The Music Trades (magazine)

History

The Music Trades was founded in 1890 by John Christian Freund (1848–1924) and Milton Weil (1871–1935). Freund and Weil also, in 1898, founded Musical America, the oldest American magazine on classical music.

John Christian Freund

Freund, who matriculated in 1868 at Exeter College, Oxford but left after three years without a degree, had first been a playwright and actor. Freund emigrated to New York in 1871. In 1875, he founded The Music Trade Review, a fortnightly publication that he later renamed The Musical and Dramatic Times and Music Trade Review. The publication ran for about 2 years. In 1878, Freund founded the Musical Times, which soon changed to Musical and Dramatic Times. On January 7, 1882, Freund launched a weekly magazine, Music: A Review (Vol., No. 1), which contained an insert called The Music Trade. Sometime on or before July 8, 1882, Freund changed the name to Music and Drama, supplemented by Freund's Daily Music and Drama. Music and Drama evolved into the weekly publication, The Music Trades.

In 1884, Freund, with John Travis Quigg (1839–1893), founded The American Musician, which ran until 1891 and became the official publication of the National League of Musicians, the forerunner of the American Federation of Musicians. Before founding the American Musician, Henry Cood Watson (1818–1875) began in 1864 the publication Watson's Art Journal, devoted to music criticism and trade. Watson died in 1875 and his Journal was taken over by his pupil, William M. Thoms, who improved it, renamed it American Art Journal, edited it until his retirement in 1906, then, upon his retirement, merged it with the American Musician.

Around 1895, Freund's younger brother, Harry Edward Freund (1863–1950), was editor of Musical Weekly, which continued as a weekly with a new name, beginning January 1896, as The Musical Age. The publication was aimed at piano dealers.

1927 sale by Milton Weil

Milton Weil (1871–1935) was married to the actress Henrietta Lander (née Rich; 1874–1935). On June 13, 1927, three years after Freund died, Weil sold The Music Trades and Musical America to a newly formed syndicate that acquired four other publications and consolidated them into Trade Publications, Inc., headed by Walter Crawford Howey (1882–1954) as president, Verne Hardin Porter (1888–1942) as vice president and secretary, and Edwin John Rosencrans (1870–1935), as treasurer. The other publications were The American Architect, The Barbers' Journal, Beauty Culture, and Perfumers' Journal.

Schluter & Company and Shields & Company were the investment bankers who handled the deal, which involved an issuance of $1,100,000 in preferred and common stock. Howey, Porter, and Rosencrans were also directors of Trade Publications, Inc. The other directors were G. Murray Hulbert, John Zollikoffer Lowe, Jr. (1884–1951), and Joseph Urban. Shields & Company and Nixon & Company, of Philadelphia, also made s public offering of ten-year  6 ¹⁄₂ percent gold bonds of Trade Publications, Inc., that carried warrants to purchase common stock at a price that closely corresponded with the value of the stock.

Howey and Porter had been former executives of the Hearst Corporation. Rosencrans was the managing editor of The American Architect. Years before the deal, Rosencrans, a civil engineer, had been partners with architect John F. Jackson (1867–1948). Their firm, Jackson & Rosencrans, designed over seventy YMCAs. Lowe was a lawyer and onetime law partner in a firm with Samuel Seabury.

1929 bankruptcy

Walter Howey — who, before heading Trade Publications, had been the founding managing editor of the New York Daily Mirror — left Trade Publications to again become the managing editor of the Mirror on August 1, 1928. Trade Publications, Inc., filed for bankruptcy in 1929. The Irving Trust Co. was appointed receiver for Trade Publications, Inc., which had liabilities of $716,839 and assets of $59,511. John Logan Lyttle (1879–1930), bankruptcy referee, sold at auction to John Majeski, Weil's former assistant, on July 19, 1929, four of the six magazines for $45,200: (i) Musical America, (ii) The Music Trades, (iii) The Barbers' Journal, and (iv) Beauty Culture. Of the $45,000 Majeski paid for the six publications, $11,000 of it was attributable to Musical America and The Music Trades, for which, three years earlier, around 1926–1927, he had offered a quarter of a million dollars, in a losing bid against Trade Publications, Inc. Majeski's acquisition included the publications' names, a collection of back issues, and a few months of office space in the Steinway Building.

A few months before the bankruptcy auction on July 19, 1929, Weil was said to have sold all his interest in Trade Publications, Inc., for $200,000 in preferred stock. After he sold, he and his wife moved to Paris, where they were residing during the bankruptcy auction. The bankruptcy sale wiped-out Weil's stake built-up over a lifetime. Weil, at the time of the bankruptcy sale, was said to have only taken $5,000 with him to Paris. Weil's father, Jacob A. Weil (1835–1913), was a Paris-born American and his mother, Dina (née Lilienthal; born 1843), was a German-born American.

