The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1910)

The Talking Machine World Vol. 6. No. 11. New York, November 15, 1910. Price Ten Cents IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING THE CUSTOMER Some Remarks on How It Will Pay Dea'lers to Push Records of the Better Grade Music Side by Side with the Popular Productions — The Popular Stuff Comes and Goes but the Standard Compositions Remain Forever. Over 90 per cent, at least of the industries of the world have been built up through educational campaigns and stimulated demand. This can best be illustrated by comparing th° savage, say the present day inhabitant of the African wilderness, with one of the frequenters of the boulevards in our great cities. A breech-clout, a spear, a small thatched hut and perhaps half a dozen crude platters serve to satisfy all his needs. Then the white trader comes along; a demonstration of a gun causes the spear to be consigned to the waste heap. Trousers and a shirt and ofttimes a silk hat immediately become grave necessitiies. Further education brings the savage up to a point where in his daily life he needs practically everything that the highly civilized man needs. This system of education applies to every line of business and especially to the talking machine trade. So long as the dealer rests content to let the customer decide just what he wants, just so long will his business be confined to narrow channels. When he introduces the customer to new machines, new records and new accessories, then he begins to broaden out and show an understanding of the principles of merchandizing. At the present time every means that will serve to widen the scope of the talking machine must be adopted, if success is ever to be the portion of the dealer. Take for instance the talking machine owner who comes in month after month and buys, say, half a dozen of the popular hits of the day, records selling at from thirty-five, to seventy-five cents each. That man will continue in the same path for years, or until he gets tired of his machine, unless he is introduced to something new in the record line. The proper thing is to secure his attention for a short time before or after he has made his purchase and demonstrate some of the higher class records, those bearing standard or classical selections and selling at a goodly price. Perhaps for the first or second time he will simply listen without purchasing; but it will not be long before he must realize what such records will mean in his library, and so will purchase a few. Once TALKING MACHINE EVOLUTION. H. N. McMenimen Chats Interestingly of Impressions Gleaned During Recent Trip — The Talkinq Machine no Longer a Toy, but a Distinctive Musical Instrument — Some Reasons ■ Why — The Progressive Dealer Is Alive to the Value of Attractive Showrooms, Recitals and Publicity — Music Master Horns Popular. H. N. McMenimen, of Sheip & Vandegrift, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., who returned recently from one of the most extended and successful trips in his career — having visited practically every jobber in the United States and Canada — expressed himself most enthusiastically regarding business conditions in the talking machine trade, in a chat with The World the other day: "What pleased me most on my trip," said Mr. McMenimen, "was to find that the trade at large are beginning to have a better idea of the established mission and position of the talking machine to-day. In other words, they are getting over the idea that the talking machine is merely a toy, and are now coming to consider it as a distinctive musical instrument. "There are a great many dealers, as well as an army of purchasers, who are yet to be educated along these lines, but it is on this platform that the talking machine men of the future will win new victories. on the right path and the dealer may be assured that he has made a new convert to the doctrine of good music. There is another purely business side to this question. A popular song is purchased in record form generally after it has taken its place among the "hits." By the time it has been played over a dozen times or so and the owner has heard the tune murdered by street whistlers, hand organs, etc., that record becomes a decided annoyance, and is put aside. The better grade of. music, on the contrary, never becomes tiresome. A standard piece well rendered is as fresh and holds the interest as securely upon the thousandth rendition as upon the first, and the interest in that record lasts as long and longer than the record itself. One sale of such a record means the sale of many more and a continued and permanent interest in the talking machine outfit. The manufacturers and more progressive dealers throughout the country have long realized the truth of this and have made special efforts to interest the retail customers in the better grade of music, chiefly by means of recitals of a more or less elaborate character. In another part of The World this month appears a description of a miniature theatre which the Victor Co. have tried out in Columbus, Ohio, with great success. This theatre is used to depict various well-known singers in grand opera who are enfolded to the gaze of the audience at the same time as a Victrola reproduces certain well known selections from that particular opera. The combination is in charge of an expert talking machine man with a thorough knowledge of musical