State Champ Radio Trump Administration
For years, to make the Canvas Power 15, Walrus Audio has spent $95.32 per unit on parts. So the rainbow-stamped power supply device for multiple guitar pedals has rarely cost customers more than $270, a price consistency that has helped the 14-year-old Oklahoma City company earn $10 million in annual sales and employ 31 guitar players. “We were cruising, and stuff was selling, and we’re like, ‘Man, we’re having a fun year,’” owner Colt Westbrook says.
But a surge protector that resembles a small, black brick is a key part of every Canvas Power 15 package and can be made in only one country: China. Last month, when the Trump Administration raised tariffs for Chinese imports from 84 percent to 145 percent, the cost to make the Power 15 soared to $139.54. That gave Westbrook a choice: Raise Walrus’ prices, potentially alienating customers, or slash expenses. “We’d have to lose some people,” says Westbrook, whose customers include Maroon 5, the Roots, Haim and Bon Jovi. “We’d have to cut some products, because they wouldn’t be financially viable anymore. Which would be sad.”
Given the unpredictable nature of recent U.S. tariffs on China, and, to a lesser extent, other countries, Walrus is one of many music-gear manufacturers freaking out about the sudden instability of its long-steady industry. Although Trump announced a trade deal with China last week, lowering the U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports to 30 percent, Westbrook was not reassured. “Everybody’s just, ‘We’re holding onto our cash because we don’t know what’s going to happen,’” he says.
Trending on Billboard
Small music-gear companies fear the worst. In testimony Wednesday (May 14) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Julie Robbins, owner/CEO of EarthQuaker Devices, a 35-employee Akron, Ohio, guitar-effect pedal manufacturer, declared the tariffs are “putting us at risk of bankruptcy,” demanded they be “reversed immediately” and dismissed “offensive” suggestions that she borrow money to cover fees “abruptly imposed on me by the government with no notice and no consideration.”
Although many music instruments are manufactured in the U.S., as well as relatively low-tariffed countries like Canada, Mexico and Indonesia, John Mlynczak, CEO/president of the National Association of Music Merchandisers (NAMM), recently told Billboard: “China is the largest manufacturing hub for products worldwide.” Gear-makers big and small say circuit boards, capacitors, resistors, transistors, fret wire, tubes and, as Walrus discovered, surge protectors, are made outside the U.S. — and many come from China alone.
“Nearly all musical products imported into the world’s largest market for [these] products are affected,” Mlynczak says by email. “This could have a devastating effect not only for the companies in our industry, but also for music-makers who buy these products.”
Trump recently declared U.S small businesses would not require government relief: “They’re going to make so much money — if you build your product here,” he said. But Josh Scott, owner, creator and president of Kansas City-based JHS Pedals, which employs 40 people and releases 100,000 products annually, argues Trump’s prediction can’t come true in his industry, which relies on parts that haven’t been made in the U.S. for years, if ever. “It’s like telling someone in Detroit to make diamonds out of the ground,” he says. “It’s physically not a thing.”
“It’s not just going to affect gear prices. It’s going to put a lot of these people out of business,” adds Rhett Shull, whose YouTube guitar-tips channel has 728,000 followers. “We’re heading for a massive nationwide shortage of goods in about a month. Even if Trump said, ‘Oh, nevermind, tariffs off, we’re all good,’ the damage is already going to be done.”
Due to the tariffs — and the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs — music-business products from T-shirts and other merch to vinyl records are bracing for higher manufacturing prices. U.S. companies that specialize in music gear are already seeing the impact: Philippe Herndon, founder/chief product designer for Caroline Guitar Co., recently posted on Threads that his company was “startled” to receive a March tariff bill that was “twice as much as we were expecting”; John Snyder, owner of Electronic Audio Experiments, adds in an interview that the cost of metal enclosures used for a new pedal “basically tripled overnight,” forcing his $1 million-in-annual-sales company to discontinue the product. “You don’t want to pass that cost onto the customers,” he says. “At some point, you have to take the ‘L’ and move on, and focus on stuff where the margins are better.”
The tariffs haven’t fully kicked in for the music-gear business, in part because of Trump administration uncertainty: In addition to the fluctuating tariff rates, particularly on China, Trump has granted, without much explanation, exemptions for certain industries, like smartphones, laptops and other electronics. NAMM has lobbied U.S. senators and the Commerce Department for an exemption on the types of lumber, known as tonewoods, that are used in guitars.
