Music & Sound Retailer May 2019, Vol 36 No 5

May 2019

Volume 36, No. 5

Manufacturers: Nominate the Best Retailers for Music & Sound Awards

THE NEWS MAGAZINE FOR MUSIC PRODUC TS RETAILERS

Click msretailer.com/awards to Cast Your Vote Please Submit Your Nominations

by June 3.

By Brian Berk A great way to generate great sound for the masses is via pro-audio speakers.

Clearly, consumers agree, with the pro audio speaker market continuing to grow rapidly. According to ResearchandMarkets.com, the pro-audio speaker industry is expected to generate revenues of more than $2.2 billion by 2023, led by growth in music concerts, exhibition, trade shows, and film and motion production.

A separate study, conducted by Futuresource Consulting, expects the pro-audio speaker market to grow by $1 billion year over year by 2021, definitely not bad for what the firm called a “mature industry.” “The portable sound market, where compact systems are a growth product, holds great opportunities for a consolidated offering, as does the touring market, where matching up pro speakers, amplifiers and digital signal processing [DSP] devices is a core requirement,” stated the research firm. (continued on page 48)

IN A GIVING MOOD

SPEAKING UP IN A BIG WAY

Pro Audio Speaker Market Continues Its Ascent

The Great Stuff Going on in MI Today (continued on page 22)

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NAMM Foundation Implements Reisman Fund The NAMM Foundation and the Reisman Family have announced a fund in honor of NAMM board member, music education advocate and industry leader, Liz Reisman, called the Liz Reisman Fund for School Music Education. She was 55 when she passed away, 30 months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Reisman was the owner of Creative Music Center in Monroe, Conn., and a passionate supporter of music education on a local and national level, advancing music-making opportunities for all school-aged children. To continue her work, and honor her memory for generations to come, the Reisman family created this new fund, which will support NAMM Foundation grants that impact school music education and help more people experience the joys of making music.

“Liz was beyond passionate about the influence music can and should have on our youth,” said her husband Mike Reisman. “She was brought up with a flute in her hands and in many ways defined by her myriad experiences in schools, camps and community organizations dedicated to music education. One of her greatest joys was to watch the smiles of children brimming with newfound self-esteem via music.”

“For those of us who knew Liz, we know the strong belief she held in the power of music education. This donation, together with others made in Liz’s name, now and in the future, will support NAMM Foundation grants that impact school music education and help more people experience the joys of making music,” said NAMM chairwoman Robin Walenta.

Since its inception in 1994, The NAMM Foundation has donated more than $16 million to support domestic and international music education programs, scientific research, advocacy and public service programs related to music making. The grants are funded in part by donations from the NAMM Foundation and its 10,400 member companies worldwide.

“When the NAMM Foundation was established, it was our earnest hope that it could be a means to honor people like Liz, who was a beacon of optimism and creativity in music retail and in our advocacy efforts,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “We are honored that Liz’s great spirit will be part of our shared efforts to advance music making for people of all ages and abilities.”

Industry members who would like to honor the life and legacy of Liz Reisman may find additional information or make a donation on The NAMM Foundation website: www.nammfoundation.org/donate.

Odyssey Now Distributes Serato

Odyssey Innovative Designs, a manufacturer and distributor of cases and accessories for the professional audio market, has been selected by Serato to be its U.S. distributor of Serato products, which includes vinyl, apparel and accessories such as slipmats. About to celebrate its 20th anniversary, Serato created a DJ revolution with the launch of the Serato Scratch Live and has since partnered with a host of hardware companies to integrate its Serato DJ software into their products, Odyssey stated.

“With Serato’s dominance in the DJ movement, and Odyssey’s legacy in the DJ community, we’re honored that Serato is putting their trust in our business and operations to further grow their brand,” said John Hsiao, CEO of Odyssey Innovative Designs.

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

3

On the Cover

THE NEWS MAGAZINE FOR MUSIC PRODUC TS RETAILERS

In a Giving Mood

We feature 10 companies doing great things for both charity and their communities.

Speaking Up in a Big Way Pro audio speaker market continues its ascent.

VOLUME 36 NO. 5

24

Features 28 Special to the Retailer

Danny Shatzkes returns with part two of his discussion on the topic of health, safety and wellness as it relates to music.

29 In the Trenches

Handling returns has always been a component of retail. How you handle this process can make a significant difference for customers.

30 MSR Anniversary

AMI Musical Instruments LLC is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, carrying a rich history. Since 1984, the company, founded by German luthier Günther Lutz, has offered quality fretted instruments worldwide.

32 Five Minutes With

Andy Rossi, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Korg USA, talked to us for much longer than five minutes to discuss his storied career, why he joined Korg USA, the state of the MI industry and more over four pages worth of material.

4

36 MI Spy

Charlotte, N.C., is certainly known as a financial hub, with Bank of America, LendingTree and Wyndham Capital some of the household names that call North Carolina’s “Queen City” home. MI Spy finds out the music scene can match Charlotte’s financial wherewithal.

38 Tips From the Teacher

In honor of “In a Giving Mood” cover story, Robin Sassi, owner of San Diego Music Studio, pinch-hits for Kimberly Deverell this month and describes a topic near and dear to her heart.

40 Retailer Rebel

42 Shine a Light

Red Dragon Guitars keeps roaring, being named one of NAMM’s Top 100 Dealers for three years running. Learn the story behind its success.

44 Veddatorial

Dan Vedda describes how to navigate choppy waters during the “Amazon era.”

46 Under the Hood

Graph Tech’s Ratio Tune-a-lele, Ratio Bass and Ratio Guitar solve problems musicians perhaps don’t even know they have.

It may take some time to create a solid Facebook video, but there are huge opportunities for re-purposing content across multiple platforms in a variety of ways, and you should be embracing all of them, states Gabriel O’Brien.

54 The Final Note

41 Retailing Better

Buzz

Long- and medium-term planning are still important. The time is here to review your plans you’ve laid out for the year now, to ensure you are still on track.

Mitchell Nollman, vice president, global sales and marketing, C.F. Martin & Co., has two great loves: music and cooking.

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EDITORIAL

Optimism Abounds If you can only take one thing away from both this month’s and last month’s issues of the Music & Sound Retailer, it should be this: There is plenty of optimism in MI right now. We definitely saw that last month in our guitar update, with sales numbers looking very strong last year and our manufacturer panelists adding this year has been excellent as well. We also saw plenty of optimism in last month’s print update cover story, and the optimism continued at this month’s Retail Print Music Dealers Association (RPMDA) annual convention in San Diego. (Much more on that in next month’s issue.)

The good vibrations can also be found in droves in this issue you are about to read, with pro audio manufacturers pointing to a strong industry. And our “Five Minutes With” feature proves this point even more, thanks to Korg USA’s Andy Rossi’s comments.

Everything sounds great, doesn’t it? There is no question the MI industry continues to hum along, and the decline the industry saw years ago seems like it’s miles away. It’s really exciting and you, as an MI retailer, deserve a ton of credit for this success. Of course, even at the best times, problems can arise — most notably, complacency. Many of us fall victim to it, myself included.

We think things are great and we can relax. We cannot do that, though. You need to use this time to continue to strengthen your business. If your profits have been up lately, now is a good time to spend a little on something you always wanted to do, like marketing, social media or website development. Several of the retail columnists in this magazine can help you achieve your goals.

Another option, if money has been flowing more freely, is attending Summer NAMM in July in Nashville, where you’ll be able to take part in a great exchange of ideas that can help your business. Because no matter

what, the next downturn will come eventually. It may not be tomorrow or even a year from now, but it will happen.

Personally, if I had to guess, we will see some deceleration in the economy by some point in 2020. I have two main reasons for saying this. First, we recently experienced an inverted yield curve. Yes, it’s a fancy term. In simpler vernacular, it occurs when the yields on bonds with a shorter duration are higher than the yields on bonds that have a longer duration. It is important because it predicts recessions, and past inverted yield curves correctly predicted recessions in 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2008.

Of course, this doesn’t mean history will definitely repeat itself. Nobody knows. But I’ve noticed in my time covering retail industries that history often does repeat itself.

Second, some companies are currently suffering an earnings recession. In other words, overall corporate earnings are on the decline compared to a year ago.

Hence, earnings are no longer increasing year over year for many companies, which is not a great sign.

Of course, there is an opposing opinion. Goldman Sachs recently predicted only a 10-percent chance of a coming recession. And certain corporations continue to hit it out of the park and increase earnings.

But either way, we must enjoy the success the MI industry has had. Hopefully it continues, and I am definitely not intending to be an alarmist. Instead, I think it’s a good opportunity to evaluate all aspects of your business and determine what your strengths and weaknesses are, no matter if we enter a future recession or not.

May 2019 Volume 36, No. 5

BRIAN BERK Editor bberk@testa.com ANTHONY VARGAS Associate Editor avargas@testa.com AMANDA MULLEN Assistant Editor amullen@testa.com

JANICE PUPELIS Art Director STEVE THORAKOS Production Manager CIRCULATION circulation@testa.com FRED GUMM Digital Art Director

DONOVAN BANKHEAD ROBERT CHRISTIE KIMBERLY DEVERELL JEFF KYLE JR.

MICHELLE LOEB WILL MASON ALLEN MCBROOM GABRIEL O'BRIEN ROBERT SAMPLE

ROBERT L. IRAGGI Advertising Director riraggi@testa.com RICKY PIMENTEL Art/Production Assistant rpimentel@testa.com ROBIN HAZAN Operations Manager rhazan@testa.com VINCENT P. TESTA President/Publisher TIM SPICER DAN VEDDA LAURA B. WHITMORE Contributors

Editorial and Sales Office: The Music & Sound Retailer, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, New York 11050-3779. Phone: (516) 767-2500 • Fax: (516) 767-9335 • MSREDITOR@TESTA.COM. Editorial contributions should be addressed to The Editor, The Music & Sound Retailer, 25 Willowdale Avenue, Port Washington, New York 11050-3779. Unsolicited manuscripts will be treated with care and must be accompanied by return postage.

Sound & Communications • DJ Times • Sound & Communications Blue Book The Music & Sound Retailer • The DJ Expo • IT/AV Report The Retailer Report • Convention TV @ NAMM • InfoCommTV News VTTV Studios The Music & Sound Retailer (ISSN 0894-1238) (USPS 0941-238) is published 12 times a year for $18 (US),

by Retailer Publishing, Inc., 25 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, NY 11050-3779.

Periodicals postage paid at Port Washington, N.Y. and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Music & Sound Retailer, PO BOX 1767, LOWELL MA 01853-1767

MAY 2019

®

Melanie Faye - Player Series - Stratocaster in Buttercream

The Player Series ®

Cavetown - Player Series - Telecaster in Black

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Franz Lyons of Turnstile - Player Series - Precision Bass in Buttercream

©2019 FMIC. FENDER, FENDER in script, JAZZMASTER, PRECISION BASS, STRATOCASTER, TELECASTER and the distinctive headstock commonly found on Fender guitars and basses are registered trademarks of FMIC. All rights reserved.

New Pickups.

New Colors.

Authentic Tone.

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Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail - Player Series - Jazzmaster in Polar White

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L to R: Ryan West, Jon Harris, president of Harris-Teller, and Robin Walenta

West Music Hands Out Awards Brian Higgins, Zach Myers and Tracey Higgins-Kern

Zach on the Attack

Hard rock guitarist and Paul Reed Smith signature artist Zach Myers visited Bill’s Music in Catonsville, Md. More than 50 fans lined up at the family-owned music store to meet Myers, several of whom even purchased a PRS SE Zach Myers Semi-Hollow body guitar so that they could have it signed at the event. Though Myers would play a show later that evening with his band Shinedown, he happily stayed until the very last autograph was signed. Store managers (and siblings) Brian and Tracey Higgins-Kern described Myers as “gracious, down to earth and fun to be around.” This was Myers’ second visit to Bill’s Music.

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West Music honored several award recipients at its Annual Celebration at the Hotel at Kirkwood Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Vendor of the Year award was presented to Harris-Teller, Vendor Representative of the Year was awarded to Tracy Dean of Thunder Marketing and Business Partner of the Year was presented to Lynn Tuttle of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).

Regarding Harris-Teller: “This award-winning vendor is always open to new partnership ideas and collaborates with us on getting the absolute best for our customers,” said Robin Walenta, president of West Music.

“Every interaction with this company proves that they are not just a supplier of goods, but that they are a company who partners with us to ensure that we are able to provide a high level of customer service.”

Ryan West, executive vice president of West Music, discussed the Vendor Rep of the Year by commenting: “Tracy takes the ‘if you’re open, we’re open’ idea personally, and recognizes that honesty and integrity are the keys to success for any music or product trend.

This rep is there to make sure we know of the latest and greatest products, he equips our team with the product knowledge, and he helps us engage our customers through events and promotions.

He is an invaluable partner to the West Music organization.”

Walenta also discussed the Business Partner of the Year award.

“Through her partnership with the National Association for Music Merchants (NAMM) and many of the state music education associations, [the] winner has been a dedicated resource as we work to understand and leverage funding for school music education,” she said. “She has been very active in the state of Iowa, partnering with the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education, assisting in the planning of music and arts in-state accountability reporting systems, and identifying music and arts as potential uses for federal Title IV-A funds.”

MAY 2019

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Get Into the GrooveTech

Following the sale of its Powersports tool business, musician tool specialist CruzTOOLS has rebadged as GrooveTech. The sale and name change allow GrooveTech to concentrate on its core business of developing innovative and practical tools for musicians. Leading the way are the recently introduced Acoustic Guitar Tech Kit and second-generation Drum Multi-Tool, with more products in the pipeline, stated the company.

“It was a little difficult to let go of the Powersports business,” stated Dan Parks, president of GrooveTech.

“But we found a great home for it and can now fully dedicate our attention to the needs of musicians.”

GrooveTech makes tools for musicians that are sold through dealers and distributors worldwide.

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Hal Leonard Vocal Competition Award Winners Announced

Hal Leonard announced the winners of the ninth-annual Hal Leonard Vocal Competition for young classical and theater singers, comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. There were more than 1,000 entries in the 2019 competition in two divisions: Art Song and Musical Theater, with four age categories for each, ranging from children through college undergraduates. Hal Leonard gave away more than $10,000 in cash prizes and gift certificates to encourage singers to continue to follow their dreams and their vocal studies, and to recognize the good work of voice teachers.

First-place winners for 2019 in Art Song: college/university undergraduates (ages 18-23): Lindsey Reynolds from Curtis Institute of Music; high-school voices (ages 16-18): Callie Iliff of San Marcos, Texas; early teen voices (ages 13-15): Anna Zavelson of Austin, Texas; children’s voices (ages 12 and under): Natalie Huzij of Colorado Springs, Colo.

First-place winners for 2019 in musical theatre: college/ young adult voices (ages 18-23): David Young from DePauw University; high-school voices (ages 16-18): Saoirse Ryhn of Round Rock, Texas; early teen voices (ages 13-15): Aliyah Douglas of Oro Valley, Ariz.; children’s voices (ages 12 and under): Alex Vacchiano of West Caldwell, N.J. “It’s inspiring to watch all the singers who enter the competition,” said Rick Walters, vice president of classical and vocal publications at Hal Leonard.

“We thank all the students, teachers, pianists and parents for their efforts in creating the audition videos. There is a bright future of singing in North America.”

MAY 2019

P L AY L.A. WITCH

SOMETHING #PLAYSOMETHINGDIFFERENT

DIFFERENT THE CALIFORNIA SERIES ™

M A L I B U ™ P L AY E R I N M I D N I G H T S AT I N

©2019 Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. FENDER, FENDER in script and the distinctive headstock commonly found on Fender guitars, basses and ukuleles are registered trademarks of FMIC. All rights reserved.

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PEOPLE

Dinah Gretsch Honored for 40 Years in MI Family, friends and dozens of musicians gathered at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville for a special dinner party to honor Gretsch Co.’s First Lady, Dinah Gretsch, and celebrate her 40 years in the music industry. Music, of course, was in the air throughout the evening, and musical director Bob Sabellico arranged an all-star lineup of performers, including Steve Wariner, Doyle Dykes, Todd “Banjoman” Taylor, John Knowles, Fred Mollin, Nik and Sam, Sean Weaver and many more.

Fred Gretsch also spoke, highlighting his wife’s many attributes.

“She has a heart of gold and plays a huge role with the worldwide family of musicians, music lovers, family members, Gretsch artists and fans,” he said. “She’s a wonderful mother to six children, 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She’s also a great wife and a terrific cook, too.”

Dinah took a few minutes to thank everyone for coming and shared how great it has been to work with her husband, as well as her daughter, and be part of a successful team for the past 40 years. She also shared what an honor it is to work with the hundreds of musicians who support and play Gretsch drums and guitars.