Double suicide of Milton and Henrietta Weil

Distraught over the loss of their fortune during the pre-Crash of 1929, then the Crash, and their subsequent inability to recover during the Great Depresion – Milton and Henrietta Weil carried out a double suicide pact on May 22, 1935, leaving a note and taking veronal in their room of the Hotel Scribe in the Opera District of Paris. Henrietta died the next morning, May 23, 7:40 am at the American Hospital; Milton died 23 hours and 25 minutes later, May 24, 7:05 am, at the same hospital. They are buried next to each other at the New Cemetery of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Legacy of Freund and Weil

Freund and Weil were exponents of American classical music, despite the fact that Freund had only become a naturalized United States citizen on November 2, 1903. Their publications Musical America and The Music Trades complemented each other, and, in a unique sense, gave them a comprehensive and credible view of the growth of classical music in America and its international rank, as an art-form and in commerce. To the extent that both publications reached an international readership, Freund and Weil held sway as impresarios and movement leaders of American classical music. Their publications flourished during the early 1900s — on a new wave of American composers, including those of the Second New England School — joined by foreign composers that emigrated to America after 1880 in a flood of nearly 25 million Europeans. In commerce, 1875 to 1932 represented a golden age of piano making — nearly 364,545 were sold at the peak in 1909, according to the National Piano Manufacturers Association. New York City, followed by Chicago, was the manufacturing leader of pianos during that age.

Freund and Weil's publications gave them broad access in the field of music. Notably, they served as bridges between the art and the money, connecting artists, organizations, commerce, and public policy. The spectrum that both publications collectively chronicled gave Freund and Weil a strong platform to serve as advocates, opinion leaders, conciliators, counselors, arbiters, and ambassadors for music and the music trades in America. As an example, Freund and Weil were influential in the founding of the National Music Managers Association (for national managers) and the National Concert Managers' Association (for local managers), aimed at improving cooperation between the two for the benefit of musicians. Also, Freund and Weil were, in 1918, the founding president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of the Musical Alliance of the United States, an organization that endures today. At its founding, Freund had called for an alliance to organize "all workers in the field, from the man at the bench in a piano factory to the conductor of the great symphony."

The Majeski years — 1910–present

On July 19, 1929, John Francis Majeski, Sr. (1892–1971) — who in 1910 had joined the staff of Musical America, which at the time owned The Musical Trades — became the new owner of (i) The Music Trades, (ii) Musical America, (ii) Barbers Journal, and (iv) Beauty Culture. On August 22, 1929, Majeski formed three holding companies: The Music Trades Corporation, The Musical America Corporation, and Beauty Culture Publishing Corporation — the third as holding company for Barbers Journal and Beauty Culture.

In 1959, Majeski sold Musical America — which later merged with High Fidelity in 1964 — but retained his interest in The Musical Trades, and served as its publisher until his death. At the time of his death, his son, John Francis Majeski, Jr. (1921–2011), was the magazine's editor. John Majeski, Jr., was the magazine's editor until 1982 and its publisher until 1985. In 2005, John Majeski, Jr., received the American Music Conference Lifetime Achievement Award for his achievements, contribution to music, and long tenure as editor of The Music Trades.

Current ownership

The Music Trades has been controlled by the Majeski family for eighty-seven years (since July 19, 1929). Its holding company is The Music Trades Corporation, a New Jersey entity based in Englewood, which is controlled by the third-generation Majeski family — Paul Anton Majeski (born 1960), publisher since 1985, and Brian T. Majeski (born 1956), editor since 1982. Brian holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Lawrence University (1978).

Selected articles, quotes, and reviews

Articles and quotes

Vol. 21, No. 21, May 25, 1901: Responding to a 1901 campaign by the National Musicians Union against ragtime, [the campaign is] "rather quixotic. There are ears to which "rag-time" is more fascinating than grand opera, and ears of this sort are more numerous"

"Too Many Piano Factories in Chicago," by Philip J. Meahl (1865–1933), Vol. 23, No. 1, January 4, 1902, pg. 13: "There is some likelihood of the piano manufacturing business being overdone"

"Succeeded Without Being a "Catalog Dealer,'", by Bert Aaron Rose (1866–1940), Vol. 64, No. 26, December 23, 1922, pg. 32: The author, owner of the Metropolitan Music Co. in Minneapolis and director of bands at the University of Minnesota, illuminates the threat of catalog sales, similar to early 21st-century concerns over online sales vs. physical stores

"First Selmer Silver Saxophone is Pronounced Superior to Brass Instrument by Rudy Wiedoeft," Vol. 73, No. 15, April 9, 1927, pg. 35

"The Petrof Piano Saga" (feature story), Vol. 156, No. 12, January 2009, pps. 112–118: The article is an example of history and commentary works of the magazine

