Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
Published on the First of the Month by
Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
Publishers of Antiquarian, Automotive Electricity, India Rubber World, Materials
Handling & Distribution, Music Trade Review, Novelty Newa, Rug Profits, Sales Man-
agement, Soda Fountain, Talking Machine World & Radio-Music Merchant, Tires; and
operates in association with Building Investment, Draperies and Tire Rate-Book.
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secretary
and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Comptroller, T. J. Kelly; Assistant Treasurer,
Wm. A. Low.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
F. L. AVERV, Circulation Manager
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
E. B. MUNCH, Eastern Representative
WESTERN DIVISION: FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
333 No. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Telephone: State 1266
Telephone:
Lexington 1760-71
Cable:
Elbill New York
In order to insure proper attention all communications should
be addressed to the publication and not to individuals.
Vol. 89
FEBRUARY, 1930
1
^Lessons From the Mid-Year Meetings
HE mid-year meetings of the Board of Directors of
the Music Industry Chamber of Commerce and of the
Board of Control of the National Association of Music
Merchants, held in New York last month, served to shed the light
to interesting and pertinent facts. First that, although handicapped
by conditions the Chamber, together with its important division,
the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music, continues to
function as per the schedule laid down at the June Convention de-
spite unfavorable conditions that exist, and secondly, that the repre-
sentative members of the retail trade of the country are thoroughly
optimistic regarding the immediate future of their business.
It has been a discouraging period for Association work, for trade
members who see red on their ledgers or, to forestall such a con-
tingency, are curtailing output and building up reserves, are not
inclined to be overgenerous in the support of activities that while
admittedly necessary and helpful, do not revert immediately and
directly to the benefit of the cash drawer. Despite conditions, how-
ever, the trade members have dug deeply and it is to their ever-
lasting credit that the farsighted men of the industry have seen fit
to give support to Association work even though it meant sacrifices
in other directions. This applies particularly to the Chamber.
The music merchants, too, have their Association problems which
they are meeting with a spirit that does them credit. To those of
the Board of Control who attended the mid-year meetings this sup-
port is not merely a gesture, for practically without exception they
reported business improvement in 1929, and satisfactory prospects
for the present year. It has been said, and must be admitted, that
the men who attended the meetings are not to be considered as
average music merchants, but are to be classed as the more success-
ful ones. Granting this to be true, it cannot be denied that they
were in a position to reflect the views held at widely separated sec-
tions of the country. They are still in the music business and mak-
ing money, which should at least prove an incentive to those who
are lacking in confidence.
I
i
They Cooperate in Houston
HE representative piano merchants of Houston, Texas,
have been and are providing an example in co-opera-
tive advertising and merchandising that might well be
followed by the members of the retail piano trade throughout the
country in their efforts to place the piano again strongly in public
FEBRUARY, 1930
favor and keep it there. The Houston dealers came to the conclu-
sion that instead of dividing their efforts in individual endeavors to
arouse interest in this or that make of piano, the logical thing to do
was to pool those efforts in a big way to the end that the public be
persuaded to buy pianos. The desire once created it was believed
that there was enough business in town for everybody to share.
The theory worked out well in practice.
Elsewhere in The Review this month there is told a story of the
manner in which the Houston piano men carried on their impressive
co-operative advertising campaign at a cost that was insignificant
compared with the showing made and the results secured. It proved
conclusively the soundness of the oft-repeated statement that what
the trade as a whole should do is to centralize effort in promoting
the piano as an instrument with the assurance that buying interests
once aroused, the selection of the particular make will take care of
itself. Houston dealers have shown the way in presenting a united
front to the public and they have profited thereby, individually and
collectively.
What has been and is being done in Houston can just as well
be done by music merchants in many other cities of the country.
It means that working together they have much more chance of
impressing the public than through individual and often directly
competitive effort. The main objective is to first sell the idea of
piano ownership, and after that the rest will take care of itself.
I
The Passing of Louis P. Bach
N the death of Louis P. Bach last month the piano trade of
the country, and particularly of New York, lost an outstand-
ing figure, for although Mr. Bach did not engage in those
general activities calculated to keep him constantly and prominently
before the trade of the country, he nevertheless contributed greatly
to the maintaining of high trade standards both in production and
merchandising. Throughout his business life, all of it spent in the
piano industry, Mr. Bach was a persistent advocate of piano quality,
and the question always before him was not how many pianos his
company could make, but rather how good they could be made. In
this effort he contributed his full share to the upbuilding of the in-
dustry of which he was so long a factor.
1
i
Bensberg Sells Player-Pianos
ALK to the average piano man about player-pianos
and he throws up his hands, either declaring that they
are so hard to sell that it is not worth the effort, or that
they are entirely passe. Yet, down in Arkansas, G. J. Bensberg,
with seven stores in as many small towns, is selling player-pianos
and lots of them, and they far outnumber his sales of straight in-
struments. There is a lesson in this and it is not that the Arkansas
citizens do not know any better than to buy player-pianos. What it
proves is that the product upon which the greater sales effort is put
is the one that is going to sell best whether it is the player-piano,
straight piano, band instruments or radio. Bensberg believes in the
player-piano and reports a twenty per cent increase in business last
year over the year before. He is selling player-pianos and making
money at it. It proves what confidence in a line, and the ability to
sell, can accomplish.
I
Pianos and Boats and Things
F you see a piano man with a seagoing cap over one eye and
a nautical roll in his gait, the probabilities are that his company
have gone in for motorboat building, if for no other reason
than to keep the mill room of the factory operating and the organ-
ization intact during those late Winter and early Spring months
when piano demand is slow. At the recent Motor Boat Show in
New York three prominent piano concerns were represented by trim
craft built in their factories, and it is declared that more are in the
offing. It helps keep down the overhead.