In late June of this year, it was officially announced that longtime Hal Leonard CEO Keith Mardak would be stepping down, with Larry Morton assuming the titles of president and CEO.
As a former NAMM chairman who has served a number of other industry associations, Morton is well known to most (if not, indeed all) MMR readers and his ascension to his new role comes as no surprise, but it nonetheless represents a significant changing of the guard. We recently spoke with him about his personal background, experiences at Hal Leonard, and thoughts on the future of MI.
To begin with, what was your own personal and educational background prior to entering the MI industry?
I grew up in southern Illinois as an “all around music kid,” starting piano at five years old, trumpet at ten years old, and adding bass guitar and other instruments along the way. I began writing original compositions and arrangements of songs in late grade school. My family was very musical and my parents encouraged me to play. I went to Eastern Illinois University for my bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition and then on to University of North Texas for graduate study in music composition. While at UNT, I started getting studio work as a singer, keyboardist and an arranger in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which opened my eyes to the idea of being in the business side of music.
Can you talk about how you first landed at Hal Leonard and your professional evolution at the company?
My first music industry job was with a small chain of music retail stores in Illinois. From there I worked for a musical instrument importer/wholesaler in the Midwest, before moving to Los Angeles to work for Roland Corporation as a product manager of digital pianos. This was in 1986, when MIDI technology, drum machines, synthesizers, samplers, et cetera were all exploding onto the market. While at Roland, I contacted some people I knew at Hal Leonard to license songs and to create support materials for using these new technologies. My admiration and interest in Hal Leonard escalated and I moved to Milwaukee and joined the company in 1990.
My first job at Hal Leonard was as the sales and marketing manager for our school music educational area. It was an incredible experience since I got to work with many of the top educational music retailers, along with a roster of Hal Leonard’s star composers and authors for school music. I learned a lot and, over time, I took on more and more responsibilities in sales and marketing, eventually taking on the role of executive vice president in 1996.
Just three years later, our chairman, Keith Mardak, promoted me to president and we began the long transition that has led me to the CEO position today. Ever to his credit, Keith has always had the ability to have longer-term vision than most leaders and he was careful to build a senior team, over the course of twenty years, that could one day run the company.
Looking back at your time with Hal Leonard, what moments stand out as real milestones or moments of personal pride?
The history of Hal Leonard is full of innovation and industry-firsts, so I am just one small player in the 70-plus year big picture of the company. I have been very fortunate to be part of a few exciting developments. In the early ‘90s, we restructured the entire sales team concept at Hal Leonard and that set in motion the group we have today that sets the standard of the music products industry in terms of support, service, and knowledge for our retailers.
We were the first MI company to set up a call center to cover all U.S. time zones and to be open seven days per week. Our motto has been, “If a music store is open, we will be open.” We were the first MI company to launch a dedicated Dealer Access website with eComm support and online ordering. A few years ago, we became the first MI company to offer online chat customer support to music retailers.
On the digital/eComm side, we have pioneered the groundbreaking Digital Retailer program which offers a myriad of ways for retailers to sell our products, physically and digitally, through their websites.
It has been very exciting to see Hal Leonard expand around the globe. We launched Hal Leonard Europe in 1996 and Hal Leonard Australia in 1998. Today, we have more than 800 employees worldwide, with over 300 employees outside the US. It is amazing to see our company culture extend to so many offices in different countries, with a unified vision about who we are and what we want to accomplish.
In addition to our core music publishing business, most retailers know that we have dramatically expanded our MI products distribution business. This has been an incredible growth area for us. We’ve found a place in the market to provide value, insight and service for our vendors and our retailers. Since we have contact with literally every single music retailer in North America, it gives us a great insight into what’s happening in the overall music products marketplace.
How and when did the notion of you succeeding Keith Mardak as CEO first come up? What are your feelings now that it’s a reality?
The Hal Leonard leadership transition has been in progress for 20 years. It started with Keith Mardak, a true giant of our industry, having the foresight to look ahead to the growth and security of the company he has built. As a privately held business, one of our biggest challenges has been how to transition the ownership of the company without causing harm or too much risk to the business. After discreetly vetting a number of potential investors, in 2016 we brought in Seidler Equity Partners, who now own a majority interest in Hal Leonard. Our management team has kept a significant minority ownership position, as well. We could not be more pleased with our first three years of working with the Seidler team. They are long-term visionaries and incredibly smart people. They have helped guide our strategy and have facilitated the ownership transition and growth of Hal Leonard.
We’ve completed six acquisitions in our first three years together and we have more growth initiatives in the planning stage. With the Seidler partnership in place, we decided now was the time to make the next step in the leadership transition with Keith and me. It’s been very natural and easy, given that we have worked so closely together for 28 years. From my perspective, I am acutely aware that I’m following in the footsteps of an industry legend! I don’t think any one person can match up to Keith, but we’ve built a powerful Hal Leonard leadership team, so we will do a very best to make him proud!
Expectations for the industry in the coming months?
I am extremely bullish about the positive future of the music products industry. The drive and desire to make music is embedded in our DNA as humans. Self-expression is deeply part of the human condition and that will never change. The musical tools, and the way in which we learn music, will continue to change over time. But that’s where the challenges and the opportunities exist for all music companies.
We have to evolve with the changes and adjust to how people want to play and create music. Our Hal Leonard vision is to enrich lives through playing music and our mission to be the best global provider of tools and resources for people to learn, teach, play, and create music. In the coming years, you will see us continue to evolve and expand to stay true to that mission.
