 |
| Alfred Publishing’s Ron Manus and Daisy Rock’s Tish Ciravolo celebrate their busy NAMM booth. |
We can’t sugarcoat it. Summer NAMM registrations dipped by more than one quarter to 12,967. The attendance drop was significant and had some manufacturers questioning the viability of the show.
But that’s not the whole story. Tons of manufacturers walked away from the show pleased. The comments from the manufacturers we polled were similar. Most said “expectations were low, but we were pleasantly surprised with the turnout.” Many exhibitors pointed out that of those who visited their booths, most were serious buyers.
Small manufacturers were more than pleased. Ecstatic is a much better way to explain their excitement. NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond pointed out during his State of the Industry address on July 17 that one-third of the exhibitors were new or were exhibiting for the first time after a long hiatus. Of the exhibitors we spoke to from that group, all (with no exceptions) said they were delighted with the exposure they received at Summer NAMM, as opposed to probable downstairs Hall E locations at Winter NAMM. The small manufacturers were giddy. Yes, of course they were giddy because they were showing off their products perhaps for the first time. But also because dealers wanted to see their products. There were too many of these companies to name. GuitarGuard, led by Larry Post was one. JamHub, led by Steve Skillings was another. And Beamz, who had its booth manned by Charles Mollo and Todd Nystrom, was a third. All three make unique products and found Summer NAMM to be the perfect place to show their inventions to the world.
 |
| LP Field, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans |
It was not only new companies that struck gold at Summer NAMM. Just ask American DJ’s Scott Davies. “Our company’s pivotal show that put us on the map was the 1980s Summer NAMM ‘wake by the lake’ in Chicago,” he said. “That’s what made American DJ happen. We built up our dealer base because we were the only ones there. This is history repeating itself. You can’t stop the people. There are still people out there who need equipment. We couldn’t have asked for a better scenario. Maybe 10,000 showed up at that Chicago show, but we emerged with hundreds of new dealers. We’re the only lighting company at Summer NAMM this year. We have no regrets about being here. It’s not only that we’re the only lighting company here. Other much larger companies aren’t here. So dealers are giving our booth a much larger look than they would before. We kept our booth the same size as last year. People came to us saying they never sat down with us long enough to know the complete scope of products we have. These are the times when we see market share changes.”
State of the Industry
“No one really knows the answers to our global economic crises,” admitted Lamond during the State of the Industry speech. “But I want to explore where we may be going…If you include the Great Depression, recessions have lasted 20 months. Twelve months if you don’t include the Great Depression. In this recession, we’re already at 18 months. This is the third largest recession since 1929. Recessions often end because of exhaustion when there is no more bad news to hear. Those who are calling for a fourth-quarter recovery, when the recession will have reached 23 or 24 months, could be right. Unemployment is something we talk about on a daily basis. We’ve been here before. It’s something that will repeat and we will need to plan for it.”
Later entering the stage were some of the aforementioned new companies at the show. Post was one, along with Michael Nash of Computerizedguitar.com, and Warren Kirsch of Wheatware, which is distributed through Harris Musical Products. All described their companies. GuitarGuard launched three new products at NAMM. Computerizedguitar.com showcased its first prototype. Wheatware turns surplus wheat into drum sticks and guitar picks that are “affordable earth-friendly products.” Once the products begin to decompose, they can be utilized as plant fertilizer.
Three stores doing anything but decomposing followed. Jim DeStafney from Blues Angel Music in Pensacola, Fla., Peter Dods from Easy Music in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Dick Puccio of Marich Music in Corning, N.Y., joined Lamond on the podium. DeStafney mentioned that selling used gear has buoyed his business during the recession. He added that joining the iMSO independent dealer group has helped his business dramatically via information sharing. “It was like I found my band of brothers,” said DeStafney.
“I want our place to become the store I want to shop [at],” said Dods of a key to Easy Music’s success. “Sometimes I feel like we’re there. Sometimes I feel like we’re not.”
“The Internet is our biggest competitor,” Puccio said. “I decided I had to do something different. I felt if I could get more people into the store, we’d sell more things. One of the promotions we do is a guitar swap. We had people bring in their guitars to the store. We told them the approximate price they would sell for. We’d sell the guitars for them and give them 40 percent of the price in cash. Or, they could apply all of it toward merchandise in the store. It turned out to be one of the greatest promotions we ever had.”