“What’s most rewarding to me, though, is being able to give back

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The first nylon string for classical guitar - and the first choice of Jorge Caballero

and touch children’s lives and hearts through music and the instruments we make,” Dinah said. “I wanted to start a ukulele program earlier this year for 9- and 10-year-old children. Now we have multiple ukulele clubs for students of all ages, with some meeting and playing together after school. How awesome is that?”

Dinah, who currently serves as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Gretsch Co., concluded with these words, “To think that this company is 136 years old, and that I’ve been a part of it and was also a main part of it when we purchased the company back from Baldwin Piano Co. to bring it back into the Gretsch family, it’s been so very special.”

Music & Arts Gets Gottlieb

Scan the QR code to see the original nylon string in the hands of a true virtuoso Jorge plays Regal/Red

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Dinah and Fred Gretsch

Guitar Center appointed Jeff Gottlieb as president of its Music & Arts brand, specializing in band and orchestral instruments for sale and rental, serving parents, teachers, band directors, college professors and students. Gottlieb will report directly to Guitar Center president and CEO Ron Japinga and will be based in Maryland at Music & Arts’ headquarters.

Gottlieb entered his new role with significant retail experience, including executive positions at Sur La Table, Jockey International and Banana Republic. He is also an avid advocate for music education and plays guitar. While at Sur La Table, he led a rapid phase of growth and many of the growth strategies he executed can bolster the ongoing expansion of Music & Arts. Additionally, he led the Sur La Table cooking school program, a business with many parallels to the les-

sons programs of Guitar Center and Music & Arts.

“I’m very excited to be joining Music & Arts,” said Gottlieb. “We have an incredible opportunity to continue to build a brand that is an extremely important part of MAY 2019

PEOPLE

Pioneer Turns to Powell

Pioneer DJ Americas Inc. appointed industry veteran John Powell to the position of president effective April 1. Powell oversees all Pioneer DJ Americas operations, thus taking over responsibilities from current president, Yoshinori Kataoka. Kataoka moved to the role of Pioneer DJ Corp. executive vice president and chief operating officer at its Japan headquarters as of the same date.

Powell first joined Pioneer DJ in the summer of 2017 as senior vice president of sales, and he has implemented a successful sales strategy which has led to double-digit sales growth for the Torrance, Calif.-based organization.

Powell’s appointment confirms Pioneer DJ’s commitment to continuing its growth and reinforcing its market presence as a leader in DJ technology and pro audio solutions.

“John has played a key role in our success here at Pioneer DJ and Pioneer Professional Audio.

With my new responsibilities as COO at headquarters in Yokohama, I could not think of a better candidate to take on the day-to-day running of Pioneer DJ Americas,” said Kataoka.

Powell has served in numerous leadership roles at JBL International, Harman and Bos-

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ton Acoustics. He is a graduate of California State University Northridge.

“I am honored to be offered this opportunity,” said Powell. “Pioneer DJ is a solid company with amazing growth potential. We have a strong team and will continue the success we have enjoyed under Mr. Kataoka’s leadership.”

people’s lives. I have a deep appreciation for all different genres of music, and that appreciation is part of what attracted me to Music & Arts. This business is so much more than a retail store; as one of the largest music lesson providers, we offer tremendous value to our customers and students by giving them valuable skills they will use for the rest of their lives.”

Added Japinga: “Jeff is a strong, confident and collaborative leader. One of the things that excites me about Jeff is his experience leading complex retail operations, including managing companies through strong growth initiatives. While his track record includes strong financial performance, it was very clear to me that Jeff has a peoplefirst mindset and is passionate about customer service, both of which are critical for all leaders throughout the Guitar Center enterprise.”

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

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ADVERTORIAL • MAY 2019 • NAMM.ORG

Note From Ray Williams

New at Summer NAMM: Software.NAMM IMSTA (International Music Software Trade Association) founder and music industry veteran, Ray Williams sat down with NAMM to offer his wisdom about the music software sector. Software.NAMM makes its Summer NAMM debut this year in Nashville, July 18–20.

1. How important has software become to the music products industry?

3. And, how can music retailers benefit from visiting Software.NAMM?

Software is the lifeblood running through the veins of the music production industry. You cannot make a record or MP3 without software. Your music cannot be heard outside of your immediate surroundings unless you use software. This fact has become obvious to many MI retailers who are determined to serve the needs of their customers. More and more we see digital software sales as the fastest growing sector in MI and certainly one of the most profitable.

The best music retailers know that to keep a customer you must take care of their needs. Since we know that every musician needs music software, it is wise to make sure your store can cater to their software needs and retain your customers.

Some MI retailers are more in tune with digital software sales than most, and for them, they capture a larger than average share of this business. What a music retailer would find at Software.NAMM are the brands that are leading the charge along with some of the most forward-thinking up and comers.

It’s a chance to build a relationship early with the next big thing.

The next big thing is usually hiding in plain sight among the tables at Software.NAMM.

2. What should someone expect from Software.NAMM? Software.NAMM is an exhibit community of like-minded companies. It is a place where businesses can participate in one of the most important promotional vehicles in our industry— The NAMM Show. It is the must-go place for everyone in MI. You can announce yourself as an important part of the industry, state your case and show your wares. There will be other similar companies in the community striving for the same thing— to reach the important retailers and grow their businesses.

Everyone is at NAMM. For software companies, the needs are sometimes different from a company making guitars or drums.

Software.NAMM understands and caters to those needs.

4. What inspired you to found an organization like IMSTA? IMSTA was an attempt to form a counterweight to dongles and supply side action against pirates. I believed that it would always be difficult to maintain a technological solution to piracy.

On top of that, it was a huge cost. I believed that we should also work on the demand side and make people not want to consume pirated material. This was the galvanizing cause that cemented so many companies together under the IMSTA banner.

I took inspiration from the battle to get people to recycle or to

not drive drunk—all of which relied on long-term, consistent education. We thought of IMSTA and its “Buy The Software You Use” message as a 20-year project, which if we could just get this message everywhere, we could have an impact. Before this, the music software community did not have a conversation with its customers about this important issue. IMSTA was the start of this. We can see from our annual survey that in some areas we have made a difference, as using crackz (pirated software) is frowned upon. There is still a long way to go, but we have started.

5. Can you describe your journey, both as an entrepreneur and as an educator at York University?

I am my customer. I am a musician, songwriter and synthesist.

I still get a thrill when I see a new software tool that does something new and great. I love to use it to make my own music.

I feel no different from when I brought home a Korg Poly-800 decades ago. I believe this genuine excitement and love of our industry is something others can see and feel. I began as a fanboy of Steinberg Cubase to running Steinberg Canada, starting in 1991. This led me to meet a ton of people who are at the epicenter of the industry. I was asked by several universities, including York University, to help them set up MIDI labs back in the 90s. I ended up teaching at York beginning in 1999— which I still do today. My current courses are in music history.

As an entrepreneur, I have always just done what I thought was necessary to move the industry forward. I can say that it’s been relationships that have propelled me in these directions—people believe I can get things done, and they put me in positions of trust. A lot of the time I take these responsibilities on because I feel someone has to, and I ask why not? I think a lot of what we have done has come from belief and confidence that we can do things and do them well.

6. Do you have any advice for a young professional starting their career in the industry?

Do not try to be the best in your town or your country—strive to be the best in the world. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Don’t always follow the crowd, as many times crowds get things wrong.

“Buy The Software You Use.” IMSTA encourages legal use of software through education instead of legal action, urging users to do the right thing and respect their craft.

In January 2016, NAMM and IMSTA, the International Music Software Association, partnered to create Software.NAMM, heping software developers of all sizes participate in NAMM trade shows.

Software.NAMM offers a platform for quality demonstrations of software, generating excitement for products, building relationships and closing sales.

To learn more, visit imsta.org.

Ray Williams • Managing Director • IMSTA Read more at namm.org/software.

r e v o c s Di

ortunities

s • Opp a e Id • s t c u New Prod Learn More and Register at summernamm.org/attend

July 18–20, 2019 Music City Center • Nashville, Tennessee #SummerNAMM

PRODUCT

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In Elite Company

Yorkville Sound expanded the Elite family of powered speakers by introducing the ES21P, the most powerful subwoofer in the Elite family. The ES21P is a 21-inch active subwoofer that “dials up the watts” to produce an astonishing amount of low-end output, stated the company.

Adding to Elite’s existing line of 12-, 15- and 18-inch subwoofers, the ES21P is an accessible solution for demanding club and concert settings. The ES21P can be integrated into virtually any medium- to large-scale PA needing additional bottom-end support.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Contact company Contact: Yorkville Sound, yorkville.com

Pump It Up

The Power Engine Deuce Deluxe is a pumped-up version of Tech 21’s former Power Engine 60, which was introduced back in 2001. This new version consolidates a feature set that can be used for both guitar and bass. The 1x12 rear-ported cabinet is capable of delivering 200 watts of transparent power with onboard 3-band, active EQ controls to compensate for challenging venues. Other new features include low and high pass filters, defeatable tweeter, an extension speaker output, headphone output, auxiliary input and worldwide power supply. End users can use the Power Engine Deuce Deluxe with any direct recording device or preamp — analog or digital, tube or solid state — from any manufacturer. Users can take a Fly Rig/SansAmp or preamp gizmo du jour, with all their cusom sounds, out to a gig and simply plug into the Power Engine Deuce Deluxe. It will amplify all personal settings without giving any additional tone.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Contact company Contact: Tech 21, tech21nyc.com

A Little Bit Country

Fender Musical Instruments Corp. (FMIC) unveiled the ‘62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition amplifier, representing Fender’s first artist signature amplifier collaboration in the country music space. As part of the collaboration, Stapleton personally requested all artist royalties be donated to his charity, Outlaw State of Kind. Stapleton’s take on the iconic Princeton amp combines the old-time charm with upgraded technology. The hand-wired Fender ‘62 Princeton Amp Chris Stapleton Edition boasts the classic Fender ‘62 Princeton 6G2 amp circuit and comes enhanced with Stapleton’s favorite features and personally chosen artful touches: Fender Vintage “Blue” tone caps, Schumacher transformers, an upgraded Eminence 12-inch Special Design “CS” speaker, output tube-biased tremolo circuit and an engraved brass plate with Chris Stapleton’s signature.

MSRP: $1,999.99 Ship Date: Now Contact: Fender, fender.com

The Kyser® Low-Tension Quick-Change® Capo.

Optimal fit and less tuning for low-action guitars.

MADE IN THE USA Since 1980 www.kysermusical.com

STUDIO QUALITY SOUND ON LIVE STAGES

In the studio or on the stage, the award-winning Audix VX5 professional condenser microphone’s wide frequency range, excellent transient response, and smooth, accurate frequency response deliver a very clean, natural sound with exceptional clarity and detail. Durable, versatile, and affordable, the VX5 is adept at capturing both vocals and instruments.

“My impression is that its tonality sits midway between that of a good dynamic model and a studio capacitor mic…It sounded just the way I’d want a live mic to sound: full and balanced but very clear.”

— Paul White, Sound on Sound

AudixUSA.com | 800.966.8261

PRODUCT

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Instant Classic

For the first time in years, Thomastik-Infeld is introducing a new fretted set: Classic Guitar. Made with a carbon-nylon hybrid material designed exclusively by Thomastik-Infeld, these strings achieve both the power and brilliance of carbon strings as well as the full, warm sound of nylon, stated the company. The strings also offer immediate attack and quick response to every impulse from your fingers, added the manufacturer. Available in medium or hard tension.

MAP: $42.95 Ship Date: Contact company Contact: Connolly Music, connollymusic.com

Had to Have ‘High Hopes’ for a Living

To celebrate this memorable past year of music, Hal Leonard has released the “Chart Hits of 2018-2019” series. “Chart Hits of 20182019” features a broad array of songs that dominated the radio and which spans many genres, from contemporary Christian (Lauren Daigle), to pop rock (Imagine Dragons), to hip-hop (Post Malone, Juice WRLD) and more. “Chart Hits of 2018-2019” for easy piano and PVG features 18 singles, including: “Better Now,” “Breathin’,” “Broken,” “Eastside,” “Happier,” “High Hopes,” “Love Lies,” “Love Someone,” “Lucid Dreams,” “Natural,” “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart,” “Shallow,” “Sunflower,” “Thank U, Next,” “Trip,” “Without Me,” “You Say” and “Youngblood.” Editions of “Chart Hits of 2018-2019” for ukulele, easy guitar and big-note piano are also available.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Now Contact: Hal Leonard, halleonard.com

Connect 3

Stedman Corp. released the PureConnect connector cleaner kit line. The line includes the Gig Pack (GP-1), Studio Kit (SK-1) and Pro Kit (PK-2). PureConnect kits are designed to improve and maintain connection reliability and eliminate noisy and intermittent audio connections. They are intended for use in any home, studio or live sound application. All kits include custom Microfelt cleaning tips and pads with a supply of DeoxIT connector cleaner/conditioner fluid. Both the SK-1 and PK-2 PureConnect kits provide all the components needed to thoroughly clean XLR and 1/4-inch male and female audio connectors. The GP-1 kit also comes in a portable tin that will fit inside any guitar case.

MSRP: $26 to $116 Ship Date: Contact company Contact: Stedman Corp., stedmanusa.com

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MAY 2019

PRODUCT

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Cream of the Crop

Celestion introduced the G10 Creamback, a guitar speaker intended to deliver rich, classic Creamback tone in a 10-inch format.

With a ceramic magnet and 1.75-inch voice coil, the G10 Creamback offers 45 watts of power handling. The G10 Creamback is built using the same production methods and materials developed for the 12-inch Creambacks, and just like its bigger brothers, the G10 Creamback is hand-built in the United Kingdom. Punchy and dynamic, the tone is warm, expressive, detailed and well balanced, stated the company.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Contact company Contact: Celestion, celestion.com

Alfred Music introduced its newest member to the “Sound Innovations” family, “Sound Leadership: Leadership Training Curriculum for Music Students.” According to the company, it is a musthave for any music ensemble seeking to establish and grow its student leadership program. This method provides everything one needs to teach, select, train and evaluate student leaders.

It guides the reader to think through real problems to create real solutions through activities, like filling out personal and team assessments, goal-setting worksheets and more. The opportunities for discussion will allow students to learn and take ownership of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as allow the instructor to assess their leadership team.

MSRP: $12.99 Ship Date: Now Contact: Alfred Music, alfred.com

DXR Marks the Spot

Yamaha announced the DXRmkII series of powered loudspeakers — DXR15mkII, DXR12mkII, DXR10mkII and DXR8mkII — which offers enhanced performance and a reduction in weight from its predecessor, the DXR series. A joint effort with the professional loudspeaker engineering team at NEXO, the DXRmkII models reach a higher SPL than the previous series, thanks to a larger, 1.75-inch voice coil HF compression driver and precise amp tuning, stated the company. These loudspeakers are designed to deliver improved sound reproduction while retaining the basic utility and versatility of the original DXR series. The products offer durable, non-resonant ABS enclosures and a portable, lightweight construction, allowing for seamless adaptability in various environments and applications, from front-of-house sound and floor monitoring, to simple amplification and installed environments, noted the manufacturer.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Summer 2019 Contact: Yamaha, usa.yamaha.com

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It’s Hip to Be a Square Truss

ProX debuted its XT-SQ984BLK. The XT series F34 square truss utilizes a standard conical connector system, which easily mates with other brands of the truss of the same size and connector type. It’s a rugged and durable trussing solution perfect for live outdoor productions, nightclubs and permanent installations, stated the company. It’s available in a variety of lengths to suit an end user’s designs, and the powder-coated surface provides a stronger damage-resistant finish, helping durability against scratches, chipping, abrasions, corrosion, fading and other wear issues.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Contact company Contact: ProX, proxidirect.com

MAY 2019

PRODUCT

Triple Threat

All That Jazz

RS Berkeley introduced the Eddie Daniels Signature Series Ligature, designed in collaboration with the jazz icon. Available for Clarinet, Soprano, Alto and Tenor Saxophones in two versions — Carbon Fiber and Gold Series — it features an “air channel” design,

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created to offer unique reed-holding pressure points resulting in greater sense of balanced overtones and warmth in tone, stated the company.

MSRP: Contact company Ship Date: Contact company Contact: RS Berkeley, RSBerkeley.com

Teisco launched the Teisco Delay, Teisco Fuzz and Teisco Boost.

The trio features all-analog circuitry housed in custom enclosures designed from the ground up. The high-gloss designs come in premium zinc alloy housing for extra durability, with a textured base plate for stronger Velcro adhesion.

