Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 11 (1931-08)

August 1931, Vol. V, No. II 307 Correspondence The Editor does not accept any responsibility for opinions expressed by correspondents. No notice iwll be taken of unsigned letters, but only initials or a psevr donym will be printed if the writer so desires... Contri- butions of general interest to our readers are welcomed. They should be brief and written on one side of the paper only. Address all letters to CORRESPON- DENCE COLUMN, THE PHONOGRAPH MONTH- LY REVIEW, Box 138, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lessons Learned in the Crisis Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I have read the letters to your last two issues with the most intense interest. In many instances the correspondents betray ignorance of the facts and reasons of many phonographic conditions today, but on the other hand these correspondents do ex- press the feelings of the average record collector, and they are all sincerely anxious to bring about a new popularity and appreciation of better records However, they have all emphasized the very darkest side of the shield. No one can deny conditions are bad—in this field as in almost every other—but sure- ly it is possible to see some gleams of hope. Sentiment seems general that prices have been maintained at too high a level, both on records, but especially on instruments. This point has been mulled over so often in the past that it is not neces- sary to recapitulate the arguments pro and con. I happen to know—by virtue of my long association with the trade—just why prices have been main- tained, but the point is that the public does not know. Here I think the present crisis has been a benefit in that it has pointed to the companies that they cannot get along without the use of propaganda and a “public relations bureau.” All the other great industries go in for propaganda on a large scale, and whether this propaganda is altogether truthful or not, at least some attempt is made to keep the public’s understanding and good will. The high and mighty attitude for most master minds in the phono- graph industry in the past will have to be a thing of the past. The policy of the “public be damned” has long since been shown up as fit only for the ash heap. The present crisis has also revealed the instability of the popular record as a base for the record busi- ness. Five years ago when I tried to tell my friends in the industry that the classical and modern musical work on discs would be the real basis of record sales in the future, I got the well known hearty “razz.” Today even the least educated of them (musically and otherwise) admit—dolefully to be sure—that the day of the popular record as a big money maker is past, and that the once despised album set seems to be the only hope for the future. Having revealed this fact, the present situation also emphasises the old truth propounded in the first pages of the P. M. R., namely, that the record busi- ness is primarily a musical business, not a merchan- dise business, and that among its officials and sales- people there must be a large proportion of men and women musically trained. The failure of album sets to do even better than they have in the last two years is due to two causes: lack of the proper publicity and propaganda (as the various correspondents have forcibly pointed out), and lack of the proper musical intelligence all down the line, from the repertory department that picks out works out of key with the demand of the times, to the salesperson who “never heard of it” when confronted with a request for anything more meaty than Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony.” Tied up with this last point is the problem of record distribution which several readers stress. Here again the situation today reveals the necessity of fewer and more musical dealers. It is no longer possible for the repair shop, the electrical house, or the tobacco store to sell records. The course of events has demonstrated that only music companies, equipped with capable salespersons, have been able to successfully survive the business slump. The wholesalers’ problem has always been a knotty one, and the tendency to press and distribute very scanty numbers of certain album sets that appeal to a comparative minority has undoubtedly resulted in further decreasing the size of that minority. Until one can be sure of always getting a perfect record— free from scratches, incorrect centering, etc.—most popular people are going to demand to hear records before purchase, and if a dealer wants to do the business he must carry a generous stock, and he must be backed up by a regional wholesaler with a com- plete stock. Every other industry has passed through periods of slump and despair, and those that have profited by the lessons of such experiences have always come back to make unprecedented progress. The phonographic crisis has made obvious a number of painful truths, many of which were propounded by the “enthusiasts” of over six years ago. Most lead- ing spirits of the industry ignored those points then, but surely they will all profit by the lesson now. If they do we may hope for a glorious re- naissance of the phonograph just as soon as the public’s buying power begins to return. But such a renaissance will not be made except on the solid foundation of better public relations between the companies and their patrons, intelligent advertising of album sets in the proper media, a wider price range on instruments, either a reduction in record prices or an equivalent by the issue of longer records or by putting more important recordings in the lower price classes, and finally, the development and perfection of the longer-playing record. I have not touched upon this last point, but the topic has been in the air for a long time and most readers of the P. M. R. are probably already familiar with the rumors of the early introduction of a practicable long-playing disc that will be easily adaptable to