The talking machine world (Jan-June 1925)

104 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD March 15, 1925 POSSIBILITIES TAIKN<3 MACHNE [Editor's Note — This is the forty-eiglith of a series of articles by William Braid White devoted to the various interesting opportunities which prevail in the domain of education for the retailer of talking machines. The subject is one of great interest and we commend these articles to the consideration of all who are devoting attention to the featuring and developing of the musical possibilities of the talking machine.] The Hour of Opportunity . A man who sells anything whatever conneo ted with the art of music ought in these days to be very happy. Looking around him upon the world he sees that everywhere music is being presented to the minds and the brains of the people in quantities, and with conveniences, never before thought even possible. The addition during late years of one after another of marvelous methods for the recording, reproduction and long-distance transmission of sound has put music of the best, as well as of every other quality, before millions who only a few years ago could never have expected to become directly acquainted with anything which could be known by the name of good music. Facilities for listening have gone in step likewise with facilities for study, for teaching and for performing. Music is fast becoming one of the major recreations of the American people. Thus the hour is one of opportunity for every man who has musical merchandise to sell. When we consider the great department of music selling which is represented by the names "talking machine," "phonograph" and "record," we ought to be able to realize that these, too, like all others in the vast realm of musical commerce, are being radically affected by the new movements described above, and that in con. sequence new opportunities for enlarged distribution are every day presenting themselves to those who know how to look. The motto of every wise merchant to-day ought to be "quality," for in the field of musical merchandise nothing is more certain than that public taste is decidedly on the upturn and that in the future it is the quality of what is offered for sale which is going to count. In the talking machine business, unfortunately, the quality appeal has not been universally understood or appreciated, so that, in fact, we have found merchants taking a diametrically wrong attitude toward both machines and records, with results that in many cases are now only too evident. On the other hand, those who understand the meaning of the great movements which are going on all around us in social and economic life, know that the motto of to-day must be "merit." They know, in fact, that a talking machine record, to take the example nearest to our thoughts, has its sales value only in the fact that it is a form of preserved music, and that consequently its value as an item in quantity distribution corresponds with its ability to appeal to public taste through the music it carries engraved on it. Taste Steadily Changing Public taste with regard to the talking machine and its music is steadily changing. The tendency toward better understanding of good music is a tendency of the utmost value and importance, and it is one moreover of which we can take full advantage right at this very time. Now, in a word, is the time to begin pushing as hard as possible on more and better record selling. More and better record selling ought to be, in my opinion, the motto of every live dealer. It is a motto highly practical, easily put into practice and assuredly profitable. Let me dilate' very briefly upon its possibilities. A Veritable Feast To-day every maker of records is providing for the merchant, to be spread before the ears of his customers, a veritable feast of music. It is hardly necessary to remind readers of what, they can find out for themselves as to this; but it is very necessary indeed to make the people from whom one's customers are drawn realize what is being done for them, what riches are ready to be taken home, what wonderful records in fact really are to be had, at prices from 75 cents upward. The truth is that very few of the many who to-day want to hear fairly good, and good, music, at home, do know anything about what they can get in this way. Let me speak of some personal experiences. Why Is This? Friends and acquaintances are constantly expressing their admiration and astonishment over a collection of records which, although it is fairly large, is not so large and has not been either so hard or so expensive to collect, as to be out of the range of a professional man. The catalogs of the great manufacturing companies have been searched diligently and from them the great bulk of my personal collection has come. Musical friends, especially out-andout musicians, are always wondering why they never knew that such records are obtainable, or that modern records have such wonderful musical value. All this wonderment and admiration, however, is really just so much cause for discouragement, for one is compelled to note that the talking machine trade has managed to overlook a good bet in this case. It is the people who know good music and who are learning to appreciate it that are needed to-day on the buyer lists of the talking machine stores. And yet I personally find that it is just these who seem to know least about the musical possibilities of the talking machine. In all this I am not referring specifically to professional musicians as such, for they are notoriously slow to recognize the value of anything external to their own experience. Setting aside the small number of those artists who have actually made recordings, one finds the big mass of musicians either skeptical or apathetic. Which is a great pity. Those to whom I specifically refer, however, are music lovers, as distinguished from musicians proper, men and women who love music, who do not have any great amount of technical knowledge and who often do not play any instrument at all, but who love music. There are thousands of them in Chicago where I live and tens of thousands in the other great cities. There are hundreds of thousands of them throughout the country and many good observers believe that their number reaches the millions. These are the men and women who are not being adequately reached by the record retailers. "More and Better" More and better record selling is likely to be the dominating motto of the talking machine industry during the next two or three years, while the situation with respect to the type and kind of machine which is to be popular under new conditions, is gradually adjusting itself. To sell more and better records is to keep the game alive, to keep profits going, and to build up a basis for the business upon which it can and will stand like a rock forever. The means to such better selling are advertising, demonstrating, personal salesmanship, with those classes in the community who have hitherto been considered out of the class of buyers, and an educated sales personnel. And from my own experiences with the retail trade I am pretty certain that the last-named represents the most important of all. It is a good motto, "More and Better Record Selling." Move to New Quarters Phoenix, Ariz., March 6. — The enlarged and improved quarters of Urner & Gates, Brunswick dealers, were recently opened at 8 West Washington street. The music store, formerly known as the Brunswick Shop, was located at 117 West Monroe street. In the new establishment, which is about three times the size of the former store, in addition to Brunswickphonographs and records, Brunswick Radiolas will be carried and featured. "The Portable with a Guarantee Bond" SPENCERIAN Portable PHONOGRAPHS $25.00 LIST C orrespondence Invited WESTPHONO, Inc., 46 W. 4th St., ST. PAUL, MINN.