Another reason consumers may not have noticed a widespread increase in guitar-gear costs: Like many aggressive U.S. businesses, some music-equipment companies began preparing when Trump won the 2024 election. Electronic Audio Experiments, according to Snyder, spent last December and January working with a longtime supplier to buy as much inventory as possible so the company could maintain prices through the end of 2025. “Our circuit-board assembly house is located in North Carolina. We loaded them up with as much raw material as we could stand and just tried to coast from there,” Snyder says. “It was a very anxious time. Nobody knew exactly what was happening. We just knew it was going to be bad.”
For now, some music-gear manufacturers detect a shift among consumers to the used market. On Reverb, which sells new and used gear, April prices dropped by about 1 percent compared to the same time in 2024. “There have been a few manufacturers who have raised prices in the last few weeks on synthesizers and pedals,” says Cyril Nigg, Reverb’s senior analytics director. “A lot of the other manufacturers are trying to hold prices where they are for now. The retailers who are selling those products on Reverb are trying to keep the prices stable.”
Used gear prices are typically about 50 percent to 80 percent of the new price, according to Herndon, whose company earns less than $500,000 in annual sales. “The used market is indexed to the price of new goods,” he says. “Somebody goes, ‘I want to buy a Stratocaster, and everything has gotten more expensive — screw this, I’m going to buy it used.’ Well, the tariffs have raised the price of the new goods, and now the used goods are going to come up.”
Elizabeth Dilts Marshall contributed to this report.
Moby is currently matching donations to Los Angeles NPR affiliate KCRW, up to $10,000. The donation match began Tuesday (May 6) and extends through midnight on Wednesday.
“As we all know, public radio is in grave danger right now,” the electronic artist says in an ad currently airing on the station about this donation match. “If you care about KCRW; if you care about public radio and about free access to music and information, this is a very important moment to act.”
This special effort happens amid KCRW’s annual spring pledge drive, which this year has been titled “Mission Critical” due to an executive order signed last week by President Trump that directed the board of directors at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” the nation’s primary public broadcasters. The order was made on the claim of ideological bias by NPR and PBS.
Trending on Billboard
As reported by Billboard last week, this move follows a pattern of Trump leveraging executive powers to defund or dismantle institutions he deems oppositional, including cultural and educational organizations like the Kennedy Center and National Endowment for the Humanities. The legality of Trump’s order is in question, however, as CPB is a private nonprofit entity and not a federal agency.
In any case, KCRW’s chief development officer Jill Smayo tells Billboard that “the funding for public media, both NPR and PBS, is in flux right now… We’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen at this point. It’s evolving. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is investigating more what this truly means and what will come of this, but what is at stake for KCRW specifically is $1.3 million dollars annually that we receive from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”
Such “challenge grants” like Moby’s current $10,00 offer are a common element of KCRW pledge drives, with various public figures, often musicians, actors and other artists, making the offer in order to incentivize donations. As part of Moby’s offer, one person who donates will win tickets to performances he’s doing as part of the Cercle Odyssey tour in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, May 9. The musician also relaunched his MobyGratis sound library, which offers creators high-quality, royalty free music to use in projects.
“We’re very grateful for his belief that KCRW is a treasure for the curious and the artistic and worthy of supporting,” says Smayo. The Mission Critical spring pledge drive extends through May.
Growing up in Virginia, John Mlynczak, now president/CEO of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), didn’t have much money to spare, but he always dreamed about the day he could take home a Martin guitar. In college, he says his now-wife and mom “plotted and saved up to both go in together” to buy him one as a gift. “I still have it,” he recalls with pride. “It was made in Mexico. I didn’t care. I would not have been able to hold that brand and that signature square headstock in my hand if it wasn’t for the affordability and quality” of what Martin was making in its Mexican factories.
Mlynczak’s story is a common one. Many musicians, whether they know it or not, are playing instruments that were made entirely (or in part) in Mexico, Canada or China. For example, 989,621 acoustic guitars were imported from China and 187,722 acoustic guitars were imported from Mexico in 2024, according to data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. Top guitar brands like Fender, Martin, Taylor and more create many of their moderately priced products in Mexico; popular drum kit manufacturers like PDP, Yamaha and Pearl all list instruments made in China on their sites. While Mlynczak says instrument brands “have so much strong manufacturing in the U.S.” already — more than most other industries — those American-made products are cost-prohibitive for a lot of musicians.
