As an instructor for Guitars for Vets, we see the most continued success for our students is when we get together as a group and play. No judgement and everyone can learn new skills. Play whole songs and find people to play with. This is critical to continuing the journey.
TH-cam suggested i watch this, and I am glad they did. You have earned a new sub today because of your well presented video. In November 2020 at age 54 I turned off all news and information and started to learn to play guitar, 3.5 years and 11 guitars later, it was the correct choice for me and I wish others would follow, as my life is so much richer and fuller because of these changes. All the best from an American living in the middle of no where Slovakia and loving life.
When I hear about 45% of Fender's customers are new buyers, I immediately think, "what can I do to help these people not quit"... It's the mission of my channel to get as many of those people eventually making music in public as possible.
yeah, but most original music sucks , & Most cover bands doing live covers are a dime a dozen & aren't even that good.. Let's face it most music in 2024 is horrible.. any idiot can pose as a rocker & upload his or her own lame music on Spotify
I've been playing for 50 years, and I'm going to play until I die. I've been playing the same Fender 12 string for the past 40 years. I'm 67 years old and I'll be playing at a rehab center later this afternoon.
i had also heard that piano sales are down too let's face it this is 2024 the need of physical instrument's in this modern age of music production everything can be done though a DAW that comes with all the virtual instrument's needed ,so no need to spend 1000's of dollars on drums , guitars key board etc to produce a studio record..
@@jasondorsey7110 I don't think it's "harder". How could it be? But I do admit that for some reason musicians don't concentrate on that these days. They concentrate on being technically impressive and many are. However after watching one of these shred videos and saying "wow", I don't have an urge to go back to it.
Interesting trend I noticed in my daughters school (US 5th and 6th grade). The cool thing that all the girls want to do is play guitar and/or drums. I think this is in part Taylor Swift but also the classic rock they are listening to. I think this is awesome because now I can teach her and jam out to music we both like.
It's because teenage girls on tik tok playing guitar get wayyyyyyy more views than boys. There's a reason for that. Something to aspire to, I suppose....
@StevenSimpson-it5mv That's a possible motivation. But most of them came home and said I want to play guitar after they saw the Jr High jazz band do a cover of the Hendrix version of All Along the Watch Tower. Seeing the other women playing on tic-tok and youtube, i would say may have inspired them that they could play too. And if they do want to start a tic-tok in the future playing guitar I'll just say that's not the worst thing on the internet.
There’s a 3 girl band out of Mexico (I think. Think they’re also sisters). They’re getting a lot of attention. They rock. And they’re young. - The Warning.
The moment anyone learn 2 basic chords and then have a bunch of friend around, you’re hooked …as my dad said when I was a kid “play an instrument and you’ll never be alone”
Although once your friends have been to 2 or 3 parties where you’ve somehow got hold of a guitar and they’re still listening to you try to play Landslides at 4 in the morning you may end up pretty alone when nobody invites you again! 🤣😎😰🎸🤘🏻
Thanks for this video. The best news I heard here was that so many are seeking out great music from the time when artists actually played instruments, especially guitar. Rick Beato made a video recently that reinforced this fact.
For any guitarists out there that heard the topic of recording, I would like to make the recommendation that is inexpensive when you consider the content you receive. And that is Presonus Studio One v.6. In addition to providing virtually limitless tracks (more than anyone will ever need in a song), it also contains guitar FX included with the price. Plus, it also includes loops to help you build and create music with other instruments that can accompany your guitar playing. I have been an owner of Studio One for over six years and have grown immensely as a guitarist using the software. Cheers! And best wishes to all the players out there that want to explore and create new music!
I knew about back catalogue accounting for the majority of streams, but hadn't made the connection that it was all pretty much guitar based. That's really encouraging.
Except it's not the new kids buying the music. It's the old change over such as when people replaced all their records with cassettes and then replaced all their cassettes with CDs.
There is a difference between money spent to music industry and money going into music creation and artists. And the golden age is not only about money, but also about importance of music to people and passion.
My youngest daughter is 19, getting close to 20. She loves music (I play guitar and bass and listen to music constantly) and she loves all kinds of music. She listens to everything from old Buck Owen’s and Patsy Cline to modern country and rock and roll from the 60’s and forward. I attribute most of her diverse taste in music from having Apple Music and other streaming services for music. Without that there would have been the few radio stations and listening to my record collection. I know streaming has been a kick in the nuts for all the bands and solo guys because it has taken so much revenue from them but on the flip side, it has broadened the reach of their music.
Thank you for sharing sir. I agree that the breadth of musical taste afforded to the average listener has been one of streaming’s redeeming features. I think it’s a business model fix that is perhaps needed. I plan to look deeper into the topic when I have time
I would not discount Taylor Swift’s influence on young females starting guitar. And you’re right, we should always encourage each other and new people in this musical journey, no matter what direction it takes.
Fender owns many brands, including Charvel, Jackson, and EVH. Fender has done a pretty good job with quality. There are plenty of videos of Squier strats being compared to American Fender strats.
And they're pure bullshit and copium. The quality difference between a squier and a US fender is nowhere even remotely near the same, if you know what you're looking at and arent a paid shill on youtube.
@@Safetysealed Fender Custom Shop Master Builder’s #1 guitar is a 1985 Squier. From Phil McKnights Know Your Gear YT channel. Focused on Squiers but is a good video for those looking for a guitar. th-cam.com/video/seI8BhXpBRA/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
I appreciated your perspective on the statistics and the implications there of. Particularly the success of online guitar sales. My personal experience is that if you can play a guitar at home for a month you can make a better assessment whether it is for you. I have had the experience of a guitar selling it self to me. Thanks for your channel , I enjoy it.
I’ve never, ever, seen a professional guitarist who could really play, make fun of someone with lesser skills, who was really trying to improve, and not just posing. Could you imagine Tim Pierce doing such a thing, or Brent Mason? I couldn’t. It’s cruel and it’s wrong.
As a pricing strategy guy who looks for patterns and anomalies indeed inherently on the corporate side of life, and guitar player for the Chicago area instrumental band The Breakers in the other, I love these talks and this channel! Great stuff. 💥
Wonderful analysis.The online purchase of anything favours branded products that’s why fender will sell more guitars.I think the guitar store demise is unfortunate as you can buy an average guitar and have a proper setup which makes it wonderful to play. I agree with the sledging being an issue.I think more people need to accept that it is a pleasure instrument and simply guide people and not get on with snobbery. Best wishes .You have a new subscription.
The last big musical instruments store in Berlin (> 4 million people) has closed its stores a few months ago like Sam Ash in the USA. There’s not a single shop in one of Europe‘s metropoles, where you can try or buy Fender guitars or basses.
Definitely not true - MusicStore in Cologne is just one example, Hieber & Lieberg in Munich (also multiple other stores in Munich stock Fender as well) and the list goes on ...
I don’t think that most people understand just what a gargantuan achievement that it has been for Fender Guitars to have remained in business for all these years.
Great video and very nice analysis! Just to put into context the 45% first time buyers: clearly compared to let's say Gillette, which is a consumables type of brand, where the majority of the customers will NEED to purchase over and over again (your beard tends to grow, unless you're ZZ Top...), with Fender most people will buy a guitar (or maybe two) but then their ongoing purchases will most likely be limited to things e strings and picks (which they may buy from Fender but most likely will not), so the Fender business model is less of a repeat purchase customer behaviour model than let say Gillette and as such it will intrinsecly have a higher percentage of first time buyers ("new names") than a consumables type of business.
This was enlightening. As a guitar player from an acoustic background and not a pro performer, I have pretty much ignored the recording and performance audio side of things until the last 5 years or so when I started to finally learn electric guitar a bit. (As an aside, seeing you play a baritone electric convinced me I needed to try one. I can't put it down! Such a huge voice they have. Thanks.) However it seems they don't work too well without electrons.... So I finally had to get an amp and other bits. Then mic, stand, monitors, mixer, DAW....... so yea, I get it. ON the plus side, I have not caught the "Pedal Disease", I bought a modeling amp and it sounds great to me, I can make it squeal and thump. I had a 120w tuber for a while. Just too much. But math still rules: the proper number of guitars (amps, pedals, picks) is N+1 where N is the number you have now. Fender says so!
Really an excellent video. It is nice to see the overly produced auto-tuned, drum-machine music, is losing out to older stuff that is a lot more organic. Singers with real voices, who's pitch warbles around the notes instead of hitting them dead on. Drummers who might slow down or speed up, almost imperceptibly, so we know they are people, not algorithms. Guitar playing where you can hear the fingers slide up and down the neck, or bends varying slightly as they play. Imperfection makes this music great. Perfection is boring. I think the other things really helping guitar sales are the vast number of inexpensive guitars available for very affordable prices and software like Rocksmith, combined with online lessons, tips and tricks, which really help people get to an intermediate levels without spending a fortune on individual lessons. I think it is easier to learn to play now than it has ever been. Your video gives me hope that big labels and corporate music are losing their stranglehold on the industry and great new music (and there are great new bands now, though sometimes difficult to find) will emerge.