Added Puccio: “Another thing we do is what we call ‘The Great Weight Debate.’ Everyone’s interested in losing weight. We promoted it and had T-shirts made. We weighed all of the merchandise we sold in a week. Customers had to guess the figure.”
A third promotion at Marich Music is a wine tasting event. The store is located in upstate New York’s wine region. The event brought 500 people into the store. “Admittedly, it’s not a selling promotion. People come into the store to taste wine,” said Puccio. “But they’re in the store. Once they are, it’s up to us [to get them to make purchases]. It used to be location, location, location. While that’s still valid, today, it’s about promote, promote, promote.”
New NAMM Chairman
One of the major events at Summer NAMM was the passing of the baton from now former NAMM Chairman Chip Averwater to his successor, Tom Schmitt, chairman and CEO of Schmitt Music. Schmitt will serve a two-year term ending at 2011’s Summer NAMM. Schmitt sat down for an interview with the Music & Sound Retailer during last month’s show. Schmitt graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1976 with a degree in English. “I knew music retail was an option because my dad [Robert] was in the business,” said Schmitt. “I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to law school. But my dad made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. The offer was that I’d have a 10-year apprenticeship program where each year, I’d be doing something a little different. There were several different tasks I could do to learn how our business operated and how our customer thinks. At the end of each year, we had a formal review where we decided if the company liked me and if I liked the company. If the answer to both was ‘yes,’ we’d go on to the next year. At the end of the 10-year term, my dad would retire. At the end of 10 years, I was running a division of the company. My dad had all of the vendor contacts, and we were facing a tough economic time. So I told him I’d continue to run the division and that I enjoyed it. He said, ‘We can’t both run the business. You’re going to take over and I’m going to retire.’ That was in 1985. I’ve been running the business ever since.”
Schmitt Music is headquartered in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. The company has 17 stores from Minnesota south to Kansas City and west to Denver, with many stores in between. Even though Schmitt Music has 17 stores, Tom Schmitt considers himself an independent dealer and always will. “We have the same challenges any other independent has,” he said. “You need to listen to your customer, understand what they want, and find a way to give that to them…I want to acknowledge I’ve made all types of mistakes. Those jump in my mind sooner than what good ideas I’ve had. You learn from those mistakes. If you don’t, you don’t survive. One good thing I do is encourage a culture as a company that attracts and retains really good people. And we try to give them the tools they need to get the job done. We have a great staff, which is something Joerg [Hermsen], who joined the company in January as its director of marketing [and who accompanied us during the interview] can attest to.”
Schmitt, who previously served a three-year stint on NAMM’s Board of Directors, has set forth many goals during his chairmanship. “The first goal I have is to see all of our members get through this very tough time. That is the overriding objective. Secondly, from 1998 to 2007, the numbers have been static in terms of industry growth. I’d like to see those numbers move up and to the right. Along those lines, I’d like to see per capita sales in our industry go in the same direction. Fourth, a Gallup poll was just released about attitudes about making music. There’s more interest in making music than ever before. I’d love to see that number continue to move in the right direction. There’s tons of potential.”
How can NAMM accomplish those goals? “We’ve been doing a lot of work on Capitol Hill in Washington. [D.C.], on the No Child Left Behind Act,” Schmitt said. “The Obama Administration is very open to funding education. I think that will be authorized this fall. We want to make sure our language is included in that bill. Our goal is to make sure every child in America has equal access to a quality music education program. It’s not happening now. Music isn’t a tested subject. We have a great opportunity and we are all over that opportunity.”
Schmitt added that he’d like to see NAMM’s work at the federal level pushed down to the state level. He wants to see Winter NAMM get stronger. “It’s a great show, but we’re just scratching the surface. We can do a lot more,” Schmitt said. “I’d like to see the show grow and become an even more important international venue.”
As for Summer NAMM, Schmitt said he was very encouraged by what he saw on the show floor. Other goals he mentioned were improving NAMM’s balance sheet and further improving the bond NAMM has with organizations such as Sesame Street, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rose Bowl, and VH1.
Getting back to retailers, Schmitt has a goal of finding new and better ways of “driving customers into our stores and into our members’ products. There are a lot of people who don’t play music. How do we communicate with them?”
Schmitt’s final goal is to take steps to help NAMM’s international members and see other countries’ music organizations make more progress in their homelands.
[ pages: 1]
|
you can download this entire issue here >>
