Musicland Company Profile

The Vietnamese tourist board has been vying for the attention of global travellers with disposable income by promoting its pristine beaches, natural beauty, friendly people and vibrant cities. Although musical entertainment is not as common here as it is in other neighbouring Asian countries, it hasn’t stopped a growing number of suppliers from establishing themselves in Indo China over the years. Having quietly gone into business at the end of the Vietnamese conflict in 1975, MI and pro audio distributor Musicland is today flourishing in a country that is poised to permit more live music, theatre, karaoke and sound reinforcement systems in venues as the government relaxes its regulations.

The family business naturally has musical roots – current managing director Vu Bao’s father, Vu Quang, was a classically trained pianist and singer, while his mother was a violinist. The family’s love of music allowed them to teach, but live performance was prohibited in 1975. Instead, they established a small unlicensed shop in Ho Chi Minh City, selling musical instruments and small PA systems in 1976. By 1991, Vietnamese laws had relaxed sufficiently to allow Musicland to import goods directly through government sources and by 1993, the company was officially registered, thus enabling more control in terms of how goods were moved. ‘There were no pubs or clubs 20 years ago, as entertainment was actively discouraged by the government,’ recalls Vu Bao. ‘It’s a lot better today in the south, but it seems to be taking time in the north around Hanoi.’

Vu Bao’s parents in fact continue to teach music alongside other instructors at their music school, tutoring budding students who harbour hopes of one day becoming performers. Such tuition certainly boosts the sales of musical instruments in Vietnam, but Vu Bao is keen to highlight the differences in musical evolution while pointing at the Yamaha drum kits in the Hoa Quang Music showroom.

‘Most live music entertainment systems in Vietnam simply consist of a singer who is backed by a playback source, so we don’t sell many drum kits! Sometimes, there may be a keyboard player backing the singer, but other than that, there is still little demand. However, there are up-and-coming bands influenced by both Western and Korean artists, Japanese bands and the Hong Kong Canto-pop culture, in addition to aspiring DJs. Hollywood and Asian films with soundtracks also provide an influence on musical tastes. I recall being in Shanghai many years ago and the music scene there was similar to that of Vietnam today. But look at China today – there are bands playing in all the bars and clubs and this will be the scene in the future here in Vietnam.’

Approximately 30 personnel are employed by Musicland’s sister company Hoa Quang Music Co Ltd, which has been exclusively distributing Yamaha products in South Vietnam since 1994. Musicland is larger and has over 50 people on its payroll. Its two offices, three warehouses and school of music are firmly based in Ho Chi Minh City, but their vast dealer network has perfected national distribution over the years in a country that measures 2,300km in length. ‘We have over 120 dealers throughout the country and we can generally transport stock to them within two to three days via rail. It’s very efficient,’ explains Vu Bao.

Once the goods have entered the port in Ho Chi Minh City from suppliers around Japan, the USA and elsewhere, customs duties are quickly settled and the stock is delivered to the warehouses.

Given the company’s long standing reputation in the market, Musicland has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for the likes of Audix, Crest Audio, EAW, Eminence, Mackie, MediaMatrix, Mipro, Peavey, Proel and RCF. However, Musicland also offers its more cost-conscious customers Chinese brands such as Audiocentre, Elder Audio and SAE. ‘Customer spending is low here in Vietnam so you need to offer market-entry products at low prices in order to compete successfully. Branding is becoming increasingly important and we try to educate our customers about the value of our products in terms of price performance and features. Our customers value and appreciate that we only sell products that we can maintain and service – we’re not interested in stocking disposable audio equipment.’ In addition, Musicland even promotes its own brands in the shape of Dallas PA and Intelite lighting, both of which are produced by OEM manufacturers to their own specifications in China.

Since taking on the Peavey/Crest and Loud Technologies brands, Musicland has in recent years focused much of its marketing attention on hosting educational seminars and workshops. System integrators and dealers are invited to attend these classes at the company’s headquarters, where they are taught the many benefits and features of digital, wireless and systems approach technology. ‘Instead of participating at the recent Palme Vietnam exhibition, we decided to host three days of educational seminars at our offices,’ furthers Vu Bao. ‘These classes and feedback sessions really benefit the end user and we see almost instant results. We held some trussing seminars in which we taught the value of health and safety to many rental companies, who have traditionally not employed safe weight ratios when rigging. It’s hard to get them to change their working practises unless a major accident occurs, but even then low insurance payouts for accidents and worse hardly deters poor practises.’

One gets the feeling that Musicland is destined for great things when the Vietnamese market finally opens, allowing the company to promote its full catalogue of inventories for the brands it represents. For now, however, Vu Bao agrees that penetration has been stunted.

‘We recently promoted the EAW KF730 and KF760 line arrays to our dealers, but demand for line array technology is low outside project based tenders. We have found success in theatre, stadiums, conference rooms and hotel ballrooms where consultants are more involved, but rental production companies tend to specify cheap systems. The EAW Avalon systems have done well in some of the smaller clubs and larger bars however, and once end-users have used and played with Mackie speakers and mixers, they appreciate the quality and want to invest in such products. That’s why it’s so important to have a dealer network that believes in demonstrating and keeping up to date with the technology we’re promoting.’

Musicland has forged close links with some governmental departments over the years and none more so than the educational ministry, which purchases PA systems for school sports departments and instruments – mainly keyboards – for music tuition. Yamaha jostles for a share of the huge market of motorcycles and mopeds on the roads of Vietnam, but Musicland has also been assisting the Japanese brand in broadcasting, education and project circles.

‘Our customers really like the build, quality and reliability of the Yamaha PM5D, M7CL and LS9 digital mixers, but digital technology has a long way to go in Vietnam,’ explains the managing director. ‘The problem is that most engineers are self taught on old analogue consoles and learn from other people’s mistakes. There are no proper educational courses on sound engineering in the country and English is not widely spoken, so digital know-how remains a mystery to many and it is difficult to explain the many benefits of technology. We held some Yamaha digital workshops in 2008 and there was, unfortunately, very little reaction. The market still isn’t ready for digital technology, although I am convinced that it will come soon.’

Whilst most of the planet has succumbed to the internet in terms of marketing products, Vietnam is lagging. Vu Bao indicates that few of Musicland’s customers have access to a computer and those that do don’t understand English websites. ‘Customers either don’t have access to the internet or if they do, they don’t understand it or trust buying from it,’ he explains. ‘Furthermore, the banks in Vietnam don’t yet offer pay online services such as PayPal, although they will soon start to develop such mechanisms.’

Most businesses are established on the age old economic principles of supply and demand. Musicland is ahead of its time as it has continually stocked musical instruments and PA technology that is waiting to find mass appeal. Of course, Musicland can’t change the mind set of individuals or government bodies overnight, but as the economy develops and Government restrictions on public entertainment diminish, a young generation of would-be musicians, performers and technicians will turn to Musicland in ever greater numbers for assistance.

For now, Vu Bao is content with the position in which Musicland finds itself. ‘I’m a pianist myself and without music there would be no point in promoting the products we distribute. We’re going in the right direction and I know that we are well positioned for the future with our knowledge, expertise, products brands and dealer network.’

www.musicland.com.vn

Tel.: +84 8 3834 1500