Music Trade Review
Issue: 1925 Vol. 81 N. 26 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 26, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Demonstration Is Basis of Increased
Player-Piano Sales Volume
Both for the Reproducing Piano and the Pedal Player, Proper Demonstration, a Sales Factor Which Is
Widely Disregarded in the Retail Music Trade, Is the Essential Point in Developing a Wider
Demand for These Two Types of Instruments With the People of the Country
i
player industry has passed through
another year and may safely be congratu-
lated. Conditions were none too good
upon the first of last January and those who
looked forward to any large recovery were re-
garded by respectable judges as highly
optimistic persons. Nevertheless, their optimism
has been, on the whole, justified, for the indus-
try has once more displayed its inherent vitality,
and demonstrated that it is at the least a very
good imitation of a completely stable and essen-
tial element in the social life of the day.
There has been some increase in the number
of pianos placed upon the market fitted with
reproducing actions, and a majority of these has
been, of course, in the class of grands. The
grand player-piano of the pedal-played type has
meanwhile virtually disappeared. This is un-
doubtedly a pity, because the pedal-played
player-piano is really the backbone of the in-
dustry and needs a representative in the class
of pianos which embodies the highest and finest
of ideals in piano tone.
The merchandising reasons for the disappear-
ance of the pedal-played grand player are not
hard to understand. When the reproducing
piano appeared it carried with it, as justification
for its cost, the prestige of great artistic names
appended to its music rolls. The other never
had this prestige, nor could have it, so that it
had to depend for acceptance upon its intrinsic
merits. Since the dealers long ago abandoned
any attempt to sell the pedal-played player-piano
upon performance by demonstration, the decline
of the grand player can easily be understood.
Prosperity of Reproducer
Commercially, the reproducing piano has more
than held its own. It has sold very well indeed,
and the prospects are that it will continue to sell
better each year for some years to come. The
question of saturation is not yet a question of
any practical importance and dealers may rest
assured that there is no community of any size
in the country which is as yet in possession and
use of more than a small fraction of the num-
ber of reproducing pianos which can be sold
within its limits during the next two or three
years.
Nevertheless, the experience of the past
year only amplifies and justifies the two prin-
ciples which have from the first animated the
most successful sellers of reproducing pianos.
These principles are the principle of demonstra-
tion and the principle of systematic service.
The Principle of Demonstration
The reproducing piano is above all things a
piece of mechanism which needs to be explained
to the public. Its virtues are not obvious, at
least to the buying public' An instrument that
reproduces the playing of an artist is decidedly
a very wonderful thing; but the public has a
very large capacity for apathy, and there would
be no inaccuracy in saying that its powers of
concealing its enthusiasm are astonishingly
great. No beneficial thing, no boon and blessing
to man, has ever sold itself. The telephone lan-
guished for years before its virtues were gen-
erally appreciated. The safety razor was only
launched by the aid of a campaign of advertising
on a national scale which was one of the first
of its kind and remains to this day a model.
The original piano player was only put on the
map by similar means. In the last-named and
analogous case the sales method was from the
start based wholly upon carefully planned dem-
onstration, and the decline, even after it had best, and unscrupulously used by the others. To-
assumed the convenient player-piano shape, may day, free service can no longer be given, for
be dated from the day when the retail trade the pneumatic mechanism has intervened and
began to believe that it would thenceforward has changed the whole complexion of affairs.
sell itself. Demonstration, carefully planned Dealers have now to begin educating their com-
and intelligently carried out, remains the only munities to understand that pianos need regular
method holding even remote possibilities of suc- tuning and maintenance, and that the cost of
cessful merchandising. And this means exactly this must come out of the pockets of the owners
what it says. Any fool can take a music roll of reproducing pianos and player-pianos. It is
and set it going; but that is not demonstration. gratifying to record that dealers are beginning
to face the facts and are finding the public on
Service
Systematic service represents another of the the whole reasonable and responsive.
