Music Trades

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Leave Winter NAMM alone: an argument against a "public day".(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
I READ WITH interest Scott Goodman's suggestions on "How To Improve Winter NAMM." (Letters section, July). He makes some interesting points, but from our standpoint, a public day simply wouldn't wor . . .

Three feet of inspiration.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
AS A FORMER MANAGER for Forbes Piano Company, I was saddened to read about its closing in your July issue. E.E. Forbes, the founder, was like a father to me and his grandson, French Forbes Jr., is o . . .

Quarterly retail sales data.(Market Intelligence)
PRODUCT CATEGORY % CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR (a) THREE MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2009 (b) TH . . .

Sales declines show signs of stabilizing.(Market Intelligence)
ESCALATING JOB WORRIES, the lack of government stimulus checks, and rainy weather dampened shoppers' appetites for buying music and sound gear during the second quarter according to dealers respondi . . .

Quarterly sales by region.(Market Intelligence)
QUARTERLY SALES BY REGION WEST TOTAL STORE SALES -13% Fretted Instruments -12% Instrument Amplifiers -13% Sound Products -12% MIDI Products -10% P . . .

Held hostage by the whim of consumers.(EDITORIAL)
In 1991, we published the first-ever sales ranking of the nation s 100 largest music products retailers. (The ranking was expanded in 1993 to include 200 retailers.) Eighteen years later, only 49 of . . .

Hal Leonard in joint venture with Music Sales, acquires Shawnee Press: Music Sales catalog will be sold and distributed out of H
HAL LEONARD CORP. and Music Sales Group have formed a new joint venture, Music Sales America, to distribute Music Sales publications in North America. Sales of the existing catalog of Music Sales pu . . .

Musical Instrument Museum nears completion.(FOREFRONT)
CONSTRUCTION ON THE Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, is moving ahead on schedule, with a grand opening set for the spring of 2010. Funded at a cost of close to $200 million, the 195,00 . . .

Dixon Drums hosts Beats for Eats: KAMAN.(FOREFRONT)
DIXON DRUMS recently held Beats for Eats: Rock Out for a Good Cause, a series of food drives held at select retailers in April to benefit local food banks and shelters throughout Southern California . . .

Ernie Ball celebrates 13 years of Warped Tour leadership.(FOREFRONT)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE WARPED TOUR HAS EVOLVED into one of the longest running and most widely anticipated "lifestyle" festivals of the summer. Kevin Lyman, tour founder, has created a unique . . .

Savings & optimism increase.
U.S. consumers are saving more of their incomes than at any time since 1993--a major shift toward frugality that's expected to be one of the lasting effects of this recession. Still, consumer sentim . . .

Debit card use on the rise.
In a subtle but significant shift in consumer behavior, card issuer VISA revealed that the volume of debit card transactions exceeded credit card transactions for the first time in the month of May. . . .

Artists against guitar hero.
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Prince, and John Mayer are have come out with harsh criticisms of the top selling Guitar Hero video game. In a recent interview, Page said, "It's depressing to have a lab . . .

Harman to sell common stock.(FLASH)
HARMAN INTERNATIONAL Industries, the parent company of JBL, dbx, AKG, Lexicon, Crown, and numerous other top-selling audio brands will sell nine million shares of common stock. Proceeds from the sal . . .

Vandoren cracks down on reed counterfeiters.(FOREFRONT)
FOR THE SECOND TIME in the last two years, raids conducted by Korean Customs Authorities turned up counterfeit Vandoren reeds at several retailers and I wholesale companies in Seoul, South Korea. Th . . .

Pearl river "instrumental" to the soloist.(FOREFRONT)
DAVID ALLEN, a staff writer with the Daily Bulletin in Ontario, California, recently uncovered a Pearl River twist to the story behind the story of the movie The Soloist starring Robert Downey Jr. a . . .

Paul Reed Smith to head Private Stock department: PRS guitars founder returns to his roots as a guitar maker.(FOREFRONT)
PRS GUITARS founder Paul Reed Smith has taken over the company's renowned Private Stock guitar department, following the departure of Joseph Knaggs, who formerly served as director of R&D and Privat . . .

