FROM THE TOP MARTY KLOSKA I KEPMA GUITARS USA
CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE CURRENT STRUCTURE OF THE U.S. SALES TEAM AND HOW IT HAS EVOLVED OVER THE PAST YEAR? When I took the job, we had very good reps in Flori- da, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, the South and the Southeast. The rest of the country didn’t have representation. There had been some people who didn’t work out, so, as of right now, we’re very confident in New York and the New York area. We haven’t got- ten into Massachusetts yet. In Connecticut, we have a candidate for that. We have most of Pennsylvania and Virginia covered. We also have an industry veteran for Michigan and Ohio. Trish Moss has Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. The exciting thing is she gets along with Sweetwater. I have no idea where that’s going to go, but she has connections
the gear that they used. And after a while, we know all the words to our favorite song. But take it a step further, being in the product industry, it’s fascinating. Most of the professional players of any music genre play every- thing. I’d never be mad at someone who didn’t play a Kepma. If they love their Martin, that’s what they’re sup- posed to play. And most musicians, given an opportu- nity, are very curious. They act skittish, but they’re really very curious, and they’re always looking for something, for a new sound or a new way to record something, so it’s pretty exciting in that vein. My management style as a retailer, for all those years, was to say we never had enough gear, and I worked for two companies that had more gear than the average independent store. I always got the lecture about how much inventory dollars we had in bass guitars, but I never really cared.
there, so that would be big for us. Then, we have Rick Van Heel, who’s re- ally interesting to me because he had a little guitar shop in Seattle and was just loving life until Guitar Center went there. Instead of crying about it, he started guitarsales.com and gave him another two years of life dealing with Guitar Center in this market. He’s a cre- ative, fearless, nice guy, and he tackles Utah, Nevada and Colorado. We also now work with Phil Salazar, who was a sales manager for Sam Ash for a long time, who now handles Texas. SHIFTING GEARS A BIT, WHO’S THE LAST ARTIST YOU STREAMED?
WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO SEE KEPMA GUITARS USA GO IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS UNDER YOUR LEADERSHIP? I hope that Tony and I are still friends and we’re not in jail or any- thing. [Laughs.] But honestly, I hope Kepma continues to be looked upon as a line that the dealers lean on be- cause their customers like it, they can make a little money on it and it’s easy to sell because of the high quality. [Our guitars] aren’t $7,500, so the value comes from the business side. You can make some money, and you
“YOU CAN MAKE SOME MONEY, AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE OUT A LOAN TO GET SIX KEPMA GUITARS IN YOUR STORE.”
don’t have to take out a loan to get six Kepma guitars in your store. We have a lot of artists in Nashville, and we’re working on getting that message out there. That’s going to happen a little more in 2026, but I would hope that people recognize it as the high-quality line that it is. IF YOU WEREN’T WORKING IN THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT INDUSTRY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’D BE DOING FOR WORK? I started in the grocery business when I was in high school as a bagger, and I did that for a while, and went to college, and would come back and work. But I knew it just wasn’t what I wanted to do when I grew up. [One day], I needed new guitar strings, so I went to my local Guitar Center and started talking to a guy working there, and it really changed my life for the posi- tive, because I had no idea that you could actually do something that you love. The music industry opened up all kinds of doors. Now, getting older, I don’t know about the grocery business. I think I’d write a lot, and I’d volunteer at dog shelters. MI
Billie Eilish is getting better and better, and she’s this young woman who also has a sense of everything in the industry. Also, personally, I realized about a week ago, that when I was a teenager in the 1970s, I used to listen to progressive rock a lot, like King Crimson, and I haven’t listened to them for ages, so I’m listening to them again. DO YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT YOURSELF, AND, IF SO, DOES THAT INFLUENCE YOUR LEADERSHIP? My mom thought I was a pretty good guitar player, but she’s not around any longer. I try to play around with a little bit of piano. I enjoy playing guitar. I play more acoustic than electric. I love looking at guitars. When it comes to how it affects my leadership it’s that you can pick up whatever you like as a consumer. I still get that excitement when I see a guitar wall with all those Les Pauls, Martins, Taylors and Kepmas. I hope I live long enough to play all those because they each have their own story, and then you blend that in with the music. I love reading the liner notes. I have a book of all The Beatles recordings and all
32 I MUSIC INC. I DECEMBER 2025
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