Merchants at Anaheim Music Show Tune In to Affluent Baby Boomers

Eddie Montana knows how aging boomers feel when they walk into his vintage musical instrument shop in Huntington Beach and set their eyes upon the Silvertone, Harmony and Kay guitars that helped define their youth.

“All of a sudden, the blood begins to boil again and you see the return of the couch guitarists--guys who get to my age who want to experience that feeling they got when they were young,” said Montana, 46, co-owner of Montana & Lace Vintage Musical Instruments. “It’s like they know what they used to enjoy doing, but they’d forgotten how to do it.”

Boomers--particularly successful males who still harbor rock ‘n’ roll fantasies--now are viewed as an important growth market for the nation’s $5-billion industry of musical instruments and related products, said Bob Morrison, director of marketing for the Carlsbad-based National Assn. of Music Merchants, which is holding its annual trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center through this afternoon.

The music industry won’t shift its primary focus from the 15- to 25-year-old wanna-bes who drive instrument sales through their school orchestras and garage bands. And it will continue to court professional musicians.

But manufacturers and retailers are struggling to devise a marketing plan that will attract “used-to-bes,” former players who now wear expensive suits, drive imported cars and think nothing of dropping hundreds of dollars for a Big Bertha golf club to squeeze another 10 yards out of their drives.

“These people remember from their past that music means a lot more than simply turning on your radio,” said David H. Berryman, president and co-owner of Gibson USA, the Tennessee-based instrument manufacturer. “But the industry hasn’t done as much as it could have to help them recapture the real, meaningful experience that music can be.”

Store owners such as Skip Maggiora say that means more than simply trying to sell instruments to aging boomers. Maggiora has developed a marketing package that helps musicians recapture the experience of jam sessions in the next-door neighbor’s garage.

Enrollees in his “Weekend Warrior” program, which is being rolled out nationwide through the music merchants association, are handed an instrument and hooked up with other long-dormant musicians who share musical tastes. A “coach” helps warriors regain their “chops,” or musical skills, and after a half-dozen practice sessions, the doctors, construction workers and lawyers head onstage for a concert.

“We had these guys earlier,” Maggiora said. “Now that they have time and money, we want them back.”

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Dormant musicians who have let dust gather on their guitars, drums and keyboards will be surprised next time they poke their noses into the corner music shop. Association President Larry R. Linkin reports that 43% of product categories on display didn’t exist just 25 years ago.

The technological wave that’s creating new products also is starting to push prices down. Drum machines that stars such as Barry Manilow paid $5,000 for just a few years back are being replaced by “vastly superior machines that can be had for just $199,” said Don Griffin, president of West LA Music, a store that caters to professional musicians.

Music store buyers like Griffin were roaming the aisles at the massive Anaheim Convention Center late last week at the show, scouting out new products for the coming year. The association’s trade show--a who’s who and what’s what of the music industry--isn’t open to the public, but attendance still is expected to approach 60,000.

Major manufacturers use luxurious hospitality suites and big-name entertainers to court buyers. Newcomers such as Brea-based Electroplex Amplifiers make do by sharing exhibit space with a competitor.

The trade show remains a music convention, but the digital revolution is quickly reshaping the industry. In booth after booth, marketers hawk software and hardware that makes it easier and cheaper to play, record and edit music.

But there’s also a decided “retro” feel and sound to many products on display--particularly the upscale guitars and amplifiers that are aimed squarely at aging boomers with the money to buy the best.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp.’s massive display featured a new line of guitars that trades on a long-standing endorsement by the Ventures, a still-touring instrumental band that set America humming in the 1960s.

Peek inside the retro-looking amplifiers produced by Electroplex and you’ll find vacuum tubes manufactured in the U.S., China and Russia. “We’re totally tubes,” said company President Don Morris. “We’ve purposely gone to a ‘retro’ vintage for both the look and sound of our amps.”

Rick Benson said Sylmar-based Groove Tubes offers “a chance to buy a brand-new, 35-year-old amp. That’s what we’ve perfected . . . the sound that I loved when I was a 12-year-old standing in front of the mirror holding a tennis racket and pretending to sing with the Beatles.”

Frustrated purists may turn up their noses at New Jersey-based American Showster’s line, but there’s undoubtedly a market for stylized guitars that are dead ringers for the tail fin of a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.

The top-of-the-line equipment is expensive. Guitars from Fullerton-based G&L; Guitars--which features designs influenced by guitar hero Leo Fender--run from $900 to $3,000, while Groove Tubes’ amps retail for between $1,800 and $3,500.

“These amplifiers obviously aren’t going to be some kid’s first purchase,” Benson said. “Not unless daddy loves him a whole, whole lot.”

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The reawakening of dormant musical interests has set shop owners scrambling to better understand the needs of older consumers who long ago traded their guitars and keyboards for hedge trimmers and calculators.

Pacific Store Designs in Fountain Valley erected a 2,000-square-foot model store at the show that underscores the importance of treating upscale customers with the same respect they get from BMW salesmen.

“People between the ages of 35 and 55 are going to gain $280 billion in disposable income during the next four to six years,” said store President Chris Miller. “But many music retailers are going to miss out because they’re not sending the right message with their stores.”

Miller’s prototype store features larger signs, attractive displays and an emphasis on service--regardless of whether the customer wears rings on his fingers or in his ears.

Said Miller: “The first 28 seconds are everything. If the store doesn’t look right, these [boomers] are going to turn around and walk out.”

At a recent music merchants association seminar, economist Lester Thurow told members to steal a marketing page from the golf industry, which is enticing boomers with a combination of innovative products and the social trappings that make golf so appealing.

“Golf is a good analogy,” said Maggiora, the Sacramento store owner who developed the “Weekend Warrior” marketing plan. “You go out to the club, you find three other guys to play with, and, instantly, you’re having fun. But when it comes to music, some of these guys haven’t played for 20 years or more. They feel uncomfortable coming back, and what we need to do is get rid of that barrier.”

Morrison said the message is clear: “In the past, we’ve just been trying to sell them clubs. What we’ve got to do is sell them the driving range, the 18-hole golf course, the whole experience.”

Morrison doesn’t expect the weekend warriors to hit every note: “Hey, it’s just like golf. You go out there and play miserable all day, but you always hit that one shot that makes you want to come back. And it’s the same with music.”