Sheet-music sales falling flat, store closing

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This article was published 29/05/2015 (3401 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Internet killed the sheet music store.

Tredwell’s Music Centre, perhaps the last retailer in North America to sell strictly sheet music for instruments of all kinds, is closing its doors after more than 80 years at the end of June.

For starters, owner Peter Sarmatiuk said the number of children taking music lessons is lower than in previous generations. For those who are learning how to play the piano, guitar or the trumpet, it’s much easier – not to mention quicker – to download the sheet music online rather than get it at a store.

“I’d like to be going out on a higher note but the industry is in decline. It’s a question of how much longer do I hold out? I’ve decided to go out June 26,” he said.

“When you’re in any business that is heavily inventory-oriented, I thought I’d do it on my own terms where I could oversee everything.”

Sarmatiuk said anybody in the business of selling paper products is swimming upstream.

“It’s a bad, bad scene out there. Look at Hallmark greeting card stores. How many of them are still surviving?” he said.

Sarmatiuk said sheet music has traditionally been printed on both sides of 9-by-12-inch pieces of paper but most kids aren’t bothered by 8.5-by-11-inch one-sided sheets off the Internet.

The glory days of the sheet music industry were from the 1920s to the 1950s. The first major threat appeared shortly after with the invention of the photocopy machine. The ’70s and ’80s were still strong but the decline started in the 1990s.

Subbu Sivaramakrishnan, associate dean of the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, said the threat to more traditional businesses is when they can’t offer additional value than their online competitors.

“If I can get the music for ‘Let It Be’ on the Internet, why would I walk into a store when I can buy it with a few clicks?” he said.

“The Internet can, to a large extent, replicate the in-store experience. You can listen to samples of songs, read a few pages of a book or download a software demo.”

Traditionalists need not fear sheet music will disappear entirely from Winnipeg when Tredwell’s closes its doors for the final time. Sarmatiuk says lesson books will still be available from other places that dabble in this side of the business, including Long & McQuade, St. John’s Music and Croft Music.

Sarmatiuk said he’s a little sad about closing up his shop but he could see the writing on the wall.

“I don’t feel bitter about things. It’s just an evolution of things. I’m glad I made the decision now but I should have made the decision five years ago,” he said.

Popular musical tastes are playing a role in the decline of sheet music, too.

“Rap and hip hop are fantastically entertaining but it’s not the kind of stuff you sit down to duplicate on the piano or guitar,” he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Quiz: Name That Tune!

Can you identify songs based on just a snippet of their sheet music?

See how well you do with the ten songs in our quiz below.  (Can’t see the quiz below? Try this link.)