Delay offers up to a 600-millisecond delay time, a rich Modulation section and a Direct Out for the ultimate tone chasers who want to run wet/dry rigs. Teisco Boost is loaded with a field-effect transistor (FET) for softer, more organic clipping and can run at 24 volts via the voltage switch for extra headroom.

And Teisco Fuzz is a classic silicon fuzz circuit with a switchable upper octave that takes inspiration from a furry ‘70s predecessor.

MAP: Delay, $149; Fuzz and Boost, $129 Ship Date: Now Contact: BandLab, teisco.com

COMING in the June issue of the Music & Sound Retailer: RPMDA Review Summer NAMM Preview Music & Sound Award Dealer Nominees And much more!

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

21

IN A GIVING MOOD

(continued from cover)

By Brian Berk When it comes to giving, few industries can match MI. Manufacturers, retailers and trade organizations alike spend plenty of their time and money to ensure charities and neighborhoods, both near and far, receive a wide variety of important items,

such as musical instruments, that others may take for granted. Here, we take our annual look at many of the great things our manufacturers are doing to make the world a better place, with an in-depth look at what 10 companies have done. As a companion to this story, check out this month’s “Tips From the Teacher” to see some of the efforts one retailer, San Diego Music Studio, to better a far-off land.

D’Addario

The D’Addario Foundation and Guitar Center teamed up to raise more than $45,000 on International Women’s Day, which it donated to the Music Education for Girls Initiative. On that day in March, half of the proceeds from all D’Addario products sold at Guitar Center and on guitarcenter.com were donated to the D’Addario Foundation. This new funding will go toward a number of opportunities, including free instrument instruction, college scholarships and all-female programming. One of the first uses of these funds is a guitar scholarship at the Musician’s Institute that will be given to a deserving young woman. The scholarship will provide financial support for the education of a talented, newly enrolling female guitar student.

“The D’Addario Foundation is incredibly appreciative of the positive response and support for this initiative,” said Suzanne D’Addario Brouder, director of The D’Addario Foundation. “We are thrilled to continue to build on this valuable partnership with Guitar Center to collectively further efforts to support and encourage more young women in music. Together we can continue to make a meaningful difference.”

On April 28, the D’Addario Foundation’s Ascenté Student Orchestra traveled to Princeton University to participate in an all-day seminar with world-famous conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.

Ascenté, one of only 10 El Sistema programs that were chosen to participate in this opportunity, joined more than 300 children from cities across the United States for a day of music, culminating with a concert at the close of the event. The Ascenté program, conducted on Long Island, provides free instruments and instruction to high-need students and has been in operation for more than six years.

Lastly, the D’Addario Foundation College Scholarship program is officially underway. More than 25 pre-qualified student applicants participating in some of the best non-profit music instruction programs throughout the country applied. Recipients will be announced soon. The scholarships help provide critical support to students covering soft expenses such as food, transportation and books for their entire tenure at college. Over half the student recipients are the first generation in their family to attend college. The majority of students being awarded scholarships plan to continue to pursue music in college.

Electro-Harmonix

Mike Castellano, director of digital marketing and ecommerce at Electro-Harmonix (EHX), works as cubmaster of his local Cub Scout Pack, Harrison Pack 5. “I started the Pack four years ago to create a fun, enriching activity for my two sons and the kids in my community. We have over 50 Cub Scouts participating (boys and, as of this year, girls, too) and offer activities and opportunities to learn about leadership, friendship and fun. Some of the events we hold include overnight camping trips, local day hikes, a Veterans’ Day Parade, ice skating, indoor rock climbing and, of course, the Pinewood Derby. In fact, a scout from our pack won the 2017 Pinewood Derby World Championship in Times Square, New York City,” said Castellano.

EHX has also made the following product donations to a wide variety of charitable causes: u Habilitat, a long-term addiction treatment center located on the island of O’ahu. EHX donated pedals to be used as auction items in its annual benefit concert. u One Step Beyond, which provides programs and services to individuals who have intellectual disabilities. EHX donated pedals for their use. u Joseph Harp Correctional Facility, located in Oklahoma, has a band program which EHX supplied products for. u Providence House is a non-profit organization with a mission to transition women who are homeless and recently released from prison back into society. A $600 donation to its 2018 Annual Appeal was made. u Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, a non-profit organization with a mission “to build confidence and self-esteem through music creation and performance, empowering women, girls and gender-expansive folk through collaborative music creation, peer-to-peer mentoring, and advocacy for an equitable and inclusive society.” EHX gifted them with a selection of pedals. u Stunned by the devastation of Cyclone Idai, EHX donated $500 to UNICEF’s Emergency Relief for the Children of Mozambique and $500 to Catholic Relief Services for Cyclone Idai relief. u A $1,000 donation was made to the ACLU to assist in reuniting separated children with their parents or caregivers.

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MAY 2019

Los Cabos Drumsticks

Los Cabos was involved in a number of causes. These include: u Made a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society. Since 2010, Los Cabos Drumsticks has manufactured and sold pink drumsticks as part of its Think Pink fundraising campaign. A portion of the proceeds from all Think Pink drumstick sales are donated to the Canadian Cancer Society via its annual donation. With the help of its dedicated customers, Los Cabos Drumsticks has been able to increase its donation year after year and has helped raise thousands of dollars to help in the fight against cancer. “We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has supported our campaign over the past few years, and we look forward to continuing our ongoing efforts in support of cancer research,” said Larry Guay, Los Cabos Drumsticks’ president. u Sponsored the Community Living Hamilton Drum Corps, the world’s first and only all-inclusive drum corps. Community Living Hamilton is a registered charity which supports more than 1,400 people with developmental disabilities. It is the largest service provider in Hamilton for these individuals and their families, with more than 330 staff members and 100 volunteers. The Community Living Hamilton Drum Corps has been operating since 2003, has appeared in the Opening Ceremonies for the Special Olympics and last year attended the Drumline Battle Championship in Indianapolis. The Community Living Hamilton Drum Corps play exclusively with Los Cabos Drumsticks’ Parade model, which are specially painted blue for the team. u Donated 36 pairs of custom-printed drumsticks to the Rock for Donnie benefit concert. Donnie Robichaud was one of the civilian victims who lost his life during the deadly mass shooting in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada’s northside on August 10, 2018. Donnie was an active member in the musical community in Fredericton for many years and had worked closely with several close friends of Los Cabos Drumsticks. Los Cabos’ donation of custom-printed drumsticks will serve as a vehicle for fundraising and will be distributed to Donnie’s family and participating bands, to commemorate the benefit. The custom-printed drumsticks will feature a cartoon sketch of Donnie created

by Ryan Mclaughlin of White Lotus Tattoo and Piercing, and the words “ROCK FOR DONNIE” in a text style which pays homage to Awake by Sunday, a local rock band Donnie played with for more than five years. The Rock for Donnie benefit concert will take place Oct. 13 at Tribute Bar & Lounge in Fredericton, with 100 percent of donations going to a trust fund for Donnie’s three children.

Award Winning Brands World-Class Service We are dedicated to Music Retailers We are St. Louis Music T: 800-727-4512 F: 314-727-4710 E: sales@stlouismusic.com W: www.stlouismusic.com

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KORG USA

KORG USA Inc. partnered with the “Shine a Light” music series, an organization that provides care for individuals with special needs, at a recent charity event with rock band Taking Back Sunday. The band, which is currently embarking on its 20th anniversary world tour, performed an intimate set to help raise funds to build “Mr. B’s playground,” an inclusive space made for children with special needs. In total, the event raised $25,000 from attendee donations and a silent gear auction.

“After an intense bidding war between fans, we were able to raise an additional $3,600 for the cause thanks to the generous donations from Fender, Floating Forest Pedals and VOX Amplification, who donated an AC10C1 guitar amplifier. We are grateful to the many companies that showed their support, including KORG USA Inc., and of course to Taking Back Sunday, for playing this show in my brother Tommy’s memory,” said Martin Brull, event organizer.

Augustine Strings

Augustine Strings strives to ensure that anyone who wants to make music has the resources to do so. With more than 70 years of experience in the industry, Augustine works to foster community among artists, educators, enthusiasts, guitar societies and festivals throughout the world to furnish opportunities that enrich people’s lives.

In 2018, its philanthropic efforts included support of a world-class luthier’s initiative to donate handmade guitars to Puerto Rican guitarists in the wake of Hurricane Maria, support for upstart music programs in low-income communities such as Ferguson, Mo., and contributions to the Guitar Foundation of America.

Austin Classical Guitar is another major guitar organization with initiatives that have had a deeply positive effect on its community. Through a collaboration with ACG, Augustine Strings has begun direct sponsorship of William B. Travis High School. As a Title 1 school, Travis High’s student body is largely comprised of kids from low-income families.

Despite the obstacles that a Title 1 school faces, Travis High’s music program is thriving. Utilizing a curriculum developed by Austin Classical Guitar, Travis’ music director, Susan Rozanc, has turned her student guitar ensemble into a tight-knit and productive musical unit. With support from Augustine Strings, this school year the ensemble performed at both the National Association for Music Educators Conference in Dallas and the 2019 Texas Arts Advocacy Day Celebration in the Texas Capitol Building.

“It was a pretty big deal,” said Jose, an 11th grader. “I loved being with all my friends and seeing Dallas.”

Great gigs aside, the impact that the ensemble has had on its members is resounding. “It’s like having a second family,” said Amy, a 12th grader. “Music is a meditation for me. Anytime I’m under stress, it helps calm me down.”

Augustine’s support of the Travis Ensemble came in practical forms, from the strings on its guitars and the stools they sat on to play in the rotunda of the Texas Capitol, to the travel accommodations that allowed Rozanc to take dozens of high schoolers on journeys to show off their hard-earned musical talents. For kids with burgeoning musical aspirations, being championed by Austin Classical Guitar and Augustine Strings is a different type of support.

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Lee Oskar Harmonicas

Lee Oskar Harmonicas has actively supported many meaningful causes and charities since it was founded in 1983. Here are some recent examples. u Playing for Change: On an ongoing basis, Lee Oskar Harmonicas supports this global organization, dedicated to connecting people via music and providing music education through Playing for Change Foundation (PFCF) schools. Lee Oskar Harmonicas has donated harmonicas for PFCF school programs in Diamante, Argentina and other locations, such as Mali, Africa, helping schoolchildren around the world easily experience the joys of music and the ability to play many familiar and new genres of music using different harmonica models with altered tunings. In addition, in Diamante, Lee Oskar Harmonicas sponsors harmonica education for schoolchildren, conducted by Lee Oskar Harmonicas featured artist Martin Chemes. Lee also contributed his talents to the Playing for Change album, “Listen to the Music” and has performed at a major benefit concert presented by Playing for Change with the Doobie Brothers and other well-known artists. u Shine a Little Love Festival: Lee Oskar will perform and offer a special harmonica clinic at this live music experience, which was inspired by Lee Oskar Harmonicas featured artist Brian Collins’ song, “Shine a Little Love,” and designed to raise awareness and support for various non-profit organizations. u The Blues Foundation: Ongoing support for this great blues organization, including the annual sponsorship of the International Blues Challenge, featuring the Lee Oskar Harmonica Award. u Washington Blues Society: Longtime, ongoing support, including many performances in support of the Musicians Relief Fund. u United by Music: Lee Oskar supports this organization by performing benefit concerts and donating harmonicas to help with fundraising.

Music Nomad

MusicNomad introduced ONE FOR MUSIC in November 2018, in which it donates 1 percent of company sales to charities and programs that support music and musicians. Some of the funds have gone to support music charities like Little Kids Rock, Guitars in the Classroom and Musicians Without Borders. Also, it has donated money to its local middle- and highschool band programs, funding instrument repair, music books, band uniforms and music supplies. “We even gave an interest-free loan to a local music company in need that provides music lessons to more than 100 children,” the company stated.

More money is being deployed throughout 2019.

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

G7th

On Feb. 23, G7th and Guy Palumbo with 1001 Guitar Nights hosted a fundraiser concert for Hope for Justice in Nuremberg, Germany. Inspired by the leaflets found in G7th capos packaging, Palumbo organized the concert singlehandedly, including a full production crew to live stream the concert on Facebook. With performances from fingerstyle acoustic guitar artists Jacky Bastek, Alexandr Misko and Thomas Leeb, it was a night of live music for a good cause with all proceeds going to Hope for Justice, which exists to bring an end to human trafficking and modern slavery by preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives and reforming society. G7th also began selling some Special Edition “Hope for Justice” engraved Performance 3 capos, where half of every sale goes directly to the charity. Donations were made by Pro Arte Fine Acoustics GmbH (one of G7th’s distributors in Germany) and several notable fingerstyle artists, including Mike Dawes and Jon Gomm, to help raise money at the event.

Morley

Morley and Vai’s Restaurant are donating autographed Steve Vai signature Morley Wah Pedals to Naperville Responds for Veterans and the Little Friends Inc. The Steve Vai charity show is set for Aug. 4 in Naperville, Ill. Naperville Responds for Veterans assists veterans in need and their families by raising and donating building materials, professional labor, and coordinating the process of repairing, building and donating homes. Little Friends Inc. empowers clients with autism and other developmental disabilities to thrive in their communities.

Said longtime sales and marketing manager Bill Wenzloff: “We had a blast creating these unique pedals and are grateful that the money they raise will go to outstanding local charities. Thank you to Michael Vai, owner of Vai’s Restaurant, and to Steve Vai, for coordinating these projects.

And thank you to Naperville Responds For Veterans, and Little Friends Inc. for hosting these wonderful events. We were very proud and humbled to hear that the first Wah Pedal raised over $1,000 in November. We look forward to Steve’s charity show on Aug. 4 and his meet-and-greet event at Vai’s Restaurant Aug. 3.”

Each one-off pedal comes with a certificate of authenticity. In addition to these pedals, Hoshino USA Inc., makers of Ibanez guitars, have donated two JEM guitars to be auctioned off at Vai's upcoming performance in August. Morley will also be creating two additional one-off pedals with matching artwork to the JEM guitars for these auctions.

Yamaha

Yamaha is upholding its longstanding tradition of raising and donating hundreds of thousands of dollars and many hours every year in funds, musical instruments and volunteered time for charitable and humanitarian causes, from nurturing hope for traumatized veterans, to fueling the fight against cancer, to helping mold the future of our youngest generation.

The ongoing partnership between Yamaha and Guitars for Vets (G4V) is hitting a milestone this year: G4V will be celebrating the opening of its 100th chapter this summer, and Yamaha will be donating 100 guitars to mark the occasion. G4V has been providing free guitars, lessons and a forum to play for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since 2007, when co-founder Patrick Nettesheim discovered that playing guitar helped ease PTSD symptoms in returning vets. Yamaha has been part of this cause since 2012, providing new acoustic guitars to graduates of the G4V program.

“Through our dealer, Kraft Music in Franklin, Wis., Yamaha helps to supply more than 700 guitars a year to G4V to bring relief and comfort to veterans nationwide,” said David Jewell, partnerships and alliances manager at Yamaha.

“Opening our 100th chapter is especially gratifying considering that more than 20 of them have opened just in the last year. Our partnership with Yamaha has helped us reach more veterans, more quickly, than ever,” added Nettesheim.

The company will be donating time and shoe leather as well when Yamaha employees participate

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MAY 2019

again in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Costa Mesa, Calif., to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Each year, this event draws dozens of members of the Yamaha family, working together to raise thousands of dollars to aid the effort to eliminate breast cancer.

In its own backyard, Yamaha will be continuing its annual volunteer work for the Orange County Food Bank (OCFB), in which — on top of a generous donation — Yamaha employees come together to pack boxes of groceries for the less fortunate. Also, for the last 11 years, Yamaha Cares has worked with the Buena Park (Calif.) Police Department on Project “Give a Christmas.” This past year, the company “adopted” 75 Buena Park children through the project, who all received gifts from Yamaha employees.

“Philanthropic outreach is an integral part of our company’s mission,” said Jewell. “While our efforts are global, at the same time, we keep in mind the old principle that ‘charity begins at home.’ As such, we focus a good deal of our humanitarian activity right here in our own southern California neighborhood, where there is no shortage of worthy organizations that make our local community a better place for everyone.”

In addition, Yamaha will be teaming up with the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park by donating musical instruments to be auctioned off at the club’s annual gala. After donating an NU1 upright piano for auction last year, Yamaha now plans to offer a custom drum set, along with an entry-level Rydeen drum set.

Jewell emphasized the importance of Yamaha dealers in the success of these and other humanitarian efforts by Yamaha: “The level of our company’s participation in these causes simply would not be possible without support from our dealers. As they have made the Yamaha brand a part of their public face in the marketplace, so Yamaha trusts our dealers to represent us with their efforts in the philanthropic arena. We’re grateful for how they have justified that trust.”