Resurrection
great governing principles of successful mer-
The pedal-played player-piano has been in a
chandising, and it is pleasant to record that
during the years just past there has been a very partial eclipse for the last two or three years,
strong movement towards consolidating and per- but there are unmistakable signs of its resur-
fecting it all over the country. The tuning rection in full glory. The reason is simple
group has had opportunities in greater number enough. This instrument fills a need which can
than ever, at the hands of all the great manu- be filled by no substitute. Indeed there is no
facturing concerns, to acquire practical knowl- substitute. But it is certain that the marketing
edge of reproducing piano mechanisms. The methods of the future must be based upon much
tuner who does not know how to keep a repro- greater intelligence. The attempt being made
ducing piano in playing condition will soon be on so large a scale by the Gulbransen and the
a vanished figure. Meanwhile, however, and Standard pneumatic interests to influence public
parallel with this, there has been going on a thought once more in the direction of per-
still more important work, that, namely, of sonal playing by means of the player-piano is
teaching the public to understand that technical worthy of all praise; but the retail trade seems
service is essential to the maintenance of pianos slow to profit by the opportunities thus being
in good condition, and further that this is some- created for it.
thing which the user must both obtain regularly
On the whole, then, we must conclude that
and pay well for. Unhappily, the piano industry the experiences of 1925, depressing as that year
has a very bad record of past performance to has been to so many of us, furnish a fair cer-
atone for in this matter, since the vast evil of
tainty that 1926 will be far more prosperous
free service has been tolerated by even the and exciting.
High-Grade Reproducing Pianos Lead
in Demand With the St. Louis Dealers
Stocks Expected to Last During the Holiday Selling Period Exhausted and Some Dealers Have
Had to Resort to Express Shipments—Weiss Music & Radio Shop Opens
C T . LOUIS, MO., December 21.—With Christ-
mas only four days away, all the music mer-
chants know how the Christmas business has
turned out. Some of them are satisfied and
some are dissatisfied. The satisfied ones are
the handlers of top-notch instruments. It is
these that have led in the creation of volume
on the Christmas sales. Sales of the highest-
priced reproducers have been very gratifying.
People who have plenty of money to spend
for such things have spent it lavishly. Dealers
who started into December with stocks which
were expected to carry them through found
themselves practically depleted more than a
week before Christmas. One of the leading
firms reports one day's sales aggregating $24,000.
The Aeolian Co. of Missouri found itself com-
pelled to have Duo-Arts sent by express to
avoid disappointing customers.
High-grade
grands were next in line in the Christmas move-
ment. Dealers handling instruments not so
high priced have done well in the sale of small
grands.
In talking machines, inability to get the new
Victrolas and the Brunswick Panatropes for
Christmas delivery has been embarrassing, but
in many instances purchasers were willing to
let their orders stand, accepting substitutes tem-
porarily. Dealers in other makes caught the
rebound and profited by the situation.
Two Steinway grand pianos furnished by the
Aeolian Co. of Missouri have been installed in
the "Voice of St. Louis" radio broadcasting
station, which is nearing completion. The organ
is being installed by the Kilgen Co.
The Weiss Music & Radio Shop has opened
for business at Ferguson avenue and First
street, Wood River, 111., under the name of
"The Palace of Music."
H. Paul Mehlin, Jr., of Paul G. Mehlin &
Sons, New York, was here last week, returning
from the Pacific Coast. He was met here by
Leo Jones, traveler for the company, returning
from a trip through Kansas.
E. Calhoun Johnston, formerly with the
Kieselhorst Piano Co., has taken a position
with the Conrov Piano Co.
Palmer's Piano Place Opens
MODESTO, CAL., December 18.—Palmer's Piano
Place, of which J. M. Palmer is proprietor, has
been reopened in the new Elks' Building, 1118
Eye street. A full line of pianos and player-
pianos is being handled and an up-to-date piano
repair shop has been installed in the rear of the
store. Mr. Palmer came to Modesto about 1913,
at which time he started the business which he
is still operating.
League's Music Store, of Greenville, S. C,
has removed recently from 205 North Main
street to the W. H. Keith Building next to the
Rivoli Theatre.
