[enjoythemusic]

My Memo To The Industry
In this age, optimism like that is a revolutionary act...
I just want to be inspired.
Article By Steven R. Rochlin

  Have had this article in my head for a long, long time. What you are about to read will have one of two outcomes. These consist of:

1. We all work together to inspire people to enjoy the music to its fullest.

2. We stay happily in our comfort zone, perhaps never truly reaching our potential.

What spurred me writing this are some personal realizations. Long story short is that while Enjoy the Music.com has done so very much for so many, I personally have failed to achieve my goal. Due to this site I wonder how many people have we truly reached into discovering the joys of music through higher quality audio equipment. How many people hear the music as the artist(s) truly intended when in the recording studio? Hearing music with the same passion and inspiration as when it was created...

Read the complete article at
www.EnjoyTheMusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0613/my_memo_to_the_industry.htm

[JohnR]

I like "True Music", but why does the article start off talking about Rolexes and Ferraris?

[enjoythemusic]

John, glad you like True Music though as said in the article that is for example only as another phrase can be chosen. As for Rolex and Ferrari, they are used as an example of brand recognition.

[Davey]

Steven,

An interesting read, but the problem with the "high-end" audio industry is not marketing.  And marketing will not return credibility to this industry after decades of shooting itself in the foot.

High-end audio is completely irrelevant (to the masses) at this point.  One need only peruse a few of the periodicals or online sites to understand.  When Stereophile spends quite a number of pages reviewing a $42,000.00 line preamplifier (TAD C600) (the Ferrari of preamplifiers?) the problem should be obvious. 

Cheers,

Dave.

[DavidS]

Hi Steven

good article - got me thinking about the issue.  Some of my thoughts:

* as an essential product music is pretty far down the list for most people - behind things like food, television, cars, the internet, phones, I would guess even football
* as a delivery method for this non-essential product audio is pretty far down the list for most people - well behind reality based tv shows, car radios, live concerts / shows, portable music players
* audio is expensive, it is complicated, it is time consuming (time I can't spend on other stuff such as friends, family, golf)
* the industry is an industry and doesn't work well together.  Even when the industry does work together - like at a trade show - all of the reports and comments are about how much better one product was than another.  The industry is very competitive - tons of supply and very limited demand / funds
*  I'm not sure about this constant comment about crazy expensive products - for most $120 is a lot of money to spend to get you a non-essential product that is available everywhere for free with very little gratification.  Spending $500 on a cheap tube amp for most might as well be spending $42,000 - it won't be happening.
*  the more I see her the more amazed I am with Amanda Palmer.  Not sure I get what her monologue has to do with audio but it sure is about alternative marketing and business models, her values, and taking art to people - an excellent 15 minutes embedded in Steven's article.  Growing up on quirky pop like Cheap Trick, Jonathan Richman and Blondie I like her music too.

[enjoythemusic]

Thanks Davey and David for your comments. You both make valid points and it is interesting the e-mails my article has spurred too. Gives one much food for thought when considering the future...

[rollo]

