OK Guitar Center attorneys, chill the beans, your CEO didn’t actually say that. However, it’s not far off for a paraphrase.
I appreciate I haven’t written anything in ages, but this has been on my mind, so here I go.
Clicky clicky rage bait
A while ago, I got stories in my Google News feed about an interview with Guitar Center CEO, Gabe Dalporto.
The headlines and quotes from the Guitar World and MusicRadar articles comprised Mr. Dalporto stating that he wanted to prioritize premium instruments, and appeal to the serious musician. He took aim at the number of $300 instruments in their stores.
(Photo credit: Greg Alter)
Look, I’m 100% guilty of being pissed at the attitude portrayed in the articles. Initially, I thought about my own experiences at Guitar Center, especially compared to another store in particular.
I also thought about the gatekeeping and snobbery that occurs among music-makers. And how these articles, my own thoughts and experience of Guitar Center, and the gatekeeping among guitarists, is why we have the Guitar Circle Jerk subreddit, mocking…all of it.
I think that Mr Dalporto, as CEO of the largest guitar store in the country, basically outjerked us.
It’s been days and I’m still wiping my face.
My own experience of Guitar Center
I visit my local Guitar Center pretty regularly. I bring my toddler. She likes to run around and bash the drums and keyboards. I don’t actually play or even look at any guitars while I’m there, because I’m chasing a toddler. But, I don’t actually care.
I’ve been playing almost 28 years, I have the premium guitars I want and love and that I regard as my sound. Which means I’m rarely impressed by the high-end guitars I see in Guitar Center. Which in my local store is maybe 10 Gibsons, and a few premium Martins and Taylors in the acoustic section.
On the other hand, it lets me take in more of what’s actually going on in the store. Here are the things that stand out:
- On more than one occassion, both the escalator and elevator were out of order – that’s not ideal with a stroller; I will absolutely point the finger at the building’s management rather than Guitar Center for that, but it’s definitely a lousy start to my visit
- Kids noodling on Squiers that are out of tune, relatively quietly
- Dirt
- A broken changing table in the bathroom
- Staff tucked away behind the counter rather than chatting and engaging with customers
No more than the kids noodling on Squiers that are out of tune, I’m not there to spend money. In fact, the dirt and broken changing table make me not want to spend money, because I don’t feel it’ll be spent on things that will improve my experience. Like cleaning products and fixing the changing table.
My best experience in a guitar store
The store that I put on a pedestal for experience is PMT in Birmingham in the UK. There were always staff on the floor offering help, and encouraging you to play with the toys.
A stand-out memory is when I decided I needed a wah pedal.
I told Steve what I was doing. He pulled out five for me to piss about on. I decided the Zakk Wylde signature Cry Baby was closest to what I wanted. He had a quick go, and said that it sounded and felt exactly like a Morley wah that he’d have to order in, but was £45 cheaper.
I let Steve order it, he phoned me to let me know it was there. And he was exactly right – it did what the Zakk Wylde one did, but cheaper. Yay!
That was class customer service. While it was a very different time of my life, I was a regular visitor, and staff knew me by name. I get no sense of such give-a-fuck from Guitar Center staff. But, as noted, they’re tucked away behind counters.
Snobbery and gatekeeping
Getting back to the crux of the news articles’, and in turn, my own, ire. I find Dalporto’s attitude as presented in the articles reflective of the snobbish gatekeeping that’s seen online, especially on Facebook and Reddit. But from how I interpreted his remarks, he wants to bring it into the real world.
Personally, I like my premium instruments. I like hearing and feeling the difference. I get it. However, I also try not to be a dick about having them. Because I’m mindful of my privilege.
In fact, when I see the snobbery of Gibson owners in particular, it makes me want to sell mine. It really makes me think: are Gibsons for dicks?
As an example, look at the state of this guy:
From a business perspective, I find adopting a snobbery-and-gatekeeping-first approach to guitars is odd. Surely it’s more sustainable to nurture guitarists by encouraging them to buy within their budget.
Then, as they grow older, and get jobs, and their budget increases, they’ll spend more in the store where they’ve always been welcomed. As an example, my first guitars cost around $150. Then I got some $600-800 guitars. Then I got some $xxxx guitars.