DECEMBER 26, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Demonstration Is Basis of Increased
Player-Piano Sales Volume
Both for the Reproducing Piano and the Pedal Player, Proper Demonstration, a Sales Factor Which Is
Widely Disregarded in the Retail Music Trade, Is the Essential Point in Developing a Wider
Demand for These Two Types of Instruments With the People of the Country
i
player industry has passed through
another year and may safely be congratu-
lated. Conditions were none too good
upon the first of last January and those who
looked forward to any large recovery were re-
garded by respectable judges as highly
optimistic persons. Nevertheless, their optimism
has been, on the whole, justified, for the indus-
try has once more displayed its inherent vitality,
and demonstrated that it is at the least a very
good imitation of a completely stable and essen-
tial element in the social life of the day.
There has been some increase in the number
of pianos placed upon the market fitted with
reproducing actions, and a majority of these has
been, of course, in the class of grands. The
grand player-piano of the pedal-played type has
meanwhile virtually disappeared. This is un-
doubtedly a pity, because the pedal-played
player-piano is really the backbone of the in-
dustry and needs a representative in the class
of pianos which embodies the highest and finest
of ideals in piano tone.
The merchandising reasons for the disappear-
ance of the pedal-played grand player are not
hard to understand. When the reproducing
piano appeared it carried with it, as justification
for its cost, the prestige of great artistic names
appended to its music rolls. The other never
had this prestige, nor could have it, so that it
had to depend for acceptance upon its intrinsic
merits. Since the dealers long ago abandoned
any attempt to sell the pedal-played player-piano
upon performance by demonstration, the decline
of the grand player can easily be understood.
Prosperity of Reproducer
Commercially, the reproducing piano has more
than held its own. It has sold very well indeed,
and the prospects are that it will continue to sell
better each year for some years to come. The
question of saturation is not yet a question of
any practical importance and dealers may rest
assured that there is no community of any size
in the country which is as yet in possession and
use of more than a small fraction of the num-
ber of reproducing pianos which can be sold
within its limits during the next two or three
years.
Nevertheless, the experience of the past
year only amplifies and justifies the two prin-
ciples which have from the first animated the
most successful sellers of reproducing pianos.
These principles are the principle of demonstra-
tion and the principle of systematic service.
The Principle of Demonstration
The reproducing piano is above all things a
piece of mechanism which needs to be explained
to the public. Its virtues are not obvious, at
least to the buying public' An instrument that
reproduces the playing of an artist is decidedly
a very wonderful thing; but the public has a
very large capacity for apathy, and there would
be no inaccuracy in saying that its powers of
concealing its enthusiasm are astonishingly
great. No beneficial thing, no boon and blessing
to man, has ever sold itself. The telephone lan-
guished for years before its virtues were gen-
erally appreciated. The safety razor was only
launched by the aid of a campaign of advertising
on a national scale which was one of the first
of its kind and remains to this day a model.
The original piano player was only put on the
map by similar means. In the last-named and
analogous case the sales method was from the
start based wholly upon carefully planned dem-
onstration, and the decline, even after it had best, and unscrupulously used by the others. To-
assumed the convenient player-piano shape, may day, free service can no longer be given, for
be dated from the day when the retail trade the pneumatic mechanism has intervened and
began to believe that it would thenceforward has changed the whole complexion of affairs.
sell itself. Demonstration, carefully planned Dealers have now to begin educating their com-
and intelligently carried out, remains the only munities to understand that pianos need regular
method holding even remote possibilities of suc- tuning and maintenance, and that the cost of
cessful merchandising. And this means exactly this must come out of the pockets of the owners
what it says. Any fool can take a music roll of reproducing pianos and player-pianos. It is
and set it going; but that is not demonstration. gratifying to record that dealers are beginning
to face the facts and are finding the public on
Service
Systematic service represents another of the the whole reasonable and responsive.