  Steve interesting take. I believe the term "High End" truly is the culprit. When we used the term to newbie customers they were turned off immediately. "Can't  afford that", "rather own a boat, home,car,etc" When we approached them with talking about stress relief we got serious attention. When they brought their most familiar music we heard comments like "I feel immersed, got goosebumps, did you hear that, never heard that before. WOW!!
        Marketing audio must start with the benefits of music. Relaxing, stress relieving, soothing, inspirational, exciting, emotional and most of all healing power. Exposure of systems at public places such as Libraries, Coffee shops, free exhibits.
      The joy of music is missing. The emotional bond one has with sitting down for a spell and being transformed to another place. The theme of music transporting one to another place is inspiring.
"Where am I going" Well to to a cozy, comfy place where emotions are stimulated. A place of rest and if given the right music a land of singing to the Cd, jump up and dance.
     It is the affect that music has not the fancy system. Once newbies are convinced of such with music, then they will search out the sound they desire.
      We need as industry participants the ability to get into their homes more than their heads. A actual demonstration of the offerings in ones home is key to swaying a non believer. Once they hear that favorite CD they are so familiar with in their home setting BINGO! we have lift off.
 Home marketing is an expensive alternative to selling to distributors , brick and mortar and direct sales. How do we get into their homes ?
       First create interest with recognized personalities as you have suggested. Second get more gear on TV commercials and movie sets. Name recognition like Levinson did with Lexus.  Offer free demo in home, advertise nationally on TV and radio. Get to the medical industry about using music to heal. Create a new way of reintroducing our wonderfull hobby. Start  up electronic shop in Schools again for DIY. Music appreciation class was a gas in School for me, what happened to that ? Was introduced to Classical and Jazz in junior High. Got me started.
      Let's start with renaming the industry as not all gear is "high end". Let's start talking about the benefits of music then what is is played through. Music first as a vehicle to relaxation and enjoyment.
       Once we have convinced people of music's affect and benefits of such then we create a new interest of owning a system that transports us to a new place. Then make it easy to own that system. If Sony for example started off with "High End Home theater" how far do you think they would get ? Sony made it easy and inexpensive. Yet they offer better designed and more expensive gear as well.
     Does one need an ultra rig to get emotional impact ? No. One get more with one but not required. it is the music that creates the mood. With better gear more intense a feeling.
     Look back when stereo was first introduced. All the main manufactures talked about full frequency, better recording methods, a better sound, not the gear. We need the manufacturers to recreate the interest of quality sound to the mainstream. Just look at Bose.


charles
     

[enjoythemusic]

Charles,

   Wow, very well said and nice details too! Like you said, the term 'high-end' is not marketable. And so.... Hopefully we can all work together to benefit us all. Judging from the incredible inflow of e-mails and ideas, we indeed have a spark...

[Mike Nomad]

Interesting read. Some jabber triggered by the read...

No one knows about the High End audio industry in the US because there isn't one. I say there isn't one, because IT IS NOT DEFINED. Most of the people in the circles I travel think my system is High End. What (according to them) makes my system "high-end?" It sounds significantly better than anything else they've heard, and I've spent a few thousand dollars. Really, that's it. A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS. A breakdown:

Oppo BDP-93
Peachtree Audio Nova
Phase Technology Teatro 7.5 VDT
AudioQuest interconnects & speaker cable (lower end of the catalog)


I don't know about you, but, the above list does not conjure anything made by (to name only a few):

ATC
ModWright
Nordost
VAC

After you overcome the issue of Operational Definitions, there is the issue of a couple of generations of people destroying their hearing through a combination of poor sounding music, played through poor sounding equipment, played at obscenely high sound levels. By the time they are in their 40s, their bar for High End will be laughably low.

What lawyers don't manage to ruin by triggering format wars, hardware companies now in the software business (Sony, Apple) will marginalize to the point of near uselessness. Also, catering to neo-monopolists like Dolby does not help.

[rollo]

  Hmm, interesting "not defined" Definition as per the audio publications is; costs a lot of money. From Meriam Webster : 1. upscale  2. Of superior quality or sophisticated and usually high price.
     Harry Pearson coined the phrase to launch his magazine and advertisers. We still love him though.


charles

[Mike Nomad]

  Hmm, interesting "not defined" Definition as per the audio publications is; costs a lot of money. From Meriam Webster : 1. upscale  2. Of superior quality or sophisticated and usually high price.
     Harry Pearson coined the phrase to launch his magazine and advertisers. We still love him though.


charles

Not sure if it was intended, but, the imprecision you mention is part of my point. Instead of saying "High End amplifiers cost at least NNNNN dollars," we get vagaries and nonsense. Oppo? Not upscale. Oppo in a Lexicon container? Upscale. Definitely upscale.

