FROM THE TOP RICHARD CAMPBELL I BEYERDYNAMIC
INTERVIEWED BY KATIE KAILUS
HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? I start my day checking emails, of course, as well as any of the sales numbers that I have access to in the morning. Then, I get ready to either take the kids to school or head to the office. Depending on if I’m home, I can help with the kids getting to school. If I’m not at home, it’s off to work. CAN YOU START OFF BY SHARING WITH READERS A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW YOU FOUND YOURSELF AT BEYERDYNAMIC? I’d like to not only talk a little bit about why I ended up here, but sort of some of the stuff that we’ve been doing to build out the brand and build out the history of what we’ve accomplished so far. And to me, one of the things that re - ally appealed to me in taking over this role in June 2024 is that I’ve worked with some of the greatest brands in the world, and so I have an appreciation for other products and other categories that have a great history like Beyer- dynamic does. Music’s been very influential in my life, and I worked for another premium audio brand previously, so there was some history there. The opportunity to support artists, content creators and gamers with the best products in the world was a rare opportunity and so that’s why I had to take advantage of it. Those artists really trust our products because they’re designed and developed, and the majority of them are handmade in Germany. The quality of the materials that we use are superior to the other products that are on the market, and more importantly, it provides consistency for them so that they know that they can pick up their DT 770 Pro 80s in their home studio, and it’s going to be the same as using those same headphones in the actual recording studio as well. So, it gives us an advantage. It gives us the ability to license this technology to not only pro-audio folks, but consumers now, as well. Because in our noise can- celing headphones, we’re using the same drivers that we use in our studio headphones, and those drivers are also handmade and designed and made in Germany, as well. It’s an exciting time to be at Beyerdynamic. We’ve had really strong growth from 2023 to 2024, and even as in - teresting and challenging as the markets are today, we’re seeing strong growth in 2025, as well. That growth is re - ally fueled by the pace of innovation, the launch of the new products that we’ve brought to market and really due to the relationships that we have with our retailers. Our retail partners have been incredible. If you walk into any MI retail store or one of our partners’ call centers, the
unaided brand awareness for Beyerdynamic is over 80%. It’s unparalleled. I could never imagine that I’d work for a brand that would have over 80% unaided brand aware - ness with a retail sales staff. It’s amazing and it’s power - ful, and one of the things that we’re doing is we’ve over- invested in trainings this year to make sure we continue that connection with the retail staff and ensure they also get educated and learn about our new products, whether they’re new studio headphones or in-ear monitors. We re - ally want to make sure that they have that appreciation and that knowledge for the new products and these new categories. And we’ve been very thoughtful and strategic in providing additional investments into marketing and merchandising with these retailers, so that we can contin- ue to create that brand awareness and also help leverage that brand awareness from the pro-audio side into more mainstream consumer type activities. We’re really grateful to have those relationships and those partnerships. We’re thrilled with how they appreciate and support the brand. And it’s just a great way to really build out that trust. YOU SAID YOUR BACKGROUND WITH MUSIC HAS BEEN VERY INFLUENTIAL. ARE YOU A MUSICIAN YOURSELF? I’m not, but it’s something that I’ve had a fondness for and an appreciation for throughout my life. It’s helped me get through periods of my life that I couldn’t have imag - ined how I would’ve gotten through without it. When I was a kid, I lived on a Navy base up in Cana - da. I got my first stereo as a Christmas gift. It had a dual cassette in it so I could record stuff and I could copy back and forth. And I didn’t have access to any albums. But, I listened to the American Top 40 on the Armed Forces Radio and [American Top 40 host] Casey Kasem was my connection to the rest of the world. Through Casey Kasem’s show, I would record the entire American Top 40 and then slice out the songs that I liked, and I would create my own tapes with the greatest hits of the time. THAT’S AWESOME. LIKE A LITERAL MIXTAPE. DO YOU STILL HAVE THOSE? I’m kicking myself because in one of the moves I made, I finally said, ‘Oh, I should just get rid of these.’ And yet I’ve seen some creative ways to turn that into art, and I wish I still had those to put that up in a frame somehow. WHAT’S THE LAST BAND OR SONG YOU STREAMED? That would be “Teardrop” by Massive Attack. That’s
32 I MUSIC INC. I OCTOBER 2025
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