Music Trade Review
Issue: 1945 Vol. 104 N. 4 - Page 10
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com --
digitized with
support from
Exclusive
Franchises
Not namm.org
Extinct
Betty B. Borin
Circulation Manager
HE statement that exclusive piano dealer franchises
are practically extinct is so far from the truth that
it is pathetic. Pathetic because hundreds of dealers
throughout the country who have been operating under
the exclusive franchises of various manufacturers for
years are patiently waiting for the day that they will receive
•relief again by getting instruments from these manufac-
turers. We know very few, if any, manufacturers who do
not operate with dealers direct, under an exclusive fran-
chise. Once a manufacturer establishes a good dealer in
a territory, that dealer is protected and if he does the right
kind of a business and builds the right kind of prestige
in his territory for the piano he sells, as well as for him-
s If, the manufacturer will stick to him until the cows
come home. If, as Mr. Glasser says, he knows the piano
business he has either been ill advised or should know
better than make that statement.
Published monthly at 510 RKO Building, Radio
City, 1270 Sixth Avenue, New York 20, N. Y.
War Retarded Piano Progress
The
REVIEW
Established 1879
CARLETON CHACE, Editor
Alexander Hart
N. R. Rapp
Technical Editor
Associate Editor
Telephones: Cl rcle 7 - 5842 - 5843 - 5844
Vol. IC4
APRIL, 1945
No. 4
Business —As We See It
W
E have waited until this issue to answer the
article entitled "The Piano Industry—Has It a
Future or Only a Past" written by Harry A.
Glasser, vice president of the Colin-Gruhn Co., New York,
which was published in our February issue. We thought it
better to wait until we also had other answers, for which
we have offered a prize and which
appear on other pages of this issue.
So here goes! When Mr. Glasser
says that "in the average home the
piano is no longer exclusively a
musical instrument at all" he is just
about 10% right. No better proof
of this has been the sales of used
pianos which have taken place dur-
ing the time that new pianos have
not been manufactured, i.e., since
Carieton c/ioee
July 31, 1942. It may interest him
to know that in that period nearly a million pianos have
been sold and that over 90% of them have been sold
pianos, and well over three-quarters of this 90% have been
old uprights sold, as is, or remodeled. If people had not
wanted them for musical instruments they would not have
bought them. These figures are based on a survey which
we made last year in May at which time it was revealed
that in the 20 months since pianos had ceased to be
manufactured 570,000 pianos had been sold, 53% of which
were old pianos. Since that time another year has rolled
around, new pianos have become a rarity and the sales
of old pianos have predominated. To us there can be no
better proof that first of all people who buy pianos want
a musical instrument.
10
HIS brings us to his next statement that "the piano
industry will have to undergo a drastic overhauling,
and sell through entirely new channels, if it is to
stop shriveling up. get back on its feet, etc." We might
remind Mr. Glasser that if it had not been for the war the
piano industry would be very much on its feet. It had not
been found necessary either, to sell through Tom, Dick and
Harry as he suggests. From 1932 when the depression
hit the business and production fell off to 27,000 instru-
ments the sale of pianos steadily increased until it had
reached 160,000 in 1941. When piano manufacturing was
terminated in 1942 production was headed for 200,000 that
year. We mention this because it certainly refutes Mr.
G'asser's argument that pianos must be sold through addi-
tional outlets. Furthermore, although, new styling played
some part in bringing back the piano consciousness of the
public, the primary promotion which gave it a tremendous
start, was piano lessons to children in the public schools
which was started way back in 1926. That is where the
ground work was laid. By 1935 when the new styling
came along the children who had started taking piano
lessons in 1926 had become of an age that they required
a modern instrument, their parents were pleased with the
new styling and the demand commenced to increase. So
again musical appreciation became the foundation for a
better appreciation of the basic of all musical instruments
and it again became a distinction to have a piano in the
home.