Also, guitar playing is hard and it takes lots of time and practice. I started in my 50's during the Pandemic and still am only an advanced beginner. I also hurt my hand and had to have a Spur removed from my fretting hand. It has been an uphill battle for me and I will be unable to play for a number of weeks.
I have heard that a lot of back catalog music has been acquired recently by investment institutions. Maybe we will see active promotion for this music by these companies to increase their ROI?
It’s interesting, I think that’ll partly depend on how aware new buyers are of the used market in the future. They rarely engage with it in my experience (new buyers may be intimidated-by/suspicious-of the prospect of buying something they don’t know that much about from a re-seller). I think these folks will almost always go “if I’m going to learn guitar I have to go to guitar center and buy one like my favorite artist (the like my favorite artist part is important for brands like Fender)” or “order one from Amazon”. Fender in particular has really mastered the balance with “nostalgia-driven-novelty”: the “new” 60s reissue Strat that “really gets the specs right this time”. Unlike Gibson who has been associating more with 50+ year old rock stars and catering to the male boomer’s higher earning power and nostalgia (Joe Bonamassa, Alex Lifeson, Jerry Cantrell, Slash, Dave Mustaine) they have stayed more relevant in modern music and female friendly (great signature instruments for Billy Eilish, HER, Gina Gleason). They are also investing into new shapes slowly but surely with things like the Paranormal Squier series and things like that. And it’s rare that a guitarist with money is ever satisfied with having just one guitar.
Been to five reasonablly local guitar shops. Only one listens to what I strive after and gives me suggestions I followed (purchase). The others are just moving boxes pushing whatever they need to get rid of or has the maximum profit. The shops are chasing people out of the shops. In the 80's & 90's you could have chat and a coffee with the owner and were given non commercial advice to later go back to that store for its service and make a purchase. Going to a store is generally not fun 😢
Personally I think guitar is pretty easy to start playing. Let me qualify that a bit. Yes, it hurts your fingers for a couple weeks, and yes to get good you need to put time into it (like any other instrument). However you can strum chords pretty quickly and it produces a pleasing sound. I started with violin as a child. I sounded terrible for much longer. First you have no frets and so the intonation is a problem. In addition until you can use vibrato a violin sounds kind of squeaky. Finally with a violin you almost always learn from sheet music, so that's another skill you have to master. Other orchestral instruments have similar startup problems. But with guitar, you can learn some chords and be singing a song in no time, and while you won't sound like Yngwie, you can entertain around a camp fire.
@@JojoFryrocks "Easy to learn, hard to master" applies to just about every instrument, kazoo and stuff like that not withstanding. The point is many instruments aren't even easy to learn.
@@zemlidrakona2915 Yes that’s right. Many instruments are not easy to learn at all, especially string instruments like Violin which just sounds awful until you’re actually very proficient whereas you can learn to strum a few guitar chords quite quickly and it sounds good. It’s hard to make progress and play more complex things and so people get frustrated that’s they’re not getting a lot better after a few months, hence the drop out rate after a year or so. You have to really step up the practice hours and start learning at least a bit of scales and modes etc to get anywhere
Fenders stats are nonsense. I think it was KDH that did a video on this a while back. tldr their 50% number was based on a group of new guitar players, half female and half male, and from this extrapolated that half of beginners were women. The "survey" was done by a company named eggstrategy if I remember right. Awesome video Utkarsh, keep it up I always enjoy your perspective. EDIT: The video was called 'Fender Lied'.
I respect KDH, and I probably don't recall the details with precision, but I think he got that one wrong. He noted that the survey looked to get roughly equal gender participation and then accused the surveyors of making this really silly conclusion. I think what actually happened was that they learned the stat of gender participation (new hobbyists) from customer surveys, then had to seek out female respondents for their survey, because new female players were simply less likely to participate in the survey. He had the chronological order off, and acted like they were incredibly bad at their jobs.
Yeah I don't really even get what his point really was, but I do think the conclusion that fender went to a marketing company and asked them to come up with a marketing plan to drum up headlines with exaggerated survey results is generally correct. Fender and Egg Strategy don't give enough data about the surveys to really say anything with absolute truth.
Like always, very good analysis !! Obviously the 45 % new customers, and the 9 out of 10 guitarists not pursuing it are correlated. In fact , if 90 % never buys a second guitar, how come only 45 % are new customers ? Does the 45 % relate to the number of people or the dollar amount ? The latter case implies that they have a binomal distribution of users consisting of the "try a squier or mexican strat, and amp, play for six months and give up" crowd that will spend on average 10000*(45/55)/9=810 $ , and the ones that get hooked, and spend a lot more.Would it not make more sense to try to up that percentage of repeat customers ?
Yes this is a classic business that doesn't have a trial problem (trial is easier due to the attractiveness of the electric guitar as an instrument) but a repeat problem. The action to take here is to address repeat barriers. Fender play is a part of that effort (make it easier for people to learn guitar) but I think the repeat problem is a bit more difficult to solve. If I worked for the company, I'd have access to the data and could make a hypothesis. Right now it's just informed guess work
While repeat customers are an untapped source of profit, it's actually more efficient to sell quantity over quality, and fender is not good at "quality" even in high end models. Custom shop stuff is not great, just a way for fender to maintain brand image. I have been playing guitar for 24 years. I own 7 guitars, have owned 20+, and only two fenders. One is a 50's tele acquired from a pawn shop. The other an 04' anniversary strat which has been modded to the point that the only original parts are the body and bridge, both of which were also modified in their own way. So essentially, in 24 years, fender only sold me a single $1.5k guitar 20 years ago and doesnt even benefit from the branding because the headstock doesn't even say "fender" on it anymore.
Thanks for this analysis, super interesting, especially re the uplift in female buyers and overcoming the trial barrier due to online sales. I personally haven’t ever felt intimidated going into a guitar store but then again I’m extremely obnoxious and have a super high level of unearned self confidence!! 😂 I certainly do understand how that fear of judgement and critique is a real problem for a lot of beginners of any gender or background. I have some thoughts around why Fender are doing so well and I think it’s especially due to their very clever marketing strategies but planning to make my own video on that - really great to hear your take on this though, thanks as always ❤
Even as a man I find snooty guitar shops off putting. I've had some bad experiences even when I'd been playing for years. Fortunately I don't really care much what people think and I carried on playing regardless but who wants that kind of experience when they're trying to have a good experience and paying money? To be fair some shops are excellent and treat everyone as a valued customer whatever level they are at but how do you know before you walk through the door?
What it appears to be something of the age...streaming is here to stay...interesting back catalogue is being played more than new music...not so suprising...most music today is to disposable...guitar style music beingbmore listened to thannother music is interesting
❤ my 🇺🇲 strat ( my first guitar) ....but I don't think I will get another Fender, cause it's too corporate.....and I don't stream music, I grew up with vinyl, 8 tracks.... but a mortar brick music store is much better than online, cause you can touch the guitar and you can meet other players in person
Some music endures some does not, just ask members of all the failed bands from all decades. Back catalogue music can be great but it’s also safe and has the approbation of thousands to boost that perception. The real artists seek to confound the previous generation, that’s how we move forward and avoid stagnating 😊
I think Fender has figured out that their support of younger artists has made their brand MUCH more visible than, say, Gibson or other brands, so for them to have 45% of sales to new guitar players makes complete sense. EVERY new artist I see on stage is basically playing some kind of Fender, and to be fair, they are STILL the best made off-the-shelf guitars available on the market. Unlike Gibson, which has gone all-in on the 50+ age bracket, Fender sees the future in the young. They are obtainable, affordable, and solidly made. The only reason I don't play Fenders any more is because they are all mostly long-scale, and Im so acclimated to short-scalers that making the transition is distracting...but I'll never say a bad thing about Fender.
