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NAMM 2010
Jan. 14-16, 2010
ConventionTV@NAMM
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-Table of Contents
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We Cover it All!
For the second time, we honor instruments that get zero or little press...
A ‘Super’ Party on Kent Island
Experience PRS loaded up on celebrities, new products and much more. Get the full scoop...
‘Father of RMM’ Passes
Karl Bruhn, a tireless music industry devotee, mentored many and made awareness of health and wellness together a lifelong initiative.
Don’t ‘Skip’ this Story!
Skip’s Music Celebrates 30th Anniversary of its Special Event Celebrating the 30th anniversary of your store being in business is an impressive feat. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of an idea you had at your store is utterly...
I Just Wanna Bang
on the Drums All Day
How is the Percussion Industry Doing? 2010 has been a tale of three seasons for many retailers to whom we’ve spoken. Sales for many in the first three months of the calendar year...
Your One-Stop Shop For The Holidays!
Heathcare Provision Could
Be a Nightmare
America the Beautiful
Not Doubting Thomas
Mendello Retires, Thomas Named Fender CEO
Music City Mystery
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-The Latest, Industry, Dealers, People and Product Buzz and Showcases.
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-The Music & Sound Independent Retailer: We bring back our popular Independent Retailer Round-table. Providing four pages worth of answers are Gordy Wilcher & Lisa Kirkwood.
-Five Minutes With: We lend our ears to Marty Garcia, Founder and CEO of Future Sonics.
-MI Spy: Spy makes a visit to New York City to check out stores in both downtown and midtown. Service has to be good to win over discerning New Yorkers, right? We’ll find out.
-Dan the Man: Dan Ferrisi, with the help of occasional strategically placed SAT vocabulary words, discusses the prospect that the industry may have lost luster since a promising and upbeat January NAMM show.
-Birth of a Product Two former PRS veterans combined forces to found
Knaggs Guitars. The story behind the Maryland-
based company, which debuted a line of products at
Musikmesse.
-Sales Guru: Sales persistence pays off. Just ask Gene Fresco
-Veddatorial: Dan Vedda provides a can’t-be-missed Summer NAMM synopsis.
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-Catherine Polk: I’ve always had a great love for music. I come from a musical family of four girls. We mostly had a vocal background, but most of us played the piano. Also, my grandfather would...
-Cyndi Fritz: She never had a dream of becoming the next Janis Joplin. Although she has eclectic musical interests, a career in music was not necessarily on her radar. Cyndi Fritz was....
Janet Deering: When Janet Deering took an aptitude test at the conclusion of her high school career, she was told agriculture or sales were....
-Kathy How: Now here’s a story you don’t hear connected to MI every day. A woman who grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, studied medicine and later moved to England.
-Sarah Heil:We’ve all heard the stories about people beginning in the mailroom and later becoming the CEO of a major corporation. Those people are rare, but it does happen.
-Sue Avant is a trailblazer. She’s also someone who
has varied interests. And she is, indeed, formidable.
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| Cover Story C |
| By First Last Name |
[Month 2007 - Page 2] |
M&SR: So what's the best result an independent retailer can ask for from the possible FTC investigation? Not the most likely result, but the best?
Stevens: The best result would be to stop this industry from acting like 1950s pawn shops. Level things out. Become a real business and not "Let's Make a Deal," which is frankly the way this industry is operating now.
M&SR: In last year's independent retailer, some expressed doom and said they'd be out of business within five years. But with the emergence of buying groups, etc., do you feel any better this year?
Lovell: We're still not out of the woods, but at least we've organized an escape route. And there's a much bigger awareness about these [buying] groups. The indies are really getting to know each other.
Hix: It's really cool everyone is talking. I tried to do this in the Chicago area 30 years ago. But because the climate was different, they didn't feel that joining these groups was necessary.
Stevens: The NORCAL group will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2008. The most valuable thing we do is talk to each other. The only real peer group independent retailers have are other independent retailers. The manufacturers, reps, your wife, banker, and the guys you went to high school with don't know your business. Independent dealers have felt isolated for a long time. So independent dealers are feeling better where they are at even though it doesn't necessarily improve the bottom line.
M&SR: So give us some names. Which companies do you like working with often?
Lovell: Yorkville and ESP. And I don't deal with Hoshino but I know it has integrity. What you're asking is, who has integrity? Yorkville, ESP, and Hoshino have integrity.
Hix: Yorkville, ESP, and Hoshino have been great. I've also done very well with Mapex.
Lovell: Something to point out though is some companies "lean" toward you for awhile. Other companies set their sights on you. And some companies have their mindsets on growing the indie.
Hix: It can also be the rep. I've had great relationships with some reps and I've talked to other dealers who don't. So I'm not sure if it's the manufacturer or the rep.
Lovell: To me, it's been out of the reps' hands for a long time. It's corporate policy.
Knowles: One of the reasons why we came to Summer NAMM was to find companies that cater to the independent. One that would allow you to make money. One that has a good quality product. We've dealt with Taye Drums. It offers one kit at Musician's Friend and you can sell that kit and still make in the high 40s [percent] in margin. That's something I look for. I like Taye Drums. Another company we found is Stagg. It has a line of hand-hammered caste cymbals and we can make 50 points on it as opposed to 38, 37, 35, or low 30s from other companies. We discovered Proel. With some of its products, we can make in the high 60s. Those are the products that are keeping us going. The ones we can buy for $3 and sell for $17.95.
M&SR: What margin percentage do you need to survive?
Stevens: You look at NAMM's "Cost of Doing Business" surveys. For at least a decade, they've said a store needs to make at least 36 percent. There are manufacturers out there that give you 25 percent MAP. That's tantamount to them saying, "I don't expect you to make a living off of my product." I don't see any other way to interpret that.
Knowles: For us to break even, based on the last figures I've seen, we need to have between a 37 to 39 percent margin. With gas prices rising and [other factors], we need to have a higher margin.
M&SR: Let's say you just finished college, love music, and were trying to decide on what career you would get into. Would you open or work for a music store today?
Knowles: That's a tough question, because every time I go to a trade show, I always hear the question, "If you knew now what you knew then, would you do it over?" I don't know. I enjoy the equipment. I enjoy the people. It's a love/hate relationship. There are days where I dread going to work. There are days I love going to work and being around the people. The people make it enjoyable. But I don't know if I would do it again or not.
M&SR: Let's ask the question another way. What are you happy about in MI? What keeps your drive going to keep doing it?
Knowles: It's the feeling I get when a mom or dad buys their child their first guitar. The sheer look of excitement on that young child's face when they get that first guitar. They don't know what to do with it. But immediately, they want to hold it. They want to put a strap on. They want to cradle it. You can see the passion in their eyes. It's the passion we all had when we first got into this business. There's nothing I want to see more than that person mastering the guitar, taking lessons, and becoming a gigging musician. I want to see them happy. That's what keeps me coming back.
Stevens: I can think of almost no one I know in the 41 years I've been in this industry who is in it strictly for the financial reward. Sometimes, people take over stores and that might be their desire, but for everyone else, it's about music. It's about creating musicians. It's about making music makers. Even for people who don't play anymore-like myself-it's still about the music.
Hix: The thing I find most rewarding in my business is we have a "Rock University" program where we teach kids to play and conduct recitals. And seeing a little dude or dudette; when they get their first guitar and play their first show is what does it for me. And I'm talking about 9 to 14 year olds, who are innocent and not jaded. The looks I see on their faces keep me in the business. But to answer your [previous] question, would I invite anyone to get into our business? Absolutely not.
[end]
[ pages: 1 - 2 ]
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