Music Trade Review
Issue: 1922 Vol. 75 N. 1 - Page 3
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUJIC T^ADE
VOL.
LXXV. No. I
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
July 1, 1922
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
Regarding the Seasonal Fallacy
OW that the trade has started to make plans for vacations it may be well to ask quite seriously whether
anyone intends to do any business this Summer. The question may sound fantastic, but it is asked
seriously. The idea that pianos cannot be sold in the Summertime has been traditional for so long
that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Piano salesmen argue that since everyone knows
pianos cannot be sold in the Summertime there is no use in trying to sell. The conclusion is quite logical. The
result is equally in agreement with the logic. Pianos are not sold in the Summertime—at least not by those
who hold to this extraordinary doctrine of seasons.
For it is an extraordinary doctrine. The tradition that the entire population of the United States
transports itself'out of the cities into the country during the months of June, July and August represents one
of those astounding fictions which somehow or other get hold of the popular mind, are accepted without the
slightest evidence and henceforth hold the field against argument, and even proof, to the contrary. Yet, the
whole belief is fictional—mythical.
As a matter of fact, the number of vacationers is extremely small compared with the huge army which
stays at home. More than that, vacations in individual cases almost always last but a couple of weeks. Fur-
thermore, for whole families to go away for more than a few days at a time is most exceptional, while, finally,
the vast majority of the population stays at home.
But the objector to the idea of doing business in Summertime will reply that, anyhow, nobody wants
to buy musical instruments in Summer. The answer is why not? Why should music at home be less pleasing
during the days and nights when the windows can be opened, the porch turned into a living room and the lawn
used for parties and dancing, than when the house, must be shut up and the family gather around the heaters?
Considering that some fifty millions of persons, anyhow, live in the small communities, in towns and
villages of less than 2,500 inhabitants and in country districts which are not even villages, and considering that
to these people Summer vacations mean staying at home, it should seem that the too-hot-to-want-music argu-
ment, even if it applies to the masses of the great cities, certainly does not apply to that half of the population
which finds its homes in the country all the year round.
The truth is that the no-business-in-Summer cry is a town cry, pure and simple. It is, of course,
true that all those who can afford it do leave town in Summertime for a week or so. Yet, even they are a
minority. The masses of the town dwellers stay in town and endure the heat. They, perhaps, might be
excused for not thinking about anything save the discomforts of small flats when the mercury is trying to
climb out of the top of the bulb; but the others have no excuse for so feeling. Nor do they so feel, as the
experiences of those merchants who go after business as actively in the Summer as they do in the Winter,
especially in communities of moderate size, effectively demonstrate.
The music business, in fact, ought not to be regarded as a seasonal business. If pianos do not sell
there are phonographs, portable and stationary. There are ukuleles, banjos, mandolins, saxophones, mouth
organs if you like. For every mood and for every Summer want, from that of the man who sits in the breeze
of a fan and wonders when it will be cooler to the girl who can take her ease on the cushions of a row-boat,
far from the madding crowd, there is some sort of musical instrument waiting, something to be sold by the
music merchant.
The merchant who realizes this will be the merchant who runs a complete music store, the sort of
store which has the sort of goods which the Summer sort of customer calls for in the Summertime. Nor
will he relax his activity simply because some of the folks are away. When the Van Dynes, prospects for a
grand, are in California, it is time to go and see the family of John Spinachovich, who would love to have a
phonograph, or even an accordion.
N
THE
MUJIC T^ADE
VOL.
LXXV. No. I
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
July 1, 1922
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
Regarding the Seasonal Fallacy
OW that the trade has started to make plans for vacations it may be well to ask quite seriously whether
anyone intends to do any business this Summer. The question may sound fantastic, but it is asked
seriously. The idea that pianos cannot be sold in the Summertime has been traditional for so long
that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Piano salesmen argue that since everyone knows
pianos cannot be sold in the Summertime there is no use in trying to sell. The conclusion is quite logical. The
result is equally in agreement with the logic. Pianos are not sold in the Summertime—at least not by those
who hold to this extraordinary doctrine of seasons.
For it is an extraordinary doctrine. The tradition that the entire population of the United States
transports itself'out of the cities into the country during the months of June, July and August represents one
of those astounding fictions which somehow or other get hold of the popular mind, are accepted without the
slightest evidence and henceforth hold the field against argument, and even proof, to the contrary. Yet, the
whole belief is fictional—mythical.
As a matter of fact, the number of vacationers is extremely small compared with the huge army which
stays at home. More than that, vacations in individual cases almost always last but a couple of weeks. Fur-
thermore, for whole families to go away for more than a few days at a time is most exceptional, while, finally,
the vast majority of the population stays at home.
But the objector to the idea of doing business in Summertime will reply that, anyhow, nobody wants
to buy musical instruments in Summer. The answer is why not? Why should music at home be less pleasing
during the days and nights when the windows can be opened, the porch turned into a living room and the lawn
used for parties and dancing, than when the house, must be shut up and the family gather around the heaters?
Considering that some fifty millions of persons, anyhow, live in the small communities, in towns and
villages of less than 2,500 inhabitants and in country districts which are not even villages, and considering that
to these people Summer vacations mean staying at home, it should seem that the too-hot-to-want-music argu-
ment, even if it applies to the masses of the great cities, certainly does not apply to that half of the population
which finds its homes in the country all the year round.
The truth is that the no-business-in-Summer cry is a town cry, pure and simple. It is, of course,
true that all those who can afford it do leave town in Summertime for a week or so. Yet, even they are a
minority. The masses of the town dwellers stay in town and endure the heat. They, perhaps, might be
excused for not thinking about anything save the discomforts of small flats when the mercury is trying to
climb out of the top of the bulb; but the others have no excuse for so feeling. Nor do they so feel, as the
experiences of those merchants who go after business as actively in the Summer as they do in the Winter,
especially in communities of moderate size, effectively demonstrate.
The music business, in fact, ought not to be regarded as a seasonal business. If pianos do not sell
there are phonographs, portable and stationary. There are ukuleles, banjos, mandolins, saxophones, mouth
organs if you like. For every mood and for every Summer want, from that of the man who sits in the breeze
of a fan and wonders when it will be cooler to the girl who can take her ease on the cushions of a row-boat,
far from the madding crowd, there is some sort of musical instrument waiting, something to be sold by the
music merchant.
The merchant who realizes this will be the merchant who runs a complete music store, the sort of
store which has the sort of goods which the Summer sort of customer calls for in the Summertime. Nor
will he relax his activity simply because some of the folks are away. When the Van Dynes, prospects for a
grand, are in California, it is time to go and see the family of John Spinachovich, who would love to have a
phonograph, or even an accordion.
N
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