Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
any profit on a smaller discount. Very care-
fully worked out .selling costs of several im-
portant dealers, including one of the largest
retailers in New York, show that the actual
cost of selling radio figures around 36 per
cent. It is, therefore, obvious that discounts
of 40 and 10 are necessary if music mer-
chants are to continue to push the sale of radio.
Music Merchants' Share
"I am much gratified to learn that, contrary
to what 1 had previously been informed, from
35 to 45 per cent of from $300,000,000 to $400,-
000,000 gross retail radio business in this coun
try this year has been distributed through
music merchants. Dependable statistics are
hard to obtain. A very considerable portion
of this business has, of course, been due to
the sale of radio in combination with phono-
graphs. The store of the music merchant is
the natural outlet for radio. All stores of
music merchants, including music departments
of general stores, should carry radio. Music
merchants and their organizations and activ-
ities are entitled to the support of radio manu-
facturers.
"The music merchant has the knowledge and
experience necessary to sell radio properly. He
and his sales force are accustomed to selling
merchandise, not merely accepting orders for
it, even to the extent of doing so through
house-to-house canvassing. He is an experi-
enced instalment collector, if he is a successful
merchant. He is a specialist. Radio should
be handled by a specialist. A large percentage
of radio sales are made on a partial payment
plan of some kind. That is one reason why a
substantial mark-up is necessary.
"Radio manufacturers should co-operate in
assisting such reputable and energetic music
merchants as require such assistance in estab-
lishing advantageous relations with reliable
discount or finance companies. They are highly
necessary factors in producing great volume in
legitimate instalment business. They under-
stand the instalment business whereas the ma-
jority of banks do not.
"Good instalment paper securing sales of
long-lived merchandise is the best collateral in
the financial market to-day if properly handled.
Owing to the frequent misunderstandings be-
tween retail customers and merchants in regard
to prices, with or without certain equipment,
accessories, etc., thus encouraging unscrupulous
merchants to cut prices or to appear to do so,
through misleading advertisements, I am cer-
tain that prices specifying certain equipment
should be advertised.
Protecting the Merchant
"Manufacturers should plan to protect mer-
chants in regard to obsolete or discontinued
models or styles, by granting retroactive dis-
counts to dealers on discontinued models
which are to be disposed of at reduced prices.
Merchants should not be called upon to stand
the losses brought about by lack of foresight
and mistakes on the part of manufacturers.
"The occasional practice of some manufac-
turers of demanding that a merchant accept a
certain allotment of undesirable styles on pain
of losing the agency upon refusal to do so
should never again be resorted to. I person-
ally know a number of merchants who have
bitterly resented such tactics and I have great
respect for those merchants who had the cour-
age to give up immediately the agency and
take a competitive one.
"When a reputable music merchant takes on
radio he should receive reasonable protection
from the manufacturer. The present practice
of certain manufacturers of selling at whole-
sale to any hardware store, harness shop or
confectionery emporium, where their instru-
ments are resold at any old prices on any old
terms, by people totally ignorant of installation
or any other part of the business, should be
stopped at once. Such methods only seriously
injure the legitimate merchant, ruin the name
value of the instrument and bring into dis-
repute all concerned with the manufacture and
legitimate distribution of radio. Permit me
lo say that I am assured that this is an actual
condition. If I have been correctly informed
it should receive your careful consideration.
Maintain Fair Prices
"Everything possible should be done by both
manufacturers and merchants to maintain fair
prices. I personally hope that national laws
enabling manufacturers to fix. retail prices will
be enacted and 1 also hope that the radio busi-
ness will finally remain in the hands of such
manufacturers and merchants as will be dis-
posed to endeavor to enforce price maintenance
if it is permitted by law.
"I know it will appear to you that I may
have utilized this opportunity to bring to your
attention a good many complaints of music
merchants. I have diligently tried to ascertain
from merchants just what they most desire
at your hands and I believe that you want to
know the needs of the merchants whether you
are in a position to fully meet them or not. I
shall be just as interested in bringing to the
attention of the merchants your views.
"Many prominent merchants appear to feel
that jobbers in the radio field are superfluous,
reasoning that the direct responsibility of the
manufacturer to the merchant and the mer-
chant to the manufacturer is logical and that
such an arrangement will promote the best in-
terests of both and of the public. Of this, per-
sonally, I am not at all sure, for I realize that
there are problems of primary distribution that
the retailer is not familiar with.
"I think, however, that there is no difference
of opinion among merchants about the jobber-
retailer. This combination, so far as I have
been able to learn, is universally condemned.
The fact that one leading talking machine
manufacturer abolished that arrangement be-
cause of the great dissatisfaction that it caused
when it existed is pointed to as an outstanding
example.
