More Changes In The Audio Industry As The Consolidation Continues

We’re seeing more and more revered companies in the audio and musical instrument business fading away as they’re soaked up by conglomerates or holding companies. Some of the latest to experience those type of big changes are Moog Music, Blue Microphones, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Sonible. which now join the consolidation ranks.

Brands Acquired

For instance, it was announced by Logitec last week that the Blue Microphones brand would be discontinued, and it looks like only one product (the Yeti) will remain under the company’s G Brand division.

A few weeks ago Sonible made it known that it was being acquired by Auditonix, and only the month before the same happened to Harrison. At least Auditonix has kept its brands alive with the companies more or less running as before their acquisition.

Moog Music, which was unique in that it was owned by the company employees, declared that it was joining the inMusic family. The company also owns Alesis, Akai, M-Audio, Stanton, Denon, Numark and others.

And finally iZotope, Brainworx and Plugin Alliance announced that they would now come together under the Native Instruments brand.

There Are Good Reasons

There are a number of explanations as to why this consolidation is happening. First of all, with many older companies the founders want to retire, and selling out is a good exist strategy. This even applies to large MI retail as Sweetwater founder Chuck Surack sold the company a few years ago. Luckily, that company hasn’t seemed to change much since his departure. Off course, we all know the Guitar Center story after the founders sold out.

For software developers, it’s a hard business to be in, thanks to the constant selling and upgrade developments required to keep it going. A parent company with deeper pockets takes the month-to-month pressure off. In some cases, the founders were given a financial incentive they simply couldn’t refuse.

The Downside

The shame of it is that in most cases the brand loses its guiding hand that built the company into something we know and love. The worst case scenario, as in the case of iZotope and Blue, is that the brand ceases to exist even though a few of its products might live on.

But what we’re really seeing is a changing of the guard as the industry matures and corporate business becomes the priority rather than the seat-of-the-pants entrepreneurship once was.

I lament the fact that we’re losing so many legendary brands, and many of the ones that remain are there in name only, as their signature products are long gone.

That said, everything about the music world of today is different than it ever was, and yet it’s still the same. You still need a great product, and a great team to market and sell it. Even with consolidation that will most likely never go away.

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