11-15-2015

COVER STORIES

The Road Less Traveled

The Retailer presents our Salute to Lesser-Publicized Music Products. The purpose of this annual “Salute” is to recognize products that, for whatever reason, have gotten less press ink than they truly merit. But make no mistake: We expect several of these products to break out and start grabbing headlines very, very soon.

Accessories As MI Profit Centers

Chris K. Davis speaks to three highly successful dealers—Instrumental Music Center, Cassell’s Music and Tegeler Music—and asked their owners not only what categories and brands of accessories they’re doing best with, but also why the accessories category has become so powerful and whether that trend seems sustainable.

INTERVIEW

Five Minutes With

It’s an incredibly exciting time for Ernie Ball Inc., what with a product portfolio expansion, numerous marketing and branding initiatives, and merchandising and sales programs that should pay dividends with respect to both dealers and end customers. So, it’s a perfect time to delve into the details with Brian Ball, the company’s President.

FEATURE

MI Spy

Northampton MA’s funky, anti-mainstream atmosphere also means it has plenty of independently owned music shops, chock full of cool instruments and music gear. So, The Chief couldn’t resist sending our resident super sleuth to the city “where the coffee is strong and so are the women.”

COLUMNS

The Music & Sound Independent Retailer

An update on your fellow brick-and-mortar independent retailers.

Special To The Retailer

Indie retailer Allen McBroom pulls back the curtain on why a “great deal” found online might, in fact, be a lousy deal in disguise.

Shine A Light

For the past 34 years, Instrumental Music and Sound and its proprietor, Jeffrey Nixon, have been serving the musical needs of the community in Ludington MI.

Retailer Rebel

Generating and maintaining relationships with the customers we already have should be of prime importance to independent music stores. Yet, it’s something many stores take for granted.

Business & Marketing

If your Web site is more than a few years old, there’s a good chance it’s out of date. David Hall explains the virtues of implementing “responsive Web design.

Veddatorial

It might not be “sexy” to talk about basic phone skills, but Dan Vedda argues that now, perhaps more than ever before, handling calls well can dramatically boost your business.

Under The Hood

In converging new technology with creators’ ever-expanding ambitions, Zoom builds products that rapidly gain market share and that help facilitate creative expression. Its latest creation is the Q8 Handy Video Recorder.

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