Canadian Music Trade - December / January 2020 | Page 22

Ryan Schroeyens, Music City Canada, London, ON
(L-R) Sergio Travaglione, James Ozgur & Tommy
Ozgur, Music Red One, Dorval, QC
City Canada – a new parent brand encom-
passing all of the complementary businesses
under its figurative and literal roof.
“The Music City transition has been
a long time coming for us,” begins Owner
Ryan Schroeyens. “We started working on
it almost a year ago, and it was a very big
undertaking because it’s more than just a
new website; it’s operational, it’s branding,
it’s our POS system, inventory manage-
ment… There’s a lot on the back end that
the customers don’t see.”
In this case, Schroeyens and The PA
Shop already had a suite of complementary
businesses; the idea with Music City Cana-
da is to create a better public-facing synergy
between them in terms of promotion and
22 CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
customer awareness, operational efficien-
cies, and the like. “From where it started to
where we are now, it’s definitely expanded
over the years, and as we started to branch
off more and more into musical instru-
ments, we realized we needed something
that better captured all the facets of what
we do,” Schroeyens offers. “Part of the rea-
soning behind the name is we’re effectively
the type of place where you can come in
knowing nothing and leave a rock star.”
What he means is that, between Music
City’s various sub-brands, someone can get
a beginner’s guitar bundle with an entry-lev-
el axe, amp, and necessary accessories and
take the lessons they need to get started.
From there, they can upgrade to high-end
new and used instruments and acquire
everything they need for a full home studio
or pro-level in-ear monitor system. What’s
more, they can record in a professional stu-
dio, hire the staff and systems needed for a
full-scale arena tour across the country, and
even rent a tour bus.
“There’s a lot of cross-pollination be-
tween the different things we do,” Schro-
eyens reinforces. “But when you’re a serial
entrepreneur [like me] with all of these
brands, you’re having to pick and choose
where you’re dedicating your attention and
resources, and yet there’s a lot of crossover
for our markets, so we haven’t changed a lot
about who we are or what we do; we’ve just
found a way to better engage our customers
and have them engage with us.”
Schroeyens says that when it comes to
diversification and supplemental revenue
streams, you need to be thinking long-term
as, in most cases, they represent a significant
investment of time and resources, and may
take even longer to start paying dividends.
Of course, expanding or building on an
existing brand will only be effective if that
brand is rock-solid in terms of its opera-
tions, reputation, and so on. Schroeyens
also notes that there are a lot of variables to
consider, and what works for one retailer
might not for another even just on the other
side of town, let alone in a different part of
the country.
“For some people, it’ll be rentals. For
some, it’ll be selling records, or for some,
it might even be renting parking spaces to
the building next door,” he says. “Whatever
the stream is that keeps it going and allows
you to continue growing in a business you’re
passionate about, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Then, it’s about cross-promoting and
leveraging your skills and reputation in one
area to develop another. “We realize very few
of our guitar customers will become cus-
tomers of PA Shop Productions for touring
needs,” Schroeyens says, “but it gives all of
the brands under the Music City Canada
umbrella a boost when people know that we
work with artists like Keith Urban – that
we’re at that level and, by association, they
can tap into that even in an indirect way.”
From there, it’s about focusing on your
strengths and creating a symbiotic rela-
tionship between the various facets of your
business that yields rewards for you and your
existing customers while making it easier to
retain them and attract new ones.
“It’s no secret that it’s getting harder and
harder to compete with Amazon or chain-
style stores, so you need to find a way to add
value to your offerings,” he says. “A lot of it
comes down to the fact that we’re living in
an Amazon world. Will mom-and-pop retail
still exist 20 years from now? I honestly don’t
know, but I know that people still like deal-
ing with people, and we’re good people, so if
we can do good business and take good care
of our customers and have fun while we’re
doing it, I think we’ll be around for a while.”
When it comes to operating a suite of com-
plementary businesses and revenue streams
under one roof, it’s hard to find a better
example than Richmond Hill, ON’s Cosmo
Music. Since opening their 56,000-sq.-ft.
“mega-store” in May 2008 – the single largest
musical instrument store in North America –
Cosmo has been something of a case study in
creating a sustainable musical ecosystem that
serves a wide swath of customers.
Midway through 2019, the store was
formally recognized for those efforts with
the Dealer of the Year Award at the Top 100
Dealer Awards presented during Summer
NAMM in Nashville. Of course, few will be
able to even come close to matching the size
or scope of Cosmo’s operations, but emulat-
ing and following the example of NAMM’s
Dealer of the Year can’t be a bad idea.
“The litmus test for anything we want to
add here is, ‘Is it going to add to the custom-
er experience?’ That means, will it add value,
or will customers at least perceive it to add
value,” says Cosmo Music’s President and
CEO, Mark Hebert. “In many cases, even