the fact that they are not getting proper treatment, and the reaction upon the manufacturer is quick and direct.
The manufacturer who gives his dealers wise counsel regarding buying, who watches the dealers' credits care-
full v—often perhaps for self-protection—and who advises against overstocking and other unwise business
methods, at the proper time, has been responsible for keeping more than one dealer off the rocks.
The wholesale traveler, on the other hand, who carries with him a knowledge of successful business
methods in many sections of the country, and an understanding of how those methods can be applied in cer-
tain territories, has been able to offer to the retailer information of practical value that would otherwise be
unavailable. The average retail merchant has his own territory to watch and has little time for observing
the tactics of his contemporaries in other sections, and it is the traveling man who is called upon to carry
information of the sort that is always helpful.
When we see piano merchants stand up in convention, as they did in Ohio, and defend the manufac-
turer, even to the extent of singing his praises, as well as justifying existing high prices by describing some
of the problems with which the manufacturer is faced today, there is no doubt about the understanding that
exists between these two important factors of the piano trade. The confidence that rests between the merchant
and the manufacturer may perhaps prove the salvation of the industry should a period of general business
depression arrive.
The manufacturer who sells intelligently and does not endeavor to meet the problems of overproduction
at the expense of the retailer who accepts his advice in the matter of buying, is holding confidence and keep-
ing his business sound. The manufacturer who, on the other hand, protects his own interests at the expense
of the retailer is only going so far before his tactics are discovered, and his business suffers as a result.
" All the associations in the country will not achieve as much in promoting confidence and understanding
between the manufacturer and merchant as can be accomplished by the common-sense attitude of members of
these two branches of the industry. It is not a question of organized understanding, but of individual under-
standing. The manufacturer who has the confidence of his dealers enjoys an enviable position, which he would
not, or at least should not, sacrifice under any condition. The interests of the purchaser and the distributor
in the trade are too closely interwoven to permit of one protecting his business at the expense of the other.
The manufacturer whose motto is "sell the goods," regardless of how they are sold, or whether the dealer
in buying them is working for the best interests of his business, is not building for the future. Confidence is
the biggest thing in business, and the fact that it exists so widely in the piano trade between manufacturers
and merchants argues much for the soundness of our particular industry.
O
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