Music Trade Review
Issue: 1924 Vol. 78 N. 24 - Page 7
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
JUNK 14, 1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
National Association of Sheet Music Dealers—(Continued from page 5)
uct and we would have no outlet were it not
for him. This I will admit, but let me ask in
return, what would our good teacher do if he
had no music to teach?
As I see it, it is the same as capital and labor,
for service rendered to another person? Last one cannot exist without the other.
but not least, the public will benefit because it
In closing let me impress upon you the neces-
will know that it is paying the correct price sity of giving this movement your heartiest
for the article.
co-operation, and no matter what has been done
A few days ago the fact was called to my in the past let us start anew and put the music
attention that the teacher was entitled to com- business on the basis it should be, for, after all,
pensation as he created a demand for our prod- what would this world be without music?
W. H. Witt Talks on Marking Actual
Retail Prices on All Sheet Music
jV/IK. I'k'KSIDENT and Fellow-members:
The question of marking the correct sell-
ing price on music has been up for some time,
and there was never a meeting of our Association
that it was not mentioned; we all agreed that
it was the proper thing to do, but very few were
under the impression that it was possible.
If we stop for a moment to consider this
question we must all admit that there is no
excuse whatever to make an article one price
and sell it for another. What dealer is not
asked almost daily if it is 40 cents why is it
marked 60 cents; because it has been done for
fifty years is not a sufficient reason; that is why
it should stop, it has continued too long now.
The late Carrie Nation once said that woman
must have been made from the backbone of
man instead of the rib. I am not here to dis-
cuss that, but I do know that we often lack it
when it comes to traveling an unbeaten path.
I will admit that the Western dealers as well
as the Canadian ones have a question to solve
in this new price marking, but I do not think it
is one that cannot be solved and I am sure that
the publishers will co-operate in this matter.
I claim that marking the correct selling price
on music is a benefit to publisher, dealer, teacher
and public.
To the publisher, because it will be easier
for him to figure his discount to dealers.
To the dealer, because it will take less time
to add a bill of goods and he knows his clerks
are not making a mistake in figuring discounts.
To the teacher, because he will know what
to charge a pupil for a number without looking
up the bill. "I am not talking about teachers
who make their living selling music instead of
service." The legitimate teacher does not want
to make money selling music; if he is put to
any expense in procuring this music he has a
perfect right to charge for this service; 10 per
cent will cover almost any item and the public
will not object to this charge. Right here let
me ask, why should you be compelled to pay
George Fischer Suggests a Substitute
for a General Catalog of Publications
A FTER having been voted down with instruc-
tions to never again bring up the item for
discussion before the parent organization, the
Music Publishers' Association of the United
States, the "general catalog" question apparently
seems to be making another bid for attention
and risks bobbing up once more. Naturally this
time only in the program of the National Asso-
ciation of Sheet Music Dealers.
Catalogs have played so important a role in
my daily routine and since the days I first
made my initial bow in the industry, enabling
me, I feel inclined to believe, to appreciate the
full value of any and every intelligently com-
piled and comprehensive catalog offered, and
the great importance of such lists to the clerk
behind the counter and in the order department,
for both buying and selling.
After having, however, again during the past
season listened to much discussion on the sub-
ject, both pro and con, and extracted therefrom
the most reasonable and sensible views, I have
finally become converted to the idea that the
compiling of all the data required to make pos-
sible a really complete general catalog, properly
classifying and cross-indexing and all else re-
quired before a final printing, would prove so
stupendous a piece of work, not to make men-
tion of the expense, convincing me that after
all such a project or undertaking would seem
almost impossible to carry out under present
conditions. I can well understand why music
publishers as such, interested solely, and as
seems but natural, in their own products, would
feel inclined to view such a compilation as prov-
ing of value only to the retailer and therefore
shift the burden of labor and expense on to
them. In all fairness I must add that as a work
of reference a general catalog would no doubt
occasionally be consulted by libraries, mu-
sicologist and music students otherwise.
The next best thing to a general catalog,
and in my estimation a by far less expensive
project, would prove the following: Now that
the catalogs of nearly every important house
must undergo a thorough revision in price mark-
ing, followed no doubt by an elimination of un-
salable titles, would it not prove a good
thought if all publishers could be persuaded
before making their final plans to agree on a
uniform type and printed page size, and go still
further, to print at least one edition of their
new catalogs on a similar quality and weight of
paper; these individual publishers' catalogs to
be collated and bound together under one cover
or in several volumes for distribution not only
in trade circles but also copies to be placed at
the disposal of libraries where music sections
are maintained. With an added touch of a gen-
eral index, giving composer's name only, and
which index it would not cost the world to pre-
(Continued on page 9)
"Books KnoWn the World OVer
Stock up for the summa demand
l Saxophonist, by
Orchestral Saxop
Bailey
,
Trade
t t 50
Retail ^ n c e
* lb
The
Igii
price *>•»- .
, uVMlele
Bailey C c U e c t ^ <*
Solos
.
„
<>C" No-
5STV5
rice $1 00
- -
Bailey
Ukulele
Method
Published in "C" and "D"
Notation. Over 1,000,000
sold. Trade price 20c per
copy—18c in 100 lots.
° $ 35 per hundred.
Folio for Steel
ShermanJMay & Go.
