Music Trade Review

OCTl)/H-:R
20, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
51
TALKING MACHINE DEALERS DISCUSS EFFECT Of' RADIO
Publication in Radio Field Gets Some Interesting Information From
Questionnaires Sent to
Members of Talking Machine Trade-O pinions Divided as to Results on Sales
In ;1Il effort to determine th e effect of radio
on talkin" lllachine business. as view e d by deal­
er,.; in talking lllachine s and records, one of the
publications in the radio field, th e Wir e less :\ge,
rcccntl y 1l1ade a s urvey of th e talking machine
tr«de and gathered some int e resting figures.
i\c coc(iillg to the d e tail s as compiled by the
II",,'a>:ine, 76 per ce nt of the d ea le r s who replied
to the questionnair e, th e tot a l number being
3 17 out of 7,500 ca rds mail ed , report e d th at the y
belie ve d that the radio was in s trum e nt a l in seil­
ing record s for th e m , w hile 24 pC'r ce nt took the
oppo~ite view or did not commit th e l11 se lves.
Of tho se who did h ave d e finit e id eas to !'x­
]!rcss Z~ per c(' nt h e ld that radi o had be e n a
gain to their businf .,s, 33 p e r eent b e li eve d tlh'Y
>aw a loss, 1 \ pel' cent belie ve d th ey were ge L­
ting an tven break a nd 33 p er cent did not cun',­
mit thelllseives.
I\mon g the ([ealers w ho re­
ported bl'~ines s ga in s through radio 43 per unt
sell radio apparatus, whil e 27 per cent of those
who see a droppin g off in record bu s iness are
al,;o radio deal e rs, a s a r e 35 per ce nt of those
wllo hold the "fift y -fifty" at titude.
Quile .a number o f dealers declared that talk­
ing: machine own e r s in ,;ubs tantial numbers
we re sold on the m er its of "arious se lections by
radio and frequ e ntl y p ur chased records of those
se le c tion s w ithout dell1on ,t ra tioll, thus saving
co nsid e rable tilll e.
.\n int e r es tin ~ op inion ,"vas offe r ed by Frank
1\.. French, an Ediso n d ea le r of Manchester,
.1\'. H. , \\ho s tated th at "th e s tudio s hop " which
he operate s took on ra dio in th e belief that it
is a m a tter of se lf-prot ec ti o n in that without
radio th e ir p hono g raph busin ess would s uffer.
The theory was that under s u c h a policy the
store cou ld se ll th e cu s tom er the radio and later
a phono grap h , a ft e r he h ad b ee n sold On the
lllusie of various o r e h e, tra ,; and a rti ,ts, but that
without the radio t o att ract him in his firq en·
thusia s m th e lat e r phonograph and record busi
!l ess would q;o to so m e other concern. nne oi
the arguments u se d for the sale of the phono­
gra ph is that it is not s ubject to s ta tic a nd in­
terference as is the radio outfit.
A number of dealers sa \\ in th e radio a m ea n s
ior stimulating interest in mu s ic and, eve ntuall y ,
in musical instruments an d con s idered thi s re
suit as offsetting any temporary loss of reco rd
sales. Others held the opinion that, with tlt e
adjustment of the diffe rcnc es betwe e n th e
broadcasters and music publishers over copy ­
right and royalties, there 'would be a more ge n­
eral broadcasting of popul a r song, which would
lead directly to increa se d r ec ord sa les.
Few, if any, of th e deal e rs, in ex prf' ss in g opin
ions as to th .. ga in or loss r ea li ze d thr ough the
ad vent of radio, had any d efi nit e fi g ures or sta ­
tistics to back up t h e ir qatement< and in 1110st
case~ s illipl y attribut e d lo ss or ga in of trade
to the radio without any ve ry ca r e ful anal ys is
It is significant that less than 5 per ce nt of
the dealers to w hon l que s tionnaire s we re se nt
were s ufficientl y int e r es t ed in th e JlIatt e r t o fill
out the questionnair e or to w rit e a le tt e r ex ·
plaining their stand. Th(· figur es a .- offered b y
the Wireless A ge, therefor e, ca n be accepted
only as an opinion of a very sIllal1 minority of
talking machine d ea le rs \Nho have taken direct
cognizance of radio and its effec t on business
in one way or another. Perhaps the percentages
might hold good throughout th e trade if a gen·
eral survey were m ade, but that is doubtful.
The fact to b e con-icle r ed, of co urse, is that
dealers without excep ti on rea li z e the standing
and import ance of r a di o and in many case' arc
seeking to adjust them se lves to the situation it
has brou g ht a bout ei ther through h a ndling radio
apparatus in c onjun c tion w ith their talking ma­
chine lin es as a st imulu s to bu s ine ss or in
c han g in g a bo ut th e ir s ellin g campai g ns, with a
.... iew to offs ettin g th e inAli e n ce of radio .