I agree - if these stats are accurate, this is mind blowing. To be honest though, I have to agree with one of the comments here, it's just hard to imagine how these numbers could be correct. If indeed people are paying for the music of old, then who on earth is supporting the bilge that you see on charts today, and who notches up the millions of views for utter trash on TH-cam in preference to quality music? For what it's worth, I'm a massive skeptic of much of the analysis the Economist puts out. I love it, it's beautifully written and presented, but it's patently obvious it presents a completely one-sided world view from a specific section of society. Pick out any article about India, Israel or Trump, and I'll tell you the findings of their "analysis" without looking. Once again, kudos for picking up an offbeat topic that many musicians would have missed
I agree with your assessment of the Economist. The numbers though are from Fender. Economist's analysis in the podcast was rather rudimentary and they focussed on the wrong point (which I didn't even mention in this video) I think there is no doubt newer artists are fairly popular particularly among their demographic. But unlike eras of old, you have prosperous aging populations who are listening to the music they like and are much more numerous than the young people in their societies. The majority of young people today are in the developing world who are not yet paying streamers
@@ministryofguitar yes I get that these are Fender stats but in my mind now they are tainted by association 😅... the one on first time female buyers sounds like something Disney would push as part of its agenda....it just flies in the face of everything you see online...and while we're at it, let's be clear - reverse racism is racism and there are two genders 😅
The Player series is being replaced soon. I personally want to see the same quality and price point for the next series but something makes me think they'll slowly go the route of Gibson and make their guitars more expensive and having Squire take up a bit higher of a price point like Epiphone has been doing. The only reason I'd be ok with a price increase on a new Fender line/series, is if they start doing things like offering padded gig bags and installing locking tuners by default from the factory, in other words, if they're going to increase the price then actually justify it by making the guitar more premium and gig ready right out of the box. Maybe they're also using this as an opportunity to switch back to rosewood instead of Pau Ferro, I hear a lot of people request that.
@@kkrsnn5632 Go check the online stores, Player series models are showing up as "no longer available" all over the place like the one I mentioned. The candy apple red player Statocaster I was considering is also not available anymore as of a couple days ago. That's what this huge Fender sale is about. They're getting rid of old product and getting ready to announce a new series/line of products soon.
While I agree that there has been an increase in female guitarist, I think these statistics are a little skewed. As someone who has worked in music stores since the 70's its nothing new that women are buying guitars, but they aren't necessarily buying them for themselves, its usually, moms buying guitars for their kid, wives buying for husbands, grandmas for grandchildren. So many moms are single parents now its actually pretty rare to see a dad buying a kid a guitar anymore (unless its granddad) anyway, that's my perspective.
As a guitar player and former CFO of a major company...my thoughts about the one out of 10 drop rate....something that these guitar companies should get a think tank around. One outfit that's doing a wonderful job keeping new players playing happens to be "Yousician", that approach needs to be examined by these guitar companies. It's on line instruction and I'm shocked with how easy the method being used. Very low drop rate....hello!!!!
Nothing new. In 1920s Saxophone experienced this. Gtr is just the latest. One in 10,000 will persevere to a professional standard. Lesson = buy a 2nd hand instrument & invest in lessons. Thanks for your insightful video. Keep playing.
Guitar stores and their patrons are more judgemental of others than those at gyms are. Buying online does have its drawbacks because no guitar is exactly the same, and not trying before you buy can end a beginners dreams quickly. Get a guitar that doesnt feel right to you doesnt help you at all. And online return process is , well face it, a pain in the butt.
Here are my thoughts- this felt more like an interview with me being the hiring manager and you being the one applying for a job. I learned so much about your background, more so than music stuff.
The terrible truth is that all of these buyers of musical instruments sit at home alone to practice and to play. It seems to be difficult to find and connect with other players. Later on in life family and job commitments get in the way. Finding two hours a week to jam with your friends becomes an impossible task. Add to this that the home you are visiting to jam may not appreciate two amps playing. 90-100 dB anyone? Add a 7 o'clock curfew because of young kids.. Home from work at six and jam at seven? Not going to happen. Your spouse may not appreciate you disappearing to go for a jam. To become proficient requires practice every day. So you lock yourself away to practice, which may not be very popular. I have experienced all the above. I'm 59. No wonder 1 out 10 quit.
We will have a "Swan Song" moment when art made by humans will explode like the Cambrian lifeforms did. AIs will be amazed for the rest of the years Universe will exist.
Took piano lessons and quit. Then got a DVD set “Piano For Quitters”. Agree with the creator. The music theory approach to learning an instrument is problematic. I’m not well versed in many styles of music, but have heard that the keys of G, A and D are popular for guitar based music. If you know the chords for G major, you can capo the 2nd fret and the same chord forms work for A. Just learn songs in those keys. Then learn music theory along side playing songs.
There is really only six important keys. E or Em for female singers G, Gm, C, or Cm for male singers. In major, that will cover 38% of the songs and 32% of the songs that are in minor without transposing. This is based on a list of 30,000 songs. Most people just need to learn a major key and a minor key based on their singer's voice.
Sorry but there isn't a chance in hell that 50% of new guitar buyers are female. That figure made me immediately question the rest, and wonder if Fender's methodology was sound when collecting this data.
Taylor Swift effect and it's acoustic guitars, probably those under $100 Chinese guitars from Amazon. These females aren't trying to be the next Samantha Fish or The Warning.
There are whole industries that would benefit from more female interest. Most of the trades and I have tried to get ladies interested in these fields. We are seeing some interest though.
“I’ve suggested to Fender that they consider diversifying their business by venturing into the apparel industry. Specifically, they could explore the production of intimate wear such as bras, panties, and underwear. This is a market segment with significant potential that could benefit from their brand presence.”
Lots of good news today 🎉 women getting into guitars is fantastic not just because of the diversity they offer, but also because they can make men buy stuff for them 😅
An "Old Saying, the guitar is the easiest instrument to play and learn, but the Hardest to Master".... lol.... no doubt.... it takes work, like anything that really matters.......
How do they pay the artists if the price is so low? Spotify doesn't really pay anyone but the biggest artists and that's mainly because of their calculations.
Nah your theory only applies to simple consumables made by established brand P&G, Guitar is not only as a hobby but rather a tool or equipment, it should be valued as an investment and consumable parts of guitars are the strings, picks or the wires... I bet Fender are more profitable in selling more T-shirt than their US made instruments.
You are right. 👍I only listen to "Back catalog" music. I don't care for ANY NEW music. And if play guitar I only play the "Old Music" - Gun's and Roses, Metallica, Megadeth, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Extreme, Poison, Yngwie, Vai, Satch, Oasis, etc All the Boomer Benders.🤭
there is no way there is actually 1.8 billion PEOPLE paying for streaming music .. That data sounds cooked or faulty in some way. possibly by some of the data capture being duplicate account people hold . or accounts made and one song purchased for example
Squier and Epiphone have been killing it. Most people can't afford a $1,500 or $3,000 guitar. They likely have around the aforementioned amount to invest in their whole setup over time. Squier Classic Vibe is the best value to quality guitar line in the whole market.
Eventually one day everyone of us will become a boomer and more exciting about the "classic look and old sound" rather than something with a starship look . Gibsons will always look good in every saloon . These companies have a strategy for every generation . I don't know for which generation are Aristides or Mayones... because they neither young people (they are too expensive) and boomers don't know about their existence...
@@brostoevsky22Epiphone is now becoming a $1000 + guitar, so its not even going to be a starter guitar. I agree the Squire Classic Vibe guitars are great. In fact I was at my local guitar store looking for an American Standard Tele, and ended up buying the Classic Vibe 60s Tele I liked it so much. $450 and $130 for a hardcase. 👍 But as for Gibson, Fender, PRS, I think they will have problems, especially with so many well made lower priced guitars out there now. Ive always found Ibanez to be a great brand and very well made. I own 6 of them. Then there's Sire, Harley Benton, Cort, and more affordable Firefly and Glarry make good beginner guitars for under $200. The top brands, IMO, may have the high end market, but the mass market will go to the more affordable brands.
Why did you immediately dismiss the Taylor Swift effect? You then said it was because of online sales, but those Taylor Swift fans probably prefer to buy online. She really might be bigger than the Beatles. She got teen girls to be interested in professional football.
The reason cited is Andy Mooney’s. He didn’t mention Taylor Swift. Personally I agree Taylor Swift has had an impact on girls picking up guitar . I have made a video on the topic What Boomers and Millennials do not accept about Taylor Swift th-cam.com/video/bPaHVz0CYa4/w-d-xo.html
1/10 keeps playing guitar after buying a first one? Fender *needs 45% new buyers… (Over the recent 30 months, I’ve purchased about five new Fender guitars)
I like your videos, please stop referring to your past career (we know all about it!) and keep shining the light on a ways forward. Just my two cents, cheers!
Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. Thing is , a lot of my analysis is drawing on that knowledge and without that credentialing (as in citing my experience), it would not be as useful for viewers as it would just be a random uninformed opinion . Most of my viewers are new (the channel has grown from 1K to 9K subscribers in a few months) so that’s why I keep citing it. Perhaps after I reach a critical size, I will stop as most of my viewers will know by then
Re: the interview, and the data. The back catalogue is not a surprise, specially since the music industry does not put the resources behind artists as they used to, (music was also arguably better). In terms of the sales, the guitars are better now, and there are more resources for players out there.
The guitar industry is a doomed industry. Always having to reinvent the wheel and competing against every used guitar you've already made in the same sales space.
