Canadian Music Trade - June/July 2017 | Page 32

Photo : Craig Hunter Ross

BUSINESS MATTERS

By Michael Raine

Contemporary Music Center : What Made Them NAMM ’ s 2016 Dealer of the Year ?

In the lead up to NAMM ’ s 2017 Top 100 Dealer Awards , Canadian Music Trade caught up with Menzie Pittman , owner of the two Contemporary Music Center ( CMC ) stores in Virginia , to find out what earned them the 2016 award for Dealer of the Year .

Manager Jerry Hammack ( left ) & Owner Menzie Pittman in CMC ’ s @ 4410 performance venue

CMT : There is a lot that goes into winning an award such as Dealer of the Year , but the broad question is what made you the best and how did you separate yourself from the rest to earn the title ?

Menzie Pittman : I appreciate the question . I think the humour here is that you work on your store and you have a vision of what you think it needs to be and you go about that task regardless of outside

industry happenings . You ’ re there to serve your customers and to be the best that you know how to be . Through the years , I think the first year they did Dealer of the Year and the Top 100 was in 2011 , and when we made the Top 100 that year , it really kind of made me stop and pause for a second , because it made me realize that the work we were doing was gaining recognition and it was gaining recognition against peer companies that are wonderfully run businesses . So , you know , it ’ s kind of like getting your shirt starched . You realize you ’ re going to a dance and people are going to see you and you want to look the best you possibly can . So through time , you keep at that and you make changes in your model that you think kind of embrace the current environment that you ’ re trying to function in and it ’ s not static , so you have to consider the changes in trends and styles and customers ’ ways of buying and interacting . So we kept making adjustments and trying to do things better …

I guess if there ’ s something that put us in the limelight it is the fact that we have the store set up a little differently than a lot of music stores . In 2013 , we put a performance centre downstairs and it ’ s not a recital hall . It could be a nightclub if you had alcohol in there , which of course we don ’ t .

CMT : What was the reason for creating @ 4410 , your in-store performance venue ?

MP : I was at [ the 2012 Summer NAMM show ] and I went by the Bedell Guitars booth and I saw a young artist playing guitar and I thought to myself , “ You know , it would be fun to bring one of the top rock camp bands down to Nashville .” So I talked to Tom Bedell about having them play at Two Old Hippies and he was like , “ Yeah , that ’ s exciting .” So we worked to set up kind of a “ road moment ” for the top band we had that year and to get them ready , but I couldn ’ t help but notice there was no place really convenient to have them do a show … It really made me realize that there was a missing piece to this puzzle . It wasn ’ t just a missing piece ; it was a critically missing piece . I realized that we weren ’ t able to get the step that was the most important in learning to play , because learning to play and practicing in your bedroom is one thing , learning to play and doing the school recital is another , and learning to play and playing in front of an audience of a packed house that are there to see you really perform is a different thing . That ’ s how I grew up and so I was really motivated by it .

So I came back and talked to the building owner and it took us about a year to build it . Not the easiest thing we ’ ve done but it became the crown jewel . When people walk in the place , they just freak out because it ’ s designed exactly like a Bluebird [ Café ] in Nashville or a Blues Alley in Georgetown , Washington , D . C . I modelled it after the great listening rooms that I knew of .

CMT : During the awards last year , NAMM said of CMC that “ every aspect of the store is intended to positively impact the customer and create an emotional response .” Are they referring to @ 4410 or is there more to it ?

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CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE