church musician. Not anymore, right? Today’ s synth musician and electronic drummers ARE the church musicians!
I say all of that because we( at Kraft Music) have seen a shift in our role as a music retailer helping church organizations. In the past, we were introducing technology to an organization that was learning about it for the first time. Now, so many of the worship leaders are experts, and the caliber of gear that they have access to is incredible! We need to work as a team with them to match their growing needs with available instruments, and also be a good business partner when it comes to the ordering and logistics … tax exempt ordering, shipping, or even reserving and delaying shipments until a new facility is completed, etc. Just to name a few things that we do every day.
[ WM ] What percentage of your business is with churches, and do you find some personal satisfaction knowing that you are“ equipping the Saints” so to speak?
[ Ben ] It’ s a significant percentage, and we would probably underestimate the number of“ Saints” that we serve as so many folks who invest in instruments for themselves are doing it so that they can go make some noise on Sunday! It’ s really a special thing that the worship environment allows for. There are countless, talented individuals who make music as a hobby, or use it as a therapy, and then they are given the opportunity to share that passion and gift through worship.
[ WM ] At NAMM we saw the new NORD Electro 7 keyboard and we are excited to review one in the magazine in the near future. What do you like about this new synth?
[ Ben ] Nord is just such a special brand. Talk about a company that knows who they are, and sticks to that focus. Nord keyboards are designed and built in Sweden, and during a recent visit from the current C. E. O, I learned so many things that made me respect them even more. They are a relatively small company, and would you believe that there was one employee over there that handmade nearly every Pitch Stick( which is a signature feature on so many Nord’ s, including the Electro 7)? It’ s small detail, but It’ s just one example of how Nord is crafting“ instruments” as opposed to mass producing products.
The Electro 7, like each of the Electro’ s before it, will be more versatile, more powerful, and more accessible for the player to be able to get to great tones on the fly and in the moment. All of the tactile knobs and controls are real assets when whipping thru a service or performance.
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