Behind the scenes

We have the products, you have the talent: musical instruments are trending

11.5.2021

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Concerts were in short supply last year. In exchange, musicians have been playing their fingers to the bone at home and bought four times as many instruments.

As an amateur musician, I tend to buy musical gadgets every now and then – in most cases at a store. When stores closed, I started getting my fix online. To my surprise, I found two of the most important tools for any guitarist right here: the pick and our most popular item among music accessories: the capo. This thing allows you to play and sing «Country Roads» in any pitch.

It’s only teenage wasteland…

The music and events industry has been particularly affected by current lockdown circumstances. Organisers were and still are being forced to cancel or postpone concerts and other events. Stefan Breitenmoser, managing director of the Swiss Music Promoters Association (SMPA), reflected on this massive slump in the events industry. Since Corona, he reckons that around 4,000 cultural and sporting events in Switzerland have been postponed and around 3,800 cancelled. Markus Meier of Act Entertainment, one of the largest concert promoters and booking agencies in Switzerland, also stated on request that they’ve had to postpone or cancel around 550 concerts since March 2020. Still, there’s great solidarity among musicians and organisers: «Everyone’s in the same boat, people help each other, there’s a lot of solidarity among us all.» On top of that: artists weren’t deterred from making music, as shown by our analysis.

Guitar heroes and piano virtuosos in the making

The guitar and electric piano are the most popular instruments among budding musicians. Our customers back this up: during Corona (April 2020 to March 2021), we sold five times as many guitars as we did the previous year (April 2019 to March 2020). The guitar’s little sibling, the ukulele, was also popular. While Covid raged, our clientele bought four times as many ukuleles as the year before (+303%). A similar situation arose surrounding electric pianos: Our delivery services shipped more than twice as many pianos as before Corona (+110%).
Next to guitarists and pianists, Corona has also produced some future Ringo Starrs: Galaxus sold more than four times as many drums as before Corona (+312%).

My Beloved, a.k.a. my Gibson J45 with a capo included on the fingerboard.

Baschi, Baba Shrimps and Dodo, all spotted on Galaxus

Even pop stars have discovered Galaxus. For example, the Zurich band «Baba Shrimps» has been shopping online regularly since Corona and is pleased that we’re constantly expanding our range. «For our livestream tour, we found a lot of electronic music gadgets online,» lead singer Adi stated. Delivery times are especially important to musicians, according to him, as a lot of new music infrastructure is needed quickly when livestreaming. Adi’s new favourite gadget: a calculator-sized mini-synthesiser. «I used the sampler to secretly record my family singing Christmas carols and later used the tracks in my songs,» Adi said. He isn’t alone in his enthusiasm: the item is one of the top sellers among synthesisers at Galaxus. Check out one of these musical livestreams in the video below:

producer and reggae singer Dodo is also among the musicians who have relied on livestreaming during Corona. To perform his remote showcase «DoDonnerstag», he likewise ordered music material online. «For this DoDonnerstag, I went on Galaxus almost every day, ordering all the awesome electronic wonders I needed to make a smooth stream.»

Swiss dialect singer Baschi, who definitely became an integral part of the local music scene with the hit «Bringen Hei», prefers specialist stores and their advice surrounding high-quality music material. When buying music accessories, however, he likes to resort to convenient online retail options, saying, «When it comes to music materials, like strings or picks, I’m comfortable ordering over the Internet.»

See one of these livestreams in the video below:

Boots and Cats – from turntables to oversized disco balls

DJs such as Antoine, Guetta and Aoki also stock up online. Among the most popular products, you’ll see entry-level sets such as the Hercules DJ Learning Kid or the current bestseller: the Pioneer DJ DDJ-400. During lockdowns and home office work, some are apparently trying their hand at DJ-ing – no doubt hoping to perform in Ibiza after Corona or simply looking for a new hobby to delight the neighbourhood with.

But parties don’t just need a DJ, disco balls cannot go amiss. And we offer just the right speciality: a 150 cm diameter disco ball, weighing around 150 kg. And yes, this product was indeed ordered once during the last year. We even delivered it – by crane.

We want to be heard

Our community isn’t just entranced by music, but also by poetry and entertainment. Podcast stars such as Jan Böhmermann, Beste Freundinnen or Joko Winterscheidt are all being diligently emulated. Our already popular microphone range grew again by almost 160% during Corona. Microphones that are suitable for radio, streaming and podcasts are particularly popular. They require the right interface or mixer. The absolute bestseller in that category was and is the RODECaster Pro. We sold this all-purpose podcast weapon seven times as often in the Corona year as in the previous twelve months.

I wish all you entertainers full concert halls, and am hoping that we’ll soon be able to show our beautiful guitars and ACDC riffs rehearsed during lockdown to hungry audiences.

28 people like this article

David Kübler

Communications Manager

david.kuebler@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm a communicator and songwriter with a passion for good food, lovely people, adventure and activities involving mountains and water.

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