Business Matters
By Michael Raine
What Drives Canadian Musicians’
Purchasing Decisions?
We Asked Them…
MI
retailers make so
many decisions
based on what
they believe their
customers’ pur-
chasing habits are, from how much and how
often they spend to how they make the de-
cisions that they do. So, in conjunction with
CMT’s sister magazine, Canadian Musician,
we surveyed musicians across the country
to get a snapshot of their broad-perspective
purchasing habits. The 150 respondents to
the survey came from every province and we
thank them for providing this insight.
The distribution of product categories among
the respondents was somewhat even, as each
respondent was allowed to choose multiple
categories. It’s no surprise that the most popular was guitars and re-
lated accessories, with a quarter of respondents saying they regularly
purchase within that category. It’s notable that “recording software
and gear” was the second most popular product category, showing
that home recording has become a major part of many musicians’
musical lives.
From which of the following product groups do you regularly
purchase gear or accessories?
€24%€ Guitar
€19% € Recording Software & Gear€
€
14% €
Vocals€
€11% € Live Sound €
€10% € Piano/Keyboards€
€ 9% € Bass guitar€
€ 8% € Drums/percussion
€ 2% € Other
€ 2% € Brass/Strings/Woodwinds €
€ 1% € DJ Equipment€
28 CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
€
We were a little surprised that “a few times a year” was the most
common response – by a large margin – when musicians were asked
how often they’re making purchases. Had the question been exclu-
sively about instruments and gear, that would not be too surprising,
but because the question explicitly included accessories, we expected
it would be more often.
How often do you purchase instruments and/or accessories on
average?
€ 1% € Weekly€
€17% € Monthly€
€60%€ Few times a year€
€
12% €
Yearly€
€10% € Less often