The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1916)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, APRIL, 1916 How Do You Select Your New Records ? IF you do not have a standing order for the entire list of Blue Amberol records each month, how do you select the records that you desire and reject those that you do not believe would be salable? We want to ask each one of our dealers to consider this subject, because it is an important one to you and to us. We want you to be frank in your analysis of your method of making selections and, if you are, we believe that the majority of you will find that you largely judge the merits of the records in advance lists by their titles. If a title indicates a pleasing musical conception, and has qualities that you feel will attract the attention of your patronage, you order the record. If the title is not descriptive or if the idea suggested by it is not appealing you are strongly inclined to reject it. While the error of making selections in this way is a natural one, it is costing many dealers a lot of patronage and losing them considerable trade and profits. What could be more attractive or more appealing at this season of the year than the title of Sinding's "Rustle of Spring." It suggests the unfolding of blossoms and the soft murmurs of the fragrant zephyrs of spring, and you feel that if a composer has used the awakening of Spring as a theme for a musical number that you would like to listen to it. But what idea would a number bring to the unmusical if it was listed like this: Nocturne, E Flat, Chopin, Op. 9, No. 2. As a music dealer you are familiar with the number, perhaps, but how many of your customers are? And even if you are familiar with this particular number, it is by no means likely that you are familiar with all the instrumental selections that are simply listed under their form, name of composer, opus and number. And yet the majority of the most beautiful musical compositions are probably listed under titles just as inexpressive as that of the Chopin nocturne referred to above. Certainly the majority of the numbers by composers who might be classed as old masters are catalogued in this way and many of the most beautiful of modern pieces are designated in the same manner. The tendency of the present time is to name a selection from the scene or emotion that is supposed to have inspired it, but Chopin and the other famous musicians of other days seldom named the melodies in which they revealed their emotions. Of course Sinding's "Rustle of Spring" is a beautiful selection, but the Chopin nocturne is just as melodious and harmonious, and it is probable that the majority of educated musicians would find the latter number more to their taste than the former. How to get numbers that are not attractively named before you is one of our problems. With your co-operation the solution of the problem seems to be comparatively simple. We want you to have confidence that every record every month, regardless of name or designation, is a good one and one that will appeal to some among your customers. Every record may not appeal to every customer, but we believe that there is a sufficient range of tastes among the patrons of every dealer to make every record every month a salable one. We sincerely believe that the great majority of our dealers would find it highly satisfactory and profitable to place a standing order for the monthly productions and abandon the old haphazard method of attempting to select the best records from each list by depending on what knowledge of each number you may happen to have and on the attractiveness of the name or the idea suggested by a title. We have the conviction that the latter method is commonly used in ordering records and, knowing how utterly impossible it is to select desirable numbers in this way, we believe that it is causing Amberola dealers to neglect some of the most choice productions of the Edison laboratory, with a consequent loss to them of business and profits. Consider the extent and the high quality of the musical organization that is maintained by the Edison Company and that is engaged in the production of Blue Amberols. Are you not confident of the ability of such an organization to select numbers for reproduction that are musically attractive, whether or not they have expressive and magnetic titles? We take the position that no record that has the qualifications demanded by the Edison musical critics can fail to prove attractive to the class of people for which it is intended. And further, we believe that proper sales methods will convince a phonograph owner of any class that each record each month has its own particular charm and attraction. We would like to have every Edison dealer order every Blue Amberol record every month, because we are confident that only by this means can our representatives take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Blue Amberol line. If you are a dealer in a small town always have an item in your town paper when you sell a machine and, if possible, secure the permission of the person who purchased it to use his name with the item. Remember that every time people see the name "Edison" in print it aids you in making a sale somewhere and sometime.