The Service Problem
"Radio instruments have been so greatly im-
proved that service is no longer the problem
that it was. People who formerly hated the
radio as a musical instrument are now realizing
its wonderful possibilities. Types and styles
should be moderately standardized as soon as
possible. As to cases or cabinets, attractive
'periods' which will never die, should be
adopted, when possible, even if modified.
"As many service men as possible should re-
ceive instructions as rapidly as it can be given.
Merchants should be freely supplied with such
information as possible regarding simple re-
pairs and adjustments.
"The player-piano was a failure until certain
manufacturers, particularly one prominent one,
took measures to see that every intelligent and
ambitious piano tuner in the country was in-
structed regarding repairs and adjustments of
player actions. The same can be said of re-
producing piano actions. Even now traveling
schools are maintained by our leading manu-
facturers. The real piano tuner is an artist
in his line. It takes about as long to become
an artistic piano tuner as it does to become
a lawyer or a doctor. Their earnings are, on
an average, almost the same. The high-grade
piano tuner is an ideal man for you to instruct
as to ordinary radio repairs and adjustments.
The best of them can be reached through their
National Association or through music mer-
chants.
Interrelation of Lines
"I am anxious for every music merchant in
the country to sell radio. I am anxious for
every radio merchant in the country to sell
other musical instruments—particularly pianos
—the basic musical instrument. I am willing to
say that, if two men of equal ability, both prop-
erly financed, should start in business in any
city or community, one handling pianos only,
and the other not only pianos but all other
musical instruments, including radio—'every-
thing musical,' in fact, that the general music
store would within a reasonable length of time
DECEMBER 24, 1927
put the exclusive piano merchant out of busi-
ness.
"I wish to say that the National Association
of Music Merchants at their convention at
Chicago last year, recognizing the radio as a
great musical instrument, adopted an interpre-
tative resolution qualifying radio merchants
and executives for membership in the Asso-
ciation. I would like that information to reach
all radio dealers who are not now members of
the National Association of Music Merchants.
"I would like to see at the next convention of
the Music Merchants' Association, which will
be held at New York early in June, as many
radio dealers and manufacturers as possible,
whether they are members or not, but prefer-
ably as members in the case of dealers. It is
my intention to endeavor to give radio a promi-
nent part on the convention program. I invite
all radio merchants to become members of the
National Association of Music Merchants. Our
Association has done a great deal for the cause
of music. Music is the basis of your broad-
casting. Our membership includes merchants
and executives in every field of the music in-
dustry, but the backbone of the whole proposi-
tion is the piano. Activities which have had
far-reaching effects have been promoted and
sustained by not only the music merchant han-
dling pianos, but equally by the manufacturers
of pianos. Again 1 say that the piano is the
basic musical instrument. Funds have been
raised for the promotion of music in its every
phase in this country, as far as organized pro-
motion is concerned, by piano merchants and
manufacturers. The National Bureau for' the
Advancement of Music that has done so very
much for the cause of music in our country
under the direction of a man whom 1 regard
as possessing genius—C. M. Tremaine—has
been financed mainly, directly or indirectly, by
contributions from the piano merchants and
manufacturers. The piano industry has borne
the burden.
Home Entertainment
"The price range of radios makes it possible
for any family, in any living circumstances at
all, to possess a radio. Music merchants spe-
cializing in the sale of pianos should not dis-
courage the sale of radios, but on the con-
trary, should encourage the sale.
"The piano business, in recent years, has not
advanced as rapidly as has some other busi-
nesses or industries. The main cause of this
is very clear to anyone giving the matter any
consideration. The home life of American
people has changed very radically. Automobiles,
picture shows and other forms of amusement
taking people away from their homes have made
it less necessary to provide for home entertain-
ment. The piano has always been the center
of home entertainment. My point is that radio
is doing more right now than almost any other
agency to re-establish American home life. Peo-
ple do not go out on lonely country lanes, nor
to the city, to hear radio concerts—they remain
at home and invite their friends to visit them
for that purpose.
Get the Habit
"When people again acquire the home enter-
tainment habit, then will more pianos be pur-
chased. A radio does not take the place of
a piano and neither does a piano take the place
of a radio. As long as the human hand, with
its five fingers retain its form; as long as the
natural musical scale, which never has and
never can be improved upon, appeals to the
ear, and as long as the keyboard invented to
accommodate these creations of the Almighty
exist pianos will be made. Thank God, there
is no 'static' in a good piano, though some
of the poor ones, or the very old ones, when
played upon omit sounds frightfully reminiscent
of the performances of a poor radio set under
most unfavorable conditions. The radio cannot,
in its musical instrument capacity, be said to
be a purveyor of 'canned music' as Mr. Sousa
once said of the phonograph or the player-
piano.