Members Zooey Posted September 5, 2012 Members Share Posted September 5, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton And how do you fix prices anyway? If they're broken, do you use Elmer's Glue-All or do you need something stronger, like epoxy? Can duct tape provide a temporary fix? Actually, the preferred term these days is "resale price maintenance." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 15, 2012 Members Share Posted September 15, 2012 I recently discussed the stocking of Fender Squier branded guitars with a local independent merchant that carries other bargain brands. They said they don't carry Squier/Fender because they would have to pay a large upfront fee to carry them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted September 15, 2012 Members Share Posted September 15, 2012 Originally Posted by Hard Truth I recently discussed the stocking of Fender Squier branded guitars with a local independent merchant that carries other bargain brands. They said they don't carry Squier/Fender because they would have to pay a large upfront fee to carry them. They may have to commit to buying a minimum amount of stock, or maybe they have to dedicate a certain amount to marketing. But I really doubt they have to pay a fee in order to carry the product line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Originally Posted by Zooey They may have to commit to buying a minimum amount of stock, or maybe they have to dedicate a certain amount to marketing. But I really doubt they have to pay a fee in order to carry the product line. You're most likely right - I've never heard of a store having to pay a fee, although being required to purchase a minimum amount of initial stock isn't uncommon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monstermaker Posted September 15, 2012 Members Share Posted September 15, 2012 The one thing you can count on in life is prices will rise and name brand guitar manufacturers will charge too much. I'm not surprised by any collusion that pops up along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 16, 2012 CMS Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Originally Posted by Phil O'Keefe You're most likely right - I've never heard of a store having to pay a fee, although being required to purchase a minimum amount of initial stock isn't uncommon. There was a time, and I'm talking about audio equipment in the 1980s, not guitars, where dealers had to have a certain level of cocompetence and experience in the field as well as a few factory-trained sales people before they could carry certain lines. Oh, if only that was the case today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 16, 2012 Members Share Posted September 16, 2012 I wonder how long it will be before Guitar Center Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 16, 2012 Members Share Posted September 16, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton ... we have almost nothing to do with GC, except take advantage of their leverage to get us products for review before anyone else Tell us more about their 'leverage'. Tell us more about this 'advantage'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 16, 2012 Members Share Posted September 16, 2012 Originally Posted by Zooey They may have to commit to buying a minimum amount of stock, or maybe they have to dedicate a certain amount to marketing. But I really doubt they have to pay a fee in order to carry the product line. That may be what they meant, the bottom line is that they felt that they had to commit a large sum of money to carry the product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 16, 2012 Members Share Posted September 16, 2012 Originally Posted by Jon Gnash Tell us more about their 'leverage'. Tell us more about this 'advantage'. The leverage is that their buyers know about future product introductions before anyone else, even the press. This is so they can make purchasing decisions in advance, figure out how to market the stuff, how many to order, etc. The way we take advantage of it is that (remember, we all have extensive NDAs) we can get units from early production runs that go to key buyers. It goes something like this...manufacturer does first production run, sends units to key dealers (e.g., GC, MF, Sweetwater, Sam Ash, etc.). We bug GC/MF mercilessly to send us one of the units after they've checked it out. This gives us plenty of time to review the unit before it starts hitting the streets and fills the pipeline, which can take several weeks and sometimes longer. Then as soon as the unit hits the streets, we publish the review. Sometimes we don't even have to bug MF, we can get our own unit the same time MF does. This is becoming more common as more manufacturers recognize that the 5,000,000+ page views a month on our "content" side means good exposure, regardless of whatever is going on elsewhere. Even better, we aren't under pressure to write favorable reviews because a company like GC or MF is in the business of selling stuff. If people don't like Thing A, then GC/MF will sell Thing B instead. That said, one of the advantages of this gig is we get to choose what we want to cover, so we pick gear for review that looks promising or is of personal interest. It's a pretty sweet situation Even when I write a hands-on review for the MF catalog, I get to choose whether I want to write it or not. They make requests, not demands. So compared to (for example) print or other web sites, we can get the units before others, have more time to review them because we have a considerable amount of time before the product "goes public," and have the review ready to go as soon as the product becomes available. I have five reviews sitting on my hard drive right now of products most people don't even know exist We'll be the first to get a review online, and it will be more in-depth as well. As you may have noticed if you've been following the "content" side of the site, most of our reviews are now loaded with pictures, have audio examples, sometimes brief videos to accompany them, etc. Probably more than you wanted to know, but you did ask... