Music Trade Review
Issue: 1921 Vol. 72 N. 25 - Page 3
mm
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
VOL. LXXII. No. 25
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Are., New York.
June 18, 1921
The Magnitude of the Industry
T
HERE has been and is more or less discussion regarding the real extent and scope of the music indus-
try, although most of the arguments advanced have been based largely on guesswork and have been
designed in accordance with the ideas which the arguers were inclined to put forth. Even the Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce, in common with other trade bodies, has found it a very difficult
matter to gather statistics regarding the trade that may be considered authentic, and has at times been com-
pelled to depend upon averages rather than upon facts in reaching final conclusions.
Any question regarding the extent and importance of the music industry, however, has been set at rest
provided the report of the U. S. Board of Census, published recently, covering the various branches of the
music industry for 1919, as well as making comparisons with the conditions of the trade in 1914, is to be con-
sidered as correct. Certain it is that the figures are impressive and serve to emphasize the rapid development
of this industry of ours.
The figures for 1919 show that the value of the products of the music industry reached the grand total
of $334,689,000. In short, during that year over a third of a billion dollars' worth of musical instruments of all
sorts were manufactured, and it is safe to say the majority of them found their way into the homes of the nation
the same year.
The census reports show r that of the grand total the substantial sum of $176,141,000 must be credited
to manufactures of pianos, player-pianos, organs and parts, music rolls, band instruments and musical merchan-
dise, which in 1914 showed a valuation of only $96,198,000. This means that the value of the products of
these branches of the industry increased in value over 83 per cent during the five-year period.
For those who are prone to make comparisons between the talking machine trade and the other branches
of the industry it is interesting to note that this division displayed the most remarkable progress between 1914
and 1919, the value of its products increasing from $27,116,000 in 1914 to $158,548,000 in 1919, a growth of
well over 400 per cent.
It is safe to say that most branches of the industry have held their own since 1919, despite the uncertain
conditions which have prevailed, and that the figures offered for that year may be taken as a basis for 1921
statistics. In the talking machine trade, however, 1Q19 may be regarded as the peak year, for the reason
that, although the number of manufacturing establishments increased from 18 to 166 in the five-year period
from 1914, a great many of those newer concerns have dropped by the wayside in the last year or so, and it is
a question whether the larger and older concerns have increased production sufficiently to offset these losses.
This point may interest the piano man.
American business men have gotten into the habit of using the terms millions and billions, as they apply
to dollars, very freely and possibly without enough careful thought. It may be that an annual output of close
to $350,000,000 in value by the music industry may not sound very impressive when compared with the volume
of business handled by the motion picture or automobile industries, but, taking the various business activities of
the country as a whole, it will be found that the music industry on a dollar-and-cents basis rates up very high.
These figures should not alone prove encouraging to the individual member of the industry, on account
of their substantial character, but should cause him to pause and think regarding the consideration that is due
to the music industry from the Government and from the industrial world at large from the very fact of its
size. An industry that produces over a third of a billion dollars' worth of goods annually should be able to
impress the powers that be in Washington and elsewhere that it is entitled to the consideration in the matter of
taxes and otherwise which this industry has found cause to insist upon so strenuously for its own protection
during the past few years.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
VOL. LXXII. No. 25
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Are., New York.
June 18, 1921
The Magnitude of the Industry
T
HERE has been and is more or less discussion regarding the real extent and scope of the music indus-
try, although most of the arguments advanced have been based largely on guesswork and have been
designed in accordance with the ideas which the arguers were inclined to put forth. Even the Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce, in common with other trade bodies, has found it a very difficult
matter to gather statistics regarding the trade that may be considered authentic, and has at times been com-
pelled to depend upon averages rather than upon facts in reaching final conclusions.
Any question regarding the extent and importance of the music industry, however, has been set at rest
provided the report of the U. S. Board of Census, published recently, covering the various branches of the
music industry for 1919, as well as making comparisons with the conditions of the trade in 1914, is to be con-
sidered as correct. Certain it is that the figures are impressive and serve to emphasize the rapid development
of this industry of ours.
The figures for 1919 show that the value of the products of the music industry reached the grand total
of $334,689,000. In short, during that year over a third of a billion dollars' worth of musical instruments of all
sorts were manufactured, and it is safe to say the majority of them found their way into the homes of the nation
the same year.
The census reports show r that of the grand total the substantial sum of $176,141,000 must be credited
to manufactures of pianos, player-pianos, organs and parts, music rolls, band instruments and musical merchan-
dise, which in 1914 showed a valuation of only $96,198,000. This means that the value of the products of
these branches of the industry increased in value over 83 per cent during the five-year period.
For those who are prone to make comparisons between the talking machine trade and the other branches
of the industry it is interesting to note that this division displayed the most remarkable progress between 1914
and 1919, the value of its products increasing from $27,116,000 in 1914 to $158,548,000 in 1919, a growth of
well over 400 per cent.
It is safe to say that most branches of the industry have held their own since 1919, despite the uncertain
conditions which have prevailed, and that the figures offered for that year may be taken as a basis for 1921
statistics. In the talking machine trade, however, 1Q19 may be regarded as the peak year, for the reason
that, although the number of manufacturing establishments increased from 18 to 166 in the five-year period
from 1914, a great many of those newer concerns have dropped by the wayside in the last year or so, and it is
a question whether the larger and older concerns have increased production sufficiently to offset these losses.
This point may interest the piano man.
American business men have gotten into the habit of using the terms millions and billions, as they apply
to dollars, very freely and possibly without enough careful thought. It may be that an annual output of close
to $350,000,000 in value by the music industry may not sound very impressive when compared with the volume
of business handled by the motion picture or automobile industries, but, taking the various business activities of
the country as a whole, it will be found that the music industry on a dollar-and-cents basis rates up very high.
These figures should not alone prove encouraging to the individual member of the industry, on account
of their substantial character, but should cause him to pause and think regarding the consideration that is due
to the music industry from the Government and from the industrial world at large from the very fact of its
size. An industry that produces over a third of a billion dollars' worth of goods annually should be able to
impress the powers that be in Washington and elsewhere that it is entitled to the consideration in the matter of
taxes and otherwise which this industry has found cause to insist upon so strenuously for its own protection
during the past few years.
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