PIONEER COMPANY PROFILE
headphones, which are proving very popular. They’re at a price point of £89, which is very accessible and they are doing really well.” Pioneer sells through specialist DJ
shops, but that doesn’t mean its products only appeal to DJ gear retailers. “A lot of our product line-up until now has been hardcore DJ product, and we have had a lot of success by selling it through the specialist DJ channel, rather than MI stores. There aren’t many of them. In fact I’d say there are probably only 30 or so that are really doing the business, but they are destination locations and capture the consumers that are looking for DJ products. “But as we move forward, more into the
digital age, we are bringing out MIDI controllers which bridge the gap between DJ and producing and I think at this point we’d like to explore the MI sales channel a bit deeper and see if there is some crossover synergy that we can use to broaden our horizon and consumer base.” There will, no doubt, be MI retailers
reading this, shaking their heads in puzzlement at what possible crossover there can be between MI and DJ, but Dockree says there are other retailers who have already seen the potential and Pioneer is keen to work with them. “I think there is potential for some retailers – those who have music production customers who are used to MIDI production and MIDI software, with MIDI controllers. We know there are people like Calvin Harris, who was a producer first and then became a DJ, and there are a lot of other people out there who would aspire to be someone like him. If they market to customers who have bought music production software and hardware, they have the potential to market our products as well.” If committing to an entire line of
Pioneer products seems a bit daunting, Dockree says that isn’t always necessary. “We like our retailers to stock a full line, but we realise that for some musical instrument retailers that’s not going to be possible, so we will re-examine that criterion to reach these people – which was why we are at the MIRC conference, to engage with dealers and see what the possibilities are. The upshot is we are looking to relax the criteria to accommodate these crossover products.” There is more in the Pioneer range that
could well appeal to MI shops too – including its new studio monitors. “Yes, there’s the new SDJ-05 and SDJ-
08 monitors. The applications of those are endless and it doesn’t make sense to restrict them purely to the DJ market. The SDJ-05s are £499 a pair and the SDJ-08s are £745. They’re not cheap, but they’re not by any means the most expensive on the market and they’ve got
www.mi-pro.co.uk
features that no other monitor speakers have got. First and foremost, there are four different inputs on the back – two RCA, jack and XLR – and you’ve got the remote control knob that enables you to flick between those four inputs without having to go to a sub-mixer, or round the back of the speakers. The remote control also allows you to mute at the touch of a button, you can switch the EQ on and off. Also there’s the audio quality – as you’d expect from Pioneer with our heritage of speaker manufacture it’s excellent – and they look cool as well. “The controllers are going to be a little experimental in the MI channel, but I think the speakers really do have multiple applications.” In terms of the potential market for DJ products, Dockree is sure that technology is helping bring prospects his way. “All kids today have a laptop and that’s
where they keep their music, so just to add a controller to that set-up makes DJing very accessible for them and I think there’s a whole new breed of consumer out there for us to capture and establish an upgrade path with.
“
As we move forward, we are bringing out MIDI controllers which bridge the gap between DJ and producing.
“The professional market is stable – at
a crossroads in some respects. Our sales of traditional CDJs are steady but we know that there’s a lot of people holding back from making a purchase because they want to see which way the market is going to go. “Will it be MIDI controllers and software, or will it be traditional CDJ and DJM hardware? Either way, we are straddling both areas and hedging our bets.” Does he have a gut feeling? “I think traditional separates will win-
out. At this point in time software is still prone to crashing and once your software crashes you haven’t got an option, whereas if you’ve got a multiformat player you can always use a USB key, or fall back to good old fashioned discs – that option is important particularly in a nightclub environment. “The overall message is that as technologies evolve, so should our sales channel. The boundary between categories is becoming blurred, so we’re forward thinking on the technology front and also on our route to market policy. Now’s a good time for us to be engaging with MI retailers to see how we can work best with each other.”
July 2011 31
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