JW: The retailer then becomes that one-stop shop for the customer. The student is going to want all these different pieces eventually, and it may take them longer to find them. We’re helping to speed up their journey by giving them everything they need upfront, and we’re supplying that to the dealer. DG: The big-box retailers can sell all those things separately, but we believe by enabling our neighborhood dealers and community dealers, who’ve already built trust with the end user, we’ll solidify that trust. When cus- tomers walk in, it’s a full solution. They don’t have to think about it. MI: Interesting. Will there be digital connections, like QR codes, linking products to Muse platforms? DG: Good question. Using the conga exam- ple, normally you’d have to buy everything separately, but you’ll get your congas and cases together, your drum key to tune it, and the book will be in the cases with the congas. Then there’s that digital connec- tion, whether it’s a QR code or some other code, all comprised together, both hard and soft goods. MI: Can you discuss the recent partnerships with LP and SSL? How do these impact Hal Leonard and retailers differently than past brand relationships? DG: These are our two hero brands of our new direction, going from additive to in- tentional. That doesn’t mean we want to minimize our other partners, as we work with Gibraltar, Paiste, Remo, SJC Drums and they’re all super important to our portfolio. But, LP and SSL just happen to be the first two under our new signing. We want to offer culturally relevant, significant brands that we believe in and know will solve problems for dealers and end users. We have a whole generation of guitar players and drummers learning re- cording for the first time. We want to offer them the SSL solution. Think about how many No. 1 records were mixed on an SSL console in the 1980s and 1990s. We want to bring these big brands and say, ‘This is what you can now use at home.’ And the same goes for LP. I don’t think there’s a more culturally relevant percussion brand in the world right now. Being able to offer that to students is something we’re re- ally proud of. We can go to our mom-and-pop stores and our whole dealer network and say these are two of the most relevant brands right now, and you can get them through us in your shops. These brands really are hand-picked by Jeff and me to bring to our dealers. MI
our brick-and-mortar hard goods? That’s the magic in front of us. Step one is what Jeff and I are talking about now. Step two is imagining a world where we flow from a piece of printed music all the way through Ultimate Guitar to the end user. JW: The digital piece is the most exciting part for me, especially coming from an advertis- ing and marketing background. When I first started, there was a lot of print advertising, then everything went digital. Now, some are coming back to print.
DG: Drums are my main instrument, along with percussion, but I also play piano. MI. Nice. How are you blending Muse’s digital offerings with Hal Leonard’s MI and print catalog? DG: Jeff and I are attached at the hip on this. Looking at the MI side, our business in the past was very additive instead of intentional, like a lot of early publishers, it was ‘Let’s publish a lot of things and see what sticks.’ We were very much like that in distribution, as well. We want to move from additive to inten-
“We want to move from additive to intentional. We want to sign brands we truly believe in that are culturally relevant and will make a difference in musicians’ lives.” — Donny Gruendler
tional. We want to sign brands we truly believe in that are culturally relevant and will make a difference in musicians’ lives. Within that, we want to do things that only Hal Leonard can do. Instead of being a distributor alone, we want to be an aggregator. Jeff oversees the sale of print, we have digital offerings, musical instruments, all these relationships, all this content. We want to offer something to our B2B partners and direct-to-consumer custom- ers that no one else can. Imagine receiving a music instrument bundle that includes software to teach you how to play, streaming services for inspira- tion and recording equipment, moving from a distributor on the MI side to an aggregator of both instruments and content. When we put all those things together, we don’t believe we can be stopped. JW: I think it’s about being that one-stop shop for anyone’s musical needs, from the end con- sumer to the retailer selling the products. We’re giving them all the right tools to make their proposition resonate and drive the sale. MI: What other initiatives are you focusing on in these new roles? DG: Well, our accelerator is: How do we fully integrate with the Muse ecosystem? How do we become one company under one umbrella really well, and how do we leverage all that digital goodness alongside
When I came here, I was shocked that there was still so much print music. I thought, ‘Why isn’t everybody on an iPad?’ But it comes down to people wanting to learn in the modality that’s best for them. That print piece still drives a lot of our students. They prefer it. That’s how we build lifelong music makers. We have to keep providing that piece while helping our dealers and distributors grow their digital presence. We know there’s opportunity in the marketplace. It’s about figuring out what resonates, when it resonates and timing. MI: How does the aforementioned aggregator model unfold for MI retailers specifically? DG: When we talk about the aggregator, we see a world where we’re helping dealers at the community level stock their stores with what people want. We’re a partner to them. We don’t envision them just picking pieces out of our catalog ad hoc — we want to come to them with full solutions. Imagine ordering a set of LP congas, but we say, ‘We have the congas packaged with the app that teaches you how to play, the book you’ll need and the accessories for tuning, all in one bundle, just the way you need it.’ We’re trying to solve the chal- lenge for the retailer and end user, helping our mom-and-pop stores stock exactly what people want without having to think about it. If you’re new to playing music, we have a full solution for you.
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