S PEC I AL T O THE R ETAIL ER

MAKING MUSIC A LIFELONG ACTIVITY Part 2

By Danny Shatzkes Last month, we discussed the topic of health, safety and wellness as it relates to music. We addressed how vital it is to the growth and success of the industry, despite being largely ignored. We also mentioned that drawing attention to this subject on the sales floor and in lesson rooms can give retailers a competitive edge. This month, we’ll take a look at some examples of where retailers can put an emphasis on health, safety and wellness and add value for their customers.

The one area of personal health and safety in music that has most definitely not been ignored (and rightly so) is hearing protection.

The arrival of rock and roll music in the middle of the last century and its progression toward louder and louder volumes created a major health problem for many artists and musicians in the form of both hearing loss and the onset of tinnitus. A quick Google search will provide numerous case studies and reports of wellknown artists who suffer from exposure to loud volumes for extended periods of time. A few of the most well-known cases are Pete Townshend of The Who, Brian Johnson of AC/DC and Lars Ulrich of Metallica.

Luckily, there is far more awareness today with regard to exposure to loud music and adequate hearing protection. There is no shortage of earplugs on the market, and they come in many different forms and fashions. In addition, there are numerous manufacturers that make custom in-ear monitors that allow artists to monitor their mixes at lower volumes and also attenuate stage volume by virtue of the fact that they almost completely seal off the ear canal.

These are great, necessary products that can make a career in music far easier on the ears than it was before the heightened awareness.

But how can retailers capitalize on the importance of hearing protection in their stores?

Obviously, selling quality earplugs and in-ear monitors is a no-brainer. But there are more creative and inexpensive ways to let your customers know that you take their hearing seriously. One way is to purchase inexpensive 28

foam earplugs in bulk and leave them at the checkout counter or in a few locations around the store, allowing paying customers to have a pair or two for free with their purchase. But don’t just let them take them. Insist they take them. You can then use that conversation as a jumping-off point to educate your customers on how important hearing protection is and maybe create an opportunity to upsell them on some higher-end earplugs or some in-ear monitors. If you’re willing to spend a little bit more per pair, instead of just buying bulk earplugs, you can get them in a small case branded with your store name and logo. Now your swag will be playing a double role, serving as a marketing tool and a value-add for your customers with the potential to generate add-on sales with the right guidance from you and your sales staff. Either way, it’s an opportunity to show your customers that you have their personal well-being in mind.

Another important and overlooked health issue as related to music is back health. There are many causes for back pain among musicians and music professionals, but the one we’ll focus on right now is moving and lifting heavy equipment and instruments.

Heavy and bulky equipment are mainstays for gigging musicians and bands, and lifting and moving that equipment is par for the course. Speakers, subwoofers, amps and cabinets, racks and road cases, kick drums, and 88-key keyboards are just a few of the items that easily come to mind.

For musicians who are out playing regularly throughout the week, loading in and out and setting up and tearing down can take a substantial physical toll on the body. At the very least, knowing the proper way to lift heavy items can help alleviate some of that strain. So how can you, the retailer, help your customers in that respect? You don’t need to start stocking back-support belts.

Proper lifting technique is not rocket science. It’s just not usually something that most musicians are thinking about, especially in the excitement before and after a show. For example, many people tend to bend over and lift up and back, putting all of the effort on the lower back.

This is not the safest and most effective way to lift. Along with some other steps to take into account, the basic idea is to squat down, keeping the load as close to the body as possible and lift while moving to a standing position, thereby utilizing more muscle groups.

Now this is not necessarily the kind of conversation you’re going to engage in with your customers on a busy sales floor after they’ve purchased a PA system or a new drum set. But you can offer this information to them in other ways.

The information mentioned above can be found via numerous credible online medical and health resources, along with picture diagrams of the correct way to lift. Try this: Make up a branded flyer with this information on it (be sure to credit your source). At checkout, make sure that any customer who purchases a large or heavy item is handed one of these flyers or it is put into the bag, along with their receipt. If you’re fulfilling an online order, be sure to put it in the box before it gets closed up. Alternatively, if you email customers asking for feedback following their purchases, you can include this information in that email. All of these serve as a reminder that you care about your customers and you want to make sure that they not only get the best use out of the products they purchased, but that they are also staying safe and healthy in the process.

This is the kind of thing that people remember and take note of. It makes them more likely to continue to patronize your business in the future because you showed them something very important: You care.

On a grander scale, it also serves the industry as a whole by keeping customers healthier and hopefully able to continue making music for longer.

Next time, we’ll take a look at some other ways that giving some attention to health, safety and wellness can create opportunities to make an impact on your existing customers, as well as generate new customers.

Danny Shatzkes is the CEO of Gig Gear, a manufacturer of accessory products designed to make the jobs of music and production professionals easier, safer and more efficient. He is also the president of Harmony Studios Inc., a music and audio production company offering studio, live, and installation and integration services. He can be reached at danny@gig-gear.com.

MAY 2019

I N T H E T RENCHE S

RETURNS HAPPEN

There are a lot of ways to turn the sow’s ear of a refund into the repeat-customer silk purse, and each transaction will differ in one way or another.

But they all share one common denominator: The customer wants to leave happy, and you are the one who benefits the most if they do.

By Allan McBroom In a perfect world, retailers would never have products returned, all online feedback would be glowingly positive, and we’d be awakened each day by blue skies, sunshine and singing unicorns. Maybe scratch that unicorn bit, but the rest of it is pretty accurate. As we all know, though, we don’t live in a perfect world. We wake up some days to gray skies and stormy weather, and we have to deal with returns.

Returns have always been a part of retail.

Brick-and-mortar stores have tried to reduce returns in the past by placing restrictions on returns, such as “No returns after three days,” or “Returns subject to a restock fee,” or “No cash refunds, store credit only.” Mail order purchases (for the younger crowd, these were long-distance sales made prior to the internet) were expensive to return, since the buyer paid the return shipping. A month after the return, a corporate check for the purchase price, less the restock fee, would arrive in the mail. It was a cumbersome and fear-filled process for many shoppers.

Land’s End got my attention years ago when it offered easy returns with no hassle.

It also had a lifetime warranty on everything it sold. Sure, its stuff cost a little more, but it was excellent stuff, and if it didn’t fit or we just didn’t like it, no big deal. Land’s End would exchange or refund it — whatever we wanted.

About three years ago, my wife wanted to replace a Land’s End canvas briefcase she had dragged all over the world for about 20 years. The handles had finally given out, so she called to ask about having it repaired, and the lady on the other end said she’d send her a refund, because they no longer made that item. No need to return it, her word was good MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

enough. Can you say “wow”?

Amazon has raised a whole new generation of customers who have been trained by the online behemoth to expect free, no-questions-asked returns, no matter the item’s condition, for up to a month after delivery. The Amazon return policy is forced upon its sellers, further cementing this as the new way to handle returns.

MI retailers are now faced with deciding how to handle returns. We’re getting instruments and accessories returned, often without explanation, and sometimes without notice. The old days of “no returns after three days” are gone, so what should we do now when we get returns?

What should we do when we get unreasonable or unexpected returns? Assuming the item has come back to us in the same condition it was in when it left, can we refuse a return without raising the specter of online reprisal? Probably not.

Having a no-questions-asked return policy can be expensive, and it may stick in the craw of some retailers, especially old-school retailers (like me). So, what do we do? What, oh what should we do?

Since the plain fact of the matter is that returns will happen (old adage: “returns happen”), we can either grouse about returns and let them get under our skin, or we can change our view of returns and see accepting them graciously as a marketing win. Remember the Land’s End briefcase, covered by warranty after 20 years of regular use? That one transaction reflected the whole Land’s End attitude toward customers, and partially as a result of that, I’m wearing Land’s End jeans right now. My bride was seeking a repair, and she got a voluntary refund when Land’s End couldn’t come through on the repair. That refund guaranteed we would see that company as righteous folks who are on our side.

When a customer needs to make a return, online or in person, emulating Land’s End is a great way to handle that request. Smile, be friendly, be glad you can accommodate the customer, thank them (no matter how you feel inside, thank them), and ask them to try you again.

If you get a good vibe that the customer is happy with the way you handled the return, maybe hand them a small slip with your Facebook page or Twitter account name and ask if they would give you a little online love. Most customers will sense that they are important to you. You’ve just given them money back, or swapped out a set of strings, and you are opening yourself up to their public opinion.

Of course, you want to do the same with your customer at the time of the sale. If they are really happy, ask for some online love, and the good reviews will flow. The most important time to make that customer feel special is when something hasn’t gone right, and they are making the return. Be glad, be their good friend and shake their hand. Thank them, and if you get the vibe they are feeling the love, ask them if they would leave you a kind word online.

There are a lot of ways to turn the sow’s ear of a refund into the repeat-customer silk purse, and each transaction will differ in one way or another. But they all share one common denominator: The customer wants to leave happy, and you are the one who benefits the most if they do.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t have a four-page policy on how to handle returns. If you can’t explain your return policy in 10 seconds, you need a new policy. “Make ‘em happy and ask them to come back” is not a bad policy to start with.

It may cost more at the moment of the refund to be so welcoming and willing about returns, but it may well end up being the least expensive marketing you’ll ever do.

Happy trails.

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M S R A NNIV E R S ARY

AMI MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CELEBRATES 35 YEARS

By Brian Berk

Although a more recent entry to the U.S. market, AMI Musical Instruments LLC is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, carrying a rich history. Since 1984, the company, founded by German luthier Günther Lutz, has offered quality fretted instruments worldwide.

AMI began as a distributor for several brands of acoustic guitars and mandolins, and over the years has grown to be one of the largest distributors of fretted instruments in Europe. In 2011, the Sigma brand name became available and AMI was able to purchase that trademark and began offering Sigma guitars in Europe. Since that time, AMI has expanded the Sigma guitar offering to more than 45 countries worldwide, and they continue to add distributors all over the world. That includes the United States. In the fall of 2017,

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Lutz decided it was time to bring his guitars to the U.S. market, and due to trademark issues that prevented him from using the Sigma name, he decided to offer them under the company name “AMI” and distribute them through a newly formed U.S. company named AMI Musical Instruments LLC, located in Westlake Village, Calif. With a strong history in the fretted instrument business rich in tradition, Lutz was confident that these quality instruments would someday become a household name in the United States.

Since its official U.S. launch in July 2018, the company’s network of authorized dealers continues to grow, and it is looking to add quality retail stores, such as those run by readers of the Music & Sound Retailer. “We started to offer AMI guitars in 2018 … because we sell our Sigma guitars worldwide to about 45 countries very successfully, and we often had U.S. musicians contacting us and asking where they can buy our instruments. Therefore, we thought it

Günther Lutz

was time to bring our guitars to the U.S. market,” said Lutz.

Behind the Brand

Although officially started in 1984, AMI’s history dates back to the late 1970s, when Lutz studied American Culture and History at Munich University in Germany.

But, as a guitar player for many years, he decided in 1979, after three years of studying, to do something different: to build and repair acoustic guitars, and to open a retail store for musical instruments with his friend Rüdiger Helbig. In 1982, Lutz booked a flight to New York City and visited Nazareth, Pa.-based C.F. Martin Co. with one of his handmade guitars. C.F. Martin agreed to

sell guitars to his retail store, since at that time, C.F. Martin did not have any distributor in Germany.

C.F. Martin was so impressed by the quality of Lutz’ guitar they asked him to do warranty repair for them in Europe, which he did for several years.

Regarding why Lutz specifically decided to visit C.F. Martin in the early 1980s as opposed to another manufacturer, Lutz told the Music & Sound Retailer: “Our retail store in Munich focused on acoustic instruments, and especially on bluegrass instruments — acoustic guitars, banjos and mandolins — since my business partner, Rüdiger Helbig, is one of the most famous banjo players in Europe.

Therefore, many bluegrass musicians visited our store and, of course, bluegrass guitar players want to buy a Martin guitar first.

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But at this time, in the beginning of the ‘80s, Martin guitars were not available in Germany. The U.S. dollar was very, very expensive (compared to German currency), and C.F. Martin did not have a distributor in our country. So, we thought when we visited Martin, I would show them one of my handmade guitars, and they would see we are serious and that we know acoustic guitars. Therefore, we were hoping they would agree to ship us some guitars. They agreed, and we started to order about 10 guitars several times in a year.”

In 1984, Lutz established the wholesale company AMI, which stands for “Acoustic Musical Instruments.” The business partner in the beginning was Saga USA/Saga Japan, and AMI sold Blueridge guitars, Kentucky mandolins and Goldstar banjos on the German market. One year later, C.F. Martin offered the distribution of Sigma guitars and Stinger Amps and electric guitars, and since AMI did a good job, it also offered to distribute Martin guitars and strings in Germany. AMI has served as C.F. Martin’s’ business partner in Germany ever since.

Having made a few resonator guitars, and also being the distributor of DOBRO for a while, Lutz decided in 1992 to make metalbody resonator guitars under the brand CONTINENTAL. All metal parts were made in the Czech Republic, and the necks came from Japan. Since business was outstanding the first few years, Lutz spent most of his weekends at the company assembling resonator guitars. In 1992, AMI stated it became the first company worldwide that offered a Tricone metal-body resonator guitar.

In 1993, Lutz established another company: AXL Europe.

He became a product manager for AXL Co., China, traveling to China several times a year and teaching guitar factories how to improve the quality of acoustic guitars. That same year, he also showed Chinese guitar makers how to make metal-body resonator guitars, and the first of these resonator guitars were displayed at The NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif., in 1994 under the brand Johnson.

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

The following years, AMI grew significantly, as it started to sell all kinds of Chinese-made products, including guitars, amps, violins, cellos, wind instruments and pianos. Since business changed at the dawn of the new millennium, Lutz decided to give up the business with Chinese products step by

step, gave up the huge warehouse the company had in northern Germany and focused again just on acoustic instruments, primarily Martin guitar sales.

In 2011, C.F. Martin agreed to sell the Sigma brand to AMI Germany. Lutz had been asking to buy this brand for a long time, and said

he would like to re-establish that business that C.F. Martin gave up a few years ago. AMI registered the Sigma brand in countries where it has bought the rights from C.F. Martin, and also registered the brand in many other countries worldwide where the brand was never registered before.

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FI V E M INUTE S W ITH

ANDY ROSSI

Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Korg USA

By Brian Berk Considering he has spent a lifetime in the music industry, Korg USA senior vice president of sales and marketing, Andy Rossi, has plenty of great information to share. We got the opportunity to pick his brain during in an in-person interview at the company’s Melville, N.Y., headquarters. So, let’s get to the interview, starting with a rundown of his storied career.

The Music & Sound Retailer: Take us through your background and career in the MI industr y. Of course, many know you were at Fender. Tell us about that experience, as well as why you wanted to join Korg USA. Andy Rossi: It’s a common story. I’ve spent a lifetime in the music industry. I come from a very musical family, played in bands in the New York area, worked retail, attended music schools and gained a lot of great experience doing all that. I was one of the smart guys in the band, helping to handle the money and logistics, strategy and such. But that means one of two things: You are smart enough to take the band somewhere, or you are smart enough to know when it’s time to get out. For me, I knew that life was not for me, and I wanted more stability, to have a family and so on. Early on, I joined Steinberger Guitars and started to learn about the MI business. On a quick side note, now that Korg USA purchased Spector, Ned Steinberger was here [at our headquarters] just a couple of weeks ago. He and I reconnected. He designed one of the earliest Spector basses, so the circle came all the way around.

After a few years at Steinberger, I joined Korg USA when it was splitting the sales team to handle Marshall and Korg. At the time, they were hiring reps just for Marshall. I was a rock and roll guitar player with great sales chops and a good feel for what makes this industry tick.

So I was offered the position with Korg selling Marshall. I remember thinking, Oh my god, this is heaven. And it was heaven. It was a great job. During those years, big stacks were still very popular. I did that for a few years, and it was really fun. I got to work with all the iconic New York retailers in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and really learned a lot. From there, I went on to a be a Fender sales rep, did that for a few years and became the east coast regional sales manager for Fender. I spent 20 years at Fender, working all the way up to senior vice president of global sales. During my time at Fender, I started to travel around the world, getting a global education of what the music industry was really like. I got my “master’s degree” in the global music industry.

I give a lot of thanks to Fender for that.

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As things were changing at Fender, my time came to an end there. I left Fender and was living in Phoenix. I started to wonder, What’s next?

I didn’t want to just get any job. I wanted to see if I could apply what I learned in business, not just selling guitars, but to be part of a team that was trying to grow and go to a company that had good growth potential. So, I contacted Joe Castronovo, the president and CEO of Korg USA. I told him I was interested in joining a good team at a smaller company than where I was at. I didn’t want a big corporation. Joe and I talked, and I came back to New York as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Korg USA. The company was reconfiguring itself, and Joe was rebuilding the company and I wanted to be part of that.

