‘Don’t Bury Me…I’m Still Not Dead’

This issue’s dealer survey is on the subject of live power amplifiers and one of the main takeaways, based on participants’ responses, is that this market segment has contracted fairly drastically in recent years. The primary reason? For many end-users – most, even – active speakers provide all the necessary power, functionality, and volume while simultaneously removing the cost, bulk, and weight of an amp.

Eric Hanson of Port Huron, Michigan’s Hanson Pro Music LLC describes the trend in fairly stark terms: “Live power amps are going the way of film cameras.”

Hanson’s is a particularly interesting analogy to me, due to my own fairly recent exploration of the current (and growing) resurgence of film-based, analog cameras. Expert Photography recently asserted, “Film photography is not dead. Far from it… The analog photography world is still thriving and will continue to.”

A similar – and likely more familiar to MMR readers – phenomenon is, of course, vinyl records. Long considered an absolutely dead format, vinyl sales have been enjoying steady growth and increased cultural relevance for years now. In RIAA’s 2019 mid-year report, released in early September, it was revealed that vinyl recordings earned $224.1 million during the first half of this year, compared to $247.9 million generated by CD sales, with vinyl enjoying nearly 13 percent annual revenue growth in both 2018 and 2019 compared to static numbers for CDs. The takeaway of all of this being that – barring some bizarre and unpredicted reversal of trends – for the first time since 1986 records will soon once again outsell compact discs.

Admittedly, both film cameras and vinyl records represent niche markets. Even the most enthusiastic supporters of either format would be unlikely to predict that analog cameras will eventually distract the masses from their selfies and Instagram posts or that spinning platters will ultimately drive Spotify out of business.

However, niche market items and gear do represent sales, just not necessarily huge volumes, and those who identify and effectively target those sales reap the benefits.

How does this all relate back to live power amplifiers? Am I proposing that a devoted cult following may develop for this gear and that gradually increased demand will lead to more MI retailers specializing in such product, in much the way that there are now vastly more new and used record stores in my hometown than there were ten years ago? The short answer would be, “No.” Not at all. We’re talking apples and oranges, or apples and… outdated (in some ways) sound reinforcement gear.

But, just as I endured certain friends in high school who were outright baffled – some even embarrassed for me – by my reliance on actual records rather than CDs, there likely will be those consumers who stick to their guns when it comes to these holdover, archaic, old-fashioned amps, despite technological advances viewed by most to unquestionably be improvements. And if you carry the gear they want to buy, you’ll make that sale your more trend-conscious competitor won’t.