News
July 10, 2009
As more than one supplier remarked at the past winter NAMM show, “Flat is the new up” and prophetically this appears to be the standard for MMR’s 19th annual Profile of The American Music Dealer which, by our account, recorded an almost dead-even tally of store fronts for the past two years. While there was definite movement on a state-by state basis, with net increases in such states as Florida, Kansas, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, there were, as expected, almost an equal number of states showing declines with Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and Colorado among the most hard hit.
Tagged : retailer reports
Widely regarded as one of the foremost bassists in contemporary music, Flea has won five Grammy awards as a member of the multi-platinum selling Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2001, he founded the non-profit Silverlake Music Conservatory, a music school that offers lessons and grants scholarships to students who cannot afford instruments or music education. Flea opened the Conservatory to give young people the chance to discover and play music the same way he did, regardless of financial means – now he is taking that same philosophy into the MI market.
Tagged : bass, guitars
“We’re very fortunate,” says Peter Janis, founder and CEO of Radial Engineering. “Our sales channels are global, and we’ve got some pretty heavy hitters out there using and representing our products throughout the world. There are a lot of people down right now but we’re actually up over last year.”
Tagged : manufacturing
Lessons to be learned in portrait of a state that has seen the best of times, the worst of times
In September of 2006, $500 million was dumped into the California public school arts programs, allowing one band director to buy a new $3,500 tuba – a once-in-30-year purchase. Today that tuba gathers dust in silence because the state government’s harsh budget shortfalls caused cuts to the school’s music program, and the loss of the band director’s job.
Tagged : recession, retailers
