GUITARS’
GREATEST YEAR
One positive of the pandemic was a wave of new guitar players, with dollar sales rising an incredible 15 percent.
By Brian Berk The COVID-19 pandemic has, of course, been incredibly unfortunate for many reasons. The past year has seen a staggering number of deaths caused by the coronavirus, and in addition to the sheer amount of lives lost, we have also lost so much about our daily lives that we had previously taken for granted. The pandemic has also had a devastating effect on many aspects of the economy, both in the U.S. and around the globe. This economic devastation has included many segments of retail. MI retail has not been immune, hit by school rental declines, a drop in sales of live music equipment and more. But, if you’re looking for a bright spot in all this darkness, guitars must be mentioned first. Stated simply, the guitar segment is on fire. Overall guitar sales in terms of dollars rose by 15 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, according to MI SalesTrak. And this increase is even more
We experienced the highest demand growth in our fretted instrument guitar lines [in 2020] than any time in our history. — Tammy Van Donk, Fender
impressive when considering overall dollar sales rose 5.1 percent in 2019 vs. 2018 and 5.3 percent in 2018 vs. 2017, according to MI SalesTrak. Perhaps as impressive is that sales of guitars do not appear to be slowing down. January 2021 was yet another banner month in terms of dollar sales. “2020 started out with guitar sales growing early in the year. Then in March, with the pandemic rolling out across the country, sales tanked,” Jim Hirschberg, president of MI SalesTrak, told the Music & Sound Retailer. “But at the same time, consumer data showed that people who were locked down at home were starting to spend more on hobbies, including music. And starting in April, the retail point-of-sale data began to show big gains for musical instruments that could be played at home in isolation. While other ‘play-at-home’ instruments including keyboards saw sales take off, guitars stood out for their explosive growth. MI SalesTrak reported 2020 dollar sales of guitars up 15 percent, the 20
APRIL 2021
