THE KAOS MONTHLY - JANUARY 2010

THE PEOPLE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Having just attended my 20th NAMM show it dawned on me that I have become one of the old guys in the industry, a veteran of this industry if you will. This is not really something that I aspired to achieve, it just sort of happened over the course of a very quick 20 years. While it's not really news to me, I thought I'd share with you an observation that I make just about every year after returning from the annual NAMM show in Los Angeles. The people who collectively make up the music industry are perhaps the coolest group of people you could ever hope to find. Let me tell you why I think this is true.

Attending a NAMM show lets one get a very broad look at the industry's people. There are lots of business people there such as manufacturers, sales people, CEO's, designers and such. As well, there are tons of retail business people like myself in attendance. Then, there are a lot of professional musicians, some famous, some not so famous. From rock stars to symphony musicians, they're all there. There are people from the Audio/Video and Lighting industries as well as broadcast people. Just about anyone involved in music and the production of music attend this show. Add to this, there are thousands of amateur musicians and enthusiasts in attendance. I don't think that you could get a better cross section of the music business then at this show.

So, what do all of these people have in common? Some of the really obvious things include a very casual attitude about things. Only a few of the business people are the least bit wound up, almost everyone is pretty relaxed. The music business enjoys a very casual language. Some might say a bit to casual. Its pretty common to hear the f bomb going off around this show. Slang and back handed compliments are pretty commonplace among this group. Despite what might be considered a bit vulgar in the language department the message of the words is almost always one of love and encouragement. It's not that common to hear a negative conversation among this group.

While just about any group of people enjoy a fun time or a party, the people of the music industry seem to excel in this department. The evening party time part of this show is every bit as important and looked forward to as the business day. Live music, cocktails and old fashioned hanging out is something that music industry people are famous for in Anaheim during this weekend every year. So much so that thousands of people converge on the convention exclusively in the evening just to party with this crowd. Why? because this crowd really knows how to have fun and, just as much business gets done in the evening as in the daytime. In the 20 years of going to this show I have never seen a negative incident at these party's which by the way often number in the thousands of people.

Beyond the music industry's relaxed attitude, language and attire lies perhaps its most telling characteristic. The people of this industry seem to understand and honor achievement. Unlike many other industries, the music industries top level people are often hard to tell from the most entry level people yet everyone knows who they are and afford them the respect that they have earned and deserve. As well, even though the music industry is a tough place to excel, there is no shortage of people who would be willing to do you a favor and help out if they could.

Bottom line, for the most part the people of the music industry are cool. Simple as that.

BILL'S NAMM REPORT

Not to start off with an excuse but I have to say that it's pretty hard for one guy to write a complete NAMM show report. The reason is, the show is over 1 million square feet in size with over a thousand exhibitors. To cover the whole show would be next to impossible. As well, I only have a narrow interests related to our store so I don't even pay attention to a good percentage of the show. Add to that, more then 70% of my time is spent in meetings and educational seminars. So, what I thought that I'd do this year is try to paint a picture of the show experience for you (from my perspective) and point out a few of the stand out products that I saw.

Each day at the NAMM show starts around 7 am. After a quick shower I set out for the 10 minute walk to the Hilton which is directly beside the convention centre. This is no normal Hilton, it's gigantic and very fancy. This is where the morning seminar takes place each morning of the show. About 3000 people usually attend these morning sessions, I almost never miss them. The first half hour is for waking up, eating the buffet breakfast and listening to opening musical act. Some of the best performances of the show happen here at 8 am believe it or not. This year the stand out morning performance was given by Victor Wooten, famous bassist. After hearing about the state of affairs in the industry the show opens at 10 am. Usually, I attend at least a few seminars in the morning. These usually take up an hour or two and the rest of the morning is spent either in meetings with manufacturers or walking the show floor. After a quick lunch, usually a bad street meat type thing, it's back to the show for more meetings, seminars and meetings. By sometime between 5 - 6 pm I shut it down and walk back to the hotel to get a quick rest in before the evening activities.

The evenings consist usually of a dinner out with suppliers followed by some sort of entertainment. This year included a Yamaha reception dinner, a Martin reception dinner and an assorted Subway sub with chips on the night my hotel mate had a tummy ache. We did take in a number of bands the most famous would have been Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer) and his band playing at the Sabian event. Tons of fun, a bit of drinking which is pretty uncommon for me and a few headaches. All worth it though.

Now, for some notable products. I think my favorite product of the show was Martin's new Performing Artist Acoustic/Electrics. A bit of a departure for Martin, the super conservative guitar company goes a bit wild making a crazy high quality guitar that actually looks very very hip. Click here for more details. Godin had tons of new products and improvements but the most notable was the introduction of an even more affordable Strat type guitar to their line. It's called the Session and we ordered them on the spot. Hands down the nicest quality and most versatile guitar you could ever buy for less the $500. Click here for more details about the new Godin guitars. In the world of amps there was no shortage of new product. Marshall introduced a whole new segment of amps utilizing modeling technology with tube power. Vox has released new versions of their famous AC15 and AC30 with improved speakers at significantly lower prices. Traynor introduced their version of an all tube 15 watt head and cabinet while Peavey introduced an entirely new line of acoustic amps as well as some new additions to their Vypyr Line of modeling amps.

Usually famous for huge numbers of new products, Roland was pretty quiet at this years show. Their notable releases included a cool new low cost guitar multi effect called the ME 25, a new, smaller AC33 acoustic amp and a new KC155 keyboard amp. As usual, Ibanez had tons of new products featured at the show. Yamaha released a new high end electronic drum kit to rave reviews along with a new series of fairly high end stage pianos among other things.

Well, that's just a fraction of what I saw and an even smaller fraction of what was their to be seen. Just about every manufacturer has information about their new products on their websites so I'd urge you to check them out. As well, you can click here to look at my complete set of pictures from the show. All in all, the NAMM show not only gets me up to date on the current and future products in the music industry it always serves to pump me up for another year of working in the best industry in the world. Like I said in the opening article of this newsletter, the people of the music business are cool and I feel very lucky to be a part of it. Thanks...

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