VOTE
Dealer Ballot
Manufacturer/Rep Ballot
Votes will be accepted until Monday, January 4, 2016.
Jim Hennessey, TMP/On-Stage
“We founded The Music People, Inc., in 1979 on a promise of quality, innovation and high-turn profits for dealers. Today, the company operates as a family business, with my son and daughter under two divisions—On-Stage and TMP Pro Distribution—and it has a global footprint in 80 countries. My passion, however, remains the same—to create innovative products and to give working musicians more for their money. Thank you to all the dealers, many of whom have become close friends, for the nomination. It’s an unexpected nomination, but it speaks volumes to the journey and the memories we’ve made. It’s been my pleasure and honor to have dealers become such close friends over the years. The relationships that we have built have supported my growth and my family. Thank you.”
—Hennessey
Mark Terry, KMC Music
“I am honored, and humbled, to be nominated by the MI and professional audio community for the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Music & Sound Retailer. I have been exceedingly fortunate to have had a long and exciting career in this crazy, wonderful business that, for many of us, is really a passion. When you go to work every day and have the privilege of helping to introduce consumers to the beauty of creating, playing and recording music, it’s very hard to think of it as ‘work.’ It’s a calling and it’s a calling that I am very grateful to have heard and responded to so many years ago. I want to thank everyone who thought so much of me to cast their vote, and I want everyone to know that I plan to continue to play my part in this fantastic industry that I love for many years to come.”
—Terry
Mike Matthews, Electro-Harmonix
“For almost half a century, Mike Matthews has been at the forefront of the effects pedal game. When he started in 1968, that segment of MI was in its infancy. But, with seminal pedals like the Big Muff Pi and LPB-1 Linear Power Booster, Mike and Electro-Harmonix laid the foundation for an industry segment that’s expanded exponentially. Through the years, a succession of firsts followed: the first compact flanger: Electric Mistress; the first analog delay: Memory Man; and the first looper pedal: 16 Second Delay. Today, Mike continues to guide Electro-Harmonix and a steady stream of innovative product introductions, with beloved offerings like POG2 Polyphonic Octave Generator, Soul Food Overdrive, Superego Synth Engine, Ravish Sitar Pedal, B9 and C9 Organ Machines, and the KEY9 Electric Piano Machine, which was recently nominated as Best Floor Effect of 2015. With a product line of over 125 effects pedals, Electro-Harmonix occupies a unique place in the pantheon of effects builders, and Mike Matthews is surely the Godfather of Effects!”
—Larry DeMarco, Electro-Harmonix