2TWENTY2 BRAND PROFILE
From zero 2twenty2 S
Less than two years ago, three of Arbiter’s music tech department staff found themselves without a job – but, thanks to thinking on their feet, not for long. Andy Barrett tracks the course of one of the fastest growing businesses in MI…
tarting a business is never easy and those that take on the task for the first time are always surprised at the amount of work needed to get through the labyrinth of red tape for simply registering, let alone sorting out the nuts and bolts of the business proper. Imagine, then, finding yourself with a day’s notice of losing your job and needing to act quickly, essentially to recreate it with the brands your old employer has lost. It sounds like an unlikely scenario, but
that’s exactly what happened with Stephen Parker, Greg Prendergast and Cedric Coudyser of 2twenty2 when the Arbiter Group went under at the end of January 2009. The three had been working for the
supplier’s Music Technology department and were aware that the company was experiencing difficulties, but it was still a shock when rumours started emanating from the NAMM Show that year that brands were already shacking up with new suppliers. “Native Instruments had asked us during late 2008 what was going on, but of course we didn’t have anything concrete,” recalls
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EKS’s Otus Raw, a major move from software to hardware
Stephen Parker, 2twenty2’s managing director. “We had talked about what might happen if the company went under, but essentially left it at that. Once Arbiter had closed, we had to act very quickly.” Parker is practising the art of understatement
with some aplomb here. Plans had to be formulated and put into action simultaneously, and while it couldn’t win all of the Arbiter Music Tech brands, within two weeks it had registered the new company and by the end of February it was supplying Arturia,
Celemony, EKS and XLN Audio to the UK, with Native Instruments following in April. “It’s been so busy since we got that letter
from the Arbiter management, saying we would be out of a job the next day that we have had no time until now even to think about any sort of vision or plan for the company,” admits Parker. “Everything has been on the hoof, but with such a catalogue of brands – and all brands that the three of us knew well – we have been able to continue our work and with considerable success.” Indeed, Parker reveals that his foundling company achieved a 60 per cent growth over
Arbiter’s 2008 figures in 2009 and a further 70 per cent so far in 2010. Of course, this means a lot of hard work for the new supplier – as well as considerable effort from its dealers – but there was an element of synchronicity in the chain of events, too. “When Sound Control went under in 2008
there was a hole left in the market for hi tech dealers,” explains Parker. “By the time 2twenty2 was up and running, a number of these stores had become independents, such as Reddog and Production Room. “These were manned by people that had
been trained in these products under Sound Control and knew how to sell them through. Combined with the big players already on the market, your Digital Villages and so on, and the expansion of our digital DJ products in DJ dealers, we were able to hit the ground running. The timing was good. “When selling the sort of products we supply
– particularly the software, but the hardware, too – you can’t just dabble. You have to be into it wholeheartedly and keep your focus. The background of these new indies really helped get us moving.”
miPRO DECEMBER 2010 21
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