Music Trade Review

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REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXX1I. No. 15
Published Every Satwday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y., April 10, 1926
Single Copies 10 Cents
¥2.00 Per Year
Widening Its Market Is the Problem
of the Piano Industry
"W
HAT'S the matter with the piano business?" is the
does not help the industry to blink that fact in its selling work.
biggest question among the piano men today.
The piano man gives a thousand reasons why he fails to get an
Merchant and manufacturer are both asking it every
increasing share of that sum. He alleges the automobile with its
opportunity they get. The answers are almost as many as the
wide popularity, radio, and other similar products. He says that
questions, but fundamentally they all agree on one basis and that
thirty years ago he did not have this competition and the result
is, the fault is to be found largely in merchandising and it is one
was that he obtained a proportionately greater share of surplus dol-
susceptible to remedy.
lars than he does today. He finds too many reasons outside of
himself; what he needs is a little self-investigation.
The question has nothing to do with whether the annual produc-
The piano man usually forgets to recall, in advancing those
tion of pianos is 200,000, 300,000 or 400,000. Where the question
reasons, that the average family today has a good many more sur-
is vital is the fact that the industry is not showing a steady advance;
plus dollars than it had back in the
it seems to bear no relation to the
days which many piano men re-
general conditions of the country;
gard as those of the happy hunt-
and from a financial standpoint, it
ing grounds. Despite the higher
shows a greater investment of
cost of living at the present time,
capital than the value of the annual
there probably never was in the
output of the factories. Consider-
history of the world a period and
ation of these three facts more
JT7VERY Federal Census shows a big ad-
a country where the standard of
than justifies those who are asking
well being was so high for the
this question, and thoroughly re-
-*-' vance both in the wealth and population
average
person—the masses—as it
futes those who seek to palliate the
of the country. Yet, with this increase in its
is today in America.
situation with an aimless optimism
direct market, the American piano industry
that has no relation to the facts.
The raw material of the market
remains practically stabilized in unit output.
The piano industry, as a whole,
for pianos is there; what it needs
The answer to this is embodied in a merchan-
is shaping and handling with
is a going concern. The trouble
is that it is one which goes tpo
dising problem that is taxing the best brains
brains and intelligent work.
slowly and which badly needs a
Has the piano man, who makes
in the industry. A new fundamental market
stimulant.
these
allegations, faith in the prod-
for the piano has to be created. The time to
uct he is selling or does he think
That this condition is not in-
do it is now.
that the day of the piano is past?
herent in the situation is shown by
the fact that certain manufactur-
There is not one in ten thousand
ing units have made sensational
who has ever even had this thought.
So long as music exists in its present form just so long will the
advances both in their unit outputs and in the value of their prod-
piano be its fundamental instrument. It may change in form in
ucts. There is one house, for instance, which increased the value
the future, but so does every other product, and the technical re-
of its output 66 2-3 per cent in five years. But the trouble is that
sources of the industry are sufficient to meet, and in fact forestall,
this increase has not been reflected in the gross output of the in-
every change of this type that will be required.
dustry; it was a transfer of business rather than an advance in
business. There are other manufacturing units which can show
Is his market musical? Never before has there been so wide and
similar records. But again the same holds true—a transfer instead
intelligent an appreciation of music as there is in America today.
of a net increase so far as the industry is concerned. What is the
This has been the work of many forces, including the industry it-
matter with the piano business?
self, and it has been a remarkable work in the magnificent results
which it has achieved. Here the first step in solving the problem
The man who is going to answer this question has to dig down
of the piano's fundamental market has been achieved and the foun-
to the fundamentals. The piano industry does not start in the fac-
dation for the second laid with strength and permanence.
tories. It starts with the contact of the retail salesman with the
individual prospective buyer.
We have made America a nation of listeners to music; what we
must do now is to make America a nation of music-makers.
In other words, the problem before the piano industry is not a pro-
There lies the nub of the entire question. We need more people
duction problem in any sense of the word—it is squarely a problem
who are able to play the piano. We do not need a nation of
of markets. It is a problem of obtaining a greater share of the average
Paderewskis, Hoffmans or Rachmaninoffs; what we need is a na-
family's surplus dollars, a share of that sum which it has above
tion of people who can play the piano sufficiently well for their own
what is needed for its absolute necessities. For never forget that
(Continued on page 4)
music is a cultural necessity, not a necessity of existence, and it
Why?