Music Trade Review
Issue: 1921 Vol. 72 N. 16 - Page 3
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MEM
THE
VOL. LXXII. No. 16
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill. Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
April 16, 1921
Single Copies 10 Centa
S2.00 Per Year
Coming Conventions
I
N LESS than a month the proceedings of the 1921 conventions of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce, the National Piano Manufacturers' Association, the National Association of Music Merchants
and affiliated organizations will he a matter of history, and the accomplishments of the several bodies,in
convention will no longer be a matter of speculation, but rather one of record.
It has been nearly fifteen months since the various trade bodies have met in general convention, and
during those months there have been some wonderful and radical changes in the various phases of the indus-
try, and for that matter in industries generally. There have been brought to the fore many problems that can
best be considered by the associations in their general meetings—problems, many of them old in the trade,
but which Have been more or less dormant during the past few years of great activity.
Deep problems demand and must receive attention, for they are matters of the moment, and although
associations cannot legislate effectively, as has been proven, they can exercise a moral and stimulating force
that is far-reaching in its effect. We have heard many interesting things regarding the convention program,
particularly regarding the plans made for the meeting of the sessions of the Merchants' Association.
The official program, it is said, will be distinctly a constructive one, designed to bring before the
retailers new merchandising, financing and advertising plans that will be of real help to them in meeting and
overcoming business obstacles during the coming months. It is the belief of the officials that the convention
delegates will not be so much interested in what has happened in the past, through the medium of long reports,
as they will be in what may be expected in the future and how< these expectations may be met or realized.
The delegates will be received as music merchants and not merely as sellers of pianos, and in their broader
character will be expected to be interested in discussions regarding methods for handling talking machines,
musical merchandise, sheet music and other departmental goods, as well as pianos, efficiently and profitably.
There will be present at the meetings men of national standing who are in a position to offer advice
and suggestions that are based on actual experience and can, therefore, be adapted to the particular needs
of this industry. There will be specialists in the various departments of the industry to tell of business
methods that have actually proven successful and that are entitled to consideration because of that fact.
The piano manufacturers have also their own particular problems to discuss, and just now the question
of production, with facts regarding efficiency and economy in production methods, is one of paramount impor-
tance. So, right down the line, each of the several bodies has questions to solve that should tend to make
the forthcoming annual gathering of prime interest and value. The keynote is usefulness, for under existing
conditions it does not pay for several hundred men to leave their businesses and pay current railroad fares and
hotel rates for the sole purpose of enjoying a brief round of sociability.
Of course, the social end of the conventions will not be neglected in any sense. The local committee in
charge of general arrangements has been working hard for several weeks to insure the success of the gather-
ings from a social standpoint, and those who attend the trade conventions in Chicago are assured they will
carry away with them many pleasant memories of the hospitality of that great city and its genial inhabitants.
P>ut the social side will be a pleasant adjunct, rather than the main purpose, of the trade gatherings of 1921.
The Chicago meetings will offer to the trade an opportunity for getting together and discussing and
studying real facts. It will not, or at least should not, be simply a gathering of either optimists or pessimists,
but rather a gathering of business men who want to know things, who are ready to accept the situation as it
exists, and who will seek to find ways and means for meeting the situation most successfully and profitably. The
fellow who can see only dark clouds, as well as the fellow who only looks at the silver lining thereof, must
give way to the business man who is interested in terrestrial conditions and the problems they present.
MEM
THE
VOL. LXXII. No. 16
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill. Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
April 16, 1921
Single Copies 10 Centa
S2.00 Per Year
Coming Conventions
I
N LESS than a month the proceedings of the 1921 conventions of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce, the National Piano Manufacturers' Association, the National Association of Music Merchants
and affiliated organizations will he a matter of history, and the accomplishments of the several bodies,in
convention will no longer be a matter of speculation, but rather one of record.
It has been nearly fifteen months since the various trade bodies have met in general convention, and
during those months there have been some wonderful and radical changes in the various phases of the indus-
try, and for that matter in industries generally. There have been brought to the fore many problems that can
best be considered by the associations in their general meetings—problems, many of them old in the trade,
but which Have been more or less dormant during the past few years of great activity.
Deep problems demand and must receive attention, for they are matters of the moment, and although
associations cannot legislate effectively, as has been proven, they can exercise a moral and stimulating force
that is far-reaching in its effect. We have heard many interesting things regarding the convention program,
particularly regarding the plans made for the meeting of the sessions of the Merchants' Association.
The official program, it is said, will be distinctly a constructive one, designed to bring before the
retailers new merchandising, financing and advertising plans that will be of real help to them in meeting and
overcoming business obstacles during the coming months. It is the belief of the officials that the convention
delegates will not be so much interested in what has happened in the past, through the medium of long reports,
as they will be in what may be expected in the future and how< these expectations may be met or realized.
The delegates will be received as music merchants and not merely as sellers of pianos, and in their broader
character will be expected to be interested in discussions regarding methods for handling talking machines,
musical merchandise, sheet music and other departmental goods, as well as pianos, efficiently and profitably.
There will be present at the meetings men of national standing who are in a position to offer advice
and suggestions that are based on actual experience and can, therefore, be adapted to the particular needs
of this industry. There will be specialists in the various departments of the industry to tell of business
methods that have actually proven successful and that are entitled to consideration because of that fact.
The piano manufacturers have also their own particular problems to discuss, and just now the question
of production, with facts regarding efficiency and economy in production methods, is one of paramount impor-
tance. So, right down the line, each of the several bodies has questions to solve that should tend to make
the forthcoming annual gathering of prime interest and value. The keynote is usefulness, for under existing
conditions it does not pay for several hundred men to leave their businesses and pay current railroad fares and
hotel rates for the sole purpose of enjoying a brief round of sociability.
Of course, the social end of the conventions will not be neglected in any sense. The local committee in
charge of general arrangements has been working hard for several weeks to insure the success of the gather-
ings from a social standpoint, and those who attend the trade conventions in Chicago are assured they will
carry away with them many pleasant memories of the hospitality of that great city and its genial inhabitants.
P>ut the social side will be a pleasant adjunct, rather than the main purpose, of the trade gatherings of 1921.
The Chicago meetings will offer to the trade an opportunity for getting together and discussing and
studying real facts. It will not, or at least should not, be simply a gathering of either optimists or pessimists,
but rather a gathering of business men who want to know things, who are ready to accept the situation as it
exists, and who will seek to find ways and means for meeting the situation most successfully and profitably. The
fellow who can see only dark clouds, as well as the fellow who only looks at the silver lining thereof, must
give way to the business man who is interested in terrestrial conditions and the problems they present.
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