Pianos for the People: From Producer to Consumer in Britain, 1851–1914

Abstract

During the second half of the nineteenth century, British society experienced a rise in real incomes and a change in its composition, with the expansion of the middle classes. These two factors led to a consumer revolution, with a growing, but still segmented, demand for household goods that could express status and aspiration. At the same time technological changes and new ways of marketing and selling goods made these goods more affordable. This paper analyzes these themes and the process of mediation that took place between producers, retailers, and consumers, by looking at the most culturally symbolic of nineteenth century consumer goods, the piano.

Modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life”: lifestyle marketing in Stomatol toothpaste advertisements, 1910–1940

“…On a general level, it demonstrates the importance of conducting research into historical advertisements to challenge the novelty of seemingly contemporary marketing practices, while more specifically, its focus on lifestyle marketing calls into question previous studies that have framed the strategy as something that emerged in the postmodern period in response to new consumption practices (Featherstone, 1987;Saviolo and Marazza, 2013). While its findings are in line with claims about lifestyle marketing made in other historical papers (Carnevali and Newton, 2013;French, 2017;Piggott, 2021), its Swedish focus adds a new dimension that redresses the overwhelmingly Anglocentric perspective in studies of the phenomenon and even suggests that Sweden was a particular trailblazer in the area (previous studies have all stated that toothpaste only turned to lifestyle marketing in the 1990s).…”

“…In recent years, both historians and media and communication scholars have attempted to reappraise the concept of lifestyle marketing by placing the phenomenon within a broader history of patterned practices and uses. Studies have been conducted on the use of the lifestyle marketing to sell everything from chocolate (French, 2017), protein-enhanced foods (O’Hagan, 2021) and newspapers (Piggott, 2021) to pianos (Carnevali and Newton, 2013), dip pens (O’Hagan, 2018) and cosmetics (Schweitzer, 2004), to name but a few examples. Obtaining a greater appreciation of the historical development of lifestyle marketing is important because it challenges the assumption that brands of everyday products have only used lifestyle marketing in the past 30 years (Michman et al , 2003).…”

The dip pen as a source of social distinction in Victorian Britain

“…The growing commitment of manufacturers to exploiting new potential markets, particularly made up of the lower classes, was taking place across many British product lines at this time from pianos and ceramics to jewellery and toiletries. 79 The introduction of lithographic print methods, which enabled products to be advertised with an image or design accompanying the text, removed illiteracy as a barrier to comprehension, while the creation of enamelled signs allowed advertisements to be displayed in places that working-class Victorians frequented, such as railway stations and omnibuses. 80 Furthermore, the final repeal of the newspaper tax in 1855 brought about an explosion in the number of advertisements printed in newspapers, again placing products within the reach of the newly literate lower classes.…”

Soft power: the media industries in Britain since 1870

“…Outside of recorded music, piano manufacturing and sheet music publishing were among the fastest growing industries during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. SeeEhrlich (1990) andCarnevali and Newton (2013).…”