The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1908)

6 THE TALKING MACfflNE WORLD. VICTOR DOUBLE DISC RECORDS. Important Announcement Made to the Trade by General Manager Louis F. Geissler on Sept. 17 — Several Important Matters Relating to the Retailing of These Discs Covered in This Communication. The Victor Talking Machine Co. on Sep tember 17 announced that Victor double disc records would shortlj' be placed on the market. A communication under that date was issued from the Camden office of the Victor Co. to distributers and dealers, signed by General Manager Louis F. Geissler. In this letter a number of important points are covered, and below is the communication in its entirety: "After most careful consideration and consultation with the trade as to the double-sided record question, the Victor Co. has decided to put out a limited number of such records as an experiment for the benefit of the trade and to cover any possible temporary demand that may be created on account of the novelty of the doublesided record on this market. The ten-inch to retail at 75 cents, the twelve-inch at $1.25. Dealer's costs 50 cents and 83 1-3 cents respectively, and the new list to be ready in a few weeks. "We, ourselves, are familiar wuth the trade value of the article, on account of our confidential relations with The Gramophone Co., Ltd.. of London; the Deutsch Gramophone Co.. of Berlin; the Cie. Francaise du Gramophone, of Paris, and The Gramophone Co. (Italy), of Milan, all of whom have had experience with the double-sided record for the past two years. We have been and still are anxious to keep such records from the American market, and our reasons will be appreciated after a short experience by the trade. "We wish to emphasize the fact that the Columbia Company are responsible for their introduction here. "We are confident that, under the proper management and by virtue of the policies, we, through information from the European trade, will be able to inaugurate, that the relative market value between the double-sided and the single-sided rec ord will be satisfactorily adjusted in a few months. It cannot result in entirely replacing the present single-sided record by double-sided records, and we have no intention of relaxing our efforts in the manufacture and selling of single-sided records at the regular price of 60 cents. "You have all seen the failure of a 25-cent cylinder record to annihilate a well-managed cylinder record at 35 cents; this is a matter of very recent history. With the superior Victor quality the present Victor prices should be even more easily maintained. "We ask the trade, in the light of such experience, to go calmly on, with confidence that a cut price cannot injure a just price where the goods are clearly worth the difference, where the merchant's profit will be assured and where the trade will be protected and assisted by our unparalleled policy of advertising and quite unusual improvements in the art. "We will not embarrass the trade with any 'three-to-one' exchange proposition, as we know that this is no time to attempt to force the trade to put in large stocks. We fully understand the present difficulties of financiering such matters. We are quite content with the present volume of our business under the circumstances and have every confidence that our trade will receive its proportionate increase as the country emerges from the present industrial depression, without the necessity of resorting to such stimulating methods. "On account of the advent of the double-sided records, and also on account of the very great advance in the art of recording, which has enabled us to make it a decidedly superior record, we shall permit our distributers' and dealers' orders, up to January 1, upon all records issued up to that .date, to apply on recent exchange proposition, charging only the differences in price between single and double-sided records, i.e., charging the difference in price where a ten-inch double-sided record is ordered for a ten-inch single, and where a twelve-inch double-sided record is ordered for a twelve-inch single returned. We believe that this will enable the trade to take advantage of all unfilled orders, as per exchange, to a very much greater profit, and to a decided improvement in the quality of their stock." CAN'T SELL TAFT'S SPEECHES. National Phonograph Co. Enjoins Auction House. Paterson, N. J., Oct. 4, 1908. On an application from the National Phonograph Co., a Justice of the Supreme Court yesterday issued an order restraining the sale of 1,300 records of William H. Taft's election speeches at a price under the regular rate. The records and several phonographs were taken in part payment for a house and lot in Rutherford. Mosley & Co., auctioneers of this place, had advertised the records for sale when the restraining order was served upon them. The National Phonograph Co. have an agreement with all jobbers that none of their records shall be sold for less than 35 cents. The Mosley Co., it is understood, will return the records to the original owner. IT PAYS TO ACT— NOW. An excellent illustration of the necessity of acting at once when advertising ideas crop up is told by the Hardware Dealers' Magazine regarding a business man who was mentally contemplating the subject of publicity: Suddenly he was struck with an Idea. He looked at It. He turned It over. It seemed good, and he smiled at It. He took three days, and thought about It. He nursed It. For two nights he dreamed about It. The jnore he thought about It the better he liked It. On Saturday he said: "By George! On Monday I'll try It!" When Monday came he found that his com petitor had sprung It on the public, and made a great hit. Do it noic : Why Not Increase Your Profits by Selling The Munson Folding Horn Do You Realize, Mr. Talking Machine Man— how much of your ne-w business is due to your customers carrying their machines and records from one friend's house to another's ? Ho'w much this unconscious missionary work of theirs in interesting others in your product, and thereby stimulating their own, is doing for this trade in general ? And yet do you not often wonder that more do not tire of lugging such clumsy articles ? The machines and records are all right, BUT— it is the inconvenience which a person is subject to by traveling with a large horn that causes all the trouble, and is gradually exterminating this beneficial custom unless you rectify it. We Can Help You, if You Will Let Us Oh, what a difference when you come to carry it! FOR DISC THE MUNSON FOLDING HORN FOR DISC AND CYLINDER MACHINES is the only One-Piece Indestructible Folding Horn on the market. Made of the finest quality of Selected Leatherette— in plain solid colors or handsomely decorated by hand. WHEN OPEN AND IN USE it compares in beauty of line and con.struction with any on the market and for purity of tone reproduction is far superior to the metal horn. WHEN FOLDED AND CARTONED it occupies only a space of 28 inches long by 3' . inches square — an ideal parcel for carrying or h.indling and impervious to damage. LET US QUOTE YOU PRICES AND START YOU ON THE ROAD TO A PROFITABLE BUSINESS IN THE FALL FOLDING PHONOGRAPHIC HORN CO., 650-52 Ninth Ave., New York City TORONTO PHONOGRAPH CO., Toronto, Ont., Canadian Agents