In the five years I’ve been here, we’ve really reconfigured the brands, reconfigured the organization and reconfigured a lot of our programs.

The company is on a straight path for growth now, and we have more to do. The most recent change was Korg USA purchasing Spector, as I mentioned. We were the distributor of Spector and knew there was more potential that could be met if we owned it. We have a diverse environment here. We are not just a distributor. Of course, we also own Korg and Vox. From minute to minute, we can be talking about Spector sales in the Europe and then Blackstar or Korg sales in the U.S. It’s a lot of fun. Never a dull moment. Keeps you on your toes for sure.

The Retailer: You mentioned owning Spector instead of distributing it. In general, what’s the difference in owning a brand

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versus distributing it? What benefit does it provide for you?

Rossi: That’s a great question, and there is a great answer for it.

When you are the distributor, you are partnering with somebody — an owner of a brand. If it’s a good brand and company, they have a global marketing plan with global sales goals. They are determining the direction of that brand. That brand owner is asking a distributor like Korg USA to partner in the USA to further their agenda and asks us to add in what we can as the local in-market experts. So, Korg is the local expert in the United States for the brands we distribute and we are acting as a partner for.

When you own a brand, you are making all the decisions. So, the [Melville, N.Y.] office is the U.S. headquarters so to speak, for the brands we distribute, but it is also the worldwide headquarters for Spector. So, when it comes to Spector, all decisions, ranging from strategy, manufacturing, models, pricing, programs and marketing are all made in this office among this group. So when we own the brand, we own all the decisions as opposed to when we are partnering with a company like our friends at Blackstar, we are listening to their plan and contributing to it. Both scenarios, partner or owner are a lot of fun, and the skills needed to operate on both sides of that coin are very diverse.

You need it all to be successful here. No room for limited thinking here!

The Retailer: Can you tell us about some of the brands you own and distribute?

Rossi: Korg, Vox and now Spector are the brands we own. All three are long-standing brands that date back to the start of both rock and roll and this industry. Korg goes back decades with a history of innovation, as do Vox and Spector. On the distribution side, we have Blackstar, which about a decade ago really burst onto the scene and quickly took its place as one of the main amp brands out there. Cole Clark, a new brand for us, is an Australian-based maker of unique acoustic guitars.

Then there’s Tanglewood guitars, Right On! Straps, a Spanish-based maker of leather straps, Stay stands, a really cool keyboard stand that comes out of South America. Waldorf, which is a synth brand. We just took on Darkglass at the last NAMM Show. We are really excited about that brand. Sakae and Crush drums, as well as Sequenz accessories, are part of the lineup.

We try to take on brands where we feel there is potential. We don’t want to take on every brand. We do get calls about certain brands that we don’t feel fit our profile, and we won’t just grab those to grab them.

Once we see a brand that has potential or already is really strong and we can take it to the next level, we are interested. That’s what Darkglass was for us, for example. We felt the brand is very unique, has a plan, a great team, consumers love it, we can contribute to its success etc. And they wanted to make their next move in order to get more penetration in the market. We met them in Prague of all places, discussed the future and now here we are.

WE TAKE PRIDE IN OUR DIVERSE LINE OF UKULELE. THE WOODS WE CHOOSE ARE NOT ONLY BEAUTIFUL, BUT THEY HELP TO CREATE THE PERFECT TONE. FROM PACIFIC WALNUT TO ZIRICOTE, EVERY ASPECT IS METICULOUSLY DESIGNED TO LOOK, FEEL AND SOUND AMAZING. KALABRAND.COM

METALLIC WHITE ARCHTOP TENOR KA-JTE/MTW

The Retailer: You have brands in so many different areas, including guitars, amps, percussion, keyboards, etc. How do you juggle all those different kinds of brands?

Rossi: Another great question. We are asked that a lot. It’s all about the people here and the way we are configured. We are good at understanding what a brand’s needs are. Some brands have great market awareness, but what they need is a great sales mechanism. For those brands, we are doing a good job providing a strong sales team. Some brands need more marketing and branding. So, our marketing department looks at that. We also have high-level brand managers that are segmented. For example, we have a tech brand manager, who is in charge of brands like Korg and Waldorf. And we have a guitar and amp group focusing on the fretted MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

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and amp segments. And we are very careful to give each brand the think time it needs.

That’s another reason we don’t just grab every brand. At some point you really can’t give each brand what it needs if you have too many.

We constantly meet about what the needs are for each brand in each market. We don’t have a “peanut butter” approach where we create a one strategy fits all and spread it across all the brands. All the brands are approached with an eye toward what makes them unique and what they need. You need a good group of people with diverse talents and expertise, and we have that here for sure.

A really great group.

The Retailer: To add to the last question, you’ve taken on a lot of global brands. It’s hard to know international markets well. How do you solve that problem?

Rossi: That comes up most when it relates to Spector. Everyone here does have at least some level of global awareness and expertise, and some of us here, like myself, spent many, many years working in the global industry and have the actual experience.

We are also out in those markets often. And, because we are a distributor as well, we know what it’s like to have a brand owner come to us and say, “Here’s what I need in this market. How can you help me?” We are sensitive to that. We are used to being on that side of

Made in Germany

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the coin. Again, that’s along with several people here who have global experience. When it comes to Spector, we travel to those markets, and we talk to those distributors about that partnership I described earlier. It requires a lot of listening and being insightful and thoughtful about markets outside your home market.

We realize, for example, that a distributor is the local expert in their market, and we make sure to talk to them about it. It’s about good-old communication and having a lot of respect for people who are in the market and understand it, all while we support them and discuss our global plans and strategies.

The Retailer: We revealed in last month’s issue that guitar sales were excellent in 2018.

But what are your overall thoughts about MI today? Are you optimistic?

Rossi: We are definitely optimistic. We have seen in the data and our sales that the entire music industry bounced back from its low point about 10 years ago. The data has shown that, every year since then, the market has come back. But the interesting thing is, as it has come back, it has changed. Various segments like home keyboards, acoustic guitars and amplifiers have all seen changes in growth up or

5 year warranty

www.k-m.de

down, average price points, etc.

Then there was a whole drama [in 2017] debating the “guitar is dead” concept, something I never believed. By the way, all that talk about the guitar being dead or the true opportunity to have more females become more involved in guitar playing is all good stuff to wonder and support for positive growth, but what’s also interesting is you don’t see that subject matter really being as big an issue in the keyboard world. I’m not aware of any discussion going on that playing keyboards or piano is dead, or there’s not enough women playing piano etc. It was a conversation not so much about the entire industry. It was more about guitars. Some of it could be going on in other areas, but regarding many of the segments we work with, you don’t see those headlines in quite that same way.

We all want more participators in music making for sure. But there are many areas of the industry where it is thriving without the drama that one particular article started on the guitar side. In any case, that seems to have settled down and was ill conceived anyway.

One of the biggest changes is the entrance of Reverb, and I think they do a great job. And this introduces a whole new level of competition — in some cases against your own products — that have been in the market for many decades. But it also introduces a whole new opportunity to reach more buyers in what can be a healthy manner. Overall, I think it’s a good thing. It raises awareness. More people having access to products helps everyone. All of these factors play into what we feel is a healthier market today.

Meeting your goals is not as easy as it was 20 years ago, when I was running around selling stuff as a rep. It does take you working harder and smarter these days. The way people consume and listen to music has changed.

Technology has changed and the way they get information has changed. So, we are optimistic, we see there have been opportunities for growth, but we are very aware, like all good people in the industry are. A lot of change has occurred, and you have to learn to ride with that change. You can’t fight the market. Consumers always rule. If they decide they MAY 2019

will buy music on their phones or will use technology to have more information that enables them to be smarter shoppers, you can’t change that. Consumers have a lot of power, which keeps manufacturers on their toes. I think that’s a good thing.

The Retailer: It also keeps the MI retailers on their toes.

Rossi: No doubt about it.

Manufacturers are working hard to reach their goals and make great products. But retailers as well have had to adapt. Those who are adapting and innovating are doing great. You can see dealers throughout the country who are more specialized are thriving.

Retailers who offer great service, great staff and a nice showing of product will attract knowledgeable customers who are going to expect knowledgeable retailers — and when that match happens, everything goes well. When there is a mismatch there, it becomes a little more difficult.

company in Japan. There are very talented engineers there who are always racking their brains to create compelling products. Sometimes, it’s an epiphany and sometimes, it’s a lot of hard work. Like many companies, we have many new products and many that have lasted the test of time. And over time, innovation on purpose becomes more difficult as you check things off the list. Midi will never be invented again. So, what’s the next platform? It will happen

though. Just when you think there will never be another Beatles or Led Zeppelin, a new great band shows up. There may be no guitar hero today, but tomorrow, one will pop up. Perhaps in a different way then when I was a kid. But for sure, newness happens.

For new products, it takes engineers, designers, vision, feel and sometimes just guts. But finding people to be in the music industry is another challenge. Finding good sales reps, engineers, innovators

and marketers and so on is difficult. I wish it wasn’t as difficult. I think the young kids who are going to music business type schools think of music business as only the record industry. They don’t think so much about the music instrument side. We need good people to get into retail. We need good sales reps. We need people who go to school for electrical engineering degrees but end up designing synthesizers and amplifiers. (continued on page 52)

The Retailer: On the flip side, what is something about the MI industr y that either could be better or keeps you up at night?

Rossi: I think there is so much information out there that is available to everyone that really understanding what information is real or unreal, helpful or harmful, necessary or unnecessary [can be a challenge]. These days, being aware of fast-changing markets is something you really have to stay sharp on. You can’t say, “Well, 40 years ago, this is how we did it.” Sometimes, old school is good school. There are certain things that were a certain way 50 years ago, are that way now, and will be that way 50 years from now, and that’s cool. But then, there’s rapid change. Keeping up, or ahead, of that change is always a concern. You have to be fresh.

If you are lackadaisical, it will go right by you. That’s something you have to watch for.

The Retailer: How do you keep ahead when it comes to product launches and making them even better?

Rossi: It is hard. Launching multiple types of products takes a good deal of forethought and coordination in many ways. Korg is a very engineering-based MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

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M I SPY

Looking for King-Sized Service in North Carolina’s ‘Queen City’ The gleaming southern city of Charlotte, N.C., is associated more with finance than with music. Even the “shag” style of rhythm-and-blues and dancing owes its origins to the beach culture of the Carolina coast and not to the region’s biggest metro area.

Prosperity has swelled the area’s population to some 2.5 million people.

Financial heavyweights continue the strong growth that began here in the 1980s, making the Charlotte area a hot market for both jobs and housing. Bank of America, LendingTree and Wyndham Capital are some of the household names that call North Carolina’s “Queen City” home.

Charlotte boasts a gleaming business district called “Uptown” and a thriving sports, theater and music scene. For more daring music aficionados, several area venues have become destinations in their own right. Earning serious cred among southerners whose tastes veer to the edgy is the Milestone Club, which bills itself as a “bare bones” staple of the rock/punk/ underground rock scene. A tad more mainstream is Charlotte’s Fillmore Club, located just north of Uptown. It is modeled after the venerable San Francisco ballroom of the same name.

But that’s enough from my notes on the agency’s Queen City intelligence briefing. Your trusty MI Spy’s assignment this month was to secure a beginner-level flute. The flute makes a good choice for a mystery shopper because middle-school, high-school and college marching bands are as ubiquitous as football in the south. And for beginners, the flute is a perennial favorite. Flutes also find their way into the music programs of well-endowed — and well-attended — orchestras and megachurches.

In his search, MI Spy learned that Charlotte has one rather unusual retail establishment: an outlet store devoted entirely to the sale of flutes. By chance, this store, as well as the other three retailers covered here, were all in neighborhoods well south of Uptown.

This prompts a cautionary note. While casual shopping in Charlotte can be confined to Uptown or to those neighborhoods served by the X-shaped Lynx light-rail system, you’ll need a car to traverse this sprawling metro. As with so many American cities, its size dwarfs the scope of its public transportation system.

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The family-owned Sam Ash music chain was MI Spy’s first stop on this foray into the Charlotte ‘burbs, in part because of its proximity to uptown. It is roughly halfway between Interstate 277, the freeway that rings Charlotte’s inner business district and oldest neighborhoods, and I-285, the outer freeway.

The store is in a well-traveled shopping district right off the Bill Lee Freeway (I-77). That and its mammoth selection makes it a must for parents shopping for any type of musical gear.

Helping to navigate that big selection was a store manager who sadly was clearly suffering from a cold. Sniffles aside, his outline of the selection and the pros and cons of each model was both extensive and useful.

“We sold a lot of flutes when school started but have slowed down,” he noted. He also explained that parents can score the best deals on rentals in late August and early September. Leases are also only available at the start of the school year.

The store’s Jean Baptiste private-label line provides an economical alternative for virtually any beginner instrument, including flutes. At the time MI Spy visited, the store was offering a nice discount of 33 percent off list price on this line.

Among these, the JBFL284 provides the beginner with an excellent balance of durability and ease of use. It offers a silver-plated body and drop-forged silver-plated keys. List prices typically begin in the $500 range, but the store usually offers a hefty discount.

Sam Ash 5533 Westpark Drive Charlotte, NC 704.522.9253

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Next up, in order of price, are models by Selmer and Gemeinhardt, with store discounts of 21 percent and 51 percent off list prices, thus making them sell for $379 and $479, respectively. And among this store’s best sellers is the Yamaha YFL-222, which at $549 is 43 percent off list price.

“All of these should last through the middle-school years and possibly into high school as well,” the manager said. “By that point they might really, really like playing the flute and be looking to purchase a higherend instrument.”

At that point, he added, students would be able to select more ease-of-use features as well as ones giving them more control over sound quality.

A short drive from Sam Ash is a Charlotte institution, 69-year-old Howren Music and Sound. It is located in a large shopping center, close to a Harris Teeter, Charlotte’s popular supermarket chain. It’s also just west of the city’s wealthy Myers Park neighborhood.

Situated right off busy Park Road, Howren is relatively easy to find and has a distinctly local flavor.

Much of the signage in the window is hand-drawn and hand-lettered, and there are student artworks as well.

Inside you’ll find a wide range of instruments, with a heavy accent on student band instruments.

For this set of visits, MI Spy embroidered his usual spiel. To the Howren’s rep, he pretended to be shopping for a sibling moving from another state, with a middle schooler in tow.

The salesman who greeted MI Spy assured him that the store’s longstanding reputation has made it a favorite among middle and high school band directors.

“We are the last family-owned musical instrument store in Mecklenburg County,” he said. “We have an excellent reputation because of the service we provide to our customers.”

The salesperson quickly steered MI Spy to the store’s rent-to-own plan, in which all rental payments are applied to the eventual purchase of an instrument.

Payments begin at $28 per month.

“The brands we carry for flutes are Armstrong, Eastman and Jupiter,” he said. Of these, Armstrong is produced domestically and is the store’s most popular flute for rent or sale. For purchase, the Armstrong 102 retails for $1,014.

The Eastman and Jupiter models tend to be lower in price, he noted. An Eastman EFL-210CS student model is listed at $910 on the store’s website, for example.

“Usually, we will have used Eastman models in the $550 range, but we don’t have any at the moment,” he said.

Serious flautists benefit from two other features of this establishment. The Charlotte store has a resident woodwinds instructor, in case a student requires private lessons. In addition, Howren’s has a second store in Gastonia, a town about 10 miles west of Charlotte’s airport in the western suburbs.

Howren Music and Sound 4209 Park Road Charlotte, NC 704.525.5073

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

Lengthy Providence Road winds pleasantly through the southern reaches of suburban Charlotte, past several public and private high schools, large churches, several equally large synagogues and an assortment of upscale shopping centers. Everything is designed to complement the area’s forests and hills, and the shopping centers are abundantly landscaped and attractive.

That setting made finding the south suburban Music and Arts outlet a bit difficult. It is set in a large open-air complex called The Shoppes at Providence, where the roads run at odd angles to one another. What MI Spy thought was the front of a row of shops was suddenly its back, causing him to make a lot of circular turns and U-turns.

Once MI Spy got to the destination, he found a somewhat small but busy store with numerous customers, in spite of arriving a mere 20 minutes prior to closing, an excellent sign for business. The enthusiastic person who greeted MI Spy was, warm and helpful.

“When parents come looking for a beginner flute, they typically choose a lease over a purchase,” said the youthful salesperson. “With younger kids that is especially important because they often change their minds.

Additionally, a purchase doesn’t give you the option of upgrading as easily as you would with a rental.”