history, who gives a short talk before each number, thereby arousing more personal interest in the different selections. This is the only one of the many plans for the uplift of the talking machine owner as a musical enthusiast. As a result the trade in general benefits both in an artistic and commercial sense. Educational work in the field of better music means long life and permanence to the talking machine trade, and lifts it far out of the field of short-lived fads. Its importance cannot be questioned. "It is a mistake to think that we have reached the acme of perfection in talking machine invention at the present time. The great inventive minds who have developed this instrument to its present standing are not going to stand still. They are going to make the talking machine a still greater instrument, whereby the great pianists, the great singers and the great artists in all lines of musical effort can be heard in the home just as satisfactorily as if the individuals were there themselves. When we stop to consider that the science of recording is not known, it brings to us the realization of what the future will bring forth. 'We are getting away every day from the oldfashioned idea of the established purpose and function of the talking machine, and the new era will recognize it as a musical instrument pure and simple. The developments to-day are along these lines, and if the jobbers and dealers co-operate in their publicity and in their general line of selling arguments they can elevate the business and the general idea of the instrument to such an extent that it will win a new prestige — thus helping themselves and the manufacturers. "Another feature of my trip that impressed me greatly was the fact that the jobbers and dealers who are expanding commercially and financially are those who are fully alive to the importance of having their store attractively arranged so that the general public find it a pleasing place to visit and to hear the various machines demonstrated. "Too many dealers overlook this important factor in modern business. The attractively arranged showrooms and neatly displayed windows are factors of great moment in modern business success — at least in the talking machine field. The houses that are losing ground are those who are overlooking the value of attractive stores and wellarranged advertising. These two last factors combined with frequent recitals are to-day, in my opinion, the most important means of attracting business, and, as I have just stated, the stores that are employing these methods are moving ahead by leaps and bounds. "Regarding our own business, I may say that I never had a better trip. At all points visited jobbers were profuse in their compliments for the merits of the Music Master Horn. At the present time we are swamped with orders, and we are working night and day' in an effort to fill them. Our facilities, which a year ago were thought ample for many years to come, have long since proved inadequate, and, although we have increased our space considerably in the last year, yet we are compelled to work nights, as we shall be for many months to come, in order to make any headway in filling the orders on our books." NEW DISC REPRODUCER Just Placed on the Market by the Columbia Phonograph Co. and Entitled the Columbia Concert Grand.' As a result of a series of experiments extending over a long period of time, the Columbia Phonograph Co., General, have put on the market an entirely new disc reproducer, which will be designated the Columbia Concert Grand. It is, with one exception, as stated below, usable on any instrument which takes the Columbia grand reproducer. The latter will continue to be furnished. The principal characteristics of the new reproducer are great volume and detail in reproduction. It is, however, a larger reproducer than the Columbia Grand, and the tone is different. The list price of the Columbia Concert Grand reproducer is $5. In this connection the Columbia Co. state: "The following instruments will, at purchaser's option, be equipped with the Columbia Concert Grand reproducer, instead of the Columbia Grand, without extra charge. The Columbia Grand reproducer will, however, be furnished with these instruments, unless the Columbia concert grand is specified: BNW Grafonola Elite (new style, retail price $100) ; BNWM Grafonola Mignon, BII; Grafonola Regent, BY; Grafonola De Luxe A, BD; Grafonola de Luxe B. BT, BU. The Columbia Concert Grand reproducer is not usable on the old-style Grafonola Elite, the remainder of which are being closed out at $7.5 retail. "An allowance of $2 retail may be made for a Columbia Grand reproducer on account of a Columbia Concert Grand; and the same allowance may be made for a Columbia Concert Grand reproducer on account of a Columbia Grand. On wholesale business the same discount must be deducted on the $2 as is given on the new reproducer. The number of reproducers returned, in any one transaction, must not exceed the number of new reproducers purchased." The company expects to have an adequate supply of the Columbia Concert Grand reproducers by this week. INCORPORATED. The Indestructible Phonographic Record Co., Incorporated, of New York, was incorporated last week by the Secretary of State at Albany, with a capital of $50,000, for the purpose of manufacturing talking machine records, etc. The incorporators are: B. F. Philpot, F. W. Matthews and R, YV: Wheeler, oi Brooklyn..