Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SPEAKING
MUCH GENERAL PROPAGANDA
IN THE INTEREST OF THE PIANO
T
HE direct advertising of piano houses, wholesale and
retail, has dropped off considerably during the past
year or so, both in national and local media, and yet
during that same period the piano itself, and partic-
ularly the importance of instruction in piano playing, has
received far more publicity than in any similar period in the
history of the industry. Even those who not so long ago
complained that the piano was ignored by the press have
found occasion to be enthusiastic over the direct and indirect
propaganda that has appeared for that instrument.
It is difficult today to pick up a national magazine of any
standing, or for that matter a newspaper of prominence,
without finding one or several advertisements of other prod-
ucts in which a piano is included in the picture, most gener-
ally with a very evident purpose of offering a cultural back-
ground. For instance, when the smoker of a cheap cigar-
ette leans lazily against a piano, the posture and the back-
ground is designed to represent elegance and affluence. Then
again the daily newspapers find a surprising amount of space
for comments on piano and piano classes, and when it comes
to the national magazines of standing there appears article
after article based directly upon piano study for children,
what it can accomplish, and how it should be carried out.
Even the savings banks urge piano buying as a thrifty move.
There are those who remark, cynically, that with all this
propaganda, inspired and otherwise, piano sales remain at a
low level. For the man who is living only for the day,
this comment may suffice, but for the individual who is hold-
ing on in the belief that there is going to be a return to
normalcy eventually this mass of propaganda is distinctly
heartening. Certainly it is turning the thoughts of the
public to the piano, and it rests largely with the trade
whether those thoughts can be further developed into the
buying urge. It is significant that not one, but well over
a score of piano dealers have reported to T H E REVIEW
that while their current business was naturally below par
it was nevertheless higher in average than business in other
local industries, considered in the main more essential. May-
be this is just due to the aggressive tactics of the dealers
themselves, although it does not seem unreasonable to ascribe
at least a fair portion of this public interest in pianos to the
effects of the printed word.
PIANO MERCHANTS OR
JUST SECOND-HAND DEALERS
to be engaged primarily in the sale of second-hand instru-
ments.
The piano merchant who does a sufficient business to ac-
cumulate a large number of trade-ins, and who is also forced
to repossess numerous pianos, must find a way of disposing
of them and getting his money back.
When he holds a
sale of used pianos, providing the instruments are in worth-
while condition, he is simply doing a legitimate business.
However, many dealers are not satisfied with that process,
but are deliberately seeking used pianos for resale, going to
the extent of advertising in newspapers that they were pur-
chased from individuals.
Certainly these tactics are not
going to build up public confidence in the piano trade for
the future.
Unless our history fails us, it was Louis XV of France
who, after some years of wild debauche, declared "After me
the deluge." He was right. For after him came the com-
mune and Louis XVI lost his head. These dealers who are
following the line of least resistance by selling second-hand,
instead of new instruments, are simply preparing a deluge
for their successors by putting the piano business in the same
class with the pawn shop and the auction room so far as
the public is concerned. They may be making money now,
but it is at the expense of future business.
As a matter of fact, there is very little excuse for con-
centrating on second-hand sales in preference to sales of new
merchandise. New piano prices have been cut liberally in
many cases, to a point, in fact, where some manufacturers
are selling at a direct loss in an effort to keep their organiza-
tions intact in anticipation of a trade revival. Moreover,
certain manufacturers have gone to the extent of designing
and producing new instruments at particularly low prices
for the special purpose of meeting public demand for higher
values at lower cost. The average man will pay consider-
ably more for a new product than he will for one admittedly
second-hand, and the dealers as a body should offer their
new pianos at first, reserving used instruments for those who
are actually forced to buy them because of limited means.
A FAIR HOLIDAY TRADE
WILL MEAN A PIANO SHORTAGE
P
A
CCORDING to figures compiled by the U. S.
Government in its census of retail distribution, com-
mented on in T H E REVIEW last month, there were
eighteen stores in the country in 1929 devoted
primarily to the sale of second-hand musical instruments,
including pianos. Either Uncle Sam's counters were fooled
or there has been a marked change in the situation in less
than two years, for according to reports received at this
office about seventy-five per cent of piano merchants seemed
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
November,
1931
IANO merchants who have not already made arrange-
ments for adequate stocks of new instruments for
the holiday trade, particularly in the higher-grade lines,
are likely to have trouble. To tell the average trade
member that there is a possibility of a piano shortage next
month will bring a laugh, but the fact remains that, with
few exceptions, there are no large factory stocks. Dealers
have been buying on a hand-to-mouth basis and the makers
have been forced to work the same way. The result is that
any substantial demand will mean a shortage. Better stock
up NOW.