Leasing an entry-level flute costs $38 a month and provides the parent with a choice among instruments made by Yamaha, Jupiter, Armstrong and Gemeinhardt.

This chain’s rental programs are ongoing and linked with the musical needs of area schools, something that makes this an attractive option. “The price also includes repairs if the instrument is damaged,” he said.

The downside to this is that buying an instrument is apt to be pricier than at other music stores. Moreover, Music and Arts’ lowest-priced instruments are apt to be used ones. Here, the Yamaha YFW-222 goes for $615 while the Jupiter CF-500 will run $548. If you lease a flute and act early enough in the term, you might get some of the cost applied to the purchase price.

Protection plans add another $69 or $129 to that, should you wish to have a one-year or two-year plan, respectively.

Music and Arts 8046 Providence Road, Suite C Charlotte, NC 704.341.0000

For serious flautists and beginners alike, JL Smith & Co. is a must-see, must-shop destination.

It’s less of a store than a company: It occupies a suite in a business park a few miles south of Uptown, close to I-77. JL Smith operates one other outlet like it, in Detroit.

The company began in 1981 as a band-instrument repair business and soon thereafter began selling brass and woodwind instruments. It opened the flute store in Charlotte in 1995.

Because it is in a business park rather than a retail area, the store is a bit difficult to find. The business (continued on page 52)

JL Smith & Co. 901 Blairhill Road, #400 Charlotte, NC 704.521.1088

37

T I PS FROM THE TE ACHER

Music on a Mission

By Robin Sassi, Owner, San Diego Music Studio

Editor’s note: In honor of the “In a Giving Mood” cover story, Robin Sassi, owner of San Diego Music Studio, pinch-hits for Kimberly Deverell this month by describing a topic near and dear to her heart.

People in the music industry are some of the hardest working people around. I know shop owners who work seven days a week, managers who work late into the night and vendors who battle gridlock traffic to get instruments to schools in time for class. We work hard. We play hard. It’s a thrill. It’s a rush. And we love it. There is no other business like this one.

And when the dust settles, after the money comes in, and the bills are paid, we turn around and give.

What was that? Give?

Yes. We give.

Giving is done in many ways. Some in the industry give scholarships and products. Those with less cash flow will give free workshops and educational retreats. Giving can be done with money. Giving can be done with time. Most importantly, giving is done with heart.

My mother was an immigrant from the Philippines. She battled poverty and emphasized education in our family, specifically, music. I grew up with a passion for teaching and helping children. After my mother retired to the Philippines, the “Philippines Ukulele Project” was born.

We began by connecting individual donors with kids in the Philippines. The donors would provide the instruments. We would bring the ukuleles to the kids and teach them to play. Our hope was to help at-risk youth escape poverty and the other related challenges they face in one of the poorest countries of the world.

The crew at my music store collected, packed and tuned the ukuleles to be delivered. My family in the Philippines interviewed the children, arranged facilities and provided meals for those who attended class. I somehow figured out how to navigate 23 hours of travel time between air, bus and car with more than 30 ukuleles in tow.

When I first arrived in the Philippines to teach these children in November 2018, I was amazed at their resilience and eagerness to learn. Most live in shacks with no running water. Piles of trash litter their play area, which is often an empty dirt lot with a few tires to roll around. Even so, for that day, their focus was on the music and learning.

Within an hour of the first class, most of the children were already putting together chords to songs they knew. A month after returning to 38

the United States, I received videos of the kids playing music with each other and teaching other kids in the neighborhood how to play.

Regardless of socioeconomic status or location, children have a thirst to learn music. Our ability to provide music education to children is only limited by our willingness to give. I have brought donors’ ukuleles to children in Digos City, Bansalan and farmland in Kidapawan. The children’s enthusiasm for music was clear with every new note they learned. There was no language barrier, even though I’m not fluent in my mother’s language.

Music speaks.

When I returned with another load of ukuleles in March, one little girl who lives in a tiny shack with 11 other family members was playing. Really playing. And more than that, she was teaching. At 12 years old, she now has a small following of her own students. She finds happiness in the gift she received and continued happiness in the gift she is giving. Play them a song, they will be happy for a day. Teach them to play, they’ll be happy for a lifetime.

We aren’t alone in our philosophy. Many in the music industry believe in giving. Amahi, Antonio Violins and Kala are companies that generously sponsored our mission to bring music to at-risk youth in the Philippines. These businesses, along with individuals in our local community, donated the ukuleles given to the kids.

We have always known how generous the music industry can be. KHS music has sponsored MAY 2019

North San Diego. We continue, as we have for years, to offer free workshops, scholarships, free space for local music groups, and a donation each year of instruments to local public schools.

Why? This is what we do in the music industry. It’s what we’ve learned from other stores, vendors, and musicians since opening our doors 25 years ago. We are on a mission to give. And this mission begins with music.

Robin Sassi owns San Diego Music Studio, which is celebrating 25 years in business. She is also a practicing business attorney, helping clients with corporate formation and litigation.

training for our staff. Alfred Music and D’Addario have always been generous with their donations of books and products during Make Music Day and our other free educational events. These companies have given to us, a small community music store, for years, and they have asked for nothing in return.

Although we took our giving to an international level, the bulk of our education takes place in a small community in

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RETAI LER R E B E L

CREATING CONTENT EVERYWHERE

By Gabriel O’Brien

One of the negative comments I often encounter from people who are considering content creation as a part of their business strategy is, “It seems like a lot of time and effort for a Facebook video.” Well, that’s true. If you’re only utilizing your content in a singledelivery style on one platform, you’re missing out! There are huge opportunities for re-purposing content across multiple platforms, and you should be embracing all of them.

It’s important to realize that your audience isn’t on just one platform, and your content isn’t necessarily duplicated if you’re addressing, say, Facebook and Instagram. Your reach is actually expanded, and, if you look at analytics regularly, you’ll find the demographics can even be different. Some people will watch quick, flashy pieces of content designed to capture their interest in 15 to 30 seconds.

Some people will watch 20- to 30-minute mini documentaries. The key is being able to deliver a variety of experiences for all your consumers.

Here’s a buildout of a common scenario: the guitar demo video. Video isn’t the only type of content, but it is the most rapidly growing, and studies show consumers are 70 percent more likely to buy something if they’ve watched a video on it.

Social media is full of guitar demos. We’re drowning in them, and still, every day there are more. And they’re getting more and more views. There are a variety of ways to do them.

This scenario is meant to be an exploded view of how you can get the most content out of a single shoot and deliver it in as many ways as possible. This requires a little bit of planning 40

and a lot of post-production work, but it gives you a pretty surprising amount of content. If you’re not handy enough to try this all at once, it could be planned out with a videographer or broken up into separate segments. Also, keep in mind this is a high-concept, high-reward idea.

Say you’ve got a new electric guitar in stock, and you’ve decided to make a demo video for it. You set up your camera and run your guitar into an ABY box or an amp switcher. This will allow you to plug the same guitar into multiple amps at once. Those amps are then miked and run into a recording interface or standalone recorder. (I use a Tascam because it has four channels and phantom power.) Your guitarist plays a rock riff, followed by a country riff and some strummed chords. Those are played on both clean and dirty settings. These should be no more than a minute long each. If you used two guitar amps, you have four different tones times three playing styles, or 12 different clips. You can expand this by repeating them on each pickup of the guitar for each riff you play. Assuming it’s a three-position pickup switch, that’s 36 different clips. You can also film a simple talkthrough of the guitar’s features. If you’ve prepped it correctly, you spent about an hour filming this, two if you’re going slow.

Editing is where the real work comes in. You now have a nice intro to the guitar and can line up the clips showing the different sounds, and you have a nice longform in-depth demo of all the sounds of the guitar. Now, you can also take the footage and create a whole second set of videos based on the genre you were playing, meaning three videos showing the different positions and what they sound like through different types of amps. So that’s now four videos total.

You can also create a video on comparing the dirty sounds of the guitar through both amps, then another video comparing the clean sounds through both amps. That’s six videos. You can also take each and every one-minute clip you made and overlay some simple text saying which pickup position it’s on and what amp it’s being played through. That’s 42 videos. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to release them all at once, but if you use a social media content scheduler like I do, that content can be spread out over a year. If you did that with one guitar once a month, you’d have 504 videos for the year.

But wait, we’re not done. These are ways to edit multiple videos out of a single shoot. You can also spread them out over a wide variety of platforms. One-minute clips are perfect for Instagram, but can also be scheduled to Facebook. The six longer-form videos are traditionally hosted on YouTube, but would also be great to share via IGTV — Instagram’s newest delivery system. You can also cut 15-second clips cropped in 9x16 or “portrait” format for Instagram stories to advertise your IGTV and YouTube channel. That’s a lot of content. Is it a lot of work?

Yes. Is it also worth it to greatly expand your reach to consumers and own a bigger share of the pie when people begin searching for that guitar? Yes. Oh, and don’t forget to embed guitar demos on your website and Reverb listings.

Have questions about content? I’m here to help. Write to me at gabriel@upperhandstudios.com.

MAY 2019

RETA ILING B E TTE R

Agility and Growth

By Robert Christie

ucts you are turning. Knowing what customers want to purchase is only half the equation. You need to have those desirable products available right now for that information to matter.

Do Some Research

As I write this, the first quarter of 2019 is in the rearview mirror and the halfway mark is just a few short weeks away. Woah! It’s a good time to ask ourselves “how are we doing?” and “what needs to change?” The beginning of the year is a natural time to lay out goals, plans and budgets. It’s equally important for us to evaluate our progress and review our goals on a regular basis.

Here’s some truth: Your customers’ wants, needs and expectations are constantly evolving, and these changes are coming faster and faster. All that great planning you did to start the year just might be setting you up to have exactly what your customers don’t want in July. It’s crazy, I know, but it’s also the current reality of retail.

Worry not, fellow retailer. Long- and medium-term planning are still important. Take the time to review the plans and goals you’ve laid out for the year now to ensure you are still on track. Being mindful of the current landscape is the most important step toward avoiding potential pitfalls. You know things are changing, and quickly. This means you know you have to be agile.

The speed of change and pressure from our online competition can be daunting. The good news is that staying agile and growing your retail business doesn’t have to be complicated, and it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Here are some simple strategies that will help you maintain a level of agility that will allow you to keep up with your customers’ demands and won’t cost a fortune to implement.

If They Want It, You Better Have It

You have an inventory management system. Use it. It doesn’t matter if you have a fancy computerized system or still do things by hand, the fact is you have data. Use it often. Keep track of your fastest-selling SKUs. Review your sales metrics regularly in an effort to best handle your inventory. Stocking too much of the wrong product can be terribly expensive and can even make it financially difficult to purchase the prod-

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

Research popular gear reviews, trending social media tags, artist interviews and popular gear-related posts, and you will learn quite a bit. Don’t miss the opportunity to leverage someone else’s work. Take a few moments to browse your online competitor’s website and see what is working for them. Take the time and you can get a real feel for what products and categories are hot right now. On the other hand, you may be able to see trends that will help you to be ahead of the next “must-have” product. In both cases, you can make short-term adjustments to your ordering strategy that will go a long way toward ensuring that you have what your customers want to buy.

You can also leverage your social media platforms to learn more about what your customers may be looking for. Focus on your target audience and conduct Instagram and Facebook polls, or post online surveys. This way, you can find out exactly what your customer is likely to be purchasing in the near future. You may even learn how to be more effective selling those items than your competition.

Create a Little Excitement

Nothing gets people’s attention like the word “free.”

But, if you’re like me, you know the road toward profitability is not paved with giveaways. Sure, sponsoring a drawing or running a contest may drive some short-term traffic. I prefer more creative solutions that still involve the word free. For example, offer a free evaluation of a customer’s current gear. This puts you in the position to recommend upgrades, modifications or repairs. Provide free gift bags to customers spending more than $50 on gifts. Invite your current customers to a free, hands-on demo event. You may even consider an exchange-based gear satisfaction guarantee to purchasers, providing customers the peace of mind that they will never be stuck with a piece of gear that doesn’t work for them the way they had hoped. Get creative and provide offers that capture your customers’ attention and make them more willing to buy now instead of later.

Make a Short-Term Alliance

You should always be networking. As you grow your network, keep your eyes open for “in” businesses, a company riding the crest of a fad or a local hot spot.

When you find the right opportunity, join forces. Working alongside another business provides opportunities for you both to promote your products, reach new audiences and grow your sales. This type of marketing has the additional advantage of being free. Simple ways (continued on page 52) 41

SHINE A LIGHT

RED DRAGON ROARS

By Michelle Loeb

Jonathan Pugh is currently in his fifth year as owner of Red Dragon Guitars, which has been one of NAMM’s Top 100 Dealers for three years running. A guitar player since 1985, Pugh worked in textile screen-printing for 20 years, but gave up his business to care for a sick relative, and, upon his/her passing, used his inheritance to buy some guitars. “Mainly they were for my own collection, but then I said, ‘Maybe I should sell a few,’” recalled Pugh. And with that, Red Dragon Guitars was born.

The online-only shop has a presence on eBay and Reverb — both stores with ratings of 100 percent — and a 3,000-square-foot by-appointment-only showroom that Pugh runs out of the property where he lives. However, the store’s main focus and greatest success has been on Facebook, a site that Pugh first discovered in 2014.

“I went on Facebook for the first time, and what I saw

was an opportunity to reach a worldwide audience,” said Pugh. “We do a lot of Facebook boosting to create a following, and it’s easy to talk to our customers via Messenger. I saw an opportunity there, and I took advantage of it to create an audience I could communicate with in real time.”

Being able to easily reach customers, and vice versa, is key to Red Dragon Guitars’ business model. “I started this business because the places I bought from gave me no real customer service experience,” said Pugh, who makes himself available to customers 24 hours a day, regardless of where they live. “I have customers from all over the world who call me at all hours. I have customers who call from places like Australia, Indonesia, France and Tokyo at their local time, and I have to be available to them.

“When a customer calls at 11 p.m. and I pick up, they can’t believe it,” Pugh continued. “I don’t treat people like they are a number placing an order, so it rarely takes more than 15 minutes for me to respond.”

Being cordial and responsive to his clients has helped build a strong word-ofmouth reputation, and Pugh has been able to cultivate a high-end clientele with whom he not only talks about gear but also more personal topics, including their children and families. He is able to update his customers on his inventory to the point where Pugh said that 80 percent of his inventory is presold.

“Most of my customers know what they want, so the goal is to sell a guitar before it comes into the shop and ship it directly to my client, untouched,” said Pugh, whose shop carries primarily guitars and amps ranging in price from $2,500 to $25,000, with a plan to expand into accessories in the near future. “We do carry some lower-end items too, just to have them available for customers who want them,” Pugh said, “but the focus is on high-end guitars that aren’t hanging in a store and being played all day long.”

Red Dragon Guitars has become the place to go to find products from independent luthiers utilizing exotic woods, exquisite paint jobs, custom airbrush work and other eye-catching attributes that buyers can’t find anywhere else. But in the early years, Pugh acknowledges that he was upset by the fact that larger brands were quick to Red Dragon Guitars 188 Cedarbrook Lane Sparta, NC 28675 (336) 200-4480 www.reddragonguitars. com Jonathan Pugh, Owner

Owner Jonathan Pugh and general manager Donnie Stallard.

42

MAY 2019

Pitchclip 2 CLIP-ON TUNER Eight New Colors Bright, Adjustable Display For Guitar and Bass

dismiss him and his business.

As a result, he got creative and found “smaller brands who were looking for someone to partner with,” including brands that were not yet well known in the United States. Today, Pugh works with more than 40 independent builders, including Claudio Rustignoli of Rusti Guitars, Sigg Braun of Siggi Braun Custom Guitars, Malek Moshkowski of Driftwood Amplifiers, Derek Bowen of Revv Amps, Luigi Valenti of Valenti Guitars, David Thomas Mcnaught of DTM Guitars, Giulio Negrini of GNG Negrini Guitars and many others.

According to Pugh, Red Dragon Guitars serves as the exclusive dealer for seven of his brands in the USA territory. “We help them grow their company together as a team,” said Pugh.

“It’s important to secure that to not only help build their brand, but also to be able to control the demand versus supply and to help keep the buzz relevant. If everyone is selling the same gear,” he continued, “the intrigue of the brand goes away a bit.”

That’s not to say that customers can’t find name brands at Red Dragon Guitars. Pugh recently added Knaggs Guitars to his inventory, and he is one of the top U.S. dealers for Dean Guitars, which Pugh said was “one of the first brands to accept me and what I do.” One of Pugh’s bestselling brands is Jackson Guitars, which even supplied him with exclusive content at this year’s WinMUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

ter NAMM Show — an interview with Phil Collen of Def Leppard, which has garnered more than 50,000 views on Facebook.

