We’re All Your Customers

This issue marks the second installment of MMR associate editor Mike Lawson’s new “Last Word” (page 36) column. Both of these have drawn heavily upon Mike’s extensive experience as an accomplished guitarist who has spent countless hours on stage and in the studio, providing insight, not just from the perspective of a MI trade magazine observer, but also as a passionate musician.

I don’t say the above to brag about or compliment Mike, necessarily (although he is quite good – check out mikelawson.com), but because through his first two “Last Word” entries, I’ve been reminded how uniquely positioned – and lucky – we at MMR are with respect to our staff and the collective insight into the culture of music making. Terry Lowe, our president, is an experienced drummer, marketing director Matt King is bassist in a well known Boston band, associate editor Victoria Wasylak received the 2019 Boston Music Award for “Music Journalist of the Year” (and her significant other is the guitarist for a popular local band – my own band’s label mates), vice president William Vanyo is a multi-instrumentalist, and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that others on the payroll have musical abilities I simply haven’t been exposed to yet.

That means we’re all your customers – not just folks with journalism or marketing degrees who randomly landed at this company. I don’t only dig up stats and get quotes – though I do that, too, of course; I genuinely care about all this stuff, as do all on board here at Timeless Communications.

Ok, the above is pretty much just bragging. But I’ll stand by it.

Between my hallway, bedroom, living room, basement, and practice space I have the accumulated instrument and gear purchases from over 30 years of practicing, gigging, and recording. A conservative estimate would put the total value at… slightly less than my home, but not by much. I know King has an even more extensive “collection” than myself (Matt, seek help).

If you make it, odds are decent that somebody over here at MMR has it. If you sell it, odds are also pretty good that we are – or eventually will be – either walking through your door or ordering something from your site.

If there’s a significant development in the MI industry (oh, I dunno – a global pandemic, say), we’re not just rooting around to report hard, cold data – we’re personally impacted, too.

The entirety of this Editorial could, understandably, read like shameless back-patting. I realize many, if not most, in this trade play instruments (or used to), so it’s not as if I believe we’re singular in that distinction. Reading over Lawson’s newest column, however, made me reassess things I already knew about my coworkers and appreciate what we (hopefully) are able to bring to the table when putting these issues together.