Instrument & Gear Rentals: Rental Programs Ramp Up for ‘Back to School’ Season

In anticipation of the coming fall semester MMR recently reached out to over 500 MI dealers across the country to discuss instrument rental programs.

While our focus was on school music programs and related rental business, of course there are plenty of “non-school” avenues for such transactions, as well.

Not surprisingly, nearly all who participated in this poll have offer some degree of rentals (91.6%) with most citing the familiar upsides that go along with such programs – heightened community visibility, step-up sales, increased accessories and print sales, tie-in business with in-store repair and lessons, and so on – though nearly all with some distinct insight into what makes instrument rentals work, as well as what potential snags to be on the look out for…
 

Does your store have an instrument rental program?

Yes: 91.6%

No: 8.4%

 

If “yes,” how many employees are involved with that department?

1: 6.25%

2: 10%

More than 2: 13.75%

Everyone chips in with rentals: 70%

 

“We are a school service company with 24 staff members dedicated to school sales and rentals. Non-dedicated staff are also involved, but mostly just during our busy season.”

Robert Christie

A&G Central Music

Madison Heights, Michigan
 

“One person is the ‘Band and Orchestra Coordinator,’ but everyone knows how to set up new rentals, take payments, et cetera.”

Tim Woestendiek

Tower Music

St. Louis, Missouri
 

“For PA/Sound Reinforcement, we have one owner who leads the department: answering questions, reserving pickups/drop-offs and making deliveries. If, for example, you go to a big box store and ask ‘real world’ questions about PA gear, you won’t usually find anyone that can answer. To make a group comfortable with renting it takes more than a price sheet and offering to turn the unit on. If you can’t answer questions, then big ticket rentals don’t happen.”

Anthony Mantova

Mantova’s Two Street Music

Eureka, California

If “yes,” what types of rentals do you specialize in?

Band & Orchestra: 95%

Guitars/Fretted: 31.25%

Keyboards: 28.75%

Drums & Percussion/Marching Band: 20%

PA/Sound Reinforcement: 31.25%

 

If “yes,” how much of your overall business do instrument rentals account for, annually?

0-10%: 21.25%

11-25%: 25%

26-50%: 35%

51-75%: 13.75%

More than 75%: 5%
 

“The Rental business might be only 30 percent of the gross revenues generated at the store, but represent a much higher percentage of the profit.”

Greg Weast

Columbia River Music

The Dalle, Oregon

“Adding in the additional revenue that flows from rental contract relationships, that number is closer to 50 percent or higher.”

Drew Parker

Separk Music

Lewisville, North Carolina
 

“It helps survive the different seasons, while not relying on December sales alone. PA/sound gets busy in June through August, while band rentals are busy from August through the beginning of October.”

Dustin Bryant

Planet Woodstock Music

Kingston, New York.

 

If “yes,” aside from income generated, what do you feel are the benefits of offering instrument rentals?

“Having a band rental program is a service to the community. It is very helpful to the band programs that parents can rent an instrument and give their child a chance to participate in band without having to make a large investment all at once. Some students would not have the chance if we didn’t make it easy and affordable. Also, students are more likely to have a better quality instrument through a rental than if an expensive instrument is purchased for them.”

Sarah Whittin

Shuff’s Music

Franklin, Tennessee
 

“It’s a way to get people in the door. Then we can sell them lessons, books, repairs, instruments.”

Dana Treidel

Bethel Music Center

Bethel, Connecticut

“Rentals fuel our lessons program, create musicians and generate new customers.  We could not survive without a healthy rental program!”

John Eicher

Pfabe’s Music

Painesville, Ohio
 

“Obvious support of the public school music programs, it leads to sales, and is great for traffic into the showroom.”

Pete Van Alstyne

Pete’s Music Center

Yuba City, California
 

“Providing our customers with quality instruments helps to keep music in our schools, benefiting the individual, the family, the program, and the community.”

Nick Rail

Nick Rail Music

Santa Barbara, California
 

“It makes it much easier to makes sales, as people can be confident that they won’t be stuck with an expensive instrument if things don’t work out.”

Joseph Blumenthal

Downtown Sounds

Northampton, Massachusetts
 

“Our rental program is integrated with our step-up and professional instrument business and is the source of most of that business.”

Mark Benassi

Lafayette Music

Lafayette, Colorado
 

“It greatly increases customer base with no actual advertising expense. [Rentals] gives direct access to a targeted consumer group that uses our products and services.”

Kevin Walters

Central Penn Music

Palmyra, Pennsylvania
 

“We are able to get quality band instruments into the hands of students with affordable prices for the parents. Offering the in-store and on-location rental meetings generates additional accessory and book sales, as well as being in the schools and being able to help with their band program.”