“I’m looking forward to adding more major brands in the coming months,” said Pugh, who added that he has sold over a million dollars in guitars on Facebook alone. “I started out planning to sell two or three guitars per month, and now I sell two or three guitars per day. I see a bright future, but it wasn’t easy getting here.”

Over the past five years, Red Dragon Guitars has gone through its ups and downs, but Pugh is in it for the long term. Along with co-owner Joe Jarusinsky —a realtor and real estate developer from Austin, Texas who, like Pugh, came to the business with a long, successful career and a passion for guitars — Pugh plans to expand Red Dragon Guitars further into 2020 and beyond. Pugh puts his heart and soul into the company not because he needs to, but because he wants to.

“The main thing is that running this business has not been easy, but it’s been fun, and I enjoy what I do. It doesn’t feel like a job,” said Pugh. “Other dealers have to do this, while I do it because I love it. I’m very passionate about it, and I do it because I want my customers to be happy. When I do the customer right, they come back.

I’m not in this for one hit; I want to build relationships.”

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V E D D AT O R I A L

THE

By Dan Vedda Amazon, many know, started almost 25 years ago (July 1994) as an online bookseller, and has since transformed itself into ... everything. Throughout, it has shown itself to be masterfully strategic, always playing to its advantage and selfinterest. To some people, that’s just been good business practice. Amazon fought the collection of sales tax when it was only in a few states physically, but then pushed for a national standard when its expansion meant it would have to collect in all 50 states anyway. Take the advantage, but don’t let your competitors have the advantage if you don’t.

Much like Walmart, and Sears before it, Amazon mastered the fine art of squeezing suppliers to the smallest margin of profitability, while building compensation for itself into the handling of returns, inventory and funds at every turn. Amazon’s labor practices, compen-

44

EFFECT sation and work environment have been the subject of countless analytical, and often critical, articles, and the picture it collectively paints suggests that Amazon will play fast and loose with its business practices rather than hew to some high-minded ideal of corporate citizenship and employee satisfaction.

Founder Jeff Bezos and his employees have managed to build the company into the world’s largest retailer, largest internet company, second-largest U.S. employer and largest cloud platform (Amazon Web Services — those AWS commercials you’ve been seeing). In the meantime, it has pushed into brickand-mortar grocery (Whole Foods), delivery logistics, all forms of media, artificial intelligence and likely things we aren’t yet aware of.

But Amazon has achieved this dominance with the cagey deftness of a shell game operator. After inviting a host of smaller retailers onto the Amazon Marketplace, those same retailers were soon dismayed to find that Amazon had crunched the data on best-selling items, price points, customers and every other metric, and began selling in competition with its “guests.” Sellers subsequently found their listings appeared below Amazon’s in searches.

“Exclusivity” is also a gray area at Bezmart. Toys ‘R’ Us found that out when its partnership with Amazon was diluted by third-party sellers offering the same goods. While a court settlement awarded more than $50 million in damages to the late toy merchant, it is possible the damage done contributed to the chain’s eventual demise.

Perhaps the most insidious problem in the Amazon Marketplace, though, is the presence of counterfeit merchandise and the fact that it receives an equal footing with legit goods, including piles of spurious reviews that make the fake and substandard products seem viable to the casual shopper. (When a product’s ratings are all fives and ones, you’d think people would get suspicious, but many shoppers just notice the “4.5 star” average rating.)

Amazon is well aware of the situation, and until recently, has shrugged off policing to legitimate merchants and manufacturers with a “whaddaya gonna do?” attitude. Ask any manufacturer in our industry how that’s been working.

Procedures, when they work at all, are cumbersome and temporary. One consumer advocacy outlet, The Counterfeit Report, estimates that 13 percent of the products sold on Amazon are fakes. Based on the more than 5 billion products listed on Amazon, that would equal over a half billion fakes.

Do the math with your sales. Remove 13 percent of your gross sales and proportional profit. Not looking good, is it? Imagine what stockholders would think of a “corrected” sales report. The horrors! It’s very possible Amazon doesn’t want those sales to disappear, at least not immediately.

Sorry, Amazon. You’re the biggest-just-about-everything. You rule the cloud.

You mean to tell me you can’t control the fakes? You can’t require sellers to have and post real customer service numbers and addresses? You can’t jump

MAY 2019

on suspect sellers the way you ban people for supposedly returning too many products? Right.

The prevalence of fakes has led many prominent brands to avoid listing their goods — or to remove or limit them in other cases. Louis Vuitton, Nike, Hugo Boss, Disney, Swatch and other prestige brands are absent or only offering closeouts.

But wait, Amazon has a plan (likely triggered by a messy lawsuit and reporting to the SEC, and perhaps precautionary given its target status with an unfriendly administration). It’s called “Project Zero,” an invitation-only program that puts counterfeit reporting in the hands of the brands. Brand owners can bypass the usual reporting system and take down fake products directly (subject to Amazon review). Oh, wait, so the brands do all the work and pay extra people for policing. Right in character.

Smaller brands (as in, our entire industry) can get onto a waitlist to be included — if they can afford to do the policing, of course. There’s no timetable mentioned for addressing the waiting list, nor does there seem to be a more public effort to address the counterfeit problem with consumer education. Again, Amazon is aware of the problem, has admitted the problem, but wants to act as a gatekeeper for the solution. I can only assume that they’ll control the flow in a fashion that will not negatively impact their sales numbers, perhaps hoping that prominent brands increase their product listings — and ultimately, Amazon’s sales — as the perceived counterfeit threats are removed. In other words, it isn’t “doing the right thing,” it is doing the expedient thing.

So, here’s my point for the music products industry: Don’t wait for Amazon to magnanimously extend the offer to police your brand at your expense. Take a page from other brands that have said, “We do not allow our products on the Amazon Marketplace.” Stop paying them for returns while scammers trash your

brand identity and profits. Add a list of authorized dealers to your advertising and social media presence and make it clear in all your communication that these are the only legitimate sources for your products — and that anything

else is a counterfeit. Yes, it may cost some short-term sales. The bigger issue is that, with counterfeiting, you don’t know what you are losing now — and you won’t until it’s too late.

If you have a comment, feel

free to share it on the Veddatorial Facebook page, and as always, post an inquiry if there’s another topic you’d like to see covered here.

(Please post to the page rather than DM, so others can see the dialogue.)

33RD ANNUAL

Manufacturers: Nominate the Best Retailers For Music & Sound Awards Now As a reminder, the award categories are listed below.

Please submit your nominations by June 3. Please click msretailer.com/awards.

MULTI-STORE DEALER DIVISION Best Guitars & Basses

Best Recording-Related Products

Best Keyboards

Best Percussion

Best Customer Service

Best Instrument Amplifiers

Best DJ Equipment

Best Sales Staff

Best Sound Reinforcement

Best Clinics

Multi-Store Dealer of the Year

SINGLE-STORE DEALER DIVISION Best Guitars & Basses Best Instrument Amplifiers Best Keyboards Best Sound Reinforcement Best Recording-Related Products Best Percussion Best DJ Equipment Best Clinics Best Customer Service Best Sales Staff Single-Store Dealer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

(Individual person at either a multi-store or single-store retailer)

/MSRetailer

w w w . m s r e t a i l e r. c o m

U N DER T H E HOOD

GRAPH TECH GUITAR LABS’

RATIO TUNE-A-LELE, RATIO BASS AND RATIO GUITAR

By Brian Berk Many MI products are designed to fill a need often identified by either engineers, professional musicians or other end users alike. Other products attempt to improve upon already introduced items. Less often, products are released to solve an issue that musicians might not yet be aware of. Graph Tech Guitar Labs, the largest guitar nuts and saddles manufacturer and distributor in the world, has introduced products fitting the latter description, including its Ratio balanced-gear tuning technology for the guitar. The company will also soon release Bass Ratio and Tune-a-lele Ratios for the ukulele.

The problem that Graph Tech is solving is that, with standard tuner use, the same gear ratio is used for every string, and each string is treated the same, yet each string tunes differently to tuning adjustments.

Strings with a thick core react quickly to any changes in tension — for example, a plain G string or a low E string. Turn the knob a little, and it goes up a lot in pitch, which is why many guitarists spend a lot more time tuning a plain G, low E or A string, or even a high E (because it’s so insensitive to tuning adjustments).

Strings for every stringed instrument have this issue, making tuning, re-tunings and open tunings a lot more complicated than they need to be.

“The Ratio line of guitar, bass and ukulele follow the Graph Tech mission of better performance, not a copycat product and really do what we say they will do,” Graph Tech founder Dave Dunwoodie told the Music & Sound Retailer. “Every guitarist and bass player would love to tune faster, tune on the fly or change to open tunings in a heartbeat. Who wouldn’t? And now, it’s possible! We can see the shift starting to happen. We let the choir do the preaching. Many top professionals are now using them, [including] Ed Sheeran, Steve Vai, James Valentine (Maroon 5), Jasen Rauch (Breaking Benjamin) and many more. Top-tier guitar techs like Thomas Nordeg (Frank Zappa and Steve Vai) love them as well. They are standard equipment on premium models of Framus, Martin, Washburn, Klos and many more.”

According to Dunwoodie, Ratio is a perfect example of working on a project 25 years ago and learning a lot of cool things along the way, but nothing became of said project.

“What I did find out was why my plain G string on my Strat was so finicky to tune and why it went out of tune more than my other strings,” he said. “Well, it turns out that a string’s sensitivity to tension is determined by how thick the center core is. The thicker the core, the more sensitive. So, a plain G string is really sensitive to any tension changes. The wound D string, right beside it, has a thin core, so it is a lot less sensitive to tension changes. So, barely turn the machine head on a G and it goes up a lot. Do the same amount of turn on a D or high E, and it barely goes up in pitch.”

Dave Dunwoodie “What if every string reacted the same to any tuning

46

MAY 2019

adjustment? With Ratio, we calibrate the gear ratios for gauge of each string, so all strings react the same to any tuning adjustment, so tuning, re-tuning and open tunings get extremely quick. In short order, you know how much to tweak every string when you tune down a few cents. It becomes second nature,” continued Dunwoodie.

“It’s one of those ideas that everyone says, ‘How come this hadn’t been thought of before?’

The gear ratios vary from 12:1 to 39:1 on a guitar, with the plain G string having a 35:1 gear ratio.

Making a 35:1 or 39:1 gear ratio was another big achievement.”

When designing the Tune-e-lele Ratio for Ukes line, Graph Tech started by working out what was the correct gear ratio for ukes, so they tune and feel right. It turns out it’s not 18:1 or 39:1. “The most intuitive feel tuning for a uke is a 6:1 gear ratio. Well, then we found out why they don’t make guitar tuners at a 6:1 gear ratio … you can’t,” noted Dunwoodie. “A 6:1 guitar-style tuner can’t hold the string tension; it just spins loose, which is known as back-drive.

Well, that gave us a whack on the side of the head! We needed to approach this from a totally new angle. So, at our research and development meeting on the uke tuner, I said, ‘Let’s design a simple gear that can operate at a 6:1 gear ratio. A uke’s nylon string has a lot of less tension than a metal guitar string, so lets look at new materials, other than standard metal diecast parts. Let’s open our eyes and take a look around.’”

Dunwoodie continued, “The GT technical team hit it out of the park with the Tune-a-lele machine head design, a 6:1 patent-pending directdrive mechanism made out of high-density polymers that are not only strong, but self-lubricating, and have zero back drive and zero backlash! The icing on the cake is they are also the worlds lightest machine heads, weighing in at just five grams each, compared to a regular uke tuner weighing 25 grams. This makes the headstock much lighter and moves the center of gravity of the instrument back, making it more balanced in the MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

hands of the musician.”

Graph Tech, founded in 1983 and literally started on the kitchen table in Dunwoodie’s home by placing mail-order ads in Guitar Player magazine, plans to put plenty of marketing muscle behind its new products to drum up interest among MI retailers. “As with all

of our products, we back them up with extensive marketing promotions in both print and digital.

Ninety percent of our products are backed by our MAP policy, which has been well received by dealers and distributors. And, as always, we have our 45-day loveit-or-return-it guarantee for all of

our qualified dealers,” concluded Dunwoodie.

The MSRPs on Ratios for Guitar, Bass and Tune-a-lele are: acoustic and non locking electric, $99, locking $139.95; Tune-a-lele, $29.95 (per set of 4); Bass Fender open-back style, $169.95; closed back “Y” key style, $99.

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(continued from cover) Hence, as an MI retailer, although music may be your bread and butter, plenty of other industries could be looking to purchase the pro-audio speakers you sell, compared to an instrument, which may provide a smaller audience for your products. We will discuss this a bit later. To help sort out the industry, we asked two great resources and placed the rest of this story in their hands. Joining us on our panel this month are Viktor Wiesner, senior product manager, pro audio, Adam Hall GmbH, and Steve Hendee, director of sales, Yorkville Sound Inc. We started off by asking our respondents about the aforementioned research and if they are seeing strong growth on their end. “Yes, the Adam Hall Group [enjoys] continuous growth,” said Wiesner. “And we are confident about the future. However, in order to generate economic growth today, it is not enough just to compete on the existing market, with the latest technologies and considering our competitors.

Instead, our aim is to create innovative and user-friendly products that offer our customers a significant, obvious added value. This might result in reduced set-up time, in transport or in a highly flexible handling.”

“We are absolutely seeing growth on our end from established and new accounts,” responded Hendee. “Within the Yorkville Sound family, we have

more options than ever before.

Portable, battery-powered solutions are on the rise, in addition to renewed interest in pointsource systems. Within the last year, we have taken on HK Audio distribution for North America.

Our two brands complement each other. We now have products from HK Audio that Yorkville may not have and vice versa. This has given us a unique opportunity to expand our reach and open more doors to varied dealers.

Overall, our stock levels are good, and we are looking forward to a great year.”

Regarding how to achieve growth, using speakers for live experiences and portable products are two potential avenues to achieve success. We asked our panelists about both. Let’s start with live experiences and if they are providing growth for our panelists’ respective companies.

“Absolutely!” noted Wiesner.

“We need to keep one thing in mind: Despite the huge impact of digitalization and global networks, people are gathering for events to celebrate great moments and share emotions. The constantly increasing number of events of all kinds and sizes illustrates this desire.”

“We have the sound-reinforcement solution for any live experience,” said Hendee. “The DJ market is showing strong growth and has taken interest in our product as a result of our reputation for fidelity and durability.”

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Ad Index

Company

Pg

ADAM HALL...............................35 ALBERT AUGUSTINE................12 AMAHI UKULELES...................25 AUDIX CORPORATION.............17 BOURNS PRO AUDIO................53 CASIO...........................................9 CELESTION..............................C-III CHAUVET LIGHTING................18 CHAUVET LIGHTING................19 CONNOLLY MUSIC COMPANY................................34 FENDER.......................................7 FENDER.......................................11 FLEX AV......................................50 GALAXY AUDIO........................3 GATOR CASES............................C-II GRAPH TECH..............................27 KALA BRAND MUSIC CO........33 KORG...........................................43 KYSER MUSICAL PRODUCTS.16 LITTLITE.....................................51 MALONEY STAGEGEAR COVERS....................................52 MANHASSET SPECIALTY COMPANY................................6 NAMM..................................... 14-15 NEUMANN..................................5 ODYSSEY INNOVATIVE DESIGNS...................................21 PRO X...........................................31 QRS MUSIC TECHNOLOGIES.... 39 RAIN RETAIL SOFTWARE........10 U.S. BAND & ORCHESTRA SUPPLIES.................................23 VOCOPRO....................................13 WD MUSIC PRODUCTS............8 YORKVILLE.............................C-IV While every care is taken to ensure that these listings are accurate and complete, The Music & Sound Retailer does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors.

Now, on to if portable products are also providing growth.

“Every user, whether you are a musician, a performer or even a speaker, wants to share his content with the audience in the most comfortable and efficient way, as well as with the best possible sound. A cumbersome transport, a complicated assembly or a complex setup can be real performance killers.

That is why we put so much effort into the flexibility of our products.

With the MAUI and the CURV 500 series, we defined new standards in this field,” stated Wiesner.

“Portable products have been a growth driver for Yorkville Sound,” relayed Hendee. “Out of the gate, we came out with our EXM Mobile portable, battery-powered speaker. It weighs in just less than 20 pounds, has three inputs and is Bluetooth compatible. Right away, it was embraced by the busker community and public speakers, which opened up our usual MI customer base. With the success of the EXM Mobile, we are releasing the EXM Mobile 12; a 12-inch portable, battery-powered speaker perfect for gigs where power is sparse.”

Speaking of products, it can be difficult when coming up with new ideas for pro-audio speakers. We asked our panelists how they innovate. Do they use analytics and data, focus more on end user feedback or take a different approach when generating ideas?

