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GUITARS TURN IN SOLID 2017, LED BY ELECTRICS
April 2018 Volume 35, No. 4
It’s Electric! By Brian Berk
Reports of the steep decline of the electric guitar have been greatly exaggerated. In a June story titled “Why My Guitar Gently Weeps,” a Washington Post reporter alleged, “the slow, secret death of the six-string electric” was currently taking place. This story received plenty of attention, and perhaps was the story about electric guitars that everyone has talked about for the past 10 months. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. Not only did electric guitars not suffer a decline, but overall guitar sales increased by 2.2 percent during 2017, according to MI Sales Trak data being presented here for the first time. “The guitar market grew by 2.2 percent in 2017. Much of the growth was driven by a resurgence in electric guitars, particularly mid-to-high-end electrics,” said Jim Hirschberg, president, MI Sales Trak. As you will read from the nine manufacturers who answered the question about the state of electric guitars in this story, this doesn’t necessarily mean we are out of the woods. Electric guitar sales are not the greatest they’ve ever been, and we could certainly see declines on a year-over-year basis. However, the “secret” death of the six-string electric will apparently remain a secret. Let’s start with MI manufacturers’ responses to allegations that electric guitars are dying. (continued on page 24)
Print Mania By Brian Berk
The Industry Continues to Thrive Back when I attended graduate school in 2000 seeking a master’s in journalism, the first class I attended featured these words from my professor: “The print industry is changing dramatically with the growth of the internet. Some even think newspapers and magazines won’t exist in 10 years.” Despite some closures of both newspapers and magazines since, print media is still alive and kicking with this magazine a prime example, as well as MI’s ability to sustain three competitor print magazines to the Music & Sound Retailer. The MI print industry is different of course. Instead of presenting news, it provides a wealth of great tools for anyone learning an instrument, learning new songs or advancing their abilities. However, it’s likely some would have predicted years ago that digital would have taken over this industry. After all, it is 2018. Not so fast. We asked two executives to give us the latest regarding the print music industry. (continued on page 58)