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-Guitar Hero is all the rage for consumers.
-Need to take a break from searching for the latest gear during The NAMM Show? Here are some celebrity appearances and parties to check out.
-Attendance increased at Music China and Prolight + Sound, and Kenny G made a big splash.
-Improving next month's NAMM Show is like making the 1972 Miami Dolphins better. But NAMM is certainly not resting on its laurels.
-We reveal all of the manufacturer nominees for Music & Sound Awards to be handed out next month at The NAMM Show.
-Counterfeiting on MI products, particularly guitars, may have received minimal national press, but the problem is real and not going away.
-Find out how to sell products your customers are probably not looking to buy.
-M&SR features its second annual independent retailer roundtable. What's on dealer's mind's this year. Are things better than last year?
-Females playing musical instruments now outnumber males, according to a NAMM/Gallup survey.
-Industry leaders paved the way for the next 10 years.
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-Robert Gault, president of Eminence Speaker, knows a massive amount about China and the pro audio industry. Enough said.
-To say Kurt Ballou, Converge's guitarist, doesn't treat guitars well is like saying the New England Patriots are a decent football team. Ballou had to find a guitar to take a pounding. Here's why he chose First Act's Sheena.
-The amazing story of how Gear Source Music reopened days after a flood took it apart. Spy ventured to the Pacific Northwest to the great city of Seattle. Five minutes with a great wealth of knowledge in the percussion industry, Remo Belli.
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-John Flansburgh, They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh is a big fan of several independent dealers as well as a host of manufacturers.
-Matt Rubano, the bass player for the red-hot band Taking Back Sunday. Even better, he likes to shop for MI gear.
-Paul English, Willie Nelson has had four wives in 40 years, but only one drummer in that same time frame.
-John 5, When your name is a number, you must be cool. John 5, who played with Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, says idolizing Eddie Van Halen was a big mistake. How is that possible?
-Luke Pritchard may be “all together Kook-y,” but he has cool memories from the days he visited retail stores.
-Eddie Ojeda; Lead guitarist for Twisted Sister.
-Will Lee; Getting that gig isn’t easy and took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.
-Imogen Heap writes songs, plays piano and the nail violin,Does she plan to design her own instrument?
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| FTC Investigates “Price Fixing” |
| By Brian Berk |
[April 2007 - Page 1] |
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has subpoenaed several MI organizations and manufactures regarding price fixing and Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). Among those subpoenaed was NAMM, who in response discouraged people from discussing the topic on its Independent Retailer forum at http://indie.namm.org and said it could not comment about the subpoena for legal reasons. NAMM’s official statement follows: “On Monday, March 12, NAMM received a subpoena from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concerning an investigation into MAP pricing policies in the music products industry. NAMM has retained legal counsel and will be acting with their advice. NAMM staff cannot comment on the subpoena or the investigation. If you have questions regarding the subpoena, you may have your legal counsel contact NAMM’s counsel: Steven Chidester at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP at SChidester@Luce.com.”
A search of the FTC’s Web site, www.ftc.gov, made no mention of the investigation as of late March. Generally, when there is no mention of the subpoenas, it means the FTC is undergoing a preliminary fact-finding mission only. At this point, nobody has been charged with any wrong doing. However, the investigation will consume several employee hours, not to mention legal dollars, for several MI trade groups and manufacturers. The FTC has required sales data dating back more than seven years.
It’s unclear why the FTC decided to investigate possible price fixing or why it decided to investigate now. But the investigation has a precedent. The FTC and 28 states investigated MAP policies regarding the prerecorded CD industry in 2000. The results: five record labels who controlled about 85 percent of the industry agreed to “suspend MAP agreements which tied advertising cooperative payments to restrictions on Minimum Advertised Pricing even when the advertising wasn’t paid for by manufacturer coop funds and was strictly in-store.”
Although record labels and MI both involve music, the similarities probably end there. Our industry certainly does not have five companies controlling 85 percent of the market—not even close to that figure. In addition, in MI, MAP prices are set unilaterally by manufacturers. In other words, manufacturers are not collaborating with individual dealers on a minimum price for a product. That practice is forbidden by the 1911 “Dr. Miles rule,” although the Bush administration, the National Association of Manufacturers, and others are reported to be seeking to repeal the rule.
As for the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, it only prohibits “agreements in restraint of trade,” and in effect allows manufacturers to dump distributors who don’t adhere to their pricing policies.
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