Music Trade Review
Issue: 1925 Vol. 81 N. 26 - Page 3
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REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXI. No. 26 Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. Dec. 26,1925 • l B | g . £ # R ?
YJ?**
The Outlook for the Reproducer and
the Player-Piano in 1926
General Factors in Economic and Industrial Situation Indicate a Year of Stability and Prosperity—Music
More Alive and a Greater Vital Factor in the Country Than Ever—Seven Keys to Success in
the Sales of These Types of Instruments—The Pedal Player Comes Back
T
H O S E who would plan wisely for 1926
will not' fail to take into consideration
some facts which are not entirely on the
surface, and which might therefore escape a
superficial seeker.
It is being said by industrial leaders, as well
as by prominent politicians, that the business
prospects for 1926 are very bright. One must
always discount such statements, however, be-
cause in the case of the politicians they are
likely to be ill-informed and in the case of both,
superficial. This does not mean that industrial
leaders intend to deceive; it rather means that
they have a way of judging everything by their
own immediate interests. The politicians, of
course, are politicians and their business is to
tell the people what the people want to hear.
Which puts them out of court as judges.
Nevertheless, there are considerations which
can be viewed and correctly evaluated by the
ordinary business men and which reveal the
probabilities for 1926 with an accuracy quite
equal to that of the best advertised prophesying
of the leaders of industry. Here are some of
them.
World Peace
In the very first place, the general political
condition of the world is one of peace. The will
to peace exists and great practical steps have
been taken during 1925 to ensure its contin-
uance. No American business man can possibly
afford to deceive himself by listening to the silly
prattle of the obscurantists who assure him that
world conditions have no bearing upon his inter-
ests. Political events in remotest corners of the
world to-day affect the interests of every branch
of American business, and conversely the move-
ments of business or of politics in this country
have their repercussions north, south, east and
west. When, then, it is pointed out that the
political situation of all the great powers is
vastly improved, that definite steps have been
taken to assure security and peace on the Con-
tinent Of Europe—steps taken by the consent of
all the parties concerned—that Germany is be-
coming a member of the great parliament of the
world, that the purchasing power of nations is
everywhere improving, that the outlook for
a return to a pre-war basis of normality is
brighter than it has been since 1918, the Amer-
ican business man will see in all these facts
an augury of domestic prosperity, and will re-
joice.
Foreign markets, in other words, are likely to
be better markets for the American manufac-
turer than they have been at any time during
the last five years. That spells prosperity for
domestic markets, too.
Domestic Prosperity
When we turn from the world situation to the
situation at home, we find parallel causes for
favorable anticipation. The country has appar-
ently at last settled down after the excitements
of the war period. Employment is very good,
wages are high, and by degrees the great prin-
ciple of co-operation of interest, as between em-
ployer and employed, is being worked out in a
practical way. Generally speaking, it may be
said that both parties recognize the common
sense of high wages, as giving the individual
consumer purchasing power commensurable
with the producing capacity of the nation. The
higher wages are, the more the wage-earner
can consume. The old-fashioned notion of a
wages-fund which could not be increased in
size, and the parallel idea that wages are some-
thing to be kept down, have alike been shown
to be wholly fallacious. Probably one reason
for the comparatively slow recovery of Great
Britain from the waste and strain of the war
lies in the persistence of the low-wage fallacy
on the part of the workers and of the limited
or wages-fund theory on the part of the labor
unions.
Music Is Alive
Turning to our own industries we find that
the activities of the National Bureau for the
Advancement of Music have been most salutary
and fruitful. Music is alive in this country as
it never was before. Municipalities are spend-
ing money on music that never spent it before.
There never was a time when general musical
interest was at a higher pitch. The popular
dance craze, for that matter, may justly be
counted with the higher manifestations of music
appreciation in making this estimate.
Lastly, there is the promised relief of taxation
burdens. It appears that Congress will do
something for the taxpayer, and that it will do
nothing to hurt business.
Now, how does all this affect the industry in
which we are most interested?
