NEC Clarion event manager’s position pending consultation leaving show’s future uncertain
MI Pro has learnt that Music Live’s founder and manager, NEC Clarion’s Jason Hunt, is on leave pending consultations regarding his position.
NEC Clarion refused to comment on either Hunt’s position, or Music Live’s future, when approached yesterday, but said a statement is likely to be issued next week. The company said, however, that it should not be assumed that Music Live is going to be cancelled.
Hunt was deeply involved with the Music Live show from its beginnings 11 years ago. At the time, the show was something of a revelation to the MI industry, showing that excitement and enthusiasm existed for musical instruments in the UK and that the consumer element, long abandoned by the BMF, was the difference between the labels of success and failure. Further to that, the so-called ‘Education Day’, which saw each year’s opening Friday ship in coach loads of school children from the West Midlands bump up figures and noise levels, proved that the youth and beginner market was a rich vein worthy of mining.
The event has also been controversial from its beginnings, as Hunt brought in Sound Control to retail at the event, which ended up with some quite swingeing discounts being made. Retailers in the West Midlands felt that their lucrative Christmas market was being undermined.
Hunt always disagreed with this, claiming that sales at Music Live inspired an increase in sales through the year from MI retailers.
The show had struggled in recent years, with stalwarts, such as Marshall, pulling out in 2008 and many other big players abandoning the show in 2009 in favour of exhibiting at the MIA-run London show.
With Future Publishing taking over the organisation of the London show and moving it to October, the two shows became even more directly competitive.
