Music Trade Review

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News Number
VOL. 88. No. 11
REVIEW
Published Weekly.
Federated Business Publications, Inc., 420 Lexington Ave., New York, N. Y. Mar. 1 6 , 1 9 2 9
Blng
ilo c o°^
Y°ear enta
Carrying a Piano Name
to the
Globe's Four Corners
An Interesting Review of the Spread of the Steinway Business Into
Remote Sections of the World, Testifying to a Remarkable
Development of Export Business
HEN it is stated that the piano is an instrument of international appeal the man on the
street accepts it as a matter of fact. When it is said, too, that a piano manufacturing
house does an international business, it is taken, as a rule, to mean simply that that par-
ticular company sells instruments beyond the borders of the country in which its plant is located.
In short, not a great deal of serious thought is given to the scope of the business or to the ro-
mance that attaches to its spread through various countries of the globe. Yet, there is a romance
in this international trade, which is particularly
evident in the story of the foreign business of operations of the house, he declared that during
Steinway & Sons for in this case international the past few years the export business of Stein-
really means something, in that Steinway in- way & Sons under the management of William
struments are sold in more than sixty different R. Steinway, has increased steadily from one
countries throughout the world, a list that re- twelve-month period to the next throughout the
sembles the table of contents on the front page world, this increase" being particularly notable
in South American countries such as Argen-
of an atlas.
Here in the United States we hear with in- tine and Brazil, in Canada, Japan, the Philip-
creasing frequency of the lack of interest in the pines, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy,
piano, despite the fact that Steinway & Sons, Holland and Germany.
The growth of the business in Germany
New York, last year reported a volume of
business both in number of instruments sold serves to emphasize most clearly the manner in
and value that exceeded all previous records. which that country has come back to normalcy
But whatever may be the actual condition in since the war. Gains in sales in other countries
the United States it is certain that this lack of of the world have also been worthy of com-
interest by no means extends throughout the ment, particularly in Australia, Cuba, Denmark,
Egypt, England, Greece, India, Jugo-Slavia,
world.
It is significant that no matter in what coun- Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and other
tries the customers of Steinway & Sons live, or countries.
"The growth of our organization at our Ham-
what their particular habits or modes of life
may be, they have one great thing in common burg factory reflects particularly well the
and that is a love for music, and that without development of our foreign business, which is
the basic instrument, a good piano, they are handled entirely from our immense plant in that
unable to fully satisfy their craving for an ex- city," declared Mr. Schmidt. "When I first
pression of their musical urge. No matter how went to Hamburg nearly 30 years ago, we em-
much conditions may change, or the mode of ployed only one correspondent who spoke five
living alter in any part of the world, there is or six languages, and took care of all export
one thing certain, and that is that the love of inquiries. Now we have a great staff of corre-
music will persist in every human being spondents there who are not only familiar with
whether he be rich or poor, cultured or not. the languages, but also with the customs of the
This is proven by the world-wide piano de- different countries to which we sell. It is this
mand, for in no country will the public invest understanding of the characteristics of the
in such instruments unless they feel a real need peoples of the different countries, I believe,
which has in a great measure been responsible
for them.
In an interview, recently, with Paul H. for the success of our export department. Some
Schmidt, the particular director of Steinway & of our men travel from England to cover
Sons most closely associated with the overseas South America, Australia and the Orient; others
W
Paul H. Schmidt of Steinway & Sons
go from Hamburg to South America, while we
have several men continually on the road in
Europe who speak fluently the languages of the
countries which they visit, and are thoroughly
familiar with conditions in those countries. For
instance, we have one man who travels in the
Scandinavian and northern countries; another
who travels in the Latin countries; still another
in the Balkan states, and of course several
others covering various parts of Europe.
"It is this understanding of the customs and
desires of the different countries that enables
us to meet their requirements, for it is essen-
tial in export trade to give the foreign buyer
what he wants. It is sometimes a hardship on
our factory force to make special cases, etc.,
for the special tastes of foreign buyers, but if
it is a matter of giving them what they want
we are glad to do it, for it is only by giving
complete satisfaction that we have been able to
develop our export trade to its present satis-
factory proportion.
"To get another angle on this question of
export trade let us give a thought to the many
(Continued on page 5)