SPECIAL: NAMM ISSUE
January 17, 2008
VOLUME 25 NO.1

THE MAGAZINE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND SOUND PRODUCT MERCHANDISERS

 
 

   
 

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-Table of Contents
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FEATURES
-It’s in the Cards ! You need to have PCI DSS-compliant terminals to handle credit card transactions by July 1. What are we talking about? Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
-Unplugged Acoustic guitar sales grew dramatically in 2009 and the beginning of 2010. Is this the beginning of a new trend?
-Head of the Class! We shine the spotlight on many of the new companies that launched at NAMM.
-Musicorp Mourns Mike Murphy We honor the sale rep’s life that ended way too soon.
-Is a New Healthcare Plan Just Snake Oil? We take a thorough look at how a new public healthcare plan can affect you and your employees. ?
-Bonanza! Behringer Buys Bosch Brands Behringer’s parent company added the Midas and Klark Teknik brands to its stable.
-The Stars Will Come Out…This Weekend We highlight a few of the celebrity appearances at NAMM.
-What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been!!! We reminisce as we close out the first decade of the new millennium. It was a tough 10 years for many. How about for the music industry though? What’s ahead?
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It’s Voting Time! Here are your nominees for the 24th annual Music & Sound Awards.
-Here We Come to Save the Day!!We provide a plethora of accessories that manufacturers assure you will provide excellent margins.
-For Those Who Make Lesser Publicized Instruments, We Salute You!!For the first time, we pay tribute to instruments and products that get little press coverage. We provide a well-deserved spotlight for these products!
-And the Bombs Keep Coming!Another big lawsuit is filed
against the industry.
This time, there are many
more defendants.
-Drumming to Their Own BeatHow well is the drum industry holding up during these difficult times? We call on three industry experts.
-Guitar Center, Fender, and NAMM Sued
-The Health of the Independent Dealer M&SR’s fourth annual independent retailer roundtable features a new twist. For the first time, manufacturers, hand-selected by the retailers, contribute to the story..


-The Latest, Industry, Dealers, People and Product Buzz and Showcases.

COLUMNS
-The Music & Sound Independent Retailer We talk to Debra Perez and Will Baily about the recreational music making (RMM) movement. Should you offer RMM classes in your store?
-Five Minutes With: We traveled to the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom, for a talk with Jason How of Rotosound. Martyn How and David Phillips join in. Rotosound plans for a huge push in the United States this year.
-MI Spy: MI Spy took to Beantown shortly before the Red Sox hosted the Yankees on opening day. Was service a home run or a swing and a miss?
-Dan the Man: Dan Ferrisi looks back at a NAMM session and ahead to a possible return to playing an instrument.
-Appraisal Scene Investigation: A new column is born! Rebecca Apodaca, the matriarch of music instrument appraisals, begins a new monthly column. Appraising instruments is not only something you can do, but it can earn you a pretty penny on the side, as well.
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Sales Guru: Gene Fresco called the NAMM show a “Winter Wonderland.” Find out why.
-Veddatorial: Gene Fresco teaches you how to be prepared as a salesperson.


FORMIDABLE FEMALES

-Linda Arink is one of the very few female executives at a DJ company. Learn how she became involved and why she hopes we won’t even need to have a column about top industry females in the future.
-Debbe Stephenson stumbled upon MI shortly after college, but is sure glad she did. She’s now president and COO of Pro Co Sound.
-Mary Peavey Being president at Peavey Electronics is no small feat. But that is not even close to knowing the whole story about her. She is Ivy League educated, founded a commercial real estate business, is involved with numerous worthy charities, and much more.
-Jennifer Tabor found a missing market niche and is growing her business by leaps and bounds. That, and she’s only 32 years old.
-Tarina Dunwoodie got to see the moment Graph Tech was born and has served the company since she was 17. She has moved up the ladder quite a bit since then.
-• Stacey Montgomery-Clark.
-• Cathy Duncan
-• Bee Bantug
-• Dale Krevens
-• Melanie Ripley
-• Susan Grund
-• Toby Nady
-• Shawna von Behren.
-• Berenice Chauvet
-• Sue Kincade
-• Tish Ciravolo
-• Vikki Hayward
-• Roxana Ramirez
-• Susan Lipp




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FROM HERO TO ETERNITY?
Will "Guitar Hero" Bring Customers Into Your Stores?
[January 2008 - Page 1]
Copies of "Guitar Hero" are selling faster than you can sing the chorus to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." That's certainly great news for Activision, whose Red Octane division manufacturers the three-game series. In fact, CNBC reported Activision is on track to have its most profitable year ever. "We didn't expect this demand," said Activision CEO Robert Kotick on the Nov. 27 edition of the CNBC program Fast Money. "'Guitar Hero' was even featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Even my mom sees 'Guitar Hero' on TV."

