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Guitars are doing well!

2K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  Formerly Given To Fly 
#1 ·
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/style/guitar-sales-fender-gibson.html

I see this as a good thing. The main thing I remember about the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis was most of the brick and mortar music stores going out of business. A decent online presence seemed to be the deciding factor between staying in business or not. 2020 has been the type of year in which I would not have suspected guitar sales to break records. We can add it to "the list of unsuspected events of 2020."

What are your thoughts regarding the last two sentences?

"In other words, you could argue that the guitar god is dead. You could also argue that the guitar gods did their job."
 
#2 ·
Even dead guitar gods can still shift a lot of product. Just ask Jimi. 🙂

I don't know whether guitar was ever over.. But it certainly has a lot more competition than in the 1970s..

Yet it's also more accessible than ever before..

So I think there is cause for optimism.
Especially with things like more girls playing than used to be the case.
 
#4 ·
Even dead guitar gods can still shift a lot of product. Just ask Jimi. 🙂

I don't know whether guitar was ever over.. But it certainly has a lot more competition than in the 1970s..

Yet it's also more accessible than ever before..

So I think there is cause for optimism.
Especially with things like more girls playing than used to be the case.
"I would never have predicted that we would be looking at having a record year," said Andy Mooney, the chief executive of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, the Los Angeles-based guitar giant that has equipped Rock & Roll Hall of Famers since Buddy Holly strapped on a 1954 sunburst Fender Stratocaster back in the tail-fin 1950s.

"We've broken so many records," Mr. Mooney said. "It will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history, record days of double-digit growth, e-commerce sales and beginner gear sales. I never would have thought we would be where we are today if you asked me back in March." - NY Times


A record year could mean many things. However, I assume money is never far away in which case FMIC had estimated sales at $718,000,000 in 2019. That number is an estimate but an informed estimate. Assuming they got close, met, or exceeded their estimate, that is a lot of money. For 2020 to be a record year, that suggests they made a similar amount in sales. Many companies were unable to come anywhere near similar results, unfortunately.

But on the guitar front, there is certainly cause for optimism! We do not get to say that very often. The government declared businesses "essential" and "non-essential." Music stores were "non-essential." The people rose up and decided otherwise...and ordered gear online just like we have been doing for the past 15- 20 years. :wink:
 
#5 ·
And think of all the sweet deals to be had on 2nd hand pedals when many lose interest in the next few years!

More seriously I hope we beat this virus and the resurgence in people playing translates into a live music resurgence too.. I really miss going to and playing at gigs. And as the weather worsens socially distanced neighborhood acoustic jams get harder to arrange.
 
#6 ·
I hope we beat this virus too. I think live music will experience a resurgence but I think it will be different than it was before. Live music will need to be "worth it" from the perspective of the musicians and the perspective of the audience. "Worth it" means you want to be there.
In economics, there is a concept called "option value." It measures the value of having the option to do something, to go somewhere, etc. or not. The "option" to hear live music was taken away, which has never really happened before, but it will come back. Losing something and then getting it back usually causes people to appreciate and value that thing more. So, I think the demand for live music will be strong. People may not realize it until they hear it though.

I'm jealous you can have socially distanced neighborhood acoustic jams. ;)
 
#7 ·
As for guitars doing well, the main reason I was glad to read that was it sheds some light on what the values of society might be. Right now, we can't necessarily support what we value so having a strong link in the music creation chain means there is one link that does not need to be repaired or reformed.

(By the way, the post above mine is why I question whether something is written by a bot, spammer, or person.) :plain:
 
#8 ·
As for guitars doing well, the main reason I was glad to read that was it sheds some light on what the values of society might be. Right now, we can't necessarily support what we value so having a strong link in the music creation chain means there is one link that does not need to be repaired or reformed.

(By the way, the post above mine is why I question whether something is written by a bot, spammer, or person.) :plain:
Good to know that the guitar industry is doing well indeed! This is a good time for activities that don't require mingling with the masses... lol. Playing my guitar at home, riding dirt bikes, camping, fishing, etc... :grin2: It's a great getaway for me to sit down and just jam along with backing tracks or learn a cool song. Plus all the madness going on politically, pro sports with no fans, bad news all over the tv... Nice ot have ways to "check out" and get away, be it mentally or physically. Thanks guitar makers!! lol...
 
#13 ·
I think they're spammers, but human.

There are several more "almost on topic" posts by that user. I don't know whether or not they ARE a spammer or not though.

As soon as I see I definite spam post, I'll ban them.
That user/bot is copy/pasting posts from the internet using key words and then slipping in a link to get clicks. The mortgage website links don't appear in the posts so must be filtered out by the site, but they show if you quote the text.
 
#17 ·
My bot senses are always tingling, they are getting sneaky though!

On topic : I think it's wild how guitar sales are doing so well, browsing the various parts of the net it seems clear there are an incredible number of new players too! At a time when live music is effectively dead on a global scale we have record sales of musical instruments. One can only hope that when the industry starts to recover we benefit with all the new music coming from all these new players. It's been a hard 6 months for me, coming to terms with the fact that I may actually have to consider a new career for a while, I've dedicated my entire life to music and done almost nothing else since leaving school.
 
#19 ·
On topic : I think it's wild how guitar sales are doing so well, browsing the various parts of the net it seems clear there are an incredible number of new players too! At a time when live music is effectively dead on a global scale we have record sales of musical instruments. One can only hope that when the industry starts to recover we benefit with all the new music coming from all these new players. It's been a hard 6 months for me, coming to terms with the fact that I may actually have to consider a new career for a while, I've dedicated my entire life to music and done almost nothing else since leaving school.
I'm pleased to hear that guitars are doing so well, my son has an amazing ear for music but despite being naturally good at it (he takes after his mother luckily ;) ) he'd rather watch appallingly bad cartoons on YouTube and Netflix. There's so much shiny competition for kids time these days.

That said, I haven't really found anyone recently that I find grabs my attention, there are a girth of amazing players, but not many who can balance writing a tune with playing interesting note choices.

I am officially old. Dad-rock beckons and I follow.
For the record, I would much rather be able to say "musicians are not doing terribly!" However, any good news is welcome on the music front.
 
#18 ·
I’m pleased to hear that guitars are doing so well, my son has an amazing ear for music but despite being naturally good at it (he takes after his mother luckily ;) ) he’d rather watch appallingly bad cartoons on YouTube and Netflix. There’s so much shiny competition for kids time these days.

That said, I haven’t really found anyone recently that I find grabs my attention, there are a girth of amazing players, but not many who can balance writing a tune with playing interesting note choices.

I am officially old. Dad-rock beckons and I follow.
 
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