The actual interview
BUT – in all caps – my day job is marketing, which works tagentially to journalism, so I have some knowledge and interest in framing things for clicks – did you see the title of this post? – because that’s how reporters prove their value these days.
All of the aforementioned thoughts were before I made myself stop. I realized, “I know how online reporting works – lemme read the actual interview.”
Well, I did. Immediately after, I actually felt somewhat appeased. The premium instruments thing is one of three priorities. However, the other two aren’t great for click-bait. Mr. Dalporto’s intention to improve staff engagement was actually something I’d already been thinking of after reading the click-bait, as noted above. And yeah, their digital retail experience feels 10 years out of date.
What Mr. Dalporto described of the current state of Guitar Center stores wasn’t inaccurate:
- Yes, there are a lot of budget instruments
- Yes, there aren’t that many premium instruments
- Yes, the premium ones are locked away up high
- Yes, there aren’t many staff
But, within a day, I realized that I was still annoyed by Mr. Dalporto’s words about “serious musicians,” and premium products.
What I read
Because I’m not a reporter, and I don’t need to churn out click-bait, I’ll get into the specifics of why I perceive Mr. Dalporto’s words as a shit show.
- “Serious musician”: what’s the definition of a “serious musician”? Is a 15-year-old who practices 5 hours a day on the $300 guitar that’s all they/their parents can afford not a “serious musician”? Are they not taking it seriously? Equating the seriousness of a musician to their budget is some seriously obnoxious gatekeeping
- “$300 guitars”: a new $300 guitar today is not the same as a new $300 guitar 25 years ago; I personally believe Mr. Dalporto should know this; my wife’s friend’s husband has a $250 Yamaha acoustic, and I couldn’t get over how nice it played; I have more than one $300 guitar among my $xxxx guitars and I mix and match them for recording
- “Premium products”: while I agree that Guitar Center’s limited number of premium products are not easy to get to, I, as an adult with more means to buy a premium product than the kids Mr. Dalporto I feel like he’s sneering at, do not care
As a “serious musician” – which, as someone who has spent thousands on guitars, is somebody who I think Mr. Dalporto would believe fits that persona – I already own the premium guitars I want. If I have an idea for something else, I’ll find it.
The things I’ll buy regularly are strings and maintenance products…just like the owners of the $300 guitars should be buying.
What will happen with this Guitar Center plan?
If the $300 guitars are ditched in favor of increasing premium instrument stock, here’s what I think will happen.
- Kids won’t feel welcome
- Guitar Centers will be full of old people, between the ages of having kids that can stand still, and the walking dead; while they have more disposable income right now, they’ll eventually die, and then there’ll be nobody to gush over premium products, because the kids mentioned in the last bullet point won’t have any affinity with a store that didn’t welcome them when they didn’t have as much disposable income
- McDonalds increased prices under the guise of higher quality products to attract more affluent clientele – how’s it going for them?
Well, if you’re so clever, what should Guitar Center do?
I do get Mr. Dalporto’s idea. But, as the blanket statement it is now, in my opinion, it’s atrocious. I think it looks like this guy went to the same CEO school as the guy from Kellogg. Here’s what I think would make it better.
And, if any of these ideas come into fruition, we’ll know that Guitar Center read this post! Yay…ish.
Make premium products a priority…in stores where that’ll work
I think smaller stores, or separate sections of larger stores, in areas with high concentrations of boomer dentists and lawyers.
Additionally, sub-brand them as Guitar Center Echo Chambers where old farts can tell each other that buying another $10k Les Paul will add an inch to the size of their doodle, or whatever.
I remember there was a premium section at the now -closed Times Square Guitar Center.
Leave the $300 guitar stores alone
It’s a hang out for kids. Instead of whining about them not spending money on non-essential, lower priority (rightly or wrongly) things like guitar gear, sell them things they definitely want and won’t do without and that’s cheaper than most guitar gear.
That’s right, I’m talking about snacks.
Or, develop a way to let them hear and see the difference the lower-price, maintenance-oriented stock can make to their playing.
I’m thinking anything from having someone in the middle of the floor polishing guitars, changing strings, replacing a pickup, who’ll talk with kids about what they’re doing, why it makes a difference, and how for this product that costs pocket money, they can do it themselves.
