Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Featuring All Sides of the Player in
the St. Louis Campaign
A Striking Example of Constructive Copy Used by the St. Louis Retail Music Merchants for the Player-
Piano Based on the Wealth of Music Which Is Available to the Owners of the Player-Piano
—The Results Brought by Co-operative Advertising to Retail Merchants
T
H E miniature war, of which the piano
business of St. Louis is the center, is more
or less familiar to the members of the in-
dustry generally, who have watched with con-
siderable interest the campaign carried on by
the Better Business Bureau through one news-
set the effects of the Better Business Bureau's
drive against certain specified houses, which has
naturally reacted against all retail piano concerns
in the city, through reduced volume of business
and increased sales resistance, there has been
evolved some excellent copy, specimens of
One of the latest of the series of co-operative
advertisements occupying something like five
columns and almost the entire depth of the
page in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is repro-
duced herewith because of the unusual character
of the appeal made to prospective purchasers
of player-pianos. There are some features in
the copy that might well be embodied in all
player-piano advertising, for instance, that sec-
tion calling attention, in large type, to the great
variety of music that is available to player
owners through the medium of music rolls.
Here in itself is an argument that alone justifies
the space devoted to the advertisement, for there
has been altogether too little attention devoted
to the music that is possible through the player-
piano in proportion to the amount of space
given to the presentation of the instrument
itself.
VERY musical enjoyment is realizable with a
Player-Piano in the home. Without previous
Then, too, a special effort was made to dis-
musical training any member of the family
tinguish between the various types of player-
may most pleasingly play music ' ' the most difficult
pianos for the benefit of the prospective buyer,
compositions may be played with ease.
differentiating very clearly between instruments
operated by foot power or electrically, and with
Old favorites, almost unknown to this younger
the expression controlled by the player and
generation, may again be played and loved for
those instruments of the reproducing type, for
melody and sentiment.
instance, which are entirely automatic in opera-
A new song may become the
tion.
rage over night. Without
bothering with an unfamiliar
More advertising of this broad and informa-
score, the music roll has it
tive
type carried on by the trade at large in all
ready for instant playing
sections of the country should prove of great
Not to everyone is given the
benefit to the player division of the industry as a
gift for quickly reading music.
whole, for despite the fact that the player in its
Hours of practice are some'
times necessary for many
various forms has been on the market for over
before perfecting fingering
a quarter of a century, there still remains in
and rhythm..
the minds of many excellent prospects consid-
To those, therefore, who can-
erable doubt as to the range and possibilities
not play and the many who
of the different instruments.
do play, a Player -Piano, with
its inexhaustible library of
The St. Louis piano merchants, fortunately,
music rolls, is indeed a boon.
in combating the effects of the clean-up cam-
paign of the Better Business Bureau have not
All Player-Pianos may be
hand-played exactly as ordi-
endeavored to impress the public with the vir-
nary Pianos.
tues of the various co-operative concerns, but
have endeavored to instil confidence in the trade
Music Rolls Embrace More Than 5000
and its products by a straightforward presenta-
Different Pieces of Music
tion of facts. The advertisement devoted to the
SACRED
OPERATIC
CLASSICAL
player-piano is a particularly fine example of
NURSERY TUNES
DANCES
HEART SONGS
this work and should prove effective on merit
BALLADS
POPULAR SONG
MARCHES
alone.
OVERTURES
SYMPHONIES
PATRIOTIC
It may seem a bit unnecessary to devote val-
The cost of any of these music rolls is small»' inconsequential in
uable advertising space to telling player owners
view of the pleasure enjoyed and the happiness afforded. There
is something for every mood and every occasion. Any music roll
that they may obtain in music roll form a wide
may be played with the performer's own interpretation of
selection of the classics, semi-classics, old-fash-
expression, if desired.
ioned home songs, etc., but when one considers
TWO TYPES OF PLAYER-PIANOS
the average run of music roll advertisements,
PURELY AUTOMATIC
FOOT PROPELLED
which are certainly few enough, it would ap-
This is the reproducing type. Plug in on the house current, in-
This U the Upright style. The Player u built in and u an integral
sert the reproducing roll and listen to Paderewskl and hundreds
pear, in most cases, that there are produced
part of the instrument. It U fine mechanism and is easily, almost
of the world's famous pianists. The tempo and expression are
Unconsciouslyi propelled. It U the favorite instrument of music in
only the popular airs of the day. The advertis-
automatically controlled. In Upright, and Grand Piano style*.
countless hotnei. It costs little more than a good ordinary Piano.
ing setting forth the character of music that
Buy a well known make. Convenient terms may be had wherever standard make Pianos are sold,
can be obtained has, therefore, a double appeal;
with your old Piano or Phonograph, appraised at a fair value, accepted as part payment
first, to the player owner who may have tem-
porarily lost interest in his instrument or seeks
rolls that meet his requirements, and, second,
to the prospect who appreciates good music but
questions whether he can produce it without
personal musical training on the player instru-
A Player Advertisement in the St, Louis Co-operative Campaign
ment as at present constituted and constructed
paper to educate the public regarding the ques- which have already been reproduced in The by the industry.
tionable practice existing in the local piano Review. Being co-operative, the advertising has
Perhaps the example set by the St. Louis
trade and a counter-campaign carried on in
had to deal with generalities, naturally, and has music men may prove an inspiration to retailers
another newspaper by piano dealers themselves been confined for the most part to emphasizing in other sections of the country, who may thus
on a co-operative basis to re-establish their
the need of music in the home and of the value be moved to use explanatory copy either in
place in the confidence of the people.
their individual campaigns or where possible in
of the piano in its various forms for educational
co-operative advertising.
In the co-operative campaign designed to off- and entertainment purposes.
For Fathers and Mothers
and Sons and Daughters
The Player-Piano
E
PLAY MORE MUSIC
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