FROM THE TOP JACK O’DONNELL I INMUSIC BRANDS
INTERVIEWED BY KATIE KAILUS
HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? I’m incredibly fortunate to have a close-knit family, and they’re very important to me. Every moment spent with them brings me immense joy. On any given day, you’ll find me enjoying the early mornings with my wife and grand- children whenever possible. I always make sure to have a cup of coffee in hand to match their energy — often more than one cup actually. From that start, I move to reading various news sources and then transitioning to my emails and outreach to my offices in different parts of the world. The great benefit of having offices in multiple time zones is that I don’t have to worry about calling someone at 6 a.m., as they’re either five, six or 12 hours ahead of me. CAN YOU SHARE WITH READERS A LITTLE BIT HOW YOU STARTED INMUSIC BRANDS? Originally, I was in the music business with Stanton Magnetics, and this helped develop my passion for both the industry and products and technology in general. I was very interested in growing Stanton and started by importing Vestax as my first collaborative partnership. At the time, our strength was with the DJ community, and Vestax was the perfect complement. That collaboration really inspired me and I wanted to keep growing Stan- ton with further partnerships or acquisitions. At that time, Numark, the premier DJ company, became available for sale. I felt that it was an ideal acquisition for Stanton. This, of course, involved risk, and capital, and required a fair amount of imagination. It became clear to me that Stanton did not want to move in that direction. That left me with two options: continue with Stanton and curb my instincts for growth, or venture out on my own and do my best to acquire Numark. I think I made the right choice. My passion for the industry grew, and I started to look for further growth. That’s when Alesis became available. It had great engineering and some of the best IP in the industry, and was looking to be acquired. This represent- ed a major turning point for inMusic. I knew our future was highly dependent on a very strong and talented en- gineering department, which then became the foundation for further acquisitions. Akai Professional, Denon Profes - sional, Denon DJ, Marantz, RANE and many more all followed as a result. Our latest major acquisition was in 2024 with Moog Music, one of the most cherished names in the industry.
INMUSIC FAMILY? I’ve always recognized every company has its own culture. With any successful acquisition this must be identified and protected. Know the company and know your customers. After understanding the identity of the company, it’s then to allowing the engineering group to flourish. Many times, prior to an acquisition, there are a lot of finan - cial constraints on a business. My goal is to liberate the company of those constraints and enable innovation. The companies I’m interested in are very distinguished in their industry standing, which makes them a great addition to our group. I’m always looking for companies that can strength- en our reach within the industry, which allows us to build our R&D. We then get to share resources amongst all our engineering groups to put out ex - tremely advanced products. HOW DO YOU BALANCE NOSTALGIA AND LEGACY WITH INNOVATION WHEN LEADING ICONIC BRANDS LIKE MOOG? AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE IN CHARGE OF A BRAND’S LEGACY? There’s enormous responsibility to protect the identity, nostalgia and culture of each brand. Simply creating ef- ficiencies in manufacturing and design will never make a brand successful. You must recognize why the musician is so connected and attracted to the brand and ensure you preserve this. All those elements are embedded in the culture of the company that you acquire. Once again you go back to the management style I treasure — listen deeply to the brand loyalists. Don’t ever shortchange that group. If you satisfy that group, you then have a license to expand the offering beyond what the traditional user has expected of you. For example, the loyal base for RANE users was mixers. The first thing we did as a com - pany was deliver two very advanced mixers to satisfy that demand. We then had the license to explore and expand, and we introduced the first RANE controller. We only had permission to introduce that controller by giving the traditionalists what they wanted. LOVE THAT. IS IT DIFFICULT TO BALANCE YOUR FOCUS ACROSS SO MANY BRANDS? HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT? For me, it’s fairly natural. I have a passion for product, and each brand speaks to a different element in the MI
WOW. WHAT’S YOUR VISION WHEN INTEGRATING A NEW BRAND INTO THE
30 I MUSIC INC. I SEPTEMBER 2025
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