Historic reviews

Harry Botsford (born 1890) wrote an article titled "Diversified Needs of the Trade Magazine," in The Editor (Ridgewood, New Jersey), Vol. 52, No. 7, April 10, 1920, pps. 4–5. In it, he lauds The Music Trades as "one of the foremost publications which may be classed as a trade journal," and proceeds to examine a particular issue — Vol. 58, No. 25, December 20, 1919. Botsford points out that the articles in the issue are diverse, but at first glance, seemingly not relevant for a lack of direct connections to the music field. Yet he sees how topics of other sectors and industries — and commerce as a whole — relate to music commerce. Botsford stated that the articles, all of them, were interesting and well-written; but averred that each writing assignment might have been better-filled by "a live writer in the field, if said writer would have used his brain." Botsford, a trade writer himself, seemed to be challenging his profession to exercise more interdisciplinarity writing. Referring to Secor's article, Botsford posed the question, "Why couldn't some of we fellows who write for farm papers have thought of the idea? Have we been overlooking possibilities?"

The December 20, 1919, issue, as a whole, bears some similarities to some of the special macro-economic issues of the 21st-century. Botsford's review covered the following articles by authors, nearly all of whom were trade publication editors:

Regular features and sister publications

The Music Trades: current annual cover stories, analyses, and awards

"201X in Review" is published in the January issue

"The NAMM Show Special" is published in the February issue, which are released every January — in sync with the annual January event

"Music Industry Census," published in the April issue, is an annual cover story survey of dollar volume and unit data; in 2014, it the Census covered 65 product categories, including musical instruments and audio products

"The Top 100," published in the April issue as part of the "Music Industry Census," is an analysis and recognition of the largest U.S. suppliers of music and audio gear ranked by sales volume

"Retailing Around the World" is published in the May issue

"The Retail Top 200," published in the August issue, is an analysis and recognition of the largest retailers in the United States

"The Guitar Issue" is published in the October issue

"The Global 225," published in the December issue, is an annual analysis and recognition of leading music and audio suppliers worldwide

The Music Trades: quarterly reports and analysis

"Quarterly Retail Sales Data" — published in the March, June, September, and December issues — is a poll of U.S. retailers (over 1,000) on sales trends of product categories and regions

"Quarterly Import Data" — published in the March, June, September, and December issues — is a statistical supply chain report and analysis of imports

Separate reports The Music Trades publishes current industry reports, data, and analyses — separate from the magazine — aimed at all constituents in the supply chain of music products.

Sister publications

The Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries is published by The Music Trade Corporation. It was first published in 1897 as The Piano Purchaser's Guide, but was soon renamed The Piano & Organ Purchaser's Guide for 19XX. Sometime around the 1920s it was again renamed The Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries, and absorbed The Piano & Organ Purchaser's Guide. Since inception, it has been published annually and, for many of its early years was included with a subscription to either The Music Trades or Musical America. The 2017 edition of The Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries is the one hundred and twenty-first edition.

Musical America, from 1898 to 1960 — when it was owned by Freund, then Trade Publications, Inc., then Majeski — was an affiliate publication

Serial identification

Volume numbers

Weekly: 1891–1929

The Music Trades — first published January 3, 1891, Vol. I, No. 1 — was a weekly publication from inception to February 9, 1929, Vol 77, No. 6. The following issue, dated February 15, 1928, Vol. 77, No. 7, was the first monthly, followed by March 15, 1929, Vol. 77, No. 8. As a weekly, the volume numbers changed every half year; i.e., the first half of 1924 — January 5 through June 28 — was published under Vol. 67, Nos. 1 through 26. The latter half of 1924 — July 5 through December 27 — was published as Vol. 68, Nos. 1 through 26.

Monthly: 1930–present

Beginning with February 1929, when the magazine became a monthly publication, the volume numbers changed every year, initially at January, but eventually at February. For February through December 1929, the Vol. was 77. The publication currently, for 2017, is on Volume 165 (CLXV)

Copyrights

Issues of The Music Trades published before 1923 are in the public domain. The copyrights for those publications have expired.

Trademarks

"The Music Trades," as a standard character mark, is a US registered trademark. It was re-registered January 25, 2011, under Serial No. 85046105 and Registration no. 3910654. The registration officially reflects its (i) first use anywhere and (ii) first use in commerce on January 1, 1891.

Volume notes

Addresses

During the 1890s, the executive office for The Music Trades was at 24 Union Square East, Manhattan, New York. From around 1897 to 1915, it was at 135 Fifth Avenue at 20th Street — which, at the time, was at the heart of the wholesale music trade district in New York City. From around 1915 to 1937, it was on Fifth Avenue — 505 (1915), 501 (1919). From about 1930 until the mid-1970s, the executive offices for The Music Trades were in Steinway Hall, 113 West 57th Street, Manhattan, New York. From 1927 to 1929, when The Music Trades was owned by Trade Publications, Inc., the offices were at 235 East 45th Street, Manhattan, New York. From the mid-1970s to present (2017), the executive offices have been in Englewood, New Jersey.