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The staying power of school music: education priorities shift, budgets come under pressure, and the economy periodically goes into the tank. However, four decades of data indicates that none of this seems to have any effect on instrument sales. What really counts is the number of students enrolled.

Article Excerpt
Is the music products industry a cyclical business like heavy manufacturing equipment? A recession-proof business, like toothpaste or pharmaceuticals? Or maybe a luxury discretionary business, similar to jewelry, fur coats, and high-end automobiles? Our answer is "none of the above." The music industry is hardly recession-proof: Since the first issue of The Music Trades appeared in 1890, our columns have regularly carried accounts of how changing tastes, shifting business practices, and recalcitrant consumers triggered significant sales drops. On the other hand, the business has never exactly moved in sync with the larger economy like the auto industry or other traditional cyclicals either. Industry sales surged in the mid-'70s, despite a serious recession and rampant inflation. More recently the economic slump in the early '90s, caused by the collapse of the savings and loan industry and the "dot-com" bust in 2000 had relatively limited impact....

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