The news got even better for the "Guitar Hero" manufacturer when French media company Vivendi announced on Dec. 2 it would purchase Activision for $27.50 a share, and merge its video games unit with Activision's. The $9.85 billion deal will give Vivendi a 52 percent stake in the new company, which will be called Activision Blizzard.

Massive "Guitar Hero" sales are also good news for the music industry. After all, the more people involved in music, the better, right? But the key question is, is this good news for MI? The answer is "yes."

Before we explain, let's get rid of the legal-style mumbo jumbo. In no way are our findings scientific or statistically significant. We only interviewed eight people. In addition, we spoke to people who visit "Guitar Hero" forums on the game's Web site. Hence, we only interviewed avid players. Results could be different if we interviewed passive "Guitar Hero" participants.

But, on the plus side, we only interviewed people who played no musical instrument whatsoever before purchasing any of the three "Guitar Hero" games (or a fourth title in the series, "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s"). That whittled a long list of potential interviewees down to only eight. However, this allows us to truly find out if non-musicians will go to stores to buy gear solely based on playing the video games, which is truly what we wanted to find out and what is most important to MI. We interviewed a random group of people who responded to a Web site forum posting and they are not related to each other nor are involved in our industry.

Out of the eight people we spoke to across North America, all eight said they are heavily considering buying musical instruments or have already done so because of "Guitar Hero." All said playing the video game was the ONLY reason they plan to purchase MI products, perhaps at your store. Also fascinating is the fact that not all of the people we interviewed are pimply-faced teenagers. Ages run a wide gamut.

The paramount reason why these respondents want to purchase MI products: confidence. Previously, they thought it was too hard to play an instrument. But thanks to their success playing "Guitar Hero," they think they can become at least adequate players. And because each of the respondents was so adamant about at least strongly considering purchasing MI products, we believe the results would translate favorably if a much larger study were conducted. Also, on the positive side, our results are objective. Unlike some studies funded by companies or organizations, ours was not. In fact, we decided to write this story completely on our own and nobody even recommended we do so. Only after compiling the results did we contact other parties for comment.

OK, enough of the legal-ese. Let's get to our interviewees. All eight people said they liked "Guitar Hero" the most because of the music. All said they thought the music selections were tremendous and the ability to rock out in their living room like their rock idols sure doesn't hurt either.

Let's Get Rocking
Our first respondent was Jonathan Gan, 30, of New Britain, Conn. He has played all three versions of "Guitar Hero." "Not being terribly musically talented, it's great to pretend for a couple of hours a day that I'm up on stage rocking out," Gan said. Although he doesn't plan to buy a guitar, he said the only reasons are because his father always played guitar and wanted him to follow in his footsteps. "I want to be different, so I plan to get a piano. I really like classical music in addition to [rock]. There's just something about the piano I like.

"The [game] has encouraged that," he added. "Even though I know I'm only playing a piece of plastic and pushing some buttons, it's still a feeling of satisfaction when the song's over."

Kevin Myers, 22, from Smyrna, Ga., has played the video games since "Guitar Hero 2" became available for Xbox 360. He has all three versions, and even the "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s" version. The reason why Myers originally bought the game was because, "I love music. It's probably my favorite hobby. But I didn't have the patience to play a [real] guitar. A lot of my friends play the guitar and the learning curve on the actual guitar is out of control. With my personality, I couldn't sit around playing a guitar for six years with the first three being awful at it. With 'Guitar Hero,' you can be really good within three weeks."

But surprisingly, despite the previous comment, Myers is now seriously contemplating buying an instrument. "In the past, I said, 'OK, I'll never be good at it,'" said Myers. "But now it's something I'm really looking into. My friends who play guitar say 'Guitar Hero' actually helps them with their finger work. They say playing the crazy solos [on the game] improves their finger strength.

"When I played the game, I thought, this is really fun," continued Myers. "Now how cool would it be if this were a real instrument? When you play a real instrument, the sky's the limit. I'm considering buying a bass because it has four strings compared to six on an [electric] guitar. I want to start out with the least number of strings. I plan to go into a store in the very near future."

Bossier City, La.'s, Kevin Warren, 20, was next to sing "Guitar Hero's" praises. Warren has played versions one, two, and three of the game for a year. "My friend plays guitar and I asked to borrow one of his since I've been playing the game," said Warren. "It's inspired me to delve into playing the real guitar. It's hard to learn how to play guitar, but I'm interested in trying. Actually, I'm not only interested in getting a guitar. Another one of my friends owns a drum set and I'm interested in playing the drums also.

"I always thought guitars were cool before," he said. "But after playing the game, it makes me want to play the real guitar and the actual songs [featured] in the game."

Jeffrey Hill is such a huge fan of "Guitar Hero" that he pre-ordered two of the games directly from Red Octane. The 44 year old serves in the U.S. Navy and is stationed in San Diego. Hill first learned about "Guitar Hero" when watching VH1. He has played all three versions, as well as the '80s game. "We have 'Guitar Hero' parties at my house," said Hill. "My friends come over. They're all addicted to it. We play all night long."



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