How did Fender collect this data? Was it scientifically collected and truly representative of the population? Was it scientifically analyzed? I am a bit skeptical that this data is accurate as something with a research methods background in social sciences. I also disagree with your theory about why woman are buying guitars. First off, I don’t think the figures are accurate because we aren’t seeing more women and girls play to the degree Fender is claiming. Sure we see more females with guitars, but I really don’t think it’s that many. I also don’t think women are fearful of being judged nor were they ever. Years ago, most women were too busy being housewives to have a hobby. Those who had time mostly thought of being a musician as a male thing, despite women historically playing instruments to entertain themselves and the men in their parlor rooms at home during the 1800’s and earlier. The women who did play in the mid to late 1900’s obviously had to go into shops and loved to go. I’ve heard so many women from the 50’s to the 80’s talking about their experiences in shops very positively. I have yet to hear any women saying they felt out of place or were judged - quite the contrary, actually, they spoke of the respect men showed to these talented women. There is a new channel called Guitar Notes and Notations of a retired woman who has played guitar as a hobby her entire life - she was and still is excited to go into shops and is actually doing a shop roadtrip across the US as we speak. These days, most women are running their household plus holding jobs (which is why I’m skeptical of Fender’s data saying 50% of new customers are women - there’s no way it’s 50%, though I’m sure it’s more than it used to be since there are girls, teens, young adults and well as retired women with more time to play guitar. Numbers would surely be up from yesteryear, but not to the degree Fender claims because working age women would simply not have much time to dedicate. Guitars being sold online make them more accessible to everyone, not just females. I would say even stronger contributing factors that attract females in particular are ease of access to lessons that can be done at home for less money than traditional lessons (which save travel time and money for busy women and girls whose parents might be too busy to take them or may not be able to afford in-person lessons with a teacher), seeing more female professionals playing guitars who serve as role models, less expensive guitars being made at a higher quality, and guitars being made that appear more attractive to girls. This is why a scientific study needs to be done. We done know where or how Fender collected and/or analyzed their data. I can almost promise it was not conducted by a researcher who would adhere to scientific data collection and analysis methods. Furthermore, you can’t simply generalize Fender’s data to the larger guitar community. It doesn’t work that way, even if they had collected and analyzed their data scientifically. A new study would have to be done with a hypothesis and variables that are designed to examine the larger guitar community to get a sense of who the population is now, how it’s changed over time, and why. I would even argue that several follow up studies would need to be done to truly understand who today’s guitar population is, why people are playing, the issues guitar players face, the experiences they encounter, etc. These studies would have to be done by an independent researcher with no attachments to brands or anyone else in the guitar community so biases are not introduced into the data collection methods, testing, and analysis of the results. Anyway, above all, the idea that women are fearful of getting judged at guitar shops is surely not the reason that has kept women from playing. That is just a male’s “typical” point of view. We love the shop experience, but other factors prevent many women from spending as much time at shops.
I think it's a very good question to judge the methodology of Fender's surveys. I'm taking them on face value as I'm assuming they are having at-least the soundness of methodology of research I used to use back when I was working. Of course the social sciences have a replication crisis which is a different topic. Btw the insight of women feeling judged at guitar shops and buying online is not mine. It's from Andy Mooney based on Fender's research.
Aren’t the Social “Sciences” currently suffering from a replication crisis ? You don’t “think” and “feel” so the data must be wrong cuz it made you feel some kind of way … yup , the social science thing checks out
@@juanvaldez5422a corporation probably does put a much higher level of effort than academics do in their experiments for various reasons, but collecting data on human ventures in the arts is still going to be difficult to get an accurate picture of what’s actually going on. People lie on surveys just to get the coupon or whatever they’re offered to take it. If you’re ordering online a husband can buy a guitar and grab his wife’s card cuz it’s the closest and they share an account but technically a “woman” bought it and million other variables no one ever thinks of. Are more women playing guitar? Yeah of course you can see it all over social media. Is it as much as Fender claims? Probably not.
😂 is crazy how people just blindly believe everything they are told !? If you believe that 50% of guitar purchases are women players you have to be a little bit too trusting of the data. If that 50% number is true then there's probably a bunch of old guys using their wives phones and accounts to buy online and or order in stores and have the wife pickup orders while she out and about doing whatever she does !? This 50% wasn't true last year when fender said it and it's not true today, no way !
It's probably Taylor Swift fans buying low cost acoustic guitars. It's not like every female wants to be the next Samantha Fish or make a band like The Warning.
A music shop can be very intimidating for women but even more it is intimidating when a woman wants to buy a used guitar or other gear . They are too afraid to go alone to a private flat . So I would say that women are great customers for established shops with reasonably priced gear .
I’ve bought guitars from shops, online and secondhand from a private seller at their house. By far the worst from my perspective is online, hate buying stuff I haven’t had chance to try out first. Maybe don’t speak for other people about experiences you’ve never had?
Will they been being lied to listening to this crap that people been making and they've been lying to him and tell him that it's popular but it's really not popular guitar music is popular it will always be popular because it's more than just a guitar it's a contest who can write the best song who can play the best licks which brings me to the big problem of fake guitaring on the internet making themselves look good in the moment but these kids see that and they think they should be able to play that on a regular guitar and amp and the thing is is that they're not playing a regular guitar and amp if you can't do what you're doing on a regular amp its not real we need to start making people do this on video they need to have a person that goes around and makes these people play their guitar riff on a regular guitar and see how it sounds
As an instructor for Guitars for Vets, we see the most continued success for our students is when we get together as a group and play. No judgement and everyone can learn new skills. Play whole songs and find people to play with. This is critical to continuing the journey.
TH-cam suggested i watch this, and I am glad they did. You have earned a new sub today because of your well presented video. In November 2020 at age 54 I turned off all news and information and started to learn to play guitar, 3.5 years and 11 guitars later, it was the correct choice for me and I wish others would follow, as my life is so much richer and fuller because of these changes. All the best from an American living in the middle of no where Slovakia and loving life.
Thank you for your kind words. Sounds like you have quite the life
When I hear about 45% of Fender's customers are new buyers, I immediately think, "what can I do to help these people not quit"... It's the mission of my channel to get as many of those people eventually making music in public as possible.
I had exactly the same thought for exactly the same reason. 👍🎸
Great channel btw. just sub'd.
@@fret-less thanks! ...I subbed yours too
It’s a wonderful mission . I’m in
yeah, but most original music sucks , & Most cover bands doing live covers are a dime a dozen & aren't even that good.. Let's face it most music in 2024 is horrible.. any idiot can pose as a rocker & upload his or her own lame music on Spotify
I've been playing for 50 years, and I'm going to play until I die. I've been playing the same Fender 12 string for the past 40 years. I'm 67 years old and I'll be playing at a rehab center later this afternoon.
😀🙏🏽✊🏽
You haven't discovered Thomann then?
90% of people who start guitar are always going to quit within a year.
Because guitar is fn hard
i had also heard that piano sales are down too let's face it this is 2024 the need of physical instrument's in this modern age of music production everything can be done though a DAW that comes with all the virtual instrument's needed ,so no need to spend 1000's of dollars on drums , guitars key board etc to produce a studio record..
@@Mr.PhatsVarietyVibesShowMaking music is easier than ever...making music that's memorably good is harder than ever
You have to love it enough to tolerate sucking for a good while…..
@@jasondorsey7110 I don't think it's "harder". How could it be? But I do admit that for some reason musicians don't concentrate on that these days. They concentrate on being technically impressive and many are. However after watching one of these shred videos and saying "wow", I don't have an urge to go back to it.
@@zemlidrakona2915 Many of the guitarists we highly regard will thank someone for telling them of the importance of the space between the notes.
Always look forward to your videos Utkarsh. Thank you.
I just came across this channel and really like it. Very nice presentation!
Thank you
Interesting trend I noticed in my daughters school (US 5th and 6th grade). The cool thing that all the girls want to do is play guitar and/or drums. I think this is in part Taylor Swift but also the classic rock they are listening to. I think this is awesome because now I can teach her and jam out to music we both like.
It's because teenage girls on tik tok playing guitar get wayyyyyyy more views than boys. There's a reason for that. Something to aspire to, I suppose....
@StevenSimpson-it5mv That's a possible motivation. But most of them came home and said I want to play guitar after they saw the Jr High jazz band do a cover of the Hendrix version of All Along the Watch Tower. Seeing the other women playing on tic-tok and youtube, i would say may have inspired them that they could play too. And if they do want to start a tic-tok in the future playing guitar I'll just say that's not the worst thing on the internet.
@@combativebowlineThe ones getting alot of views are often scantily clad as well lol
There’s a 3 girl band out of Mexico (I think. Think they’re also sisters). They’re getting a lot of attention. They rock. And they’re young. - The Warning.