Adam York

The Music Store, Inc.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

 

If “yes,” do you have an official partnership with area schools or school districts?

Yes: 47.33%

No: 52.67%

 

“We don’t have the manpower to partner with schools, but because of our competitive rates and great reputation, we take more than a few rentals away from the big boys. Many folks just want to deal locally.”

Bill Sharrow

Fretz Music Center

Souderton, Pennsylvania
 

“We have exclusive arrangements with many schools where we attend parent/demo nights.”

David Kolacny

Kolacny Music

Denver, Colorado

“’Official’ refers to exclusivity, which is still a problem in this area.”

Greg Crowe

Woodsy’s Music of Medina

Medina, Ohio

 

If “no,” have you ever considered incorporating a rental program into your retail MI business?

Yes: 55%

No: 45%

“We stopped [rentals] after a year. It was a lot of work and took time away from repair work.”

David Schottle

David’s Instrument Repair

Carrollton, Texas
 

“I do not recommend dealers try [offering rentals] unless they have a qualified repairman.”

Rudy Abbott

Capitol Music

Montgomery, Alabama
 

What are the brands of Band & Orchestral and Marching Band instruments that you rent the most?

Yamaha: 60%

Bach: 67.1%

Jupiter: 72.9%

Getzen: 18.6%

Buffet Crampon: 37.1%

Gemeinhardt: 55.7%

Cremona: 1.4%

CG Conn/Conn-Selmer: 74.4%

Knilling: 28.6%

Zildjian: 7.1%

Meinl: 1.4%

SABIAN: 5.7%

Pearl: 32.9%

Mapex: 32.9%

Other: 21.4% (the brands most frequently mentioned in the “other” category were, in order: Eastman, Antigua, Amati, Cannonball, and Ludwig)

 

With the ‘Back to School’ season upon us, are you hosting any events or having any promotions to kick-start this year’s instrument rentals?

Yes: 37.8%

No: 62.2%
 

“99 percent of our rentals are based on presentations at schools or partnerships with schools so supporting them and being ready from an operational standpoint is our number-one goal. If we make it convenient to sign up and support the teachers we typically see good results. Online rentals are also a major customer service plus for us and our school partners since we service so many rural school districts that are far away from our stores.”

Peter Sides

Robert M. Sides Family Music Center

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

“We put together what we call our Tools For School promotion in an effort to get on the Back-to-School bandwagon. If people are shopping for their school supplies, they should also be shopping for their instrumental needs. It’s important for us as our customers and potential customers are prioritizing their shopping needs that school music be part of that shopping list.”

Ryan West

West Music

Coralville, Iowa

“We offer several special events both in store and out at the schools we service. At schools, we try to be a part of the class registration process. We set up a display of instruments and encourage students who are not enrolled in the music program to pick up an instrument and try it. A professional educator who is supportive and encourages the student to give instrumental music a try supervises this. The band teacher is also on hand to assist students with adding instrumental music to their schedule.”

Robert Christie

A&G Central Music

Madison Heights, Wisconsin

“Two of my staff members, both former school band directors, team up and offer ‘petting zoos,’ demonstrations, and trials for client schools upon request.”

Richard Verfaille

Rick’s Musical Instruments, Inc. & Bravo Musical Instruments

Cumberland, Rhode Island & Rehoboth, Massachusetts
 

“We’re too slammed in the summer to get it together in time for a school rental promotion. Our program is growing all by itself, as the word gets out that we have the best instruments, with the best setup and in the best condition, and a solid rental-credit-toward-purchase program. All the private teachers within three counties send their students to us. We have over 130 instruments out to rent at any time – over 100 of them are violins of all sizes. We’re very happy with and proud of our rental program, and the good will it brings to our store.”

Stephanie Wilds

Acoustic Corner

Black Mountain, North Carolina
 

“Every year we mail out a package to every single Miami-Dade school that has a music program. Last year that mailing included almost 300 schools. The package contains a cover letter addressed to the music teacher/music director/et cetera, along with 8-10 high-gloss, two-sided, full color, rental flyers which contain a promotion good through the end of October, whereby paying for two months of a rental gets you the third month free. In addition to the mailer, we also send out an e-mail blast to our entire database which includes close to 10,000 e-mails, and we also promote through our social media pages. Although we do use Google Ad Words for sales, repairs, and lessons, we haven’t for rentals, but now that I think about it, it might make sense to do a focused Google Ad Word campaign in the peak of the going back to school season targeting a 50-mile radius to our store.”

Phil Berberian

Allegro Music Center

Miami, Florida