Music Trade Review

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Musical Merchandise
Published by The Music Trade Review, 383 Madison Avenue, New York
The Music Industries Need a Real
Slogan, Says W. J. Haussler
President of the National Musical Merchandise Association Points Out Vital Need of Driv-
ing Home to the Consciousness of the People Music as One of Life's Necessities,
Through a Slogan That Will Leave an Indelible Impress
*'
*
DD to Your Happiness;
Play a Musical Instrument!"
The whole music industry stands
more in need of a slogan than anything else, in
the strongly voiced opinion of William J.
Haussler, president of the National Musical
Merchandise Association. He feels that this im-
portant industry needs a real slogan that will
ultimately identify it in the public consciousness
of the nation and he is earnestly interested in
arousing the trade to a full appreciation of the
seriousness of the need.
The happiness slogan above, Mr. Haussler's
own origination, he suggests just to start the
ball rolling.
"I don't want any one to feel that this is
given with the idea that it should be accepted,"
he says. "While I personally feel that it ex-
presses a good idea it may strike others as be-
ing a crude presentation of a thought that can
be improved. It does, however, give us some-
thing to work on for the perfection of a more
appropriate one.
" 'Save the Surface and You Save All.' When
you hear or see this you immediately think of
the paint and varnish industry and of your own
particular need for its product. 'Nothing Takes
the Place of Leather,' immediately suggests the
industry that puts it out and provokes the de-
sired thought. 'Say It With Flowers' needs no
comment."
These show what slogans will do for an in-
dustry. It follows just as certainly that a slogan
that is just as pithy and pointed will do as much
for the music industry in its relations with the
public. What is needed right now is the crystal-
lization of the proper amount of force behind the
movement to bring about the best possible
slogan that will cover the entire industry—
pianos, talking machines, music rolls, records,
sheet music, band and orchestra instruments,
and all accessories; anything that has to do with
the creation or reproduction of music.
No art transcends that of music in the hearts
of the American millions. But it is more than
an art, it has become a colossal national heritage,
according to Mr. Haussler, who believes that
not in art alone does the strength of music
lie.
"It is no longer possible to speak of music
solely as an art," he says. "As an art alone it
could not reach these millions whose benison it
is. Only because music has also become a busi-
ness, substantial, far-reaching, far-seeing and
guided by the most practical idealism has it
ceased to be a plaything of coteries and cults
and become a colossal national heritage.
"Music as an art may be said to be the great
A
anodyne of life. As a business it is a public
service institution that represents the best ac-
complishments of democracy. There is no
severing the two. The universality of the one
W. J. Haussler
has been made possible and continues in ever-
widening influence by virtue of the other.
"Music, as the nation knows it to-day, is of
necessity as much a matter of business as it is
of art. A business so highly organized, so spe-
cialized, so built up on the lessons of a century
Have You a Little Slogan in
Your Head?
What the music industry needs to estab-
lish it firmly in the public consciousness
as a producer of one of life's necessities is
a real slogan, according to William J.
Haussler.
Mr. Haussler is president of the National
Musical Merchandise Association, general
manager of M. Hohner, Inc., and general
manager of C. Bruno & Son. Inc., but his
desire for a slogan extends to the whole
music industry, maker of ukulele and re-
producing piano alike.
He suggests that the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce inaugurate a slogan
contest open to all. What is your idea on
the subject? It is a matter of vital interest
to you; write us your opinion today!
and more of experimentation, that its adminis-
tration is no place for the tyro, the gambler or
the bungler. It is a business that must have
ideals commensurate with those of the art. With
these ideals must go acumen of no common
order.
"This leads me to the suggestion I made be-
fore the directors of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce at their recent meeting
in New York. Briefly, it was this: That we
should adopt an appropriate slogan and design
briefly expressing in a forceful way a thought
that no one could partake so plentifully of the
joys of life unless he plays a musical instru-
ment.
"This is a thought that I have given long and
careful consideration to and I confidently be-
lieve that if we (and in the use of the word 'we'
I include each and every man and woman en-
gaged in the making, distributing and selling
of musical instruments of every description,
from the highest-priced pianos down to the
harmonica—for, after all, we must think more
in terms of the collective 'we' if we will suc-
ceed) put our shoulders to the wheel, we can
work out a suitable design and slogan that will
awaken the whole nation to the value of having
an ability to give musical expression on at least
one musical instrument. After we have adopted
a suitable slogan with a characteristic design,
then it behooves each and every one of us to
lend a helping hand in establishing it as a per-
manent fixture on the national shrine of atten-
tion and thought."
We believe with Mr. Haussler that the ulti-
mate desire of the music industry should lead
to bringing out this state of the public mind:
"What, you play no musical instrument? I
never heard of such a thing!" If this feeling
can be brought about toward music a much
more desirable state of affairs will exist in the
industry.
While we all desire progress in furthering
music as an art, we are all practical busi-
ness men and we must candidly admit that our
interest in furthering music as an art lies pri-
marily in increasing the musical instrument sales.
But the two go hand in hand.
The chief problem in the choice of a suitable
slogan to push the "Make America Musical"
movement lies in the securing of an all-compre-
hensive one, one that will bring out the same
enthusiastic support from a ukulele manufac-
turer that it receives from the maker of a re-
producing grand. Great care must be taken in
the selection of the slogan. It wants to carry
the idea forcefully to the public. It must be
(Continued on page 18)