The moment anyone learn 2 basic chords and then have a bunch of friend around, you’re hooked …as my dad said when I was a kid “play an instrument and you’ll never be alone”
Although once your friends have been to 2 or 3 parties where you’ve somehow got hold of a guitar and they’re still listening to you try to play Landslides at 4 in the morning you may end up pretty alone when nobody invites you again! 🤣😎😰🎸🤘🏻
@@JojoFryrocks that sounds pretty devastating. I go for the positive chance
Excellent info. In all of the craziness of the world, guitar and music are on the bright side, maybe renaissance.
Thanks for this video. The best news I heard here was that so many are seeking out great music from the time when artists actually played instruments, especially guitar. Rick Beato made a video recently that reinforced this fact.
For any guitarists out there that heard the topic of recording, I would like to make the recommendation that is inexpensive when you consider the content you receive. And that is Presonus Studio One v.6. In addition to providing virtually limitless tracks (more than anyone will ever need in a song), it also contains guitar FX included with the price. Plus, it also includes loops to help you build and create music with other instruments that can accompany your guitar playing. I have been an owner of Studio One for over six years and have grown immensely as a guitarist using the software. Cheers! And best wishes to all the players out there that want to explore and create new music!
Excellent analysis Utkarsh, very insightful.
I knew about back catalogue accounting for the majority of streams, but hadn't made the connection that it was all pretty much guitar based. That's really encouraging.
Except it's not the new kids buying the music. It's the old change over such as when people replaced all their records with cassettes and then replaced all their cassettes with CDs.
Fascinating insight. Great channel. Subscribed, thank you.
Thank you. Appreciate your kind words
There is a difference between money spent to music industry and money going into music creation and artists. And the golden age is not only about money, but also about importance of music to people and passion.
Great vid maestro. Great messages. Love this channel
Thank you sir
My youngest daughter is 19, getting close to 20. She loves music (I play guitar and bass and listen to music constantly) and she loves all kinds of music. She listens to everything from old Buck Owen’s and Patsy Cline to modern country and rock and roll from the 60’s and forward. I attribute most of her diverse taste in music from having Apple Music and other streaming services for music. Without that there would have been the few radio stations and listening to my record collection. I know streaming has been a kick in the nuts for all the bands and solo guys because it has taken so much revenue from them but on the flip side, it has broadened the reach of their music.
Thank you for sharing sir. I agree that the breadth of musical taste afforded to the average listener has been one of streaming’s redeeming features. I think it’s a business model fix that is perhaps needed. I plan to look deeper into the topic when I have time
Fender Play and similar online lesson services are doing a great job at letting beginners learn and stay with it without fearing judgment.
Really cool video and breakdown. Well done!
Thank you
I would not discount Taylor Swift’s influence on young females starting guitar.
And you’re right, we should always encourage each other and new people in this musical journey, no matter what direction it takes.
Fender owns many brands, including Charvel, Jackson, and EVH. Fender has done a pretty good job with quality. There are plenty of videos of Squier strats being compared to American Fender strats.
And they're pure bullshit and copium. The quality difference between a squier and a US fender is nowhere even remotely near the same, if you know what you're looking at and arent a paid shill on youtube.
@@SafetysealedA Squier with DiMarzio's and a Graphtech nut can match american fenders in playability and sound any day
@@Safetysealed Fender Custom Shop Master Builder’s #1 guitar is a 1985 Squier. From Phil McKnights Know Your Gear YT channel. Focused on Squiers but is a good video for those looking for a guitar.
th-cam.com/video/seI8BhXpBRA/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
I appreciated your perspective on the statistics and the implications there of. Particularly the success of online guitar sales. My personal experience is that if you can play a guitar at home for a month you can make a better assessment whether it is for you. I have had the experience of a guitar selling it self to me. Thanks for your channel , I enjoy it.
I’ve never, ever, seen a professional guitarist who could really play, make fun of someone with lesser skills, who was really trying to improve, and not just posing. Could you imagine Tim Pierce doing such a thing, or Brent Mason? I couldn’t. It’s cruel and it’s wrong.
Your history as a marketing executive does give you a different perspective on the guitar industry.Thanks for the video.
Thanks. Appreciate it
Excellent topic and presentation 👏 👍 👌 🙌. Keep it up.
Thank you
As a pricing strategy guy who looks for patterns and anomalies indeed inherently on the corporate side of life, and guitar player for the Chicago area instrumental band The Breakers in the other, I love these talks and this channel! Great stuff. 💥
Thank you. Appreciate your kind words words
Very interesting. I enjoy learning about the business side of guitar as well as playing. Thank you for the insights.
The 9 out of 10 drop out drop out rate needs more context. What is it like for the piano, the flute or the drums?
I’d like to see the percentage by guitar price. The price barrier is low with sub 200 guitars
Wonderful analysis.The online purchase of anything favours branded products that’s why fender will sell more guitars.I think the guitar store demise is unfortunate as you can buy an average guitar and have a proper setup which makes it wonderful to play.
I agree with the sledging being an issue.I think more people need to accept that it is a pleasure instrument and simply guide people and not get on with snobbery.
Best wishes .You have a new subscription.
Thank you. Really appreciate it
Look at rock festivals. The headliners are all bands from the 80's and 90's
What happens when they get too old and have to retire?
@@kbar3612Quite a few of them should have retired years ago
The people that attend are a bunch of guys and usually old guys.
@@kbar3612 Members are literally dying off while the remaining members pretend nothing has happened.
The last big musical instruments store in Berlin (> 4 million people) has closed its stores a few months ago like Sam Ash in the USA. There’s not a single shop in one of Europe‘s metropoles, where you can try or buy Fender guitars or basses.
London.. loads of guitar stores in the centre
Definitely not true - MusicStore in Cologne is just one example, Hieber & Lieberg in Munich (also multiple other stores in Munich stock Fender as well) and the list goes on ...
@@alexsausl I wrote about BERLIN!!!
I don’t think that most people understand just what a gargantuan achievement that it has been for Fender Guitars to have remained in business for all these years.
I agree. Most people who have never run a business and love armchair commentary have no idea how difficult it is
Great video and very nice analysis! Just to put into context the 45% first time buyers: clearly compared to let's say Gillette, which is a consumables type of brand, where the majority of the customers will NEED to purchase over and over again (your beard tends to grow, unless you're ZZ Top...), with Fender most people will buy a guitar (or maybe two) but then their ongoing purchases will most likely be limited to things e strings and picks (which they may buy from Fender but most likely will not), so the Fender business model is less of a repeat purchase customer behaviour model than let say Gillette and as such it will intrinsecly have a higher percentage of first time buyers ("new names") than a consumables type of business.
This was enlightening.
As a guitar player from an acoustic background and not a pro performer, I have pretty much ignored the recording and performance audio side of things until the last 5 years or so when I started to finally learn electric guitar a bit. (As an aside, seeing you play a baritone electric convinced me I needed to try one. I can't put it down! Such a huge voice they have. Thanks.)
However it seems they don't work too well without electrons.... So I finally had to get an amp and other bits. Then mic, stand, monitors, mixer, DAW....... so yea, I get it. ON the plus side, I have not caught the "Pedal Disease", I bought a modeling amp and it sounds great to me, I can make it squeal and thump. I had a 120w tuber for a while. Just too much.
But math still rules: the proper number of guitars (amps, pedals, picks) is N+1 where N is the number you have now. Fender says so!
Really an excellent video. It is nice to see the overly produced auto-tuned, drum-machine music, is losing out to older stuff that is a lot more organic. Singers with real voices, who's pitch warbles around the notes instead of hitting them dead on. Drummers who might slow down or speed up, almost imperceptibly, so we know they are people, not algorithms. Guitar playing where you can hear the fingers slide up and down the neck, or bends varying slightly as they play. Imperfection makes this music great. Perfection is boring. I think the other things really helping guitar sales are the vast number of inexpensive guitars available for very affordable prices and software like Rocksmith, combined with online lessons, tips and tricks, which really help people get to an intermediate levels without spending a fortune on individual lessons. I think it is easier to learn to play now than it has ever been. Your video gives me hope that big labels and corporate music are losing their stranglehold on the industry and great new music (and there are great new bands now, though sometimes difficult to find) will emerge.
Also, guitar playing is hard and it takes lots of time and practice. I started in my 50's during the Pandemic and still am only an advanced beginner. I also hurt my hand and had to have a Spur removed from my fretting hand. It has been an uphill battle for me and I will be unable to play for a number of weeks.
I have heard that a lot of back catalog music has been acquired recently by investment institutions. Maybe we will see active promotion for this music by these companies to increase their ROI?
So how do companies like Fender stay in business in the future with so many great used guitars for sale in the used guitar market??
