The talking machine world (July-Dec 1924)

214 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD November 15, 1924 fllDOPEAN HEADQUARTER La U 1^^^^^ " ml* 2 GP-BSHAM BLDG,,BASINGHALL ST..E.C, LONDON/ W. LIONEL STURDY MANACER All Branches of therTrade Busy as the Peak of Seasonal Activity Is Reached Efforts of All Factors of the Trade Responsible — Drop in Record Prices Stimulates That Branch of Business — Record Exchange Question Again Comes Up at Association Meeting London, E. C, November 3.— The talking machine industry is now right on the crest of the wave of seasonal activity. All sections of the trade are busy and it would seem that, despite the rise and fall of business in other industries consequent upon political and economic movements, the gramophone and record trade maintains an increasing flow of business. This is partly due to the efficiency of the trading conditions framed within the trade some years ago and which made possible the working of a price-maintenance scheme, and, in part, is also due to the. very keen competition between the manufacturers of all grades. The publicity indulged in by the leading companies has in recent months been larger than at any time in the trade's history. There is a very decided tendency, too, on the part of the daily and weekly press throughout the country to devote more and more space in the editorial columns to music propaganda, and attention is frequently drawn to the valuable aid afforded by the gramophone to music study. "His Master's Voice" Co. has for some years past kept its own staff of educational lecturers, and the Federation of British Music Industries, in addition to inaugurating lectures throughout the country, has secured, through its publicity department, editorial space of ever-increasing dimensions. The beneficent results of all this propaganda are more immediately felt by the gramophone industry. Reduction in Prices of Records Competition in the production of cheaper records received a decided fillip by the announcement of the Aeolian Co. in connection with the Vocalion records, which it manufactures. From October 1 a new classification is introduced; from that date only two kinds of records being issued, both in double-sided form. The celebrity series will be called the Pink Label section, and all other colored labels will form one class, and be issued at a uniform price. The prices now announced show a big reduction, amounting to from 60 to 70 per cent. They are as follows: Celebrity, Pink Label series, twelveinch, 5/6; ten-inch, 4/. All other colored labels, twelve-inch, 4/6; ten-inch, 3/. The company assures the trade of its intention to maintain the high standard of recording which has always characterized its records. In a new catalog just issued all records previously issued as single-sided are now listed under new double-sided numbers. Alfred Graham & Co.'s American Plans Alfred Graham & Co., the patentees and manufacturers of the Algraphone gramophones and the Amplion loud speakers, inform me that owing to the continued expansion of the Amplion business here and the extraordinary development of their overseas trade, they have organized a special overseas section under the management of J. M. Richard, until lately the commercial manager of the Marconiphone Co. A subsidiary company has also been formed and is now in being as the Amplion Corp. of America, with offices at 280 Madison avenue, New York. This company is entirely controlled by Alfred Graham & Co., and will import for the time being, ultimatelymanufacturing completely, the Amplion loud speakers. A very big business is also being done on the Continent of Europe through the Compagnie Continentale Amplion, which has associated companies or agencies in every European country. Gramophone Dealers' Association Meets The annual general meeting of the Gramophone Dealers' Association was held at the end of September, when, apart from the election of new officials for the year, the very vexed problem of the unsalable and surplus record formed the chief item of the agenda. Ernest E. Squire was elected president for the ensuing year, with Gerald C. Forty and F. F. Stokes as vice-presidents. In regard to the record exchange question, a vigorous campaign is to be conducted during the next few months to secure the support and co-operation of every dealer so that the Association's proposals to the manufacturers will go forward with the backing of the whole retail trade. The dealers' resolution is as follows: "That dealers be entitled to return up to 10 per cent of their purchases, and receive in return a credit for two-thirds their value. Returns to take place twice yearly, at times to be fixed by the manufacturer." The offer last made by the Manufacturers' Association, at Buxton Conference in May, 1923, would have satisfied these demands but in one respect. Instead of a credit for two-thirds of the 10 per cent returned biannually, the manufacturers offered an exchange of records equaling 62/s per cent, the dealer to lose 3!A per cent. In pressing for a credit of 62/^ per cent, the dealers urge that all exchange systems are unsatisfactory for the following reasons: (1) The records are not deleted from the manufacturer's catalog until long after they are "dead," at any rate in some parts of the country. (2) The system even of a one-to-one exchange obliges the dealer to place a larger order for records than he actually needs, and at a most inconvenient time of the year. It is further urged that exchange systems are unsatisfactory as dealers hold back their orders for records that should be in stock, with the result that the efficiency of their service suffers, the manufacturers also being deprived of what would otherwise be a steady demand, and the public being unable to readily obtain the records they require. Sterno Opens Branch in Liverpool Significant of the progress and increasing favor of Homochord records and Sterno gramophones is the fact that the Sterno Mfg. Co. has opened a new provincial branch at Duke street, Liverpool, affording dealers in the Northwestern district and Ireland a more ready access to its products, and I understand that shortly it is the company's intention to establish branches in important centers throughout the provinces generally. Max Strauss a Visitor The demand for high-grade machines in this country is said to have occasioned the visit of Max Strauss, head of the Berlin firm of Carl Lindstrom, A. G., who has just completed a fortnight's stay, during which time he completed arrangements with the Parlophone Co., of City road, for the manufacture and supply of a number of models of the best quality, to be marketed here as Parlophone models. Gramophone Co. Featuring New Machine Type As I reported last month the Gramophone Co. has now launched its new machines with the pleated diaphragms, dispensing with sound box, tone arm and horn. A successful demonstration was given at the Piccadilly Hotel on October 22 before a number of prominent musicians and press men, when W. Manson, manager of the English branch, read a number of messages from leading artists and musicians, all of whom regard the new instrument as a tremendous advance in the art of reproduction. The diaphragm is the patent of M. Louis Lumiere, the famous French scientist, who first accidentally discovered the peculiar acoustic