 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Frank
Date: 2001-08-29 16:29
I am a computer programmer by trade but my true love is playing the clarinet (and Irish tin whistle). My wife and I would like to start a part-time business and are toying with the idea of creating a clarinet business (or just music business), online if possible. I did some searching and there seems to be plenty of online music stores and online sheet music dealers. So my question is, can anyone think of another type of music related business that would translate well to the Internet? Thanks for any suggestions!
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-08-29 16:49
I can't tell you how much money I lost this year in the internet clarinet business. But, it's a lot! Enough for me to bail out except for selling and trading my own personal stuff. It's hard to offer excellent, hand-selected quality and top-of-the-line clarinets and still compete with the other online sellers like Woodwind and Brasswind and others. Most of the time I only made about $50.00 on an instrument. Sometimes I lost money on some I bought that turned out to be harder to sell than I anticipated. Plus, you have to be willing to go the extra mile and promise refunds if people don't like the instrument.
The good side was the friends I made during the process and the great discovery of the Sneezy board! I also learned a lot. But, it's very, very tough to make an actual living.
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Author: Frank
Date: 2001-08-29 17:54
Maybe I should clarify. I really didn't want to get into the business of selling clarinets (I would hate to try to compete with WWBW and the others) or even clarinet accessories (mouthpieces). I would hate to carry such a large inventory of large items as well. But I didn't know if anyone had any other ideas besides just instruments. Maybe reeds? Maybe...
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-08-29 18:49
Or, you might get with someone who has just begun making mouthpieces and help them market their stuff. There's no real way to put a retail comparison on handmade items. Look on the Sneezy board and find out who might be interested in having someone help them sell their stuff. You could market it through the internet for them.
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Author: willie
Date: 2001-08-29 19:42
You'll need a product or service that has a good market demand and few big competitors. Remmember, the big guys sell large volume and therefore have a better buying price to increase their profit margin.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-29 19:54
Remember what one race-car team owner said when asked, "So, how did you make a small fortune in auto racing?" He replied, "Started with a large fortune". Better take Brenda's advice: If you wanna play in the clarinet biz, better do it out of love and don't count on making money at it. Or else, be psychologically and financially prepared to lose money, at least for a few years until you get established (and lucky???)
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2001-08-29 20:26
Frank, pay attention to Dave, Brenda et, al. Also "Maybe reeds? Maybe..."
Go to <discountreeds.com> and see some of the various types and inventory required. Then remember that if you get 7 clarinetists in a room and ask what reeds are best you will get a minimum of 15 answers.
Bob A
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-08-29 22:21
Dear folks,
I am sure that I do not have the formula for success perfected as yet but I keep working on it. As eluded to in the posts, you must love what you are doing, go at it with a passion, offer superior products, give the best and fastest customer service available, make as many friends of your customers and those in the trade as you can, primarily depend on "word of mouth" advertising, be willing to send out trial samples at your expense, pester your new friends for their feedback on your products or services, find a niche market (because you will never be able to compete on similar products with the "big" guys), and add a generous helping of a wish and a prayer. Do not plan to make any money for the first two years in business (unless you are lucky enough to invent a new hula-hoop) and have the cash reserves to adequately support the business during that period. You must be adaptable and flexible in your business strategy and seek advise from members of the trade (primarily other small business people) and bounce your ideas off as many people in various sectors of the community that you wish to serve as possible. The primary component IMHO is the love and passion for your endeavor and be willing to do it just for that and hope that the business volume will come from referrals from satisfied customers.
I do not yet know the results of these conditions that I have mentioned because I have only been in business for one year. The education and experience do not count in this formula. I am still hopeful - leave it at that.
The Doctor
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-08-30 00:38
Selling earmuffs to parents?
Reeds that don't squeak?
C'mon, if we were making money doing this would we spill?
Go gita biz plan and sell stuff;
That people want.
That nobody else has.
That nobody else ever thought of, but see a patent attorney first.
How many honkers do you think there really are, anyway?
jeezit
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Author: Dan
Date: 2001-08-30 03:29
Frank, I've been thinking about your question for the past few hours and here's what I've come up with:
1) I would like to go to some internet site and HEAR the sound coming from various clarinets using the same mouthiece, reed, and player. This would save me a lot of time and money in trying out numerous clarinets by various manufacturers.
2) There must be some sientific way of measuring the air pressure required to produce a sound of a set level of db's a certain distance from the instrument. This would have to be done on some kind of standardized clarinet or even a series of clarinets. This info would be very important to me and I would be willing to pay some $ to eliminate all the frustration involved in finding a free blowing or low resistant mouthpiece. One mp could then be very easily compared to another.
3) Advice...Some of you on sneezy are pro's with many years of experience. I have been investing (wasting?) so much time in trying to find competent sources of info that I'd be willing to pay $ to talk to a seasoned pro to help me get started. (Sometimes I almost feel guilty getting so much info from seasoned pro's becaue I sense that it took them years to garner all of that information.)
4) Is teaching over the phone possible? Especially to some student in the middle of nowhere where a truly competent teacher is simply not available? And even if a competent teacher is available close by, you have to take time out to travel to their studio and then return back home. Time is money...both for the teacher and for the student or parent who lose valuable time in traveling.