It’s interesting, I think that’ll partly depend on how aware new buyers are of the used market in the future. They rarely engage with it in my experience (new buyers may be intimidated-by/suspicious-of the prospect of buying something they don’t know that much about from a re-seller). I think these folks will almost always go “if I’m going to learn guitar I have to go to guitar center and buy one like my favorite artist (the like my favorite artist part is important for brands like Fender)” or “order one from Amazon”.
Fender in particular has really mastered the balance with “nostalgia-driven-novelty”: the “new” 60s reissue Strat that “really gets the specs right this time”.
Unlike Gibson who has been associating more with 50+ year old rock stars and catering to the male boomer’s higher earning power and nostalgia (Joe Bonamassa, Alex Lifeson, Jerry Cantrell, Slash, Dave Mustaine) they have stayed more relevant in modern music and female friendly (great signature instruments for Billy Eilish, HER, Gina Gleason). They are also investing into new shapes slowly but surely with things like the Paranormal Squier series and things like that. And it’s rare that a guitarist with money is ever satisfied with having just one guitar.
Been to five reasonablly local guitar shops. Only one listens to what I strive after and gives me suggestions I followed (purchase). The others are just moving boxes pushing whatever they need to get rid of or has the maximum profit.
The shops are chasing people out of the shops. In the 80's & 90's you could have chat and a coffee with the owner and were given non commercial advice to later go back to that store for its service and make a purchase.
Going to a store is generally not fun 😢
Personally I think guitar is pretty easy to start playing. Let me qualify that a bit. Yes, it hurts your fingers for a couple weeks, and yes to get good you need to put time into it (like any other instrument). However you can strum chords pretty quickly and it produces a pleasing sound.
I started with violin as a child. I sounded terrible for much longer. First you have no frets and so the intonation is a problem. In addition until you can use vibrato a violin sounds kind of squeaky. Finally with a violin you almost always learn from sheet music, so that's another skill you have to master. Other orchestral instruments have similar startup problems. But with guitar, you can learn some chords and be singing a song in no time, and while you won't sound like Yngwie, you can entertain around a camp fire.
Easy to learn, hard to master - hence the drop-out rate
@@JojoFryrocks "Easy to learn, hard to master" applies to just about every instrument, kazoo and stuff like that not withstanding. The point is many instruments aren't even easy to learn.
@@zemlidrakona2915 Yes that’s right. Many instruments are not easy to learn at all, especially string instruments like Violin which just sounds awful until you’re actually very proficient whereas you can learn to strum a few guitar chords quite quickly and it sounds good. It’s hard to make progress and play more complex things and so people get frustrated that’s they’re not getting a lot better after a few months, hence the drop out rate after a year or so. You have to really step up the practice hours and start learning at least a bit of scales and modes etc to get anywhere
Good content, man. I, actually think 1 out of 10 is about right for any endeavor you wish to excel.
Fenders stats are nonsense. I think it was KDH that did a video on this a while back. tldr their 50% number was based on a group of new guitar players, half female and half male, and from this extrapolated that half of beginners were women. The "survey" was done by a company named eggstrategy if I remember right. Awesome video Utkarsh, keep it up I always enjoy your perspective. EDIT: The video was called 'Fender Lied'.
I respect KDH, and I probably don't recall the details with precision, but I think he got that one wrong. He noted that the survey looked to get roughly equal gender participation and then accused the surveyors of making this really silly conclusion.
I think what actually happened was that they learned the stat of gender participation (new hobbyists) from customer surveys, then had to seek out female respondents for their survey, because new female players were simply less likely to participate in the survey. He had the chronological order off, and acted like they were incredibly bad at their jobs.
Yeah I don't really even get what his point really was, but I do think the conclusion that fender went to a marketing company and asked them to come up with a marketing plan to drum up headlines with exaggerated survey results is generally correct. Fender and Egg Strategy don't give enough data about the surveys to really say anything with absolute truth.
Like always, very good analysis !! Obviously the 45 % new customers, and the 9 out of 10 guitarists not pursuing it are correlated. In fact , if 90 % never buys a second guitar, how come only 45 % are new customers ? Does the 45 % relate to the number of people or the dollar amount ? The latter case implies that they have a binomal distribution of users consisting of the "try a squier or mexican strat, and amp, play for six months and give up" crowd that will spend on average 10000*(45/55)/9=810 $ , and the ones that get hooked, and spend a lot more.Would it not make more sense to try to up that percentage of repeat customers ?
Yes this is a classic business that doesn't have a trial problem (trial is easier due to the attractiveness of the electric guitar as an instrument) but a repeat problem. The action to take here is to address repeat barriers. Fender play is a part of that effort (make it easier for people to learn guitar) but I think the repeat problem is a bit more difficult to solve. If I worked for the company, I'd have access to the data and could make a hypothesis. Right now it's just informed guess work
While repeat customers are an untapped source of profit, it's actually more efficient to sell quantity over quality, and fender is not good at "quality" even in high end models. Custom shop stuff is not great, just a way for fender to maintain brand image.
I have been playing guitar for 24 years. I own 7 guitars, have owned 20+, and only two fenders. One is a 50's tele acquired from a pawn shop. The other an 04' anniversary strat which has been modded to the point that the only original parts are the body and bridge, both of which were also modified in their own way. So essentially, in 24 years, fender only sold me a single $1.5k guitar 20 years ago and doesnt even benefit from the branding because the headstock doesn't even say "fender" on it anymore.
Thanks for this analysis, super interesting, especially re the uplift in female buyers and overcoming the trial barrier due to online sales. I personally haven’t ever felt intimidated going into a guitar store but then again I’m extremely obnoxious and have a super high level of unearned self confidence!! 😂 I certainly do understand how that fear of judgement and critique is a real problem for a lot of beginners of any gender or background. I have some thoughts around why Fender are doing so well and I think it’s especially due to their very clever marketing strategies but planning to make my own video on that - really great to hear your take on this though, thanks as always ❤
Thanks for sharing. I think it's very encouraging data for sure Would love to hear your theories as well
Even as a man I find snooty guitar shops off putting. I've had some bad experiences even when I'd been playing for years.
Fortunately I don't really care much what people think and I carried on playing regardless but who wants that kind of experience when they're trying to have a good experience and paying money?
To be fair some shops are excellent and treat everyone as a valued customer whatever level they are at but how do you know before you walk through the door?
#2 is correct for me. All I do is buy older albums on iTunes/ apple music
very helpfull info .thank you.
Very interesting. Thanks.
What it appears to be something of the age...streaming is here to stay...interesting back catalogue is being played more than new music...not so suprising...most music today is to disposable...guitar style music beingbmore listened to thannother music is interesting
❤ my 🇺🇲 strat ( my first guitar) ....but I don't think I will get another Fender, cause it's too corporate.....and I don't stream music, I grew up with vinyl, 8 tracks.... but a mortar brick music store is much better than online, cause you can touch the guitar and you can meet other players in person
you have shared a few very interesting ideas
Some music endures some does not, just ask members of all the failed bands from all decades. Back catalogue music can be great but it’s also safe and has the approbation of thousands to boost that perception. The real artists seek to confound the previous generation, that’s how we move forward and avoid stagnating 😊
I think Fender has figured out that their support of younger artists has made their brand MUCH more visible than, say, Gibson or other brands, so for them to have 45% of sales to new guitar players makes complete sense. EVERY new artist I see on stage is basically playing some kind of Fender, and to be fair, they are STILL the best made off-the-shelf guitars available on the market. Unlike Gibson, which has gone all-in on the 50+ age bracket, Fender sees the future in the young. They are obtainable, affordable, and solidly made.
The only reason I don't play Fenders any more is because they are all mostly long-scale, and Im so acclimated to short-scalers that making the transition is distracting...but I'll never say a bad thing about Fender.
They aren't supporting as in promoting. They might give a 20% discount on their products.
@@orlock20 True, may not be anything more than that...but it's still way more than what Gibson offer in most cases lol
The future of rock is female with so many young bands!
I agree - if these stats are accurate, this is mind blowing. To be honest though, I have to agree with one of the comments here, it's just hard to imagine how these numbers could be correct. If indeed people are paying for the music of old, then who on earth is supporting the bilge that you see on charts today, and who notches up the millions of views for utter trash on TH-cam in preference to quality music? For what it's worth, I'm a massive skeptic of much of the analysis the Economist puts out. I love it, it's beautifully written and presented, but it's patently obvious it presents a completely one-sided world view from a specific section of society. Pick out any article about India, Israel or Trump, and I'll tell you the findings of their "analysis" without looking. Once again, kudos for picking up an offbeat topic that many musicians would have missed
I agree with your assessment of the Economist. The numbers though are from Fender. Economist's analysis in the podcast was rather rudimentary and they focussed on the wrong point (which I didn't even mention in this video)
I think there is no doubt newer artists are fairly popular particularly among their demographic. But unlike eras of old, you have prosperous aging populations who are listening to the music they like and are much more numerous than the young people in their societies. The majority of young people today are in the developing world who are not yet paying streamers
@@ministryofguitar yes I get that these are Fender stats but in my mind now they are tainted by association 😅... the one on first time female buyers sounds like something Disney would push as part of its agenda....it just flies in the face of everything you see online...and while we're at it, let's be clear - reverse racism is racism and there are two genders 😅
Obviously, there is a correlation between the explosion of new "back catalog" Listeners to the 45% of new Buyers.