P. Mauriat reinvents vintage to drive sales growth.(FOREFRONT)
1N THE WORLD OF saxophones, per- "1 haps no other company has been able to accomplish what E Mauriat has done in such a short period of time. In 2002, P. Mauriat founder Alex Hsieh came to the U.S. . . .

Signature boomers win MIPA award: GHS.(FOREFRONT)
GHS DAVID GILMOUR Signature Boomers received the M.I.P.A. International Press Award for Best Electric Guitar String at the 2009 Frankfurt Musikmesse. Sometimes called the "Grammys" of the music and . . .

Sennheiser's "true sound" marketing campaign.(FOREFRONT)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THIS SUMMER headphone manufacturer Sennheiser has been connecting consumers across the U.S. and Canada to true sound with an innovative consumer campaign that will drive Sen . . .

Washburn spotted at idol auditions.(FOREFRONT)
WASHBURN GUITARS were represented at open auditions for American Idol in Chicago, where around 12,000 people turned out for a shot at appearing on the hit television show. One young hopeful was spot . . .

Heavy capital campaign reflects Sejung's confidence: piano maker upgrades facilities in effort to expand market share.(FOREFRONT
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JUST SEVEN YEARS after completing construction of a 700,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and producing its first piano and guitar, Sejung Musical Instrument Manufacturing . . .

The art of making Double Reeds: Jones Double Reeds.(FOREFRONT)
THE ARTISANS AT Jones Double Reed Products use the finest cane available to make oboe, bassoon, and English horn reeds. They are cross-trained so that they can work at nearly all of the stages of pr . . .

Wall Street journal features Martin Guitar.(FOREFRONT)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MARTIN GUITAR'S NEW "1" series guitar was featured on page 1 of the Marketplace section of the July 6 edition of the Wall Street Journal Under the headline "Guitar Maker Rev . . .

Mel Bay offers retailers online profit opportunity: Shopatron gives every retailer an online presence.(FOREFRONT)
SHOPATRON, AN e-commerce solutions provider, has added Mel Bay Publications as the newest name on its roster of music industry clients. Shopatron will provide a secure online checkout service, whi . . .

Gala honors Drucker's 61-year career: Buffet-Crampon.(FOREFRONT)(Concert review)
FOLLOWING ONE OF HIS final performances as principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, Stanley Drucker was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a gala reception hosted by Buffet-Cra . . .

Bosendorfer's audi grand.(FOREFRONT)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BOSENDORFER HAS A LONG tradition of working with famous architects and designers to create visually striking pianos that retain their tone and playability. In the past, the . . .

Contemporary church selects Allen & Heath: American Music & Sound.(FOREFRONT)
CHRIST'S CHURCH OF the Valley in San Dimas, California, has been growing steadily in recent years, making a switch to digital audio mixing a virtual necessity. With multiple locations, six weekend s . . .

Inspired by animals, Get'm Get'm wear gives back.(FOREFRONT)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN 1998 GET'M GET'M WEAR entered the guitar strap market with a range of designs from an unlikely source: the pet supply industry. With a selection of funky patterns first u . . .

Baptist and McNab join endorsers list: Ultra-Pure Oils.(FOREFRONT)
HOLLYWOOD TRUMPETERS Rick Baptist and Malcolm McNab are the latest artists to endorse Ultra-Pure Oils. Between performances for the Oscars, Dancing With The Stars, The Incredibles, Batman, Rocky, . . .

Share prices of publicly traded industry firms.(FOREFRONT)
SHARE PRICES OF PUBLICLY TRADED INDUSTRY FIRMS PRICE AS OF P/E JULY 9, 2009 RATIO Apple Computer Inc. $136.52 . . .

Looking4Lessons: Lesson management system/teacher referral service helps make education programs more profitable for retailers.(
MANY MUSIC RETAILERS will tell you that a well-oiled music education program is among their more reliable contributors to success. Even when economic uncertainty makes consumers cautious, most paren . . .

Best buy earnings fall on sluggish sales.(RETAILER UPDATE: NEWS FROM THE RETAIL FRONT FRONT LINES)
FISCAL FIRST QUARTER profit fell 15% at Best Buy, but handily beat Wall Street expectations as cost control efforts and improved gross profits offset sluggish sales. For the period ended May 30, the . . .

