Each holiday season, thousands of teenagers tear gift wrap off shiny, new guitars. They giddily pluck at the detuned strings, thinking how cool they'll be once they're rock stars—even if almost all will give up before they ever get to jam out to "Sweet Child o' Mine."
For them, it's no big deal to relegate the guitar to the back of the closet forever in favor of the Playstation controller. But it is a big deal for Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the 70-year-old maker of rock 'n' roll's most iconic electric guitars. Every quitter hurts.
[...]The $6 billion U.S. retail market for musical instruments has been stagnant for five years, according to data compiled by research firm IBISWorld, and would-be guitar buyers have more to distract them than ever. So how do you convince someone to put down the iPhone, pick up a Stratocaster, and keep playing?
Seems Fender didn't get the memo: the music of the future is hip-hop and autotuners.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @03:51PM
EVERY young guitarist is motivated by some small part by the promise of groupies. Either they get a taste or they push onward by a love of music.
This could easily be the story Gibson, or Schecter , or Peavey; but the fact of the matter is once you graduate from your Squire II, musical instruments are over-valued and over-priced- I got a custom guitar built to my specification for far less than any of the premium builds.
And fact of the matter we are moving away from musical literacy. When growing up, every home aspired to a piano. That doesn't happen anymore. Knowing how to construct a chord is as much in the arcane arts as cooking for yourself.
So it goes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @05:21PM
"So it goes."
Tralfamadorian?