Music Trade Review
Issue: 1927 Vol. 84 N. 10 - Page 16
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16
The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
at 383 Madison Avenue, New York
President, C. L. Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Edward Lyman Bill, Randolph
Brown; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill; Treasurer. Raymond Bill; Assistant Secretary.
L. E. Bowers; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low; Chairman of the Board, J. B. Spillane.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
RAY BILL, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
FRANK L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E.
B. MUNCH, V. D. WALSH, EDWARD VAN HARLINGBN, THOI. W.
E. J. NKALY, FREDERICK B. DIEHL, A. J. NICKLEN
WESTERN DIVISION:
FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
BRESNAHAN,
BOSTON O F F I C E
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Republic BIdg., 209 So. State St., ChicaRo
Telephone, Main 6950
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243
LONDON, E N G L A N D : 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall, St., D. C.
N E W S S E R V I C E IS S U P P L I E D W E E K L Y BY OUR C O R R E S P O N D E N T S
LOCATED I N T H E L E A D I N G CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA
Published Every Saturday at 383 Madison Avenue, New York
Rnttrtd
at second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, Pf. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879
S U B S C R I P T I O N , United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.50; all other
countries, $5.00.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S , rates on request.
R E M I T T A N C E S , should be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill, Inc.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis Clark Exposition, 1905
T E L E P H O N E S — V A N D E R B I L T 2042-2643-2644-2645-2647-2648
Cable Address: "Elblll, N e w York"
Vol. LXXXIV
NEW YORK, MARCH 5, 1927
No. 10
"Everlasting" Means Bad Selling
MAN with an automobile that is two or three years old and
A beginning
to show it in appearance and operation will be
quick to offer apologies regarding his car, and to explain that he is
really trying to get a newer model that will prove creditable both to
himself and his family. At home the woman of the house will
brag about the fact that the upright piano sadly in need of tuning
and with the ebony case cruelly marred is some twenty years old
or more and is still good enough for the children to do their
practicing on.
This state of mind as it concerns the piano is not to be blamed
so much upon the piano owner as upon the members of the trade
themselves, who have consistently emphasized in advertising and
selling talks that the particular instrument they offered "was good
for a lifetime." There have, of course, been some efforts made
by good merchandisers during recent years to correct this impres-
sion by referring to improved case designs, to the attractiveness of
the small grand in the home, and particularly to the desirability of
having an instrument that from the standpoint of appearance har-
monizes with the other furnishings in the room.
It is not entirely a question of style, but rather of replacing
wornout pianos with new instruments that are properly playable.
Charles Deutschmann, president of the National Association of
Piano Tuners, some time ago made the statement, given widespread
publicity through the Associated Press, that not only were 8,000,003
pianos in the United States out of tune, but 4,000,000 of them were
in such deplorable condition that they should be junked and re-
placed by new instruments. In The Review this week A. G. Gul-
bransen points out the fallacy of encouraging the public to believe
that any piano, no matter how decrepit, how toneless or how scarred,
has a value. It is a topic that is worthy of wide discussion in the
trade.
Other industries have overcome this same belief that their
products were everlasting. Witness the fact, for instance, that the
average well-fixed householder thinks nothing of junking his living-
room, dining-room or bedroom furniture at reasonable intervals and
replacing it with newer stuff, this in contrast to the attitude of a
MARCH 5, 1927
few years ago when furniture was considered usable and appro-
priate until it fell apart.
ve
m m
An Example to Be Followed
HE move by some thirty-five retail music dealers of Chicago
T adopting
standards of practice for musical instrument adver-
tising should afford an excellent example not only for retailers in
other parts of the country where shady advertising and sales prac-
tices develop, but to better business bureaus and other corrective
organizations which feel it incumbent upon them to carry on cleanup
campaigns among the music trades in their own localities.
The Chicago Better Business Bureau played the game by carry-
ing out a thorough investigation and then, instead of issuing news-
paper advertisements and broadsides warning the public against
fraudulent practices without specifying the perpetrators, called a
meeting of representative dealers to discuss the situation and to de-
vise a remedy if possible within the trade itself.
This attitude was regarded rightly as a decidedly helpful one
and the spirit of the dealers was made evident in the adoption of
the suggested standards of practice as offered by the Better Busi-
ness Bureau together with certain changes and additions presented
by the dealers themselves and designed to make the rules even
broader and more rigid.
