Trade Regrets: Arthur ‘Skip’ Maggiora

On February 24, Sacramento, California-based Skip’s Music posted the following on their Facebook page: “Arthur ‘Skip’ Maggiora, owner of Skip’s Music and a founding member of the Alliance of Independent Music Merchants, LLC (AIMM), passed away yesterday, February 23, 2023, following a long battle with kidney disease. He was 75.”

Within hours the notice had received hundreds of reactions with musicians from all over the nation expressing their sadness at the pioneering MI retailer’s passing and fondly recalling the positive and significant role Maggiora and his business had had on their lives.

The two-location Skip’s Music, which has been featured frequently within the pages of MMR over the years, was a vital mainstay of Sacramento’s music scene, serving the area’s rock, jazz, and folk players since 1973.

Through innovative initiatives such as Weekend Warriors and Stairway to Stardom, Skip’s Music earned a well-deserved reputation as being much more than simply a musical instrument store. Maggiora and his staff have genuinely furthered the culture of music making and community building, inspiring customers and colleagues along the way. With Stairway to Stardom, Skip’s Music offered a summer-long music camp geared towards young musicians considering professional careers in music, while Weekend Warriors welcomed adult musicians who had once enjoyed playing instruments, but had let that passion slip from their lives.

In my January 2020 cover feature on Joe Lamond, NAMM’s outgoing president and CEO (for more on that, check out Menzie Pittman’s Small Business Matters column in this issue), Lamond recalled working at Skip’s Music and the outreach efforts, such as Weekend Warriors, that were catching the attention of the industry – and which, in a roundabout way, led to his own stewardship of the organization he’s guided since 2001. “NAMM was aware of was aware of the program, and also sensed the growing opportunity to get lapsed baby boomers back playing again,” he said. “Around 1996 [Skip’s and NAMM] came together to launch the Weekend Warriors program for all NAMM members to use. During this process I had (and very much enjoyed) the opportunity to work with NAMM’s CEO Larry Linkin and Market Development director Bob Morrison. In the summer of 1988, Bob was recruited to start VH-1’s Save the Music program and reached out to me to see if I would be interested in doing what I was doing at Skips, only on a broader scale. While I was very happy [at Skip’s Music], and my young family was settled, I just could not let what I felt was the opportunity of a lifetime pass me by.”

10 years ago, to celebrate Skip’s Music’s 40^th anniversary at the Sacramento Music Festival, such heavyweights as Tesla guitarist and co-founder Frank Hannon and Jeff Watson of Night Ranger showed up to the bash. In response to the news of Maggiora’s passing, Michael Kenney, live keyboardist for Iron Maiden posted, “I don’t think that there is a musician in Northern California who doesn’t know the name Skip.

Of his friend’s passing, Lamond says, “Skip Maggiora is a legend, part of a generation of music retailers that shook up the status quo and changed how people shopped for musical instruments forever… Skip impacted countless lives during his long career including the many current and former employees, his customers and ultimately the music products industry with his ideas and passion. My life and career will be forever connected with Skip, my family will miss him dearly.”

 Whether supporting beginning musicians, providing a launching pad for MI industry heavyweights such as Lamond, or providing quality gear to top-tier musicians, Skip Maggiora has been there, serving our larger community, for the past 50 years. As the tributes pour in, there’s no question that he will be deeply missed.