Who's going to sell the horns?

In the last couple of years, we've seen the demise of some of the heavy weights of the instrument retailing business: Woodwind/Brasswind and Brook Mays both went Chapter 7. Holze Music was shut down by the taxman. Music and Arts has been for sale for a long time with no takers. I think this begs the question: what will happen to the market as the number of potential outlets for manufactuer's shrinks?

I don't see a lot of the major companies going directly into the retail business. They don't generally have the expertise, and have spend years developing a base of retail dealers. However, several of the big companies have recently announced changes in the way they do business with this retail base, and I'm not sure it bodes well for the industry.

Dealer lines of credit from the factories have recently been significantly reduced in order that the factories can decrease their exposure to bankruptcy risk. For an industry that survives on trade credit, this is a problem. The small retailers can't afford the new terms, so they will buy less. This means fewer horns at the local level. Not good if you want to shop around locally.