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elationship. In effect, the supplier<br />
is telling the dealer what<br />
he or she can and cannot do.<br />
Eliminating MAP also eliminates<br />
this problem. Dealers<br />
will sell more product, and<br />
consequently, they will buy<br />
more product.<br />
5. What has MAP done?<br />
Really, what has it done for<br />
you? What has it done for<br />
your business? What has it<br />
done for the industry? Ask<br />
yourself if there’s any real<br />
benefit to having MAP, and<br />
answer honestly. I have yet to<br />
think of a real benefit.<br />
THE ACTION PLAN<br />
Suppliers, let market forces<br />
work. Let dealers run their<br />
businesses. If you want to<br />
prosper with us, let the market<br />
tell you what it wants and at<br />
what price it wants it. If it’s<br />
not working, change! It’s up to<br />
you to develop products that<br />
are desirable and to find ways<br />
to produce them at a profit. We<br />
Cory Lake, continued from page 39<br />
police budgets rely on local<br />
retailers, as do job opportunities<br />
and real estate values.<br />
MAP helps me sustain and<br />
promote a sense of pride in the<br />
goods I sell. Historically, to<br />
become an authorized retailer<br />
of prominent products, you<br />
needed a brick-and-mortar<br />
store that met certain standards,<br />
including regular hours,<br />
regular employees and a physical<br />
shop, not to mention an<br />
ability to educate consumers<br />
on your products. The recent<br />
recession has led many manufacturers<br />
to grow massive<br />
dealer bases in order to distribute<br />
excess inventory. Among<br />
the latest wave of so-called new<br />
“dealers” are online jobbers<br />
that also offer children’s toys,<br />
household appliances and pho-<br />
retailers can handle getting<br />
them to the marketplace.<br />
Retailers, it’s not the supplier’s<br />
job to make you profitable.<br />
Manufacturers are in<br />
business to make themselves<br />
profitable. Take ownership of<br />
your successes or failures,<br />
stop blaming others, and focus<br />
on the mirror instead of the<br />
window.<br />
I love guitars, and I love my<br />
business. It’s a blessing to be<br />
able to have my daily work be<br />
in an industry I’m passionate<br />
about. But to prosper, we have<br />
to be able to make a profit.<br />
Our passion is useless unless<br />
we have good business sense to<br />
go along with it. MAP is a perpetual<br />
thorn in our side that<br />
stifles innovation, progress<br />
and freedom to run our businesses.<br />
Thus, it’s a roadblock<br />
to prosperity, and we should<br />
have the courage to send a<br />
clear message to our suppliers<br />
about which road our industry<br />
should follow. MI<br />
tography gear. With sellers<br />
who have no understanding of,<br />
let alone passion for, the items<br />
they sell, brand equity and consumer<br />
confidence declines.<br />
I believe that MAP helps<br />
ensure survival of the fittest, not<br />
proliferation of the cheapest.<br />
Manufacturers need to vet<br />
dealers, and dealers need to<br />
maintain standards. MAP<br />
enforcement has become such<br />
a problem that a new industry<br />
has sprung up: watchdogs for<br />
hire that electronically monitor<br />
and report MAP violations.<br />
These professionals offer one<br />
way to keep MAP in check,<br />
but as an industry that serves<br />
the arts, it’s our responsibility<br />
to create and sustain a culture<br />
of respect surrounding the<br />
tools of our trade. The end<br />
result? Our favorite lines and<br />
shops can thrive. MI<br />
JUNE 2010 I MUSIC INC. I 41
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