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  • Harmony Central - The Switzerland of the Music Instrument Industry

    By Dendy Jarrett |

    The Switzerland of the Music Instrument Industry

    How do we do it? We just do …

     

     

    by Dendy Jarrett

     

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    It’s in our DNA, and it’s what we're charged to do. 

     

    neu·tral
    n(y)o͞otrəl
     
    noun:  an impartial or unbiased country or person.

     

    Keeping our reviews neutral has always been our goal  because it's one of the most important factors in differentiating Harmony Central from many other online or print review sources. Sites these days are trending to “pay to play,” which means a manufacturer pays (in one way or another) for a review to appear. Now, this may come as a surprise and I’ll probably take some industry heat for making this known, but it's reality. This point was driven home to us when we had a hard time getting products for review from a particular manufacturer. When we cornered them at a trade show, the response was, "Well, it's not in our budget." When we explained that we reviewed products based on whether we thought the community would be interested, not whether a company advertised or paid for placement, they just about fell over.

     

    Of course, neutrality is also about how we review gear. Our philosophy is that you don't really care whether we like something or not  because "good" is so subjective. Our goal is to describe a product so accurately - covering both strengths and limitations - that you can make a decision about whether a piece of gear might be suitable for you. Neutrality is also why we created the Pro Review format, essentially an "open source" format in which everyone is free to express opinions and ask questions about gear - we even encourage manufacturer participation to address comments and concerns (as well as enjoy some of the kudos that head their way).

     

    Another factor is that the review ecosystem has changed since the days when print was king; now you can go to online shopping sites and find tons of user reviews. But,  paradoxically,  even though there are more reviews than ever, they're not vetted. It's common for someone to give a bad review because they didn't bother to read the documentation so they weren't aware of how a product works, while others give a good review because they want to justify their purchase to themselves. Another issue is that reviews of a flawed version 1.0 remain immortal, long after a version 2.0 may have fixed those problems.

     

    This is why we take reviews seriously. All of our editors are professionals with over a decade's experience of writing reviews, and our freelance reviewers are screened to make sure they have the same kind of expertise. We also fact-check our reviews with manufacturers, not so they can try to influence the review, but to make sure that everything we run is accurate.  For example, we don't want to run a review of a product if a new version is coming out next week. Perhaps best of all, our user reviews from the community have no equivalent on the web. The Harmony Central community knows its stuff, and that knowledge carries through to the thousands and thousands of user reviews we post each year.

     

     

    A bonus is that because we remain the Switzerland of the music industry, we have respect not only from musicians but also from manufacturers. Many times we've reported on the limitations of a piece of gear that led to revisions in a subsequent update. We feel this kind of consumer advocacy is part of our mission as well.

     

    So the logical question is, "How is it that  Harmony Central gets to avoid the pay-to-play trap?" There are three main reasons. First,  when we were acquired by Gibson, Henry Juszkiewicz's primary directive was to retain our neutrality, He realized that was the engine behind Harmony Central's success  and to interfere with it would be insane. Second, we have media partners who support us not because we do reviews, but because they're in complete alignment with our mission to bring excitement to the industry and help people make better music. Third...and perhaps most important - - it's what we do. If we had to be more concerned with what companies think of us than the community, we'd be looking for a different gig.

     

    So, we’ll keep bringing you the best reporting we can, and hope that we can be a helpful guide as you continue to grow in your passion to make better music. And you can help: Please tell your musician friends about Harmony Central, and let them know how easy it is to subscribe to the Make Better Music newsletter. We're all in this together - let's make the most of it.

     

    (Got comments? Want to review our reviews? Join the discussion on Harmony Central and our mission to be the Switzerland of the musical instrument industry.)

     

     

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    Dendy Jarrett is the Publisher and Director of Harmony Central. He has been heavily involved at the executive level in many aspects of the drum and percussion industry for over 25 years and has been a professional player since he was 16. His articles and product reviews have been featured in InTune Monthly, Gig Magazine, DRUM! and Modern Drummer Magazines.

     




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