[dflee]

I think what Mike is trying to say is you don't have to spend a small fortune for quality sound (which is highly subjectional). The cheap and chearfull crowd here on AC would probably say they have high end audio and are quite happy with what they have. I've heard some mega priced equipment that I really didn't care for and just cause it was pricey I did not consider high end. Does price make it high end or just high priced? I associate quality sound with high end and not the price of the equipment. I do appologize that I haven't taken the time to read the article yet and will recend all that I have stated here if found to be out in left field.

Don

[nrenter]

I'm pressed for time, so my response will not be complete, but a few quick thoughts:

Why is it few know about the joys of music via high-end audio? Have you looked at "high-end audio" from an outsider's perspective? We're insane. We want a separate, optimized room. We worry about the sound of power cables. We set equipment on cones, blocks, and pucks. There's *one* optimal place to sit. The cost of "high-end" hardware is significant - but so is the software (new vinyl for $30 - pah-leeze). Few actually travel down this rabbit hole, so few know about the joys of music via high-end audio.

As to the goal to "all work together to inspire people to enjoy the music to its fullest" - this has nothing to do with "high-end audio". For most, listening to music is not a singular activity - it's a social activity. Most people enjoy while doing something else while with someone else. However, "high-end audio" does not see music as a social activity (see the paragraph above). Ironically, the one place that has the potential to be an interesting audiophile retreat - the car - has been dismissed. I probably listen to more music in my car than in front of my home system(s) - actually, I know I do.

Unless "high-end audio" recognizes how consumers consume, it will become (even more of) a niche market - that's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. But, when's the last time the family gathered around the radio to listen to the news?

[Russtafarian]

Hey Steve,

Very thought provoking.  The two of us must be drinking from the same well.  Or maybe it was our cabana conversation with Michael Mercer at Newport a few weeks ago.  But just last week I bashed out a similar thought piece and sent it to Mercer for his feedback.  Without going into too much detail, here are a few ideas about the future of high-end that I’ve been kicking around:

• There will always be high-end audio because there will always be people who are so passionate about music that they will seek out transcendent musical experiences.
• The current high-end industry is based on assembling opulent home entertainment systems.  This approach has become culturally irrelevant now that people can access their favorite media anywhere.
• There are enough of us old rich dudes and gear geeks to keep the current industry going for a while.  But in 20 years it will be the equivalent of today’s antique radio clubs.
• The explosion of high quality headphones and portable file playback shows what is culturally relevant going forward.
• Technology is emerging that can deliver a simple, portable, transcendent musical experience to anyone who cares about music.  That’s the future of high-end audio.

Russ

[Mike Nomad]

I think what Mike is trying to say is you don't have to spend a small fortune for quality sound (which is highly subjectional). The cheap and chearfull crowd here on AC would probably say they have high end audio and are quite happy with what they have. I've heard some mega priced equipment that I really didn't care for and just cause it was pricey I did not consider high end. Does price make it high end or just high priced? I associate quality sound with high end and not the price of the equipment. I do appologize that I haven't taken the time to read the article yet and will recend all that I have stated here if found to be out in left field.

Don

Now we arrived at the crux of the biscuit: The outcome(s) are indeed highly subjective. The point I wasn't making very well is that if the measurement criteria is actual codified as "Audio Do-Dad X must cost at least Y dollars to be considered High-End," plenty of great sounding kit (D class amps, Oppo disc players) that doesn't cost huge sums of money, would be further marginalized.

If codification goes in the other direction, which is setting performance benchmarks, you wind up where we are: Kit that sounds great to some reviewers has poor benchmarks, leading people to say, "Ha! See, spending 3 grand on a moon rock needle for your turntable was stupid!"