Or tuners. Have a member of staff chatting with them, and encouraging them to tune the cheap Squiers, with pocket-money priced tuners that they can buy. Maybe somebody to talk about and encourage alternate tunings to show there’s more use to a tuner than just being standardly in tune, and that they can open a whole new range of sounds with a pocket money-priced tuner.
Have a wide selection of premium product brands and models
40 Les Pauls and 20 limited edition signature Strats ain’t it.
There are small builders all over the country making premium instruments – how about a little space to showcase them and encourage buyers to support local? I know there are percentage space requirements for stocking Gibson, but if so few people are buying them anyway… so what?
Custom partscasters
When I had my custom partscaster put together, the luthier said that a lot of his business was partscasters – he said everything people bring in these days is Warmoth.
When I was researching parts for my partscaster, I found a lot of places were pretty rigid about what they would produce.
If there’s that much demand for parts for partscaster, and somewhere could offer premium quality and flexibility in the parts they produce, I feel like that could be a winner.
On a personal note, at the moment I only look at stock guitars that cost less than $200 that I might use as a beater for experimenting on.
I don’t look at stock premium guitars, because I know that for the cost, I can get something tailored exactly to what I like.
And a few other little things to improve the Guitar Center experience…
- Clean stores
- Fix changing tables
- Working escalators and elevators to stores where required
- Have somewhere we can leave our kids for 15 minutes so we can noodle on a $300 Superstrat, or an $8k Les Paul, and buy neither
- More staff on the floor
Concluding thoughts about Guitar Center and Gabe Dalporto
While I think Gabe Dalporto’s perception of Guitar Center stores is broadly pretty accurate, I also think the top priority of his solution is goosy at best. And obnoxious gatekeeping at worst.
In my opinion, it’s pretty poor from a strategic marketing perspective – supposedly his area of expertise. To me, it looks like he’s trying to shorten the customer lifecycle and customer lifetime value. As a marketer, I feel that’s pretty basic stuff. Jesus, Hubspot’s free courses take them into account. I think Gabe should take an afternoon and complete their inbound marketing certification.
I hope that all of this is a poorly communicated aspect of a more nuanced approach. But ultimately, he’s a rich CEO. In my opinion, it’s unlikely that he cares.
To conclude, I’d like to share what this serious player most recently bought from Guitar Center.
Strings. I bought strings. And I bought those strings because they were on sale.
Folks only have so much need or room for premium guitars. But we’ll always need strings.
Update – October 28, 2024
In the past 28 days, this has been the third most viewed post on my little blog. The top search queries bringing people to the site are “gabe dalporto” and “guitar center ceo.”
I opened an incognito browser, and saw that this post ranks sixth for “gabe dalporto,” and first for “guitar center ceo.”
While I believe that this post is very obviously an opinion piece, I have added some clauses that should clarify that even further. I know that doesn’t make it bulletproof against a defamation accusation, but eh…just in case.
While I don’t believe the total 28 clicks from Google and the 61 views of the post in the same 28-day timeframe will harm Guitar Center or Mr. Dalporto in any way, I will concede that the title of this post is just not a nice thing to see when you Google yourself.
Future updates to the post
So, here’s what I’m going to do:
- I’m going to leave it alone now until November 21, 2024 – that will make it six months of publication – it’s less than a month from now
- I’m hoping that the post can start to rank even higher for searches of “gabe dalporto” – this blog is a playground for me to flex my SEO skills, and that’s what I’ll be looking for on November 21
- All going well, I’ll screenshots that so I can add it to my portfolio – I’ve already screenshot the search results for “guitar center ceo”
- We can collectively consider my dick wagged, and I’ll noindex this post
While I stand by everything I wrote, I feel I wrote well, and I don’t believe I have a legal obligation to do anything, to leave things as they are just feels mean-spirited, and I don’t have anything to gain from it.
But, because I stand by what I wrote, I don’t want to delete it. 57 of the aforementioned 61 views came from Google. So noindexing seems an appropriate action.
And if anybody is wondering, nope: I didn’t get a cease and desist letter from Guitar Center’s legal team, or a polite, firm email from their PR team.
This is all my moral compass at work.
And anybody who says SEO is dead is a bad marketer.
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