I think its great that Alan and Roy gave their time to participate and give their point of view. The reason I posted the think piece was to start a dialog and address some of the issues that were pointed out in the piece. There are always a bunch of conspiracy theories throw around on WBF and its informative to see how some of the others in the Industry see the state of the Industry. I personally agree with much of what Roy wrote but certainly not everything. The Industry has dramatically changed in my lifetime. When I started it was all about American made gear versus what was made in Japan. Their was very little European products available here and most of those were turntables. Almost 50 years later the big American brands that dominated the scene are mostly gone or certainly not in the same positions they were in the 70-90's. The first time I attended Munich it was a whole new world with products I had never scene or in some cases ever heard of. There were a lot of them. That's some of my view and I think a part of what Roy was saying. The review process has changed and it had too as there are so many products available today that weren't around with J. Gordon Holt and Harry Pearson days. In fact the entire process and Industry has changed along with the technology to experience it and learn about it. The better question to ask in my mind is where do we go from here/ and how do we get there? Music is an integral part of life for so many yet so few are aware of the audio products available. IMO
I think the approach we have at TAS and hifi+ is to create more relevant channels to build awareness.
For example, a video channel seems to work well for product introductions and new product coverage in general.
Reviews seem to work well for more in-depth coverage of the components, later after the introduction has occurred and an experienced reviewer lives with the product.
The other thing the industry needs to do better imho is focus on the customer lifecycle which typically follows from early interest to a small system (the “metropolitan” customer that Alan references in his current editorial) and then to a larger traditional listening room style systems that we call “estate” systems. By focusing on the customer lifecycle the industry can create longer-term, more satisfying customers that will attract others. This is the strategy that Tom Martin and I created and are pursuing. Alan was instrumental in this strategy as was Pete Trewin, the publisher of hifi+.
The entry point is often some combination of personal audio, computer audio, and playing records. We need affordable but reliable and good sounding products there. And we need to cover these products on channels that young audiophiles, men and women, watch and pay attention to.
Finally, I would say the industry needs to promote itself via influencers better. There are, for instance, a number of celebrities that are audiophiles. We need to take a page from the watch and car markets and have videos of celebrities talking about their enjoyment of the hobby, much like John Mayer has done discussing his swiss watch collection on hodinkee.
Tom and I based on our strategy on data around how channels operate and what customer segments exist in 2022. And we did many interviews with manufacturers, distributors, and customers…it has taken us two years to figure things out. Fortunately, the manufacturers we have previewed it to think the approach is terrific.
We may not have it entirely right but nobody really ever does. We are going to experiment with a wide variety of things the next few years, learn a lot from these projects, and make adjustments as needed.
We are also realistic that a recession is likely at some point. However, that is all the more reason to try a new approach and create value for our customers.
Here is something I posted on Facebook recently which generated quite a bit of discussion. It does encapsulate our positive thinking on the subject.
Old industry thinking: Only a few people care about high end audio. There’s only so much pie and it’s not growing. To win, we must steal market share from someone else.
New industry thinking: The industry suffers from a lack of awareness, not a lack of fun factor. We can grow the pie by supporting any channel and any person that gets the message of good sound out.
What do you think? Is the approach right? Are we too optimistic on the “new industry thinking?”
