The Last Five Years
Our December 15, 2003 issue said NAMM would rotate Austin and Indianapolis as locations for the Summer NAMM shows. Unfortunately, both locations did not cut it. So we later put together a play on words from a George Strait song by stating “One of Our Ex’s Lives in Texas. So NAMM Hangs its Hat in Tennessee.” NAMM returned to Nashville for Summer NAMM and was successful this year.
Our January 15, 2004 issue focused on some news that was hard to believe: Despite having 120 stores at the time, Guitar Center had none in the “center of the universe,” New York City. That changed when the retail chain threw a huge bash to mark the opening of a store at 25 W. 14 St., in New York City’s Union Square. DMC of Run-DMC hosted the event.
On September 15, 2004, our issue focused on Avid Technology buying M-Audio for $80 million. “The entry-level audio market offers attractive growth opportunities, and both Digidesign and M-Audio have demonstrated solid successes in that area,” said David Lebolt, Digidesign general manager and Avid vice president.
March 15, 2005’s cover featured a “Late Exclusive” that LOUD Technology bought St. Louis Music. “St. Louis Music has an impressive and well-respected family of brands that open up a number of significant new opportunities for LOUD Technologies,” said LOUD CEO Jamie Engen.
The next month, another big acquisition was at the forefront when we reported Guitar Center bought Music & Arts Center, its 60 retail locations and seven educational support centers, for $90 million. “The combined division, which will retain the Music & Arts name, will remain focused on beginning musicians,” said Marty Albertson, GC’s chairman and CEO.
On August 15, 2006, we were witness to a big industry shift when we reported the venerable Brook Mays filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Don Middleton, owner of Don’s Music Land in Peoria, Ill., told us, “It’s a sign of things to come. That’s why [independents] are here [in a difficult situation]. It used to be that every other independent store was competition for us. Now, we have to unite, because we need one voice somewhere.”
That need to unite led to the formation of groups including IMRA, MSO, and FURMM.
But of course, the AIMM group came earlier. The group, which includes the leadership of Skip Maggiora and George Hines, was founded in 1998 and celebrated an anniversary of its own—its 10th—earlier this year.
In our January 18, 2007 issue, we discussed the possibility of Guitar Center being bought and becoming a private entity. That later happened when leveraged buyout firm Bain Capital purchased the company.
In April 2007, we reported news that could have consequences on our industry. “The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has subpoenaed several MI organizations and manufacturers regarding price fixing and Minimum Advertised Price (MAP).” That investigation is ongoing.
In our Jan. 17 2008 issue, we asked end-users who love the roaring hot video game series “Guitar Hero” if they would try out instruments for real. Our study revealed that they would.
In August 2008, we reported that Bain Capital made another purchase when it scooped up D&M Professional.
And of course, recently, the big news has been Best Buy’s full-fledged entry into the MI marketplace with its 2,500-sq.-ft. store within stores. We’ll let you know how that works out in our next anniversary issue (or hopefully much before that).
Our Latest Venture
A few months prior to launching the “Independent Retailer” column, October 2006 to be exact, we debuted Vnewsletter, the industry’s first video newsletter. The broadcast, hosted by Jill Nicolini of the CW 11 in New York City, is available twice a month in your e-mail inbox and online.
“Everybody’s doing e-newsletters,” said Testa. “From our own personal experience, maybe people in the financial business can sit at a computer screen and read documentation in an e-newsletter form. We’re in the entertainment business, so what we did was we launched the industry’s first twice-monthly video newsletter. In 10 minutes, there’s news you don’t find in the magazine; confidential things, some rumors even; and the response has been phenomenal, because that’s what our business is...We’re in the entertainment business!”
Another huge video component we provide is Convention TV @ NAMM. So whenever you turn on your hotel TV set or wander anywhere near the NAMM show floor, that’s us. We provide all of the latest news and product coverage at NAMM.
Editor’s Note: We’d like to thank NAMM’s Dan Del Fiorentino for providing an entire transcript of Vinny Testa’s Oral History Interview.
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