I beginning to sense that these are just abunch of crazy ideas. I'm on old timer trying to get back into enjoying the clarient and am having a rather difficult time getting started. So all you seasoned pro's out there, don't shoot me down too hard, OK? Thanks. Dan
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-30 04:03
Dan wrote:
> 1) I would like to go to some internet site and HEAR the
> sound coming from various clarinets using the same mouthiece,
> reed, and player. This would save me a lot of time and money in
> trying out numerous clarinets by various manufacturers.
No, it wouldn't. You'd sound very different using the same mouthpiece, reed, clarinet et al. If what you said is true then I'd be playing whatever xxxxxx plays - but as I all too well know, I still don't sound like her/him.
> 2) There must be some sientific way of measuring the air
> pressure required to produce a sound of a set level of db's a
> certain distance from the instrument. This would have to be
> done on some kind of standardized clarinet or even a series of
> clarinets. This info would be very important to me and I would
> be willing to pay some $ to eliminate all the frustration
> involved in finding a free blowing or low resistant
> mouthpiece. One mp could then be very easily compared to
> another.
Nope. The resistance changes as a function of the pitch, barrel, and mouthpiece (which is why some notes are stuffy, some are not).
> 3) Advice...Some of you on sneezy are pro's with many years
> of experience. I have been investing (wasting?) so much time in
> trying to find competent sources of info that I'd be willing to
> pay $ to talk to a seasoned pro to help me get started.
> (Sometimes I almost feel guilty getting so much info from
> seasoned pro's becaue I sense that it took them years to garner
> all of that information.)
That you can do. Find a good player/teacher.
> 4) Is teaching over the phone possible? Especially to some
> student in the middle of nowhere where a truly competent
> teacher is simply not available? And even if a competent
> teacher is available close by, you have to take time out to
> travel to their studio and then return back home. Time is
> money...both for the teacher and for the student or parent who
> lose valuable time in traveling.
Nope. A teacher will have to see you. Perhaps a high-speed video link ...
> I beginning to sense that these are just abunch of crazy
> ideas. I'm on old timer trying to get back into enjoying the
> clarient and am having a rather difficult time getting
> started. So all you seasoned pro's out there, don't shoot me
> down too hard, OK? Thanks. Dan
I wish your ideas were implementable ... but some just won't work.
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-08-30 04:04
i think that Dan #3 is a great idea. I know MD that have a phone service and charge so much a minute for medical advice. Why not a clarinet teacher. They could listen to what you are doing answer questions etc. etc. Not to bad an idea.
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Author: beth
Date: 2001-08-30 13:31
I know Dan's #3 idea works in a pinch. We live 2 hrs. from my MFD's oboe teacher and have used the phone successfully to diagnose and fix a problem in a pinch. As a steady diet and the main source for lessons, I don't know, in person is still the best. IMHO
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-08-30 14:11
How about buying boxes and boxes of Vandoren reeds, working on the bad ones until all of them are playable and selling them for a large markup? Saves us a lot of work.
I'd like it if you could learn my Baermann Division 3 for me but I don't think that's going to work.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-30 16:52
Brenda is correct, unless we take a cue from the daytime TV 'psychic network' ladies and set up a toll line for clarinet advice................(yeah, right!)
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-08-30 20:47
Yeah, and don't forget the hours involved. The last two years I was in the clarinet and accessories business I spent about 8-10 hours a day working and sometimes only made about $5.00 a day. So, if you're not doing it because you love what you do, you'd better find something else to bring home the bacon. Like a pig farm.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-30 22:31
If there was money to be made in the clarinet business you'd have to think that I'd have figured it out by now ;^) Even at a penny a hit on this page I'd be dead broke!
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-31 13:07
A little while ago I calculated that I'm making about half of the U.S. minimum hourly wage for restoring and selling a 'typical' older clarinet. I don't expect to get rich doing this, that's for sure! I could make a lot more money flipping burgers at McDonald's, if making money was the goal.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2001-08-31 13:44
Are you artistic? Instead of anything dealing directly with clarinets, how about designing an manufacturing hats, t-shirts, decorations, posters, etc. having to do with clarinets, bass clarinets, etc.? Or for all varieties of musical instruments?
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2001-08-31 17:26
Frank, you say you are a computor programmer. Think on this. The Bb clarinet is a transposing instrument. Many "re-starters" who play for fun, not money, ( like myself, with weak sight reading skills) dislike the study time/discipline necessary to try to transpose a passage.
What I (personally) would like is a INEXPENSIVE software gadget that will accept a scanned image from some orchestration and change it to a suitable clarinet/bass clarinet key. And don't all you purests tell me to get hot and learn to transpose. Hell, I'm 76 and don't even read continued stories or buy green bananas anymore--give us all a break.
Bob A
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-08-31 17:37
I still think the earmuffs would sell, and you could make them in limited batches
like the Tye company.
You could add filtration circuits to the high-end models so that it would sound like you were practicing in the concert hall of you choice.
You could make equalizers in them so that each player would hear themselves playing in perfect tune, regardless of what comes outta the horn (waitaminnit, that already happens to me...)
Yerright, now I know why the guize inna front office keep their jobs.
phuff*
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