Music Trade Review

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SPEAKING
his territory to make him again give earnest thought to the
line upon which his business was originally established.
This dealer had gone in strongly for sensational bargain
advertising following frequent purchases of distress merchan-
dise, but he feels that when he again devotes his major interest
to piano selling he wants to do it in a high class way. It
may be some months before he gets down to brass tacks but
it is significant that he is now, and has been for some time,
running fine advertisements of institutional and general
character in the interest of the piano, emphasizing its value
in the home, its importance in the education of the child,
and so on. In short he is building up mighty fine background
for the revival of his piano trade on a big scale. How many
other music merchants are showing such foresight?
MARKED IMPROVEMENT EVIDENT
IN PIANO TRADE GENERALLY
B
O T H in the East and the West there has been evident
a much more encouraging tone to the piano business
than has been the case for some time past and a
majority of the manufacturers report a growing num-
ber of inquiries and actual orders from dealers in various
sections. Although carload shipments are a rarity it is a fact
that many retailers who have apparently contented themselves
with trading chiefly in second-hand instruments during the
past year or so have resumed the buying of new pianos.
From the retailers, on the other hand, and this applies to
those in widely separated sections, there is evident a greater
interest in pianos on the part of the public made evident by
more frequent inquiries and actual sales. In a very sub-
stantial number of cases this public interest has stimulated
dealers to greater sales efforts with corresponding results,
and the more attention given pianos in preference to other
products which have been used to fill the sales gap recently,
the more definite will be the improvement in the situation.
This comeback of business has not arrived with a rush nor
has the demand for new instruments reached anywhere near
normal proportions but the improvement is sufficiently definite
and real to enliven the spirits of many members of the trade,
both retailers and manufacturers.
THE COPYRIGHT TANGLE
IS STILL TO BE UNRAVELED
O
NCE again the efforts of many interests, including
those in the music trade, to bring about radical
changes in the present copyright law, in order to
meet existing conditions more satisfactorily, have
come to nought, for the Vestal Bill after being changed,
amended and otherwise put into shape to represent a compro-
mise on copyright matters, if not a fully satisfactory solution,
failed of passage in the closing hours of the last Senate.
Undoubtedly many changes in the present copyright law
are necessary and desirable, for the situation as it is regarding
the mechanical reproduction of copyrighted music, for in-
stance, has changed mightily since the present law was en-
acted in 1909. Then, too, we have radio broadcasting, which
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
A p r i l , 1931
has brought problems both to the copyright owner and those
who would use his works. It is unfortunate that matters
of so vital importance to many interests should have been
submerged in the stew of politics.
APPARENTLY THE PUBLIC
VALUES ITS OLD PIANOS
I
S the public so little interested in its old pianos and so
anxious to get rid of them as some of the pessimists in
the trade would have us believe? Evidently not, if the
experience of a prominent piano house in Chicago is to be
accepted as a criterion. Desiring to secure a number of used
grands to be utilized in a removal sale, the piano house carried
several good sized advertisements in classified columns of the
local newspapers offering cash for old grands and having the
name of the company signed to the advertisements to assure
good faith. Only fifteen replies were received as a result of
several days of advertising and in each case the owner de-
manded a price for his old piano that would compare with
the prices demanded for many new ones today. In short, not
an instrument was obtained. The head of the piano house
was naturally disappointed in the results while at the same
time feeling somewhat elated at the direct indication of the
piano owner's attitude.
INSTALMENT CREDITS
STAND UP SOLIDLY
A
CCORDING to records compiled by the United
States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
the instalment credit situation during 1930 was
not affected to any serious degree by gen-
eral conditions. The Bureau shows that there was a drop of
only four-tenths of one per cent in 1930 in the ability
of the instalment purchaser to pay. In short, there were
only 2.9 per cent of bad instalment accounts last year as
compared with 2.5 per cent in 1929. During the same year
there was an increase of one-tenth of one per cent in bad
accounts on open credits.
In discussing the figures Edwin B. George, chief of the
division, said: "The report gives a new assurance of security
in credit and instalment selling as long as the selling conforms
to merchandising policy and the practice of the trade. To all
business men this spectacle of millions of consumers paying
their bills quietly and steadily through alternate years of
speculation and distress is of enormous cheer."
This 1930 record emphasizes the security of instalment
selling when conducted on the right basis, yet at the same
time Mr. George's words offer a warning to those who would
be careless in the matter of credit on instalment sales for the
purpose of building up big business volume. That type of
credit is safe so long as retailers keep it so.