Winners Circle

Since the event debuted six years ago, one of the annual highlights of Summer NAMM has been the Top 100 Dealer Awards.

MI retailers have the opportunity to be recognized by their peers and others in the industry for their efforts and contributions to the culture of selling musical equipment, and promoting music making. The entire gathering represents a wonderful opportunity for colleagues and competitors to socialize and celebrate all that’s truly inspiring and objectively “good” about our shared community.

For the past two years, the recipient of the evening’s highest honor – Dealer of the Year – has been, in addition to a successful businessperson and music advocate, a longtime contributing writer to MMR.

This year’s honoree, Menzie Pittman of Contemporary Music Center, has been writing each installment of our “Small Business Matters” column for over a year at this point and last year’s winner, Tracy Leenman of Musical Innovations, has contributed to both MMR and our sister publication, School Band & Orchestra, for nearly a decade. Both also are regular speakers at NAMM U sessions as well as other industry gatherings throughout the year.

First off, I’d like to once again congratulate these friends and partners of ours – two innovative, hardworking MI dealers who are excellent ambassadors for this industry.

Second, I want to call attention to their continued editorial efforts within the pages of MMR. Pittman’s Small Business Matters is once again in this very issue you’re currently reading (page 50) and Leenman’s latest guest editorial will appear in our August 2016 issue. While I know well from reader feedback that many of you have already recognized the value of the insights shared by these two, to any retailers who may have skimmed past their columns in the past: it may well behoove you to check out what they have to say! Free advice from clear experts in their field – not a bad thing.

Lastly, congratulations to all the 2016 Top 100 Dealers as well as the winners within the eight separate categories recognized by NAMM. Well done!