As others have pointed out, yes, there is a certain percentage of the population that is going to embrace The Madness. I contend, that to build an actual, recognized _industry_, content providers need to work closer/better with hardware manufacturers. And in the cases where you have hardware manufacturers who are also in the content business, they need to pull their collective heads out of their arses and stop screwing the consumer by hobbling their product (Sony), and hobbling the consumer's ability to use a coveted playback device for the widest, most reasonable file/format selection available (Sony, Apple, and all the other zaibatsu associated with the last few format wars).

[AJinFLA]

An interesting read, but the problem with the "high-end" audio industry is not marketing.

Correct. It's content. The pervasive voodoo fashion jewelry that defines "high end" is going to be a tough sell to those outside the sphere, regardless of marketing. Most of whom probably thoroughly enjoy "music".

How many people hear the music as the artist(s) truly intended when in the recording studio?

Other than the producers, none. Though that won't stop audiophiles from imagining otherwise.
Quite frankly, I could care less what they intended. The media is mine and I'll enjoy it as I see fit, in the absence of tissue covered NS10s and a mixing console for a coffee table. Thanks.
My reference will always be a concert hall, not what (I imagined) some studio producer intended.
Now, don't want to be all rain on the parade....so good luck Steve 

cheers,

AJ

[Tyson]

To hell with the masses.  They get the sound quality that they want, and that they deserve.  The high end market is driven by people obsessed with sound quality, and that's the way it should stay.  The moment we let in the masses is the moment our industry starts producing "lifestyle systems" in large quantities.  Screw that.

[AJinFLA]

The high end market is driven by people obsessed with sound quality

I would contend it's people obsessed with what they consider sound quality. As such, it varies quite wildly in the "high end".
Good luck with any consensus there.

cheers,

AJ

[DaveC113]

Good article!

One of the biggest issues is that "the masses" have never experienced a high quality stereo system, and if they have it's likely it was financially inaccessible.

I have had many of my friends hear my system and express interest in obtaining a similar system, so the potential interest is there... My system is a Schiit Bifrost DAC, diy preamp, diy set amp, Omega speakers and a 10" sealed Adire sub... and it can be had for a modest amount of cash relatively speaking, but this type of system is more or less unheard of by the general public and high end stereo shops NEVER carry this kind of gear. It is far more profitable to sell more expensive conventional (high power, low efficiency) gear manufactured by the bigger names like McIntosh, etc... So unless you are already an audio enthusiast you may be completely unaware of the options outside of spending $20k+ at a high end store or the mainstream mid-fi carried by the big box stores.

Many audio companies are selling direct to the public via the internet, eliminating the middleman and offering a very fair price on their products... but these companies product's are generally not available to demo locally and finding out about them requires some research and investigation, which most with a more casual interest in audio are unlikely to bother with.

I also think it's true that if forums such as this didn't exist, the direct to the consumer kind of marketing employed by many industry members here would be much more difficult or impossible. This forum, among others, is a key way that interested folks can find out about alternative options in audio. But they can't hear and experience the gear, and if the industry is to become more mainstream, it needs to have people experience what it's like to listen to a decent system. Most people have absolutely no idea what they're missing.

[OzarkTom]

As a former dealer from the 80's and 90's, I would say high end audio definitely has failed in their marketing to the masses. When video and home theater came out, most high end dealers turned up their noses and slammed the medium. When the younger crowd turned to head-fi, many dealers scuffed at that medium.  When people came in the brick and mortar stores, dealers would look at your shoes to see if you were worthy to help. The masses have been turned off from ever getting interested in high end audio.

It is no wonder why AMR is discontinuing most of their high end products and going so big into IFI Micro products for the head-fi generation. With this downward economy and the younger crowd you cannot blame them.

And where is the marketing to get women interested? At the 2013 Munich Audio show their was reports of women in abundance there. If you go to any audio shows here in the US, women are very scarce. And most of the attendees are male and over 50, where is the younger generation in masses?

So what is the future? It looks very bleak if the current trend does not turn around. High end audio will be totally dead when all of us baby boomers are dead.