The Player series is being replaced soon. I personally want to see the same quality and price point for the next series but something makes me think they'll slowly go the route of Gibson and make their guitars more expensive and having Squire take up a bit higher of a price point like Epiphone has been doing. The only reason I'd be ok with a price increase on a new Fender line/series, is if they start doing things like offering padded gig bags and installing locking tuners by default from the factory, in other words, if they're going to increase the price then actually justify it by making the guitar more premium and gig ready right out of the box. Maybe they're also using this as an opportunity to switch back to rosewood instead of Pau Ferro, I hear a lot of people request that.
Price increase? Yeah go buy the relics....
Player series discontinued where did they mention that?
Where did you hear that ? It would make sense tho if they see how successful gibson is with their pricing
@@kkrsnn5632 Go check the online stores, Player series models are showing up as "no longer available" all over the place like the one I mentioned. The candy apple red player Statocaster I was considering is also not available anymore as of a couple days ago. That's what this huge Fender sale is about. They're getting rid of old product and getting ready to announce a new series/line of products soon.
While I agree that there has been an increase in female guitarist, I think these statistics are a little skewed. As someone who has worked in music stores since the 70's its nothing new that women are buying guitars, but they aren't necessarily buying them for themselves, its usually, moms buying guitars for their kid, wives buying for husbands, grandmas for grandchildren. So many moms are single parents now its actually pretty rare to see a dad buying a kid a guitar anymore (unless its granddad) anyway, that's my perspective.
As a guitar player and former CFO of a major company...my thoughts about the one out of 10 drop rate....something that these guitar companies should get a think tank around. One outfit that's doing a wonderful job keeping new players playing happens to be "Yousician", that approach needs to be examined by these guitar companies. It's on line instruction and I'm shocked with how easy the method being used. Very low drop rate....hello!!!!
Nothing new. In 1920s Saxophone experienced this. Gtr is just the latest. One in 10,000 will persevere to a professional standard. Lesson = buy a 2nd hand instrument & invest in lessons.
Thanks for your insightful video. Keep playing.
Thank you
Guitar stores and their patrons are more judgemental of others than those at gyms are. Buying online does have its drawbacks because no guitar is exactly the same, and not trying before you buy can end a beginners dreams quickly. Get a guitar that doesnt feel right to you doesnt help you at all. And online return process is , well face it, a pain in the butt.
Here are my thoughts- this felt more like an interview with me being the hiring manager and you being the one applying for a job. I learned so much about your background, more so than music stuff.
The terrible truth is that all of these buyers of musical instruments sit at home alone to practice and to play. It seems to be difficult to find and connect with other players. Later on in life family and job commitments get in the way. Finding two hours a week to jam with your friends becomes an impossible task. Add to this that the home you are visiting to jam may not appreciate two amps playing. 90-100 dB anyone? Add a 7 o'clock curfew because of young kids.. Home from work at six and jam at seven? Not going to happen. Your spouse may not appreciate you disappearing to go for a jam. To become proficient requires practice every day. So you lock yourself away to practice, which may not be very popular.
I have experienced all the above. I'm 59.
No wonder 1 out 10 quit.
We will have a "Swan Song" moment when art made by humans will explode like the Cambrian lifeforms did. AIs will be amazed for the rest of the years Universe will exist.
Took piano lessons and quit. Then got a DVD set “Piano For Quitters”. Agree with the creator. The music theory approach to learning an instrument is problematic. I’m not well versed in many styles of music, but have heard that the keys of G, A and D are popular for guitar based music. If you know the chords for G major, you can capo the 2nd fret and the same chord forms work for A. Just learn songs in those keys. Then learn music theory along side playing songs.
There is really only six important keys. E or Em for female singers G, Gm, C, or Cm for male singers. In major, that will cover 38% of the songs and 32% of the songs that are in minor without transposing. This is based on a list of 30,000 songs. Most people just need to learn a major key and a minor key based on their singer's voice.
Sorry but there isn't a chance in hell that 50% of new guitar buyers are female. That figure made me immediately question the rest, and wonder if Fender's methodology was sound when collecting this data.
I’d believe 50% of “new buyers” are women… using their card for their deadbeat boyfriends to get a new guitar 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Er yeah because you obviously know more about the global guitar market than the marketing department at FENDER 🤣🤣🤣
@@JojoFryrocks I know when a major corporation is trying to feed me a load of bullshit because it's a daily occurrence, lol
Taylor Swift effect and it's acoustic guitars, probably those under $100 Chinese guitars from Amazon. These females aren't trying to be the next Samantha Fish or The Warning.
sweet..
There are whole industries that would benefit from more female interest. Most of the trades and I have tried to get ladies interested in these fields. We are seeing some interest though.
I'd buy a Fender but I don't like 5 piece bodies encased in thick plastic.
“I’ve suggested to Fender that they consider diversifying their business by venturing into the apparel industry. Specifically, they could explore the production of intimate wear such as bras, panties, and underwear. This is a market segment with significant potential that could benefit from their brand presence.”
gibson focused on silly fashion and forgot there main focus and now they are in big big trouble
Think it was Spectre Sound Studios who pointed out that if he sees “Marshall” today it’s on people’s headphones.
I find it interesting he has NO Fenders hanging behind him
Well one ‘fake’ Fender. The 8 string Babymetal Strat
Lots of good news today 🎉 women getting into guitars is fantastic not just because of the diversity they offer, but also because they can make men buy stuff for them 😅
It’s ok we can buy our own stuff, thanks
We know that the average guitarist buys their first guitar only once. How many times do they buy their ultimate guitar?
An "Old Saying, the guitar is the easiest instrument to play and learn, but the Hardest to Master".... lol.... no doubt.... it takes work, like anything that really matters.......
True
Fender, Gibson, PRS and Co should team up and start a streaming service like Spotify.
Only real music permitted; bargain basement price.
Great idea except for the pricing.
How do they pay the artists if the price is so low? Spotify doesn't really pay anyone but the biggest artists and that's mainly because of their calculations.
❤❤❤❤
Someone commented on your last video and he would never have said that if he knew you as a person.Unfortunate. He thought he could psycho analyze you.
Nah your theory only applies to simple consumables made by established brand P&G, Guitar is not only as a hobby but rather a tool or equipment, it should be valued as an investment and consumable parts of guitars are the strings, picks or the wires... I bet Fender are more profitable in selling more T-shirt than their US made instruments.
You are right. 👍I only listen to "Back catalog" music. I don't care for ANY NEW music. And if play guitar I only play the "Old Music" - Gun's and Roses, Metallica, Megadeth, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Extreme, Poison, Yngwie, Vai, Satch, Oasis, etc All the Boomer Benders.🤭
Hopefully the 90 percent who stop playing still have a guitar in their home and some other family member picks it up.
This channel may have intellectual merit, but without a transcript to read, I can't sit though another minute of attempting to translate your English.
there is no way there is actually 1.8 billion PEOPLE paying for streaming music .. That data sounds cooked or faulty in some way. possibly by some of the data capture being duplicate account people hold . or accounts made and one song purchased for example
I think the number does sound high also. But even if it is just over a billion, it’s still very positive news
Probably label trolls trying to juice the numbers for their signed artists.
@@orlock20 yes didnt think of that
Rock n' roll will never die! Rock > Taylor Swift
the big battle ...... people who love rock VS army of young future Karens and current karens (swift cult)
Dolly Parton got into rock. Maybe Taylor Swift will too.
@@orlock20 the difference dolly parton is a way better voice and song writer than swift
In the long run I don't see Fender / Gibson / PRS being relevant. Most people at the top end of those brands are boomers like myself.
Squier and Epiphone have been killing it. Most people can't afford a $1,500 or $3,000 guitar. They likely have around the aforementioned amount to invest in their whole setup over time. Squier Classic Vibe is the best value to quality guitar line in the whole market.
Eventually one day everyone of us will become a boomer and more exciting about the "classic look and old sound" rather than something with a starship look . Gibsons will always look good in every saloon . These companies have a strategy for every generation . I don't know for which generation are Aristides or Mayones... because they neither young people (they are too expensive) and boomers don't know about their existence...