“New product ideas at Yorkville come from three different areas: our sales and marketing department, user feedback and the engineers themselves,” Hendee stated.

“Listening to user feedback has always been an important guide to making new products and [decid-

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Steve Hendee

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ing] what specific features they have. Many times, new products come directly from the engineers themselves, which is encouraged at Yorkville. Each engineer is allowed a certain amount of their time designing new products that they feel are worth exploring.

When ready, those products are reviewed by our sales and marketing team, and a select group of end users. From there, a decision is made to pursue them [or not].

Many of the most popular and groundbreaking products in Yorkville history have been created this way.”

“Our primary goal is to offer our customers significant added value,” said Wiesner. “It is there-

LD Systems CURV

fore crucial to talk to as many users as possible and to ensure that the best ideas translate into new developments. This is our key to success: listen to the customer.”

Now let’s check in on some of the fruits of these labors. What are some new pro-audio products both panelists’ companies have released recently?

“There are many new products,” responded Wiesner. “One thing to highlight is our ultra-portable, battery-powered column PA system, the MAUI 5 GO, which is based on the successful MAUI 5, but can be used even more flexibly due to its battery operation. At this year’s Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, Germany, we also launched our MAY 2019

Viktor Wiesner Yorkville EXM Mobile 12

new in-ear monitoring systems, the U500 IEM Series, designed for bands, musicians and rental companies who value excellent and reliable audio performance.”

“The Synergy Array Series is a truly revolutionary, active pointsource system with unmatched flexibility, power and directivity control,” noted Hendee. “The Synergy system offers users unrivaled simplicity without sacrificing sonic performance. Consisting of the SA153 full-range powered cabinet, along with the SA315S powered subwoofer, Synergy is the ultimate point-source speaker system, scalable for club gigs of all sizes, outdoor festivals, inclined seating venues and arenas. Never before has a large point-source system with this much output and sound quality been this easy to set up and use.

“Also, the EXM Mobile 12 is a lightweight, 12-inch, batterypowered speaker with a oneinch horn driver. For decades, sound solutions for events in wedding tents, outdoor gigs or non-traditional venues needed to take external power into consideration. The EXM Mobile 12 puts the days of renting power generators for specialty gigs behind us,” added Hendee.

New at NAMM

In January, The NAMM Show added a new wrinkle, the Loudspeaker System Showcase, so manufacturers could demonstrate products for retailers and others alike. We asked our respondents if they liked this addition and if they would like to see it at future NAMM Shows.

“Definitely!” said Wiesner. “We design, engineer, and sell speakers and related audio products. And despite the tremendous digital posMUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

Yorkville Synergy Array Series

sibilities, it’s still vital that products can be heard, felt and touched, especially in the audio sector. A trade show like The NAMM Show still remains a major factor when it comes to this.”

“We participated in the first Loudspeaker System Showcase at NAMM,” responded Hendee.

“This happened to coincide with the release of our Synergy Array Series. The Loudspeaker System Showcase gave us a forum to really showcase Synergy at a powerful volume, and while comparing it to 12 other manufacturers on a level playing field. Synergy is just too powerful to demo in our booth or demo room and show its full capability.”

Of course, at future NAMM Shows, expect to see plenty of new speaker technologies. We asked our respondents for a preview of what may come down the pike.

“The development clearly follows the possibilities of digitization. The former, multi-part and voluminous hi-fi systems today can almost exclusively be found in the high-end market and have been replaced by Bluetooth loudspeakers. In addition, the equalization can be controlled via an app, and the entire system can be controlled via voice assistants like Alexa, OK Google and Siri,” said Weisner. “At its heart, however, the loudspeaker itself is still a physical diaphragm with a matching amplification system.

Due to the related developments in recent years, however, it is necessary to redesign this unit and adapt it to new application fields.”

“Moving forward, the trend toward smaller, lighter and higher-output speakers will continue, but, of course, there are physical limitations that cannot be overcome,” said Hendee. “The C

M

Y

MI stores.

“The key to selling pro audio is demo, demo and more demo!

Anyone can read specs and brand names, but it all comes down to the experience. Allow end users to compare and contrast and let their ears make decisions,” relayed Hendee.

“From my point of view, customers don’t necessarily want to know every technical detail down to the very last feature of a product,” said Wiesner. “Instead, Advice Column it’s crucial to understand the To wrap up our annual proneeds of customers in order to audio update, we checked in with be able to provide and promote our respondents regarding advice products that make the everyday for MI retailers when selling their musical experience of people products. As a new addition, we more comfortable, leaving them also asked if the advice is any more time to enjoy music and different when it comes to selling entertainment.” to non-musicians interested in lightsforlife4_12x4_37.pdf 6/8/2017 9:29:42 AM Added Wiesner, in regard to purchasing speaker products at

integration of loudspeakers, processing and amplification all into one package will for sure continue, as this is the most userfriendly and quickest way to set up a PA system for a big portion of the market. There is a resurgence of the point-source array as the line-array craze is slowly losing speed. The vast majority of applications are better suited for properly designed point source.”

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selling to non-musicians: “Basically it’s the same: Know your customers and their needs. Do not start from your own expectations, instead change the perspective.”

“A new speaker system can be intimidating for someone outside of the MI industry,” stated Hendee. “These days, it doesn’t have to be. For example, our

Synergy Array series looks and sounds huge, but it is incredibly easy to set up, plug in and use.

We have a tremendous amount of sound-reinforcement solutions for every situation.”

Both Hendee and Wiesner added one final note. “The growth we are seeing is directly credited to our dealers and end users. Thank you for your sup-

port of our company and products, but also for the two-way dialogue we’ve established. Your feedback has resulted in new products and the evolution of our industry,” Hendee said.

“When it comes down to serving our users, including sound professionals, musicians, DJs, speakers and the like, we want to not only provide them with a

quality product, but also we want to give them their freedom,” concluded Wiesner. “The freedom to express and share, the freedom to realize their own sound ideas, the freedom to be mobile, the freedom to make intelligent choices, the freedom of simplicity, and the freedom to electrify audiences with excellent sound that inspires in an attractive design.”

spaces. However you decide to collaborate, this type of networking can help you stay agile and capitalize on local trends.

It’s important for all of us to be constantly reviewing our goals. Be honest and examine where you are today, where your plan has you

headed and if that’s still where you need to be. Remain mindful that a successful retailer needs to be an agile one. Having the right products at the right time and offering them in creative and collaborative ways will help keep you ahead of your competition.

We will be discussing innovation in an upcoming “Retailing Better.” Do you have a story you’d like to share about an innovative practice at work in your store?

If so, I’d love to hear from you.

You can contact me via email at robert@schoolmusiconline.com.

perhaps a dozen or so businesses occupying it.

JL Smith is the only retailer on its block. You have to hunt a bit because signage is subtle.

The location only offers flutes.

Venture inside and you’ll hear, appropriately enough, the soft playing of flutes in the background.

Upon entering the space, I was immediately greeted by a friendly staff person. Walk-ins are welcome, but the store’s staff encourages you to make an appointment.

“We like appointments because we can have the right instruments on hand to let the customer see and try out,” said the salesperson. Store hours are from Monday through Friday.

The store is closed on weekends, but Saturday appointments can be arranged.

“We carry everything from beginners’ flutes to advanced and gold-plated models,” the salesperson said. A good flute for a beginner can be had for anywhere from $400 to $700.

“That said, our most popular flute is the Yamaha 221,” the salesperson added. “We sell it for $695, though you’ll often see it for much more than that. It is listed at $981.”

JL Smith offers a try-beforeyou-buy program for a nominal fee of $20 per trial. Other popular lines for beginners include models by Jupiter, Pearl and Gemeinhardt. As was the firm’s

original specialty, the company offers a full range of support and repair services.

— he encountered at Music and Arts. Yet shoppers who don’t live nearby might be daunted by its location far from the city center, as well the confounding layout of the shopping center.

At Sam Ash, MI Spy was impressed with the salesperson’s attentiveness and knowledge.

What’s more, in a world where a bad night’s sleep or an attack of allergies often prompts the best of workers to call in sick, he was there, late in the evening, while under the weather.

All things considered, MI Spy considered Sam Ash the winner this month, though the other three were far from slouches.

The long and short of this is that, should a parent require a durable, easy-to-use flute for a 13, 14 or 15 year old, the southern suburbs of Charlotte are a great place to shop.

RETAILING BETTER

(continued from page 41) to work together include offering coupons for each other’s products or having your salespeople recommend your partners’ businesses. It may also make sense to place your products in their showrooms. You may even try holding events in each other’s MI SPY

(continued from page 37) park is located off of busy Blairhill Road, and the park features multiple “courts.” Each of these dead-end courts contains small, regional offices of larger enterprises, and each court has

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The Sale

There were more than a dozen retailers selling flutes in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The MI Spy chose these four because they provided a good mix of both chains and local retailers, and because they were all concentrated in the south end of the city.

All four were staffed by knowledgeable personnel who were all friendly to a fault, which might be expected given the south’s reputation for hospitality. What’s more, JL Smith and Howren Music and Sound can best be described as the kind of local gems that are disappearing way too quickly from the national landscape.

MI Spy liked the attentive service — and the extended hours FIVE MINUTES WITH

(continued from page 35) That’s hard to find. I do think we as an industry could do better to recruit mainstream people talent into our niche industry.

We need to make our industry even more attractive to talent.

Companies often worry about their product inventory. I worry about our people inventory and having great talent to work with.

It’s here at Korg, and it’s at other companies. But we need a more consistent stream of talented people interested in the MI segment to keep us all moving this

industry forward.

The Retailer: You said early on during this inter view that you wanted to come to Korg to be part of the growth for the next several decades. Can you give us an idea what the game plan for the future looks like?

Rossi: Certainly, the overall relationship with consumers is key, but also, a lot of it relates to the relationship we have with retailers.

It is very important for companies to realize that retailers large and MAY 2019

small, bricks and clicks, have a place in this industry that is very important. They create the backbone of this industry. You have to be open minded and diligent when working with retailers of all shapes and sizes, whether national or local. That is very much in our DNA. Another thing is being aware we need to have really compelling products. You can’t create products that don’t excite the marketplace, don’t excite dealers and don’t

excite consumers and expect to just jam them into the channel.

When you create compelling products and you get the message out — which goes back to sales and marketing — and then you combine that with a strong relationship with consumers and retailers, you end up doing well.

It’s a pretty simple formula that is not always easy to execute on.

But when you do, you create success for everybody.

THE FINAL NOTE: MITCHELL NOLLMAN

(continued from page 54) create a meal. Sharing the experience with family and friends makes it extra special for me.

Whether it’s through cooking or making music, creating a connection and making memories is one of my favorite things to do outside of work.

The Retailer: What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?

Nollman: That is such a tough question. I saw John Mayer play in a small venue at a private event, which was an amazing experience. His playing was extraordinary, and it was just him and his guitar on stage. To see someone who normally plays on a large stage in an intimate venue was something I will never forget. Then last summer, at Musikfest here in Bethlehem, Pa., I saw Dierks Bentley play.

The band came to visit Martin, and we had a chance to show them around our museum and factory. I also talked with Dierks prior to the show backstage.

Dierks and his band were all so kind and gracious and they rocked the Lehigh Valley with their music.

The Retailer: If you could see any musician, alive or deceased, play a concert for one night, who would it be and why?

Nollman: The Beatles. Just to be able to experience them one time. They have influenced me personally, and so many of my favorite artists also reference them.

The Retailer: What musician are you hoping to see play in the near future?

Nollman: Shawn Mendes. He has been playing Martin 000-18, and I’d love to experience a live performance.

MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER

The Retailer: What song was most memorable for you throughout your childhood and what do you remember about it the most?

Nollman: James Taylor, “Your Smiling Face.” I sang it during my senior year in high school at a variety show. It was my first live performance.

The Retailer: What songs are on your smartphone/ iPod, etc. right now?

Nollman: There are over 2,500. Just too many to mention.

The Retailer: What’s the most fun thing you saw/did at a NAMM Show?

Nollman: This year I had the opportunity to show our new Modern Deluxe D-28 guitar to Carl Verheyen and then separately to John McFee. For me, to just get a chance to talk with them about guitars and my favorite songs of theirs and to see them play our guitar was special.

The Retailer: If you had to select three people, past or present, to have dinner with, who would they be and what would you ask them?

Nollman: My grandfather.

There are many questions I’d love to ask. He’s been gone for over 30 years, and it would be great to learn more about him and our family histor y.

Frank Sinatra. I’d like to hear what his life was like. My kids. I just don’t get enough time with them.

The Retailer: Tell us about your most memorable experience with an MI retailer (without naming them).

Nollman: There’s something special about MI whenever peo-

ple who love music get together for business and to connect about what we can do together.

And whenever I’m in a store, there is always something shiny to pick up, play and enjoy.

The Retailer: What is the best thing about the MI industr y?

Nollman: I love guitars and play mine almost every day.

Music always has and will be a major part of who I am and what I love. It’s humbling to be a part of it. There are many people who are drawn to our business who share that passion, and it’s a recipe for an awesome work experience.

The Retailer: Who do you admire most outside of the music industr y and why?

Nollman: Ellen DeGeneres.

She touches so many people every day with humor and warmth and just seems so very kind.

I admire all she does for both individuals and groups and am impressed that she gives back, surprises so many and inspires people young and old.

The Retailer: What technology could change MI down the road?

Nollman: Digital music creation and home recording.

As it becomes easier to create computer-generated music, this might impact musical instrument sales. There are so many benefits to playing an instrument, especially the creation of music. I hope people continue to aspire to play and learn an instrument.

The Retailer: If you weren’t in the music industr y, what would you be doing and why?

Nollman: I can’t imagine not being in music. From sound to musical instruments, this has always been a part of my personal and professional life. As I mentioned, I do love to cook. I would have a lot to learn, but maybe I’d try something in that space.

The Retailer: Tell us about your hometown and why you enjoy living there.

Nollman: I live in Bethlehem.

We’re in a cool old farm house and really enjoy the Lehigh Valley. Martin is only 22 minutes away, door to door, so the commute is pretty easy.

We’ve got great restaurants, the Lehigh River, many parks, an awesome downtown area and a good music scene.

The Retailer: What are your most prized possession(s) and why?

Nollman: My Martin guitars are the easy ones to pick. They just sound and play so beautifully. My grandfather gave me these awesome tea cups and my uncle gave me some antique furniture which all have sentimental value and remind me of where I am from.

The Retailer: What’s your favorite book and why?

Nollman: People who can write and tell a story are admirable. I’d choose by season. On a plane, I’d pick a business book, like Brene Brown’s “Dare to Lead.” For the summer on the beach, something more to escape like John Grisham, “A Painted House,” or “Plumbelly”

by Gary S. Maynard.

www.bourns.com/proaudio 53

THE FINAL NOTE

MITCHELL NOLLMAN

Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, C.F. Martin & Co.

By Brian Berk The Music & Sound Retailer: Who was your greatest influence or mentor and why?

Mitchell Nollman: My greatest influencers and mentors are my parents. My dad worked in sales for office furniture and ultimately created his own company before he retired. He was proud to be a salesperson and built his reputation on passion, integrity and maintaining relationships. My mom can talk to anyone and within minutes makes you feel like you are the most important person in the world. It’s a blessing to have such loving and caring people in my life and to be able to learn from them.

The Retailer: What was the best advice you ever received?

Nollman: A colleague of mine, Jeff Dade, shared with me a concept when I was a young and driven product manager. “Your career is a marathon, not a foot race.” He then p mulled out a ruler and said something like “This ruler represents your career. Where along this ruler are you?” The perspective and question really helped me to realize that taking the time to learn, understand and continue to grow over time is a helpful approach to your career.

The Retailer: What was your first experience with a musical instrument?

Nollman: We had an upright piano in our house and my sister and I both took lessons. It took me from being able to go outside and play with my friends and I really resented it. In fourth grade, when they asked what instrument I wanted to play, I chose drums and really enjoyed playing in band and singing in chorus.

Once I went to college, I started playing guitar.

The Retailer: What instrument do you most enjoying playing?

Nollman: My Martin OM-21. It sounds amazing, is understated and comfortable to play. I have many other guitars, and I like them all, but this one is my current favorite.

The Retailer: Tell us something about yourself that others do not know or would be surprised to learn.

Nollman: I’m listed on two patents in sound masking. One of my bucket-list items was to get a patent.

In my job before Martin, I was fortunate to work in a smaller company and teamed up with the engineering folks and provided input on a few products.

The Retailer: What’s your favorite activity to do when you’re not at work?

Nollman: I really love to cook. I like the process of selecting ingredients and putting them together to (continued on page 53) 54

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