It has been demonstrated time and time again that the fraudu-
lent advertiser cannot be legislated out of business by association
action, nor will he at all times respond to moral suasion. In such
cases drastic action may be necessary and desirable. By the adop-
tion of the standard for advertising set down in Chicago, dealers
who have subscribed to the rules place themselves before the public
as honest and legitimate tradesmen, as compared with non-subscrib-
ers who may prefer to use shady and misleading tactics.
The better element in the music trade has on every occasion
shown its resentment of questionable advertising, and a willingness
to co-operate with any organized movement in or out of the trade
to discourage such tactics. That the Chicago Better Business
Bureau has realized this fact and enlisted the support of the repre-
sentative dealers of the community rather than endeavoring to
stamp out the practices by a general attack on the trade as a whole
is a matter for congratulation. This spirit should be brought, to the
attention of agencies in other cities of the country who show an
inclination to control trade evils by publicity methods ofttimes likely
to injure the innocent quite as much as the guilty.
&
«f $*
The Big Factor in the Radio Law
f
V
I HE signing of the new radio control bill by President Coolidge
-•• last week should prove a matter of distinct gratification to
those music merchants who handle radio receiving sets to a greater
or less extent and encourage them to put some further effort into
merchandising such units. The most important phase of the legisla-
tion is that it is designed to end the confusion now existing in the
air through a superabundance of stations.
According to the figures there are at present 733 programmed
broadcasting stations on the air, all confined within a wave band
that experts declare can accommodate properly only eighty-nine
stations. With the control law going into operation, the licenses
of all these stations, together with radio transmitting stations of all
other types, will be revoked, and the Federal Radio Commission
created under the law will thereupon set about granting new licenses
to such stations as are selected under the provisions of the measure.
There is no question but that the number of broadcasters will be cut
down materially and that the stations licensed will be those which
by past performance have proven themselves most valuable to the
general public.
It is stated that the work of the commissioners in clearing up
the situation will occupy some time at best and that many of their
decisions will probably be followed by lawsuits to determine the
constitutionality of the act. However, under any conditions the out-
look is that in the future the radio listener-in with an average re-
ceiving set will have a chance to enjoy programs without undue
interference. - That is the one big point from the angle of the
dealer, for it means that he will be able to demonstrate and sell
his radio receivers with a confidence that he will not be flooded
with complaints regarding lack of selectivity.
16
The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
at 383 Madison Avenue, New York
President, C. L. Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Edward Lyman Bill, Randolph
Brown; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill; Treasurer. Raymond Bill; Assistant Secretary.
L. E. Bowers; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low; Chairman of the Board, J. B. Spillane.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
RAY BILL, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
FRANK L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E.
B. MUNCH, V. D. WALSH, EDWARD VAN HARLINGBN, THOI. W.
E. J. NKALY, FREDERICK B. DIEHL, A. J. NICKLEN
WESTERN DIVISION:
FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
BRESNAHAN,
BOSTON O F F I C E
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Republic BIdg., 209 So. State St., ChicaRo
Telephone, Main 6950
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243
LONDON, E N G L A N D : 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall, St., D. C.
N E W S S E R V I C E IS S U P P L I E D W E E K L Y BY OUR C O R R E S P O N D E N T S
LOCATED I N T H E L E A D I N G CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA
Published Every Saturday at 383 Madison Avenue, New York
Rnttrtd
at second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, Pf. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879
S U B S C R I P T I O N , United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.50; all other
countries, $5.00.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S , rates on request.
R E M I T T A N C E S , should be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill, Inc.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis Clark Exposition, 1905
T E L E P H O N E S — V A N D E R B I L T 2042-2643-2644-2645-2647-2648
Cable Address: "Elblll, N e w York"
Vol. LXXXIV
NEW YORK, MARCH 5, 1927
No. 10
"Everlasting" Means Bad Selling
MAN with an automobile that is two or three years old and
A beginning
to show it in appearance and operation will be
quick to offer apologies regarding his car, and to explain that he is
really trying to get a newer model that will prove creditable both to
himself and his family. At home the woman of the house will
brag about the fact that the upright piano sadly in need of tuning
and with the ebony case cruelly marred is some twenty years old
or more and is still good enough for the children to do their
practicing on.
This state of mind as it concerns the piano is not to be blamed
so much upon the piano owner as upon the members of the trade
themselves, who have consistently emphasized in advertising and
selling talks that the particular instrument they offered "was good
for a lifetime." There have, of course, been some efforts made
by good merchandisers during recent years to correct this impres-
sion by referring to improved case designs, to the attractiveness of
the small grand in the home, and particularly to the desirability of
having an instrument that from the standpoint of appearance har-
monizes with the other furnishings in the room.
