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If your Web site is more than a few years old, there’s a good chance it’s out of date.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.