Summer NAMM 2013 – NAMM at Night: Insights – Hard-Earned Lessons from Industry Icons

11 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Summer NAMM 2013 – NAMM at Night: Insights – Hard-Earned Lessons from Industry Icons

Yesterday, July 11, the first day of Summer NAMM concluded with the first NAMM at Night session. Moderated by Vince Gill and Tom Bedell of Two Old Hippies, a panel of industry experts shared stories, passed on lessons, and dispensed advice to the music dealers attending the trade show.

Taking part were, Hartley Peavey, Founder and CEO of Peavey Electronics; Sterling Ball of Ernie Ball; Fred Gretsch, President and CEO of Gretsch; Chris Martin, CEO of C. F. Martin & Co Guitars; Andy Zildjian, President of Sabian; Bob Taylor, Co-Founder and President of Taylor Guitars; Jim D’Addario, CEO of D’Addario; and Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp.

Gill started out by thanking all panelist for their products, adding “music is the most important thing in the world, and you help us make it.” In turn, Bedell and Gill introduced a topic and asked one of the experts to address is.

Jim D’Addario highlighted the importance of being an “early adopter” of new technology and ideas. He explained the company took on the lean manufacturing model, a management philosophy pioneered by Toyota. Every day you do what you did the day before, but better. The business model eliminates waste in the whole process, streamlining the whole chain from R&D to putting the products in stores. It has allowed D’Addario to bring manufacturing back to the US and to ensure 90% of orders are processed on the day they are placed.

Bob Taylor had an ethical and environmental message. He remarked that his generation of guitar-builders may have been the first that became aware of the waste of wood, and the damage done to many species of tree. His company has built up solid long-term relationship with suppliers all over the world to help ensure legal and ethical sourcing of materials. It has also allowed them to get involved with the third-world communities who supply the wood, leading to Taylor being able to help bring new technologies to them and help improve those communities.

For Gibson’s Henry Juszkiewicz, music is about enjoyment and making people’s lives better. It may not be essential to survive, but it sure does improve quality of life. The company is at its heart about the shared human spirit and a shared passion for music. Those two things are the antidote to the negativity in the media, whether it’s the evening news or the general cynicism about the music industry. Of course, the company seeks to run a factory, create a better product, and make money, but at the end of it all what matters most is the smile on the face of a musician.

The journey of his great-great-great grandfather inspired Chris Martin. He thought back to how his distant relative came to America and started a new business from scratch. The tools the Martin family now has available weren’t even in the dreams of that previous generation, and he pointed out it was important to not take this for granted. Good musical instruments are not cheap, he said, but that is because you are also buying all that experience and expertise. Now, 40% of their business is export, showing that western guitars are becoming more important in world music.

For Fred Gretch, business is all about relationships. “Networking counts,” he said emphatically. “We all have something in common,” he continued, saying that Gretch turned it into a company motto: enriching lives through participation in music. He explained that everyone at NAMM has a stake in doing just that. The first 65 years of the company were totally music education oriented, before rock ‘n’ roll came along in the 1950s and changed the world. The company adapted and grew with the music. To the business-owners in the room, he said it is important for companies to look for connection in their local community, whether it is schools or the local Salvation Army chapter.

Known in the industry as a legendary designer of bass guitars, Sterling Ball, reinvented himself after a career in . He became a BBQ chef and built up the business by producing educational tools for chefs. Only later did he launch a line of products. He drew parallels with making inroads in any industry, and gave advice on how to use the internet and social media to connect with potential customers. The internet is here to stay and he used the example of Sony not jumping on board with online music retailing, while Apple did. The result? iTunes now controls digital sales. He also reminded people that their customers have access to so much information now, so it is even more important to completely know your product and try to stay one step ahead.

Midway through the discussion, Vince Gill remarked that he was happy to see that most of the businesses represented are multi-generational family-run companies. He shared a few stories about his own father, as did several others. The most moving of these was Andy Zildjian, who in response to Bedell’s question, “what lessons did your father teach you?”, read a message from his father, company founder Robert Zildjian, who recently passed away. The entire text will be the subject of a later article, but among the sage advice was that the businesses represented here, that are surviving, are those that have the passion. Your passion must always be on display, the senior Zildjian told his son, and one must never temper one’s enthusiasm. Being true to yourself and your brand was another key message. Of the utmost important in business is knowing how to communicate, and studying history and philosophy will help you to understand human nature which will leave you and your company better prepared. The importance of humility was explained by saying that “when you think you have all the answers, you just missed everything that happened while you were standing around admiring yourself.” Overall, the two key attributes in business are persistence and determination.

Hartley Peavey – who attended his first NAMM show in 1954 in Chicago – worked in his dad’s record shop at the start of rock ‘n’ roll and into the 1960s. It was also the start of the era of the business conglomerates in the music industry. Though he admits he was naïve about business, he summed up why that was not a bad thing by saying : “You can’t be the best without being different.” He set out to build products better and cheaper than he saw around him, starting out with guitar amplifiers. “Dare to be different,” he encouraged the audience. His company is now building graphite-fiber guitars, the first line ever. His main message was that you constantly need to educate yourself and try to learn something new every day. Now one grows from thinking they already know it all.

To close, Bedell asked everyone to reflect on the one thing they would do to improve the industry. The responses:
Henry Juszkiewicz: Engaging people and making music compelling and fun, through building relationships and making people’s lives better.
Jim D’Addario: The joy of playing in a band, rather than using computer programs on your own to create songs, is becoming more difficult for aspiring musicians to get. We need to help young musicians to be able to play more live music together.
Bob Taylor: I would find a way to wake everyone up and make sure they want to get in for more, rather than get out for less. Great businesses are built by people who get in for more.
Andy Zidjian: If you can get everyone to understand what it feels like to create create something together, like playing live music, we can change the world.
Chris Martin: At NAMM I also want to find out what my competitors are doing, and I always find I have a different answer at the end than I did at the start. It’s about learning new things.
Fred Gretcsh: The Nashville school system has achieved 100% of participation in music lessons in grammar school. I would give every single school system in the US that level of participation in music.
Sterling Ball: I would like to see people develop a more pro-active attitude and be more daring when it comes to innovation.
Hartley Peavey: I would want every music retailer to only sell the products they have faith in, and only promote what they believe in. What we really do is helping musicians realize their dreams and we must never lose sight of that.

For more information about NAMM, please visit NAMM.org.

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NAMM President and CEO, Joe Lamond, welcomes everyone.
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The panel
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Tom Bedell of Bedell Guitars and Two Old Hippies
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Jim D’Addario
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Bob Taylor
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Vince Gill, happy listening to the stories.
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L-R: Fred Gretsch, Chris Martin, Andy Zildjian, Bob Taylor
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Sterling Ball
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Hartley Peavey
Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter