The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1910)

Edison Phonograph Monthly Sept., 1910 13 Cheap Trade One of the biggest mistakes a talking machine man can make is to cater to cheap trade. In some lines of business there are immense profits in five and ten cent sales, as for instance the street railway business, but the talking machine business is not in that class. Cheap goods are unsatisfactory to begin with, they cause more trouble than their profits will cover, and the class of people who buy the cheap goods are not appreciative of the better music, and are not particularly good advertisements for a store. The tendency in the business is decidedly upward. In the early days of the business the talking machine was a toy that appealed to the buying public because of the novelty attached to it, certainly not because of its musical capabilities. The improvement has been rapid and has been so great that talking machines and records are found in the best and most refined homes. Men, and women too, who can afford to indulge their taste for classical music are good talking machine buyers, and better still are regular customers for the highest grade records. One of the pleasant features of the high class trade is that the talking machine owner need only be notified of the new records each month, and will call at the store to have them played over, or have them sent to the house and select those desired. The medium buyers comprise the most desirable class of all. They are the most numerous and demand a profitable grade of merchandise, if not the highest priced. They are even more regular customers than the extremely high-priced people, and are invariably cash customers. — Canadian Music Trade Journal. Some fellows start out in life with the idea that the world owes them a living, and then, by the time they are ready to die, they are dead sure they have not collected. It takes all kinds of people to make a world. Everybody doesn't like the popular stuff. Lots of people won't listen to it. They want highclass music, — concerted numbers, songs of the better class, operatic arias and the like. You want to consider these people, for there are plenty of them in your town. Cater to them. Keep a stock — at least one of each — of the operatic Records, and the higher grade stuff. Advertise and show these people that you can take care of their wants, and you will make them steady and profitable cu-tomers. A Suggestion ^ What did the federal census cite as the foreign-born population of your city? If you didn't hear it you should. And it ought to stir up the grey matter, too. Your foreigner, no matter how long he has lived here or how much of an American he has become, always has a warm spot in his heart for the songs and airs of his native land. That thought is worth pondering over. There are Records in the September Foreign Supplement which will appeal to the foreignbom as will no other Records you can offer them. And there are thousands of others in the Foreign Catalogs and Supplements. How do you keep the Phoxogrxph Monthly —scattered about here and there in your store? Why not bind it as it comes in and always have it handy and whole when you want to refer to it? We have a stock of binders for that express purpose— durable and neat. Only 50c. Order one now. ''Deadened energy is a sort of uric acid condition of the soul," says a contemporarv house publication. Very true; and it's as insidious in its approach and as disastrous in its final results as the disease in question. The Catholic and Christian Science Records have been pronounced among the finest we have ever listed. They ought to be the subject of a special newspaper ad or rwo giving the titles of the selections and the artists, and attractive window cards should bring them to the attention of the passing public. Special Records of this kind are ads that bring results, for they not only appeal to owners of machines but they create a demand for machines. Every member, as well as every lodge, of the Masonic Order can be interested in the Special Masonic List. Keep that list handy for customers, and a card in your window. Receipt is acknowledged of photos showing interior views of the stores of Hart Bros., Woodworth, Mass., and B. M. Conner & Co.,' Falkner, Miss. The Kipp-Link Phonograph Co., formerly of 445 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Ind., has removed to 345 Massachusetts Ave., same city.