Product B Informal Reports: Victrola Record Players

	Before Spotify, there was the iPod. Before the iPod came CDs. Before that, cassettes, 8-tracks, reel-to-reel, and finally, records. Vinyl reigned for longer than any other media for music, and still has a avid user-base today despite the more portable options. In the 20s vinyl was king, and short of waiting for the radio, the only way to listen to music you wanted to hear. Just as Audio Technica and Technics advertise today, Victrola sought to sell their wares to music fans in the 1920s.
	What use had a record player in the 20s? Probably one analogous to the home theater setup (big TV, BluRay player, surround sound) of today. Surely many families got along just fine without one, just as some families today don't need stereos or even TVs. The Victrola was purely for entertainment, and it was an expensive splurge at that. The Victrola is listed as having models costing between $48.28 to $310.00 in some ads, $25 to a whopping $1500 in two, and $30 to $100 in others still. Regardless, the price tag was hefty for even the lower model, costing around $300 in today's dollars (The $1500 model would be $16,000 now!). As a result, this was not a product for everyone, and certainly not one that a magazine ad could convince you to pick up at the store on the way to work.
	The audience, then, would be those that could spend (in our dollars, for reference) $300 or more on something purely for enjoyment. This could range from lower-class families that wanted to make the investment  (be it for social reasons or simply because they liked music), and more upper-class families that could see it as more of a normal purchase.
	Due to the price, we can infer that the audience would be adults rather than children, having worked long enough to have the income to support a purchase. No gender is identified in the ads, as it would likely be a family decision, due again to the cost.
	Without very specific demographics (i.e women, over the age of 30, who use this existing product) to define the audience, we can see, based on the content, that Victrola ads preyed primarily on two general types of people: those who threw dance parties or enjoyed popular music, and those who wished to listen to great performances by famous band-leaders, singers, or orchestras.
	Due to the hefty price tag, owning a Victrola would certainly vault the owner up into the next tier of social reputation. As established, these ads were aimed at people looking to throw dance parties in the home. Having a Victrola playing the latest dance music of the day at your party would definitely make you seem capable and with-the-times, and of course, wealthy enough to easily afford a Victrola. Besides appealing to social concerns, these ads also tried to entice music-lovers and audiophiles with promises of realistic sound, and a wide offering of artists.
	Victrola more often than not included pictures of the artists whose records could be enjoyed on their players, with messages like “Every one of these Victor artists is a reason for having a Victrola.” Others alluded to the content of the ad: above an illustration of John Phillips Sousa conducting an orchestra, the headline reads, “you can attend the concerts of the greatest bands - on the Victrola.”
	Visually, the ads are designed in such a way that the eye is pulled toward the familiar face of a singer or conductor, before moving on to the headline and then the body copy. Illustrations of the product are typically included as well with the familiar logo of a dog looking in curiosity at the horn of the phonograph.
	Another smaller percentage of the ads attract the viewer with images of well-dressed couples dancing around or putting on a new record on their Victrola. These sell the unit on the instant availability of the music, and the long-playing records, allowing everyone to go on dancing for as long as they’d like.
	Due to the price of the Victrola record player, this was not a product that an advertiser could entice a consumer to purchase by modern methods, like guilt, alone. Much like computer ads of today, the majority of these were here for you when you were in the market for the product, but understood not everyone needed one that moment. As a result, the selling points were mainly functional, much like ads of the past.
	There are exceptions, of course. These were occasionally dressed up within a social context though they weren't as forward with implications of becoming an outcast. In this way, these ads are not very modern, compared to ones that were more personal, sold a benefit, used characters, or scare copy to entice consumers. One of the methods most relied upon in the selection ads is the simulation of the experience of going to the opera, a decidedly high-class activity. "You can attend the concerts of the greatest bands," reads one. Another compares the fidelity of the record to the actual artist, claiming "both are Caruso," as if you could justify not going to the opera to see Caruso himself, by staying at home and listening to the record instead. While this doesn't fix the problem of you not being seen at the opera proper, it does allow you to talk about Caruso with your friends.
	Advertising changes with price—houses aren’t advertised, besides listing their amenities, whereas phones and apparel rely heavily on advertising, and the social benefits of using and wearing the products. In the 20s, Victrola record players sat on the edge between being advertised as products you needed to throw a good party or enjoy the music you love, and as products that needed no advertisement. Their price, as well as their relative lack of necessity in a normal home, kept them from being hot items that could be peddled easily with a compelling headline as was the case for things like soaps or mouthwashes. Nonetheless, Victrola made their case to the public by touting the fidelity of their records and record players as well as the availability of modern, in-demand artists on their records so that at home, the consumer could experience, as one ad puts it, “the thrill you get as the band goes by!”