Gibson Files Bankruptcy

[bayswater]

As expected https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... protection

[MIDI Life Crisis]

So the turkeys have come home to roost (or something like that). Can someone please restart Opcode now?

[bayswater]

They say they'll go back to making musical instruments, which is apparently something they did. All that other stuff they thought they could do, like software, consumer electronics, etc is out.

[mhschmieder]

My own company has wisely stayed out of the Consumer Electronics business. Pro Audio has its ups and downs, but isn't as subject to trends and fickleness as Consumer Electronics. We expected this flop and wondered why Gibson thought it a good idea.

[bayswater]

My own company has wisely stayed out of the Consumer Electronics business. Pro Audio has its ups and downs, but isn't as subject to trends and fickleness as Consumer Electronics. We expected this flop and wondered why Gibson thought it a good idea.

There are strategies for building a successful business and strategies for generating a lot of cash. The two are not always the same.

[James Steele]

Came here to see if it was posted already. Here's another article link:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... r-business

I liked the sub-heading to the article: "Plans to ‘unburden’ itself of consumer-electronics business".

It's about damned time. It seemed like Gibson lost sight of its core business while Henry attempted to satisfy his acquisition hunger. It just may be that Gibson was only meant to be "so big" and not a big player across all these different market segments, right? How about going back to making excellent instruments and focus on that?

So they're going to re-organized, but seems to me if I were a shareholder, I'd be looking for Henry J's scalp since he presided over this. Where's the accountability. Send him off to an island somewhere with all the robo Les Pauls. Sigh....

[bayswater]

I'd be looking for Henry J's scalp since he presided over this. Where's the accountability. Send him off to an island somewhere with all the robo Les Pauls. Sigh....

Presumably there's a board of directors, but IIRC, he pretty much owns it and can do what he likes.

[James Steele]

Too soon? (This is floating around the net now...)

[waxman]

It's been well known for years Henry Juszkiewicz was a problem. It's amazing how one person can run a great company into the ground. But not the heart soul of the company the luthiers and people in the company were screwed. Unfortunately, they had horrible leadership. Hopefully, now there is a chance for the company to survive. HJ is a miserable soul...

[billf]

According to this article, the guitar part of the business is actually in good shape, which is a bit of a surprise given how they have treated that line the past few years with things guitarists never warmed up to such as robotuners. Henry does need to go, and hopefully they bring in a CEO who understands the guitar market and just focus on making great instruments.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/entert ... 567946002/

Expert: Expansion to lifestyle brand was a mistake

Gibson’s guitar business has actually been on the uptick, according to the bankruptcy filings, rising 10.5 percent from January 2017 — $110 million to $122 million during the same 12-month period.

Gibson enjoys 22 percent market share in electric guitars, and 40 percent market share for guitars selling for more than $2,000, including the iconic Les Paul model. Gibson is known for providing guitars to stars such as Elvis Presley, BB King, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend and Lenny Kravitz.

Gibson's guitars include the SG, Flying V, Explorer, J-45 and Hummingbird. But, the company believed that expanding into electronics and creating a music-centered lifestyle brand was the key to overall growth.

[bayswater]

According to this article, the guitar part of the business is actually in good shape,

Other reports suggest amounts owing to Gibson by vendors that may also be in danger of bankruptcy. "Good shape" could depend on this being included as assets. But you have to figure the core business is viable is they can get rid of the debt (i.e. stiff creditors), and it is managed by people who know about making and selling guitars.

[billf]

Other reports suggest amounts owing to Gibson by vendors that may also be in danger of bankruptcy. "Good shape" could depend on this being included as assets. But you have to figure the core business is viable is they can get rid of the debt (i.e. stiff creditors), and it is managed by people who know about making and selling guitars.

Time will tell, but it sure looks like if they had remained focused on instruments, they would not be in the mess they are in now.

I'm glad I got a Les Paul before all this though.

[James Steele]

Well I know Guitar Center is in major financial trouble as well. From what I've read, if they go down for the count, it could have a major ripple effect. There's also the larger phenomenon that guitar-based music isn't so dominant any more. A lot of youngsters don't want to learn an instrument. The anecdotal evidence is all around... the popularity of DAWs that are optimized to manipulate pre-recorded loops rather than record original source material (save for vocals) and people who manipulate these loops being called "musicians." Maybe the term is "producers"... I know these people "make beatz." Put a guitar in their hands or sit them at a keyboard and ask them to play a chord progression and the wheels fall off.

[bayswater]

Well I know Guitar Center is in major financial trouble as well.

That's what I was getting at. This is not unrelated to the Gibson fiasco. Looks like they have a similar things going on with Fender.

[Shooshie]

Well I know Guitar Center is in major financial trouble as well. From what I've read, if they go down for the count, it could have a major ripple effect. There's also the larger phenomenon that guitar-based music isn't so dominant any more. A lot of youngsters don't want to learn an instrument. The anecdotal evidence is all around... the popularity of DAWs that are optimized to manipulate pre-recorded loops rather than record original source material (save for vocals) and people who manipulate these loops being called "musicians." Maybe the term is "producers"... I know these people "make beatz." Put a guitar in their hands or sit them at a keyboard and ask them to play a chord progression and the wheels fall off.

Well, well. Who EVER could have predicted such a thing? Tut, tut.
This was one of my arguments for years, that this stuff was going to kill music pedagogy, which eventually will harm instrument makers, which creates a domino effect that leaves music a more exclusive profession than ever. I don't believe it will ever go away completely. There are always people who are driven to do it. They will just be fewer and further between. And the decline of guitarists may be balanced by a rise in keyboardists. It's too soon to tell. But I think the discipline and facility gained from each person's "10,000 hours" of practice will be rare.

One interesting difference, today, is the available online instruction. Because you can try many things and see what really works, you learn a LOT faster than with a teacher, once a week, who may or may not be telling you the right stuff. (and most of them never knew the right stuff to tell, in my experience) My daughter had access to a very fine teacher, me, but refused to accept my instruction. Maybe I'm not as good as I thought. I did help her learn piano, which she played very well, performing difficult works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Debussy and others, mostly on her own self-instruction. But that's not what she wanted to do. So, she picked up guitar, which I know almost nothing about, and learned it from downloading tablature and chord changes for songs, online. Now she writes wonderful music, and (to my ears) incredible songs. Now 30 and living in Los Angeles, she faces the same monolithic wall we all faced when getting into music. Maybe that's the one area where a teacher or mentor really would help. You can't download connections. But she continues to get gigs, write songs and record them. She has no desire to use a DAW, and I'm kind of proud of that. She'll do it eventually. There's just no avoiding it if you're in this kind of business. Only concert artists will continue to live like Liszt, Heifetz, and Rubinstein.

Too bad about Gibson. It changed the DAW game by eliminating one of the best. That was shameful, but now it's just fate. Now, the DAW game may hurt Gibson. Tit for tat?

Shoosh