Negative or Positive?
In the first place we have the undoubted fact
that the player-piano and the reproducer alike
fill places in the hierarchy of musical instru-
ments which cannot be taken from them by any
concatenation of circumstances within reason-
able probability. The player-piano and the re-
producer have survived the most formidable
competition ever put up in front of any musical
instrument. They have survived it in triumph
and have come out stronger than ever. If the
anticipated conditions of prosperity are realized
during 1926 it is evident that player-piano busi-
ness ought to be very good, to say the least.
It will doubtless be good. It will be good
because there is every reason for anticipating a
general condition of prosperity throughout the
United States, backed up by a general recov-
ery all over the rest of the world, wherever
depression has existed. Of so much one may
feel almost quite certain. But surely no one is
going to be satisfied with a condition of busi-
ness based upon nothing more than general
prosperity and a certain increase in the pur-
chasing power of a population which has added
to its numbers in the regular course of events.
Surely no one will be satisfied with so negative
a state of affairs. Surely we shall try to cash
in more positively upon so favorable a situation
as now impends. Surely, in other words, we
shall want to sell more, a great deal more, than
can be accounted more merely on the hypothesis
of natural increase and that can be expected to
walk in and sell itself.
Seven Keys to Success
Of course, we all feel that way about it, but
perhaps some of us are not wholly certain as
to how to set about cashing in on the cer-
tainties of 1926. The following suggestions
are offered with humility, in the belief that they
embody considered judgment and good sense.
First: Remember that the American people
to-day are getting a musical education of con-
siderable effectiveness through the radio, and
through the phonograph, in tone, in the different
instruments of the orchestra, in a hundred
kinds of music once wholly unknown to the
generality.
Second: Remember that this means deepen-
ing discrimination, not perhaps easy to trace,
but undoubtedly existing. Jazz orchestras may
be noisy and often coarse, but they have given
the people new ideas of musical tone, and their
influence must be taken into account.
Third: Remember that the reproducing piano
remains the most intimate, the nearest approach
(Continued on page 4)
REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXI. No. 26 Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. Dec. 26,1925 • l B | g . £ # R ?
YJ?**
The Outlook for the Reproducer and
the Player-Piano in 1926
General Factors in Economic and Industrial Situation Indicate a Year of Stability and Prosperity—Music
More Alive and a Greater Vital Factor in the Country Than Ever—Seven Keys to Success in
the Sales of These Types of Instruments—The Pedal Player Comes Back
T
H O S E who would plan wisely for 1926
will not' fail to take into consideration
some facts which are not entirely on the
surface, and which might therefore escape a
superficial seeker.
It is being said by industrial leaders, as well
as by prominent politicians, that the business
prospects for 1926 are very bright. One must
always discount such statements, however, be-
cause in the case of the politicians they are
likely to be ill-informed and in the case of both,
superficial. This does not mean that industrial
leaders intend to deceive; it rather means that
they have a way of judging everything by their
own immediate interests. The politicians, of
course, are politicians and their business is to
tell the people what the people want to hear.
Which puts them out of court as judges.
Nevertheless, there are considerations which
can be viewed and correctly evaluated by the
ordinary business men and which reveal the
probabilities for 1926 with an accuracy quite
equal to that of the best advertised prophesying
of the leaders of industry. Here are some of
them.
World Peace
In the very first place, the general political
condition of the world is one of peace. The will
to peace exists and great practical steps have
been taken during 1925 to ensure its contin-
uance. No American business man can possibly
afford to deceive himself by listening to the silly
prattle of the obscurantists who assure him that
world conditions have no bearing upon his inter-
ests. Political events in remotest corners of the
world to-day affect the interests of every branch
of American business, and conversely the move-
ments of business or of politics in this country
have their repercussions north, south, east and
west. When, then, it is pointed out that the
political situation of all the great powers is
vastly improved, that definite steps have been
taken to assure security and peace on the Con-
tinent Of Europe—steps taken by the consent of
all the parties concerned—that Germany is be-
coming a member of the great parliament of the
world, that the purchasing power of nations is
everywhere improving, that the outlook for
a return to a pre-war basis of normality is
brighter than it has been since 1918, the Amer-
ican business man will see in all these facts
an augury of domestic prosperity, and will re-
joice.