Big beat returns with more locations: Five-Star Drum Shops.(RETAILER UPDATE)
THE SOUND OF DRUMS will rumble across North America once again on Sunday, November 1, as 12 Five-Star Drum Shops participate in The Big Beat and raise money for worthwhile causes. Billed as the worl . . .

Bill's Music holds "Jam Off": Five-Star Drum Shops.(RETAILER UPDATE)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TEAMING UP WITH DAY JAMS Music Camp, Bill's Music of Baltimore recently sponsored its annual Jam Off. More than 15 local bands entered the contest in hopes of winning a $500 . . .

Tracy Leenman earns keep the beat award: Musical Innovations.(RETAILER UPDATE)
TRACY LEENMAN, CEO of Greenville, South Carolina's Musical Innovations, has received the Keep The Beat 2009 Music Advocacy Award from the KEYS Program, a national initiative to improve the quality o . . .

Reality show Films at store: Seminole Music.(RETAILER UPDATE)
WHEN MUSICIANS FROM the Stone Cold Reality television show stopped by Seminole Music in Seminole, Florida, they stocked up on a selection of Musicorp lighting products and Stageline Wooden Guitar St . . .

NAMM member Doug Dryden, owner of Jackson's Music stores in Georgia, recently presented a grant to Mt. Zion High School in Georg
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: NAMM MEMBER Doug Dryden, owner of Jackson's Music stores in Georgia, recently presented a grant to Mt. Zion High School in Georgia's Clayton County school district . . .

Amazon fights sales tax.(RETAILER UPDATE)
AS STATES TRY TO FORCE retailers to collect taxes on online sales, internet retailer Amazon.com is pushing back hard. As the North Carolina legislature prepared to vote on a new law that would requi . . .

The meaning of "community involvement": with a creative approach to supporting musical activities in your community, you can pol
I know most music stores are involved to some extent in their town and their music community. They buy ads in school programs, donate a gift or two for a charity drawing, or drop a couple of dollars . . .

Disciplined response to a difficult economy: faced with the toughest operating climate in years, the industry's top retailers to
For 2008, the performance of the 200 largest music products retailers closely mirrored the performance of the overall retail economy, which is a kinder and gentler way of saying it was somewhere bet . . .

Doing more with less: the current recession is prompting an overhaul of business practices as retailers look to maximize the pro
If recessions have a silver lining, it's that they are an unmatched catalyst for spurring innovation. History has shown that there's nothing quite like the prospect of imminent financial catastrophe . . .

200 Generational shift rejuvenates easy music: the enthusiasm and energy of a youthful new management team generates impressive
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Among the most frequently heard general concerns about the music products industry are, "Where is the next generation of music retailers coming from, and how will they negot . . .

Rondo music.(200 Standout Performers)
While the dynamic between online retail and brick-and-mortar is easily framed as a clash of the upstarts and the old guard, the fastest-growing music retailer of 2008 resists either description. Fam . . .

Kraft Music.(200 Standout Performers)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Undeterred by the rocky economy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Kraft Music followed up a strong 2007 with an even stronger 2008. Still reaping the benefits of the new warehouse and . . .

Williamson Music.(200 Standout Performers)
Williamson Music owner Mark J. Williamson says he feels lucky to be located in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which he contends enjoys "the strongest music education system in the nation." Focused excl . . .

Musicnotes.com.(200 Standout Performers)(Company overview)
With the sharp format and instant gratification factor of iTunes, downloadable sheet music dealer MusicNotes.com saw sales rise 21.6% over 2007. Since going live in 2000, the company's annual sales . . .

I DJ Now.(200 Standout Performers)
According to I DJ Now President Robert Marsh, the recession, ironically, had more to do his store s 20% sales gain than any internal initiatives. For I DJ Now's growing e-commerce business in partic . . .

Beacock Music.(200 Standout Performers)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Playing the tighter numbers game imposed by the recession, Vancouver, Washington's Beacock Music emerged from 2008 with a sales increase of 12.30% over the previous year. "T . . .

Where to find them: a directory of the Top 200.(200 Directory)(Directory)
ACCENT MUSIC Sales Rank: 143 CEO: Steve Harkey www.accentmusic.com ALAMO MUSIC CENTER Sales Rank: 194 CEO: Alfredo Flores, Jr. www.alamomusic.com ALL COUNTY MUSIC Sales Rank: 153 . . .