Caught In The Snare

A MUSICIANS GUIDE TO SPENDING MONEY ON GEAR

How Musicians Spend Their Money

The music industry is a "Big Money" industry.  The irony is that it's the music makers themselves, those darned musicians, that are spending the most!  That's right... you and your fellow musicians are the biggest spenders!  Take for instance the cost of music equipment.  Nobody, besides the musician, would drop a cool few thousand dollars like a hot potato on a handful of gear without batting an eye.  And every day of the week, there are droves of musicians dropping a thousand or more for that piece of gear they so desperately need.  Ah... if only the music listeners were spending that kind of dough on CD's, live shows and downloads!  Sure, there are music consumers out there, and a lot of them.  But it takes a lot of downloads and a lot of concert tickets to equal the thousands of dollars that the musician will so willingly drop all at once!


The Local Pusher

With so many musicians so willing to spend their money on their next musical fix, the music retailers have taken their rightful place as the local pusher.  They're cutting deals all day long, every day of the week.  "And if you buy it this weekend, you'll get 15% off..." I overhear the guy at the counter say to a wide-eyed, aspiring musician, so enamored by the shiny new toy in his hand that he is completely unaware that he's been caught in the snare by spending more on music than what he makes on music.  Don't get me wrong.  Sometimes you must spend in order to make! 

As if the pusher wasn't already sinister enough, there is actually another part of this scenario that is even worse.  The larger retailers are not just cutting deals with the consumer, they are also cutting deals with the manufacturers.  But only certain manufacturers get this kind of attention, and the others that aren't part of the deal won't be found in any retail store!  So how does that impact the consuming musician?

The Drummer's Snare

 There comes a time for most musicians, when new gear is truly needed.  So the musician goes down to his local music store and begins to look around.  He may go online as well, and look up some gear on his retailers web site.  After looking at a variety of gear offered, he makes his decision and buys the equipment.  But what he doesn't realize is that he has been misled into buying that particular gear!

The retailer knows very well what kind of gear will sell the most.  And the kind of gear that sells the most is the only gear that the retailer will place on his showroom floor and on his website.  This equipment is marketed and promoted because it has a greater profit margin than other equipment being manufactured.  Even if there is an item with the same price that is better made or better suited to the needs of the musician, the musician will only be made aware of the equipment that has the largest profit margin for the retail chain.  The musician, therefore, is purposely misled by being given a false sense of what is available on the market.  Only a handful of musicians recognize this and are able to find the equipment that best suits them.

THE DRUMMER GETS TAKEN FOR A RIDE

Have you ever noticed that all of the drum sets for sale in your local music store all tend to be virtually identical in size?  You have the 22" kick drum with the 14" snare drum.  The toms are 12", 14" and 16" for the floor tom.  Nearly every drum set you see for sale falls within these size dimensions.  Yet, when you really take a close look at many of the professional drummers in the industry, you find that their drums are quite different!  The toms tend to be much smaller and deeper.  The snare drums are custom sizes, or sizes not available from the retail store.  So what is up with such a big discrepancy between the kits used by the pros and the kits used by everyone else?

The retailer knows that smaller drum kits look... well... small.  Since smaller kits look wimpy in comparison to the bigger kits, the bigger kits outsell the smaller ones.  It's a very natural and physiological response.  Drums invoke the sense of power, and the big kits invoke that sense of strong, bold rhythm.  A small kit simply doesn't go with our natural mental image of what a drum should be.  Even though the smaller drums sound far superior, control excess ring better, are easier and faster to tune, take less space and are just as loud on the decibel meter, they will never outsell the bigger kits.  So the drummer is "stuck" buying the kit that looks the coolest or that has been marketed as a better kit, even though there are numerous other choices available to him if he spent some time digging online.

Always Dig

 The only way to circumvent the buddy-buddy system between the retailers and the manufacturers is to get down and dirty and dig.  The internet is your best friend in this process, and with a little bit of digging, you will find gear that truly meets your needs.  I have repeatedly found my gear in this manner.  Often times, you will find that your local retailer will be able to order the gear for you with free shipping, even though they don't advertise that they carry that specific piece of equipment.  Again, this is due to the smaller profit margin for them.

Buy Smart

Through the process of digging, you will become much more educated about the gear you buy.  This in turn means that you will be buying less equipment.  Less because your gear will perform the way you need it to and it will last longer, as well.  You will be more satisfied with your purchases, and will have the confidence that you have spent your money wisely.  You will even find that others look at your gear and recognize that there's something different.