Pianos Are 80% Made by Hand
A CCORDING to Mr. Glasser, piano manufacturers will
y===\ be producing pianos from an assembly line after
-**- - ^ - the war. This takes us back to many years ago
when a new manager of a certain piano manufacturing
plant installed a machine to turn out pilasters and trusses
pronto. It was such a good idea that this machine, which
cost several thousand dollars, turned out enough trusses
and pilasters in four weeks for the entire output for the
year. For the next forty-eight weeks it stood idle. Nice
going. It must be remembered that the piano is a specialty
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1945
.fcLi
digitized with
support from
Exclusive
Franchises
Not namm.org
Extinct
Betty B. Borin
Circulation Manager
HE statement that exclusive piano dealer franchises
are practically extinct is so far from the truth that
it is pathetic. Pathetic because hundreds of dealers
throughout the country who have been operating under
the exclusive franchises of various manufacturers for
years are patiently waiting for the day that they will receive
•relief again by getting instruments from these manufac-
turers. We know very few, if any, manufacturers who do
not operate with dealers direct, under an exclusive fran-
chise. Once a manufacturer establishes a good dealer in
a territory, that dealer is protected and if he does the right
kind of a business and builds the right kind of prestige
in his territory for the piano he sells, as well as for him-
s If, the manufacturer will stick to him until the cows
come home. If, as Mr. Glasser says, he knows the piano
business he has either been ill advised or should know
better than make that statement.
Published monthly at 510 RKO Building, Radio
City, 1270 Sixth Avenue, New York 20, N. Y.
War Retarded Piano Progress
The
REVIEW
Established 1879
CARLETON CHACE, Editor
Alexander Hart
N. R. Rapp
Technical Editor
Associate Editor
Telephones: Cl rcle 7 - 5842 - 5843 - 5844
Vol. IC4
APRIL, 1945
No. 4
Business —As We See It
W
E have waited until this issue to answer the
article entitled "The Piano Industry—Has It a
Future or Only a Past" written by Harry A.
Glasser, vice president of the Colin-Gruhn Co., New York,
which was published in our February issue. We thought it
better to wait until we also had other answers, for which
we have offered a prize and which
appear on other pages of this issue.
So here goes! When Mr. Glasser
says that "in the average home the
piano is no longer exclusively a
musical instrument at all" he is just
about 10% right. No better proof
of this has been the sales of used
pianos which have taken place dur-
ing the time that new pianos have
not been manufactured, i.e., since
Carieton c/ioee
July 31, 1942. It may interest him
to know that in that period nearly a million pianos have
been sold and that over 90% of them have been sold
pianos, and well over three-quarters of this 90% have been
old uprights sold, as is, or remodeled. If people had not
wanted them for musical instruments they would not have
bought them. These figures are based on a survey which
we made last year in May at which time it was revealed
that in the 20 months since pianos had ceased to be
manufactured 570,000 pianos had been sold, 53% of which
were old pianos. Since that time another year has rolled
around, new pianos have become a rarity and the sales
of old pianos have predominated. To us there can be no
better proof that first of all people who buy pianos want
a musical instrument.
10
HIS brings us to his next statement that "the piano
industry will have to undergo a drastic overhauling,
and sell through entirely new channels, if it is to
stop shriveling up. get back on its feet, etc." We might
remind Mr. Glasser that if it had not been for the war the
piano industry would be very much on its feet. It had not
been found necessary either, to sell through Tom, Dick and
Harry as he suggests. From 1932 when the depression
hit the business and production fell off to 27,000 instru-
ments the sale of pianos steadily increased until it had
reached 160,000 in 1941. When piano manufacturing was
terminated in 1942 production was headed for 200,000 that
year. We mention this because it certainly refutes Mr.
G'asser's argument that pianos must be sold through addi-
tional outlets. Furthermore, although, new styling played
some part in bringing back the piano consciousness of the
public, the primary promotion which gave it a tremendous
start, was piano lessons to children in the public schools
which was started way back in 1926. That is where the
ground work was laid. By 1935 when the new styling
came along the children who had started taking piano
lessons in 1926 had become of an age that they required
a modern instrument, their parents were pleased with the
new styling and the demand commenced to increase. So
again musical appreciation became the foundation for a
better appreciation of the basic of all musical instruments
and it again became a distinction to have a piano in the
home.
Pianos Are 80% Made by Hand
A CCORDING to Mr. Glasser, piano manufacturers will
y===\ be producing pianos from an assembly line after
-**- - ^ - the war. This takes us back to many years ago
when a new manager of a certain piano manufacturing
plant installed a machine to turn out pilasters and trusses
pronto. It was such a good idea that this machine, which
cost several thousand dollars, turned out enough trusses
and pilasters in four weeks for the entire output for the
year. For the next forty-eight weeks it stood idle. Nice
going. It must be remembered that the piano is a specialty
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1945
.fcLi
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