Foreign markets, in other words, are likely to
be better markets for the American manufac-
turer than they have been at any time during
the last five years. That spells prosperity for
domestic markets, too.
Domestic Prosperity
When we turn from the world situation to the
situation at home, we find parallel causes for
favorable anticipation. The country has appar-
ently at last settled down after the excitements
of the war period. Employment is very good,
wages are high, and by degrees the great prin-
ciple of co-operation of interest, as between em-
ployer and employed, is being worked out in a
practical way. Generally speaking, it may be
said that both parties recognize the common
sense of high wages, as giving the individual
consumer purchasing power commensurable
with the producing capacity of the nation. The
higher wages are, the more the wage-earner
can consume. The old-fashioned notion of a
wages-fund which could not be increased in
size, and the parallel idea that wages are some-
thing to be kept down, have alike been shown
to be wholly fallacious. Probably one reason
for the comparatively slow recovery of Great
Britain from the waste and strain of the war
lies in the persistence of the low-wage fallacy
on the part of the workers and of the limited
or wages-fund theory on the part of the labor
unions.
Music Is Alive
Turning to our own industries we find that
the activities of the National Bureau for the
Advancement of Music have been most salutary
and fruitful. Music is alive in this country as
it never was before. Municipalities are spend-
ing money on music that never spent it before.
There never was a time when general musical
interest was at a higher pitch. The popular
dance craze, for that matter, may justly be
counted with the higher manifestations of music
appreciation in making this estimate.
Lastly, there is the promised relief of taxation
burdens. It appears that Congress will do
something for the taxpayer, and that it will do
nothing to hurt business.
Now, how does all this affect the industry in
which we are most interested?
Negative or Positive?
In the first place we have the undoubted fact
that the player-piano and the reproducer alike
fill places in the hierarchy of musical instru-
ments which cannot be taken from them by any
concatenation of circumstances within reason-
able probability. The player-piano and the re-
producer have survived the most formidable
competition ever put up in front of any musical
instrument. They have survived it in triumph
and have come out stronger than ever. If the
anticipated conditions of prosperity are realized
during 1926 it is evident that player-piano busi-
ness ought to be very good, to say the least.
It will doubtless be good. It will be good
because there is every reason for anticipating a
general condition of prosperity throughout the
United States, backed up by a general recov-
ery all over the rest of the world, wherever
depression has existed. Of so much one may
feel almost quite certain. But surely no one is
going to be satisfied with a condition of busi-
ness based upon nothing more than general
prosperity and a certain increase in the pur-
chasing power of a population which has added
to its numbers in the regular course of events.
Surely no one will be satisfied with so negative
a state of affairs. Surely we shall try to cash
in more positively upon so favorable a situation
as now impends. Surely, in other words, we
shall want to sell more, a great deal more, than
can be accounted more merely on the hypothesis
of natural increase and that can be expected to
walk in and sell itself.
Seven Keys to Success
Of course, we all feel that way about it, but
perhaps some of us are not wholly certain as
to how to set about cashing in on the cer-
tainties of 1926. The following suggestions
are offered with humility, in the belief that they
embody considered judgment and good sense.
First: Remember that the American people
to-day are getting a musical education of con-
siderable effectiveness through the radio, and
through the phonograph, in tone, in the different
instruments of the orchestra, in a hundred
kinds of music once wholly unknown to the
generality.
Second: Remember that this means deepen-
ing discrimination, not perhaps easy to trace,
but undoubtedly existing. Jazz orchestras may
be noisy and often coarse, but they have given
the people new ideas of musical tone, and their
influence must be taken into account.
Third: Remember that the reproducing piano
remains the most intimate, the nearest approach
(Continued on page 4)
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