Resurrection
great governing principles of successful mer-
The pedal-played player-piano has been in a
chandising, and it is pleasant to record that
during the years just past there has been a very partial eclipse for the last two or three years,
strong movement towards consolidating and per- but there are unmistakable signs of its resur-
fecting it all over the country. The tuning rection in full glory. The reason is simple
group has had opportunities in greater number enough. This instrument fills a need which can
than ever, at the hands of all the great manu- be filled by no substitute. Indeed there is no
facturing concerns, to acquire practical knowl- substitute. But it is certain that the marketing
edge of reproducing piano mechanisms. The methods of the future must be based upon much
tuner who does not know how to keep a repro- greater intelligence. The attempt being made
ducing piano in playing condition will soon be on so large a scale by the Gulbransen and the
a vanished figure. Meanwhile, however, and Standard pneumatic interests to influence public
parallel with this, there has been going on a thought once more in the direction of per-
still more important work, that, namely, of sonal playing by means of the player-piano is
teaching the public to understand that technical worthy of all praise; but the retail trade seems
service is essential to the maintenance of pianos slow to profit by the opportunities thus being
in good condition, and further that this is some- created for it.
thing which the user must both obtain regularly
On the whole, then, we must conclude that
and pay well for. Unhappily, the piano industry the experiences of 1925, depressing as that year
has a very bad record of past performance to has been to so many of us, furnish a fair cer-
atone for in this matter, since the vast evil of
tainty that 1926 will be far more prosperous
free service has been tolerated by even the and exciting.
High-Grade Reproducing Pianos Lead
in Demand With the St. Louis Dealers
Stocks Expected to Last During the Holiday Selling Period Exhausted and Some Dealers Have
Had to Resort to Express Shipments—Weiss Music & Radio Shop Opens
C T . LOUIS, MO., December 21.—With Christ-
mas only four days away, all the music mer-
chants know how the Christmas business has
turned out. Some of them are satisfied and
some are dissatisfied. The satisfied ones are
the handlers of top-notch instruments. It is
these that have led in the creation of volume
on the Christmas sales. Sales of the highest-
priced reproducers have been very gratifying.
People who have plenty of money to spend
for such things have spent it lavishly. Dealers
who started into December with stocks which
were expected to carry them through found
themselves practically depleted more than a
week before Christmas. One of the leading
firms reports one day's sales aggregating $24,000.
The Aeolian Co. of Missouri found itself com-
pelled to have Duo-Arts sent by express to
avoid disappointing customers.
High-grade
grands were next in line in the Christmas move-
ment. Dealers handling instruments not so
high priced have done well in the sale of small
grands.
In talking machines, inability to get the new
Victrolas and the Brunswick Panatropes for
Christmas delivery has been embarrassing, but
in many instances purchasers were willing to
let their orders stand, accepting substitutes tem-
porarily. Dealers in other makes caught the
rebound and profited by the situation.
Two Steinway grand pianos furnished by the
Aeolian Co. of Missouri have been installed in
the "Voice of St. Louis" radio broadcasting
station, which is nearing completion. The organ
is being installed by the Kilgen Co.
The Weiss Music & Radio Shop has opened
for business at Ferguson avenue and First
street, Wood River, 111., under the name of
"The Palace of Music."
H. Paul Mehlin, Jr., of Paul G. Mehlin &
Sons, New York, was here last week, returning
from the Pacific Coast. He was met here by
Leo Jones, traveler for the company, returning
from a trip through Kansas.
E. Calhoun Johnston, formerly with the
Kieselhorst Piano Co., has taken a position
with the Conrov Piano Co.
Palmer's Piano Place Opens
MODESTO, CAL., December 18.—Palmer's Piano
Place, of which J. M. Palmer is proprietor, has
been reopened in the new Elks' Building, 1118
Eye street. A full line of pianos and player-
pianos is being handled and an up-to-date piano
repair shop has been installed in the rear of the
store. Mr. Palmer came to Modesto about 1913,
at which time he started the business which he
is still operating.
League's Music Store, of Greenville, S. C,
has removed recently from 205 North Main
street to the W. H. Keith Building next to the
Rivoli Theatre.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).