S;in Francis*
THE
JUNK 14, 1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
National Association of Sheet Music Dealers—(Continued from page 5)
uct and we would have no outlet were it not
for him. This I will admit, but let me ask in
return, what would our good teacher do if he
had no music to teach?
As I see it, it is the same as capital and labor,
for service rendered to another person? Last one cannot exist without the other.
but not least, the public will benefit because it
In closing let me impress upon you the neces-
will know that it is paying the correct price sity of giving this movement your heartiest
for the article.
co-operation, and no matter what has been done
A few days ago the fact was called to my in the past let us start anew and put the music
attention that the teacher was entitled to com- business on the basis it should be, for, after all,
pensation as he created a demand for our prod- what would this world be without music?
W. H. Witt Talks on Marking Actual
Retail Prices on All Sheet Music
jV/IK. I'k'KSIDENT and Fellow-members:
The question of marking the correct sell-
ing price on music has been up for some time,
and there was never a meeting of our Association
that it was not mentioned; we all agreed that
it was the proper thing to do, but very few were
under the impression that it was possible.
If we stop for a moment to consider this
question we must all admit that there is no
excuse whatever to make an article one price
and sell it for another. What dealer is not
asked almost daily if it is 40 cents why is it
marked 60 cents; because it has been done for
fifty years is not a sufficient reason; that is why
it should stop, it has continued too long now.
The late Carrie Nation once said that woman
must have been made from the backbone of
man instead of the rib. I am not here to dis-
cuss that, but I do know that we often lack it
when it comes to traveling an unbeaten path.
I will admit that the Western dealers as well
as the Canadian ones have a question to solve
in this new price marking, but I do not think it
is one that cannot be solved and I am sure that
the publishers will co-operate in this matter.
I claim that marking the correct selling price
on music is a benefit to publisher, dealer, teacher
and public.
To the publisher, because it will be easier
for him to figure his discount to dealers.
To the dealer, because it will take less time
to add a bill of goods and he knows his clerks
are not making a mistake in figuring discounts.
To the teacher, because he will know what
to charge a pupil for a number without looking
up the bill. "I am not talking about teachers
who make their living selling music instead of
service." The legitimate teacher does not want
to make money selling music; if he is put to
any expense in procuring this music he has a
perfect right to charge for this service; 10 per
cent will cover almost any item and the public
will not object to this charge. Right here let
me ask, why should you be compelled to pay
George Fischer Suggests a Substitute
for a General Catalog of Publications
A FTER having been voted down with instruc-
tions to never again bring up the item for
discussion before the parent organization, the
Music Publishers' Association of the United
States, the "general catalog" question apparently
seems to be making another bid for attention
and risks bobbing up once more. Naturally this
time only in the program of the National Asso-
ciation of Sheet Music Dealers.
Catalogs have played so important a role in
my daily routine and since the days I first
made my initial bow in the industry, enabling
me, I feel inclined to believe, to appreciate the
full value of any and every intelligently com-
piled and comprehensive catalog offered, and
the great importance of such lists to the clerk
behind the counter and in the order department,
for both buying and selling.
After having, however, again during the past
season listened to much discussion on the sub-
ject, both pro and con, and extracted therefrom
the most reasonable and sensible views, I have
finally become converted to the idea that the
compiling of all the data required to make pos-
sible a really complete general catalog, properly
classifying and cross-indexing and all else re-
quired before a final printing, would prove so
stupendous a piece of work, not to make men-
tion of the expense, convincing me that after
all such a project or undertaking would seem
almost impossible to carry out under present
conditions. I can well understand why music
publishers as such, interested solely, and as
seems but natural, in their own products, would
feel inclined to view such a compilation as prov-
ing of value only to the retailer and therefore
shift the burden of labor and expense on to
them. In all fairness I must add that as a work
of reference a general catalog would no doubt
occasionally be consulted by libraries, mu-
sicologist and music students otherwise.
The next best thing to a general catalog,
and in my estimation a by far less expensive
project, would prove the following: Now that
the catalogs of nearly every important house
must undergo a thorough revision in price mark-
ing, followed no doubt by an elimination of un-
salable titles, would it not prove a good
thought if all publishers could be persuaded
before making their final plans to agree on a
uniform type and printed page size, and go still
further, to print at least one edition of their
new catalogs on a similar quality and weight of
paper; these individual publishers' catalogs to
be collated and bound together under one cover
or in several volumes for distribution not only
in trade circles but also copies to be placed at
the disposal of libraries where music sections
are maintained. With an added touch of a gen-
eral index, giving composer's name only, and
which index it would not cost the world to pre-
(Continued on page 9)
"Books KnoWn the World OVer
Stock up for the summa demand
l Saxophonist, by
Orchestral Saxop
Bailey
,
Trade
t t 50
Retail ^ n c e
* lb
The
Igii
price *>•»- .
, uVMlele
Bailey C c U e c t ^ <*
Solos
.
„
<>C" No-
5STV5
rice $1 00
- -
Bailey
Ukulele
Method
Published in "C" and "D"
Notation. Over 1,000,000
sold. Trade price 20c per
copy—18c in 100 lots.
° $ 35 per hundred.
Folio for Steel
ShermanJMay & Go.
S;in Francis*
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