Strength in Numbers W e wanted to offer our sin- cere thanks for the “From the Top” article on ESP Guitars in your September issue. It was an honor to be included. Music Inc. serves a valuable role in our industry, sharing expertise and perspectives between manufac- turers and retailers. I’d like to reiterate that the most important aspect of ESP’s success is the strength of our team. There’s no single person who makes ESP Guitars what it is. Across our mul- tiple brands of guitars and basses — from the ESP Custom Shop models to our LTD Series — it takes a great team that includes not only our manufacturing and business operations, but also the terrific support of our dealers, dis- tributors and the musicians who turn to our instruments every day for their best work. Many thanks to all of them for helping make ESP the success story it is today!
card with a message of support to a young musician. We’ll take their donations and use them to provide needed supplies to music classes in our community. More importantly, we’ll distribute the messages of sup- port and care to students, who often need some encouragement to keep learning to play. Being there for your customers takes many forms. I wish you the best for a successful and joyous Q4.
Robert Christie A&G Music Central President Troy, Michigan
A Heartfelt ‘Thank You’ T hank you for featuring Brian Ball in your October issue’s “From the Top” article. We’re espe- cially grateful to journalist Michael Gallant for the care he took in this interview capturing the heartbeat of the Ernie Ball company and what makes us unique. His ques- tions gave readers a glimpse of the culture that has guided the company from its earliest days: listening to musicians, taking pride in our work and remaining curi- ous about what we can do better. Brian’s reflections on our people, our California roots and his own life as a musician showed how personal those values are. Additionally, we would like to thank everyone at Music Inc. for the thoughtful, professional industry reporting you bring to every issue, month after month. You give this community a place to see the people and purpose behind the businesses that serve music, and we’re honored to have our story told with such care.
Todd Binder President, COO The ESP Guitar Company Los Angeles
made up 18.3% of the responses from audio post specialists. This really illustrates to me how both professionals and hobbyists in our world tend to wear multiple hats. Nugen Audio makes plug-ins as wide ranging as creative immersive reverbs, utilitarian bass-manage- ment tools and legislation-driven loudness meters. The notion that these tools each have a completely different target market is truly a thing of the past! It is wonderful to see Music Inc. highlighting this op- portunity for MI retailers to expand the range of products they offer.
tiful is our willingness to share with each other. Perhaps this is because music is collaborative by nature. Early on, we learn how to listen, give space and add our voice to make something bigger than just our own part. It was in this spirit that I was grateful to be among those who contributed their thoughts and ideas for a successful Q4. I think for many of us, success looks like creating and supporting more music makers. I’m so grateful to Music Inc. for facilitating this kind of sharing. While I truly hope that you find some of the sales-related in- formation in the article helpful, I would encourage you to do more this season. Try to find a way be- yond sales to help lift your com- munity. This year we will be asking our customers to spend an extra dollar at checkout. When they do, they will be able to fill out a little
Expanding Reach T he “Beyond The Music” piece in your September issue was a fascinating read, and I really appre- ciated being given the opportunity to share my own perspective. In the meantime, I’ve been going over the data from our latest customer survey, and some of the responses really cemented for me how much overlap there is between the worlds of music production and audio post-production. We asked our users: “For which tasks do you use any audio plug-ins, regardless of the brand?” and split the results into those who primarily consider themselves music produc- ers and those who primarily work in audio post-production. To quote just one example, “music mixing”
Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe Product Specialist Nugen Audio Leeds, United Kingdom
The Ernie Ball Team San Luis Obispo, California
Uplifting the MI Industry O ne of the many things that makes our industry so beau-
EDITOR’S NOTE: MUSIC INC. ENCOURAGES LETTERS AND RESPONSES TO ITS STORIES. EMAIL LETTERS TO EDITOR@MUSICINCMAG.COM.
12 I MUSIC INC. I NOVEMBER 2026
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