It is not entirely a question of style, but rather of replacing
wornout pianos with new instruments that are properly playable.
Charles Deutschmann, president of the National Association of
Piano Tuners, some time ago made the statement, given widespread
publicity through the Associated Press, that not only were 8,000,003
pianos in the United States out of tune, but 4,000,000 of them were
in such deplorable condition that they should be junked and re-
placed by new instruments. In The Review this week A. G. Gul-
bransen points out the fallacy of encouraging the public to believe
that any piano, no matter how decrepit, how toneless or how scarred,
has a value. It is a topic that is worthy of wide discussion in the
trade.
Other industries have overcome this same belief that their
products were everlasting. Witness the fact, for instance, that the
average well-fixed householder thinks nothing of junking his living-
room, dining-room or bedroom furniture at reasonable intervals and
replacing it with newer stuff, this in contrast to the attitude of a
MARCH 5, 1927
few years ago when furniture was considered usable and appro-
priate until it fell apart.
ve
m m
An Example to Be Followed
HE move by some thirty-five retail music dealers of Chicago
T adopting
standards of practice for musical instrument adver-
tising should afford an excellent example not only for retailers in
other parts of the country where shady advertising and sales prac-
tices develop, but to better business bureaus and other corrective
organizations which feel it incumbent upon them to carry on cleanup
campaigns among the music trades in their own localities.
The Chicago Better Business Bureau played the game by carry-
ing out a thorough investigation and then, instead of issuing news-
paper advertisements and broadsides warning the public against
fraudulent practices without specifying the perpetrators, called a
meeting of representative dealers to discuss the situation and to de-
vise a remedy if possible within the trade itself.
This attitude was regarded rightly as a decidedly helpful one
and the spirit of the dealers was made evident in the adoption of
the suggested standards of practice as offered by the Better Busi-
ness Bureau together with certain changes and additions presented
by the dealers themselves and designed to make the rules even
broader and more rigid.
It has been demonstrated time and time again that the fraudu-
lent advertiser cannot be legislated out of business by association
action, nor will he at all times respond to moral suasion. In such
cases drastic action may be necessary and desirable. By the adop-
tion of the standard for advertising set down in Chicago, dealers
who have subscribed to the rules place themselves before the public
as honest and legitimate tradesmen, as compared with non-subscrib-
ers who may prefer to use shady and misleading tactics.
The better element in the music trade has on every occasion
shown its resentment of questionable advertising, and a willingness
to co-operate with any organized movement in or out of the trade
to discourage such tactics. That the Chicago Better Business
Bureau has realized this fact and enlisted the support of the repre-
sentative dealers of the community rather than endeavoring to
stamp out the practices by a general attack on the trade as a whole
is a matter for congratulation. This spirit should be brought, to the
attention of agencies in other cities of the country who show an
inclination to control trade evils by publicity methods ofttimes likely
to injure the innocent quite as much as the guilty.
&
«f $*
The Big Factor in the Radio Law
f
V
I HE signing of the new radio control bill by President Coolidge
-•• last week should prove a matter of distinct gratification to
those music merchants who handle radio receiving sets to a greater
or less extent and encourage them to put some further effort into
merchandising such units. The most important phase of the legisla-
tion is that it is designed to end the confusion now existing in the
air through a superabundance of stations.
According to the figures there are at present 733 programmed
broadcasting stations on the air, all confined within a wave band
that experts declare can accommodate properly only eighty-nine
stations. With the control law going into operation, the licenses
of all these stations, together with radio transmitting stations of all
other types, will be revoked, and the Federal Radio Commission
created under the law will thereupon set about granting new licenses
to such stations as are selected under the provisions of the measure.
There is no question but that the number of broadcasters will be cut
down materially and that the stations licensed will be those which
by past performance have proven themselves most valuable to the
general public.
It is stated that the work of the commissioners in clearing up
the situation will occupy some time at best and that many of their
decisions will probably be followed by lawsuits to determine the
constitutionality of the act. However, under any conditions the out-
look is that in the future the radio listener-in with an average re-
ceiving set will have a chance to enjoy programs without undue
interference. - That is the one big point from the angle of the
dealer, for it means that he will be able to demonstrate and sell
his radio receivers with a confidence that he will not be flooded
with complaints regarding lack of selectivity.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).