@@brostoevsky22Epiphone is now becoming a $1000 + guitar, so its not even going to be a starter guitar. I agree the Squire Classic Vibe guitars are great. In fact I was at my local guitar store looking for an American Standard Tele, and ended up buying the Classic Vibe 60s Tele I liked it so much. $450 and $130 for a hardcase. 👍
But as for Gibson, Fender, PRS, I think they will have problems, especially with so many well made lower priced guitars out there now. Ive always found Ibanez to be a great brand and very well made. I own 6 of them. Then there's Sire, Harley Benton, Cort, and more affordable Firefly and Glarry make good beginner guitars for under $200.
The top brands, IMO, may have the high end market, but the mass market will go to the more affordable brands.
Fender are doing way better than Gibson though. I have a few ideas about why that is, planning to do a video on it soon.
@@JojoFryrocks1/2 the cost for a us made fender then a Gibson. Sorry I just ruined your video.
Demographic data? Who are the 1.8 billion paying back catalogue streaming customers?
I have the same question. Something which probably is not available or easy to find
@@ministryofguitar Definitely interesting to get the bigger picture indeed!
Why did you immediately dismiss the Taylor Swift effect? You then said it was because of online sales, but those Taylor Swift fans probably prefer to buy online. She really might be bigger than the Beatles. She got teen girls to be interested in professional football.
The reason cited is Andy Mooney’s. He didn’t mention Taylor Swift. Personally I agree Taylor Swift has had an impact on girls picking up guitar . I have made a video on the topic
What Boomers and Millennials do not accept about Taylor Swift
th-cam.com/video/bPaHVz0CYa4/w-d-xo.html
Taylor this Taylor that..🙈
1/10 keeps playing guitar after buying a first one? Fender *needs 45% new buyers…
(Over the recent 30 months, I’ve purchased about five new Fender guitars)
I like your videos, please stop referring to your past career (we know all about it!) and keep shining the light on a ways forward. Just my two cents, cheers!
Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. Thing is , a lot of my analysis is drawing on that knowledge and without that credentialing (as in citing my experience), it would not be as useful for viewers as it would just be a random uninformed opinion . Most of my viewers are new (the channel has grown from 1K to 9K subscribers in a few months) so that’s why I keep citing it. Perhaps after I reach a critical size, I will stop as most of my viewers will know by then
Re: the interview, and the data. The back catalogue is not a surprise, specially since the music industry does not put the resources behind artists as they used to, (music was also arguably better). In terms of the sales, the guitars are better now, and there are more resources for players out there.
@@ministryofguitar makes sense. Carry on then :)
Play more, troll less.
Algorithm
Thanks
The guitar industry is a doomed industry. Always having to reinvent the wheel and competing against every used guitar you've already made in the same sales space.
It may be getting a bit better, but women in general get treated like garbage in music stores.
How did Fender collect this data? Was it scientifically collected and truly representative of the population? Was it scientifically analyzed? I am a bit skeptical that this data is accurate as something with a research methods background in social sciences.
I also disagree with your theory about why woman are buying guitars. First off, I don’t think the figures are accurate because we aren’t seeing more women and girls play to the degree Fender is claiming. Sure we see more females with guitars, but I really don’t think it’s that many. I also don’t think women are fearful of being judged nor were they ever. Years ago, most women were too busy being housewives to have a hobby. Those who had time mostly thought of being a musician as a male thing, despite women historically playing instruments to entertain themselves and the men in their parlor rooms at home during the 1800’s and earlier. The women who did play in the mid to late 1900’s obviously had to go into shops and loved to go. I’ve heard so many women from the 50’s to the 80’s talking about their experiences in shops very positively. I have yet to hear any women saying they felt out of place or were judged - quite the contrary, actually, they spoke of the respect men showed to these talented women. There is a new channel called Guitar Notes and Notations of a retired woman who has played guitar as a hobby her entire life - she was and still is excited to go into shops and is actually doing a shop roadtrip across the US as we speak. These days, most women are running their household plus holding jobs (which is why I’m skeptical of Fender’s data saying 50% of new customers are women - there’s no way it’s 50%, though I’m sure it’s more than it used to be since there are girls, teens, young adults and well as retired women with more time to play guitar. Numbers would surely be up from yesteryear, but not to the degree Fender claims because working age women would simply not have much time to dedicate. Guitars being sold online make them more accessible to everyone, not just females. I would say even stronger contributing factors that attract females in particular are ease of access to lessons that can be done at home for less money than traditional lessons (which save travel time and money for busy women and girls whose parents might be too busy to take them or may not be able to afford in-person lessons with a teacher), seeing more female professionals playing guitars who serve as role models, less expensive guitars being made at a higher quality, and guitars being made that appear more attractive to girls.
This is why a scientific study needs to be done. We done know where or how Fender collected and/or analyzed their data. I can almost promise it was not conducted by a researcher who would adhere to scientific data collection and analysis methods. Furthermore, you can’t simply generalize Fender’s data to the larger guitar community. It doesn’t work that way, even if they had collected and analyzed their data scientifically. A new study would have to be done with a hypothesis and variables that are designed to examine the larger guitar community to get a sense of who the population is now, how it’s changed over time, and why. I would even argue that several follow up studies would need to be done to truly understand who today’s guitar population is, why people are playing, the issues guitar players face, the experiences they encounter, etc. These studies would have to be done by an independent researcher with no attachments to brands or anyone else in the guitar community so biases are not introduced into the data collection methods, testing, and analysis of the results.
Anyway, above all, the idea that women are fearful of getting judged at guitar shops is surely not the reason that has kept women from playing. That is just a male’s “typical” point of view. We love the shop experience, but other factors prevent many women from spending as much time at shops.
I think it's a very good question to judge the methodology of Fender's surveys. I'm taking them on face value as I'm assuming they are having at-least the soundness of methodology of research I used to use back when I was working. Of course the social sciences have a replication crisis which is a different topic.
Btw the insight of women feeling judged at guitar shops and buying online is not mine. It's from Andy Mooney based on Fender's research.
Aren’t the Social “Sciences” currently suffering from a replication crisis ? You don’t “think” and “feel” so the data must be wrong cuz it made you feel some kind of way … yup , the social science thing checks out
Fender does extensive market research .. they aren’t just making it up ….Not like the replication crisis with the social “sciences” lol
@@juanvaldez5422a corporation probably does put a much higher level of effort than academics do in their experiments for various reasons, but collecting data on human ventures in the arts is still going to be difficult to get an accurate picture of what’s actually going on. People lie on surveys just to get the coupon or whatever they’re offered to take it. If you’re ordering online a husband can buy a guitar and grab his wife’s card cuz it’s the closest and they share an account but technically a “woman” bought it and million other variables no one ever thinks of. Are more women playing guitar? Yeah of course you can see it all over social media. Is it as much as Fender claims? Probably not.
Why all the corporate vocabulary? You are better than that man.
😂 is crazy how people just blindly believe everything they are told !? If you believe that 50% of guitar purchases are women players you have to be a little bit too trusting of the data. If that 50% number is true then there's probably a bunch of old guys using their wives phones and accounts to buy online and or order in stores and have the wife pickup orders while she out and about doing whatever she does !? This 50% wasn't true last year when fender said it and it's not true today, no way !
It's probably Taylor Swift fans buying low cost acoustic guitars. It's not like every female wants to be the next Samantha Fish or make a band like The Warning.
A music shop can be very intimidating for women but even more it is intimidating when a woman wants to buy a used guitar or other gear . They are too afraid to go alone to a private flat . So I would say that women are great customers for established shops with reasonably priced gear .
Women don't really play guitar. So I don't think there's a significant market there
Wake up @KennedyIvy, the 1950s have ended. Remove your blinders before moving forward.
@@KennedyIvy yeah I totally don’t exist and the stats on Fender sales are made up 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’ve bought guitars from shops, online and secondhand from a private seller at their house. By far the worst from my perspective is online, hate buying stuff I haven’t had chance to try out first. Maybe don’t speak for other people about experiences you’ve never had?
@@KennedyIvy The new female guitarists are getting more attention than the new male guitarists.
Content is interesting but not worth 18 minutes. Try 5 minutes next time.
Chaotic procrastinating, waste of time go to the point
Will they been being lied to listening to this crap that people been making and they've been lying to him and tell him that it's popular but it's really not popular guitar music is popular it will always be popular because it's more than just a guitar it's a contest who can write the best song who can play the best licks which brings me to the big problem of fake guitaring on the internet making themselves look good in the moment but these kids see that and they think they should be able to play that on a regular guitar and amp and the thing is is that they're not playing a regular guitar and amp if you can't do what you're doing on a regular amp its not real we need to start making people do this on video they need to have a person that goes around and makes these people play their guitar riff on a regular guitar and see how it sounds