Music Wholesale-Distribution
Evelyn Conrad is the president of Tone King, a company her parents started in the early 1950s. Her father was innovative in manufacturing guitar bags and a line of accessories. By the 1970s he had branched into distribution for eight major music companies and by 1976 he took on the Ernie Ball line...
Werner Hotan has a background as a radio technician and worked in a music retail store in Switzerland before he began working for Mr. Sacher. Werner learned about drum making and many other instruments from Mr. Sacher, who was a legendary percussionist. As the rock and roll movement was increasing...
Irena Komatar was the founder and president of the Lastra Company, located in the country of Slovenia. What started out as a small music retail store quickly grew into both retailing and wholesaling of musical products. Irena’s goal was to create top service for her customers, both musicians who...
Dean Samuel is the son of industry leader, Lowell Samuel, who not only formed the Samuel Music retail store in Effingham, IL but the pioneering music wholesale company, MIDCO, in 1964. Lowell was also one of the founders of NASMD and an early supporter of the industry’s Global Economic Summits....
Bruce Bannister is the current president of Samuel Music in Effingham, Illinois. The store was formed in the 1940s by Lowell Samuel, the band director turned music industry pioneer. Bruce was interviewed in the store and recalled working closely with Lowell as well as Dean Samuel, Lowell’s son and...
Steve Weiss loved playing the drums as a small child, but never imagined in a million years that he would have a career in music, let alone a pioneering and successful career in the music products industry. In 1965, he formed Steve Weiss Music in Philadelphia and soon became one of the leaders in...
Wes Faulconer is the founder of Explorers Percussion in Kansas City, Missouri. He formed the store in 1984 with the goal of bringing quality drumming products to students and educators within the area. As technology developed over the years, Wes took full advantage of new ways to connect with his...
Millie Detgen was one of the very few female manufacturers reps in the music products industry in the 1970’s and 80’s. She began working with her husband Gene Detgen after they were married in 1971. Gene was the Sales Manager at Pacific Music Supply in Los Angeles at that time. His main product...
Eddie Kramer began his long career as a record salesman in the San Francisco Bay Area before opening his own record store in the 1960s. As the Beatle Boom began, Eddie was selling a few guitars and some accessories, which were about 10% of his business at the San Carlos-based Eddie Kramer’s World...
Charlotte Atkinson is an organist extraordinaire! Showing an aptitude for music early on, Charlotte continued with formal education earning Bachelor and Masters degrees in music. At San Diego State University, she first met her husband, William, in Howard Brubeck's theory class. In her junior year...