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 17, 2012 Members Share Posted September 17, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton The leverage is that their buyers know about future product introductions before anyone else, even the press. Right. I know. And how do they acquire that knowledge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 17, 2012 Members Share Posted September 17, 2012 Originally Posted by Jon Gnash Right. I know. And how do they acquire that knowledge? Is that a trick question? Sometimes at NAMM, like a showing in a hotel room. Sometimes a phone call. Sometimes it's not definite, then it ends up being definite ("hey, we're thinking about..."). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 17, 2012 Members Share Posted September 17, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton Is that a trick question? Sometimes at NAMM, like a showing in a hotel room. Sometimes a phone call. Sometimes it's not definite, then it ends up being definite ("hey, we're thinking about..."). Yea, I know. But why would a manufacturer disclose secret information about new products in development to GC? What are the benefits? Do they do it to procure a sales order? Is it part of a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 17, 2012 Members Share Posted September 17, 2012 You'll have to ask GC, I have no idea. But here's the way it works. Company makes product. Company wants to sell product. Company goes to other companies that sell that type of product to try and convince them they should sell product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 19, 2012 Members Share Posted September 19, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton ... here's the way it works. Certainly not always. I design gear. (In fact you have written the user manual for some of my products.) Once upon a time a small manufacturer approached me and asked me to help them draft a product specification. They said that they would take the spec to GC and Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted September 19, 2012 Members Share Posted September 19, 2012 I don't think GC is normally in the business of financing product development. It could be that the company got the funding for your project from a different source, and all GC did was give the company a way to prove to the investors or to management that there would be an eventual market for the product. I believe that GC has some "house brands," but it's hard to tell what they are. I think DeltaLabs is one example (GC bought the trademark and sells guitar pedals under that brand). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 19, 2012 Members Share Posted September 19, 2012 Originally Posted by Zooey I don't think GC is normally in the business of financing product development. It could be that the company got the funding for your project from a different source, and all GC did was give the company a way to prove to the investors or to management that there would be an eventual market for the product. I believe that GC has some "house brands," but it's hard to tell what they are. I think DeltaLabs is one example (GC bought the trademark and sells guitar pedals under that brand). I think that's pretty much it. Lots of companies go to trade shows to get pre-orders, then go to a bank and get a loan for production based on those orders. That's how the first round of Funk Machines was financed. It wouldn't matter if the pre-orders came from GC or anyone else, but obviously, if a company like GC or Sweetwater commits to buying X amount of widgets, that's pretty convincing to a lender. GC does have some house brands, and DeltaLab is one of them. Rogue is an MF house brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 22, 2012 Members Share Posted September 22, 2012 Originally Posted by Zooey It could be that the company got the funding for your project from a different source, and all GC did was give the company a way to prove to the investors or to management that there would be an eventual market for the product. Let Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 22, 2012 Members Share Posted September 22, 2012 Originally Posted by Jon Gnash Let Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 25, 2012 Members Share Posted September 25, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton GC may be the #1 retailer, but it's far from the only one. It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted September 25, 2012 Members Share Posted September 25, 2012 Are musicians better off now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 25, 2012 Members Share Posted September 25, 2012 Originally Posted by Jon Gnash It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 25, 2012 Members Share Posted September 25, 2012 Originally Posted by Jon Gnash Are musicians better off now? If they worked for West LA Music, I would think the answer is "yes." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted October 8, 2012 Members Share Posted October 8, 2012 Originally Posted by Anderton If they worked for West LA Music, I would think the answer is "yes." The median length of any West LA employee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted October 8, 2012 Members Share Posted October 8, 2012 Originally Posted by Jon Gnash The median length of any West LA employee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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