It is s ig nifi ca nt th at a la r ge nUlllber of deal­
er s w ho h a\'e mad e dir ec t usc of radio , eititer
for th e broad cas tin g' of re g ular m o nthl y relea s es
or b y t ying up dir ec tl y with broadcasting pro·
g ram s, have managed to get results.
"TALKER" RECORD AS EVIDENCE
Me. Holongnes e h as h a d wide experience in for­
eign r ecordings. He is acquainted with the ma­
joritv of for e ign r eco rd artists and in other
ways k ee ps in tou c h with the particular dellland
and vogue in fore ig n se lections.
Used by German Concern in a Suit Involving
a Business Misunderstanding
:\ Cerl nan co urt no w fac"s the problem of
(Tt; c idill g" o n th e le ;.: al ~ talus of a talkin g machine
r ec ord of a bu s in ess co nve rsa tion , recent di s ­
Jl;tt~hes from Be rlin sa y. The case is of impor­
t a nce becaus e of the g ro w in g usc in Berlin of
phono g ra phs to record telephone mes sages.
The ca;:e hinges on a telephone conversation
which th e p la intiff contends constituted a co n ­
tr ac t for th e d e li very of a quantit y of gasoline.
The def e ndant in the case misunderstood an d
did not d e liv er the gasoline. The represent a­
tiv e o f the firm had switched on a recordin g
apparat us when giving the order and the phono­
g ra phi c c.y linder was filed.
\Vhcn the ca;;e came before a Berlin civil
vouri th e \v ax record of the conversation w as
pla ce d 011 a talking rnachine in the courtroom
and the verbal contract was r·eproduced. The
('ase was referred to a higher court.
PAUL BOLONGNESE WITH EMERSON CO.
Made Manager of Foreign Record Department
-Prepared New Foreign Record List
Paul Bolon g ne se has rejoined th e Emer s on
Phono g raph C o., Inc., as mana ge r of it s for­
e ign record department. Since hi s return to
that !:Jrganization he has prepared a n ew list of
Italian, Jewish and Polish records. Thes e lat­
te r selections will cover a wide ran ge of titl es
and as the demand for such works is quit e active
the release of the new list i< looked forw a rd to
by retailers who specialize in foreign se le ct ion s.
and the proposition could be proved
sound from every angle, you wouldn't
hesitate, would you 7 Of course not,
but do you realize that a talking machine
department can be made to provide
sufficient revenue to take care of the
overhead on your entire establishment 7
Thousands of other retail music mer­
chants have proved the above made
statement true and thousands of retail
music merchants have looked to The
Talking Machine World for guidance
in the matter of selecting the make of
talking machines they would handle, the
way they would map out their talking
machine department. etc.
SAVINGS NOW TOP THREE BILLIONS
Report Shows That 40,109,549 in New York
State Have Deposits Totaling $3,040,788,000
T a lkin g machine de a le rs in New York ~ tat e
s hould r ea li ze that th e re i ~ real bu s ine ss to b e
h ad thi s Fa ll if thev g o after it s trenuou s ly,
owin g to th e fa ct that deposit s in the 14 5 sa v ­
in gs banks in the S tate of New York p a~se d th e'
3,000,000,000 ma rk on July 1 of this yea r. A c­
cording 10 preliminary figures issued b) the
Sav in gs Ba nks Association of the State of Nell'
York the alllo unt due depositors on that date.
in c ludin g dividends credited, was $3,040,7RR,O()O,
an increase of $249,435,000 over the amount du e
depositors a year ago and an increase of $148,­
319,000 s in ce January 1, 1923.
There h as a l"o been a notable increase in the
nU1llber of depositors in savings banks. Th e
total on Jul y 1, 1923, was 4,109,549, a ga in of
193,637 over a yea r ag-o and of 124,58 1 over
Januar y 1, 1923.
•
I n New Yo rk City alone the amou n t of de
po s its in sav in gs banks, includin g di vid e nd s
c re dit e d . wa s $2,263,376,000 on Jul y 1, a ga in of
$193,63.3,000 o ve r a yea r ago and of ~118,463,000
ove r Januar y 1, 1923. In New York r.ity the
lIumber of d e positors in savings bank s was
2,8 20,198 on Jul y 1 of this year. Since the popu­
la tion of the city, according to 1920 census, was
5,620,048, this indicates that every second person
in the city hri.' a savin~s account.
The Talking Machine World is the
oldest and largest trade journal in the
world devoted exclusively to the talking
machine industry.
Some book, eh7 Yes, and some encyclo­
pedia of the kind of information that
will positively double your income.
Don't miss your chance.
coupon now.
Send in the
TALKING MACHINE WORLD.
383 M ad ison Ave .. New York City.
Please enter my lubacription for one year. 1 want to
learn bow to double my income via a talking machine
department. Bill mc $2 at your convenience to cover cos1
of same.
N lUIIe
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