Trending on Billboard
So when the Trump administration enacted a new 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and added an additional 10% tariff for Chinese goods on Tuesday (March 4), Mlynczak and NAMM sprung into action to help members weather the storm — though really, the trade organization has been helping members with storm after storm over the last decade, which has been especially turbulent for the instrument market. Whether it was the tariffs during Trump’s first term in 2018, the stress on the supply chain during COVID-19, or this week’s latest action, NAMM has engaged in a never-ending effort to make the voice of music manufacturers heard.
Though there’s not much anyone can do to stop the tariffs, NAMM is creating working groups for its members to come together and share tips, including providing essential information straight from Washington, D.C.; encouraging members to submit comments to Congress about how tariffs affect business; and building alliances with other impacted industries.
“The global supply chain has allowed us to make high-quality, affordable products, and it’s taken decades to do that,” says Mlynczak. “When you start raising the price everywhere of what it costs to import goods, it’s challenging, and it really threatens everything we’ve learned to do as an industry.”
Now that these tariffs have taken effect, what is NAMM’s role in helping its members?
NAMM’s first job as a trade association is to represent our industry on anything that affects them, and research and get the facts and help our industry navigate any policy. NAMM has been involved in tariffs, especially since the 2018 tariffs were imposed. We did a lot of work on that, and we were monitoring all the pre-election coverage on tariffs last year. We were fully ready for this and have been heavily involved, not only with our NAMM members but also building alliances with other associations and industries that were also impacted.
What are the key differences about the tariffs in 2025 versus those during Trump’s first term in 2018?
There was a different mechanism used by President Trump at the time, and there was an exception process. So after the tariffs were imposed, we led efforts to try to get exceptions from tariffs for music product categories. It was a long process that we worked through with many associations. This round, however, the tariffs so far have been implemented with no exceptions and no process for exceptions.
Were you able to get any exceptions last time? If so, for what product categories?
In 2018, very few exceptions were granted for musical instruments — those typically were granted to larger industries. We are actually a very small industry overall. While we work really hard for exceptions for music-making equipment, concerns about the furniture industry or the lumber industry, for example, can dominate the conversation… Unfortunately, we fought the good fight, but few exceptions were granted – but really that’s true for most industries.
What country or region is most popular for the manufacturing of musical instruments?
China is the largest manufacturing hub for products worldwide. Secondarily, there is a lot of instrument manufacturing in Mexico, U.S., Canada, Indonesia. We have lots of manufacturing in Europe too. But I think the thing to keep in mind is that this is important for the affordability of products and the level of musicians that can afford them. As an industry, you have people who are starting out playing music for the first time. They don’t know how much to invest, but they want a quality product and a price that is reasonable. They’re not ready to get a customized mahogany-backed instrument right away, right? As you progress as a musician, then you start spending more.
We have lots of companies that make musical products in the U.S. We are proud to have a substantial amount of high quality music products made in the U.S. — it’s an impressive number compared to other industries — but the way it works is you have your highest level custom products made in the U.S., then your mid level and entry level products are made by partners in Mexico, China and other countries.
One thing we’d like people to understand is the reason why we have companies that can afford to build their highest-end products in the U.S. is because they have the revenue from the mid-to-entry level products from overseas. Our supply chain is deeply interconnected. It’s not like an instrument is solely made in China or Mexico. What happens is you have certain components that are made really well in China that are then imported for final assembly. Or you have a factory in Mexico that has a specialty in making certain components that are imported. Then they are assembled in the U.S. This happens because this work is highly specialized.
What’s really devastating about this idea of “Oh, we’ll just move manufacturing elsewhere” is that it’s actually not that easy. What we’re building are not generic widgets that come off a line. These workers around the world are trained to understand how to test musical products, to buff the bell of a brass instrument perfectly, to tune the strings on a violin. There are handmade components to these instruments that take — in some cases — decades to do right. These factories often have multi-generational workers. This isn’t a skill set you pick up overnight.
Now that you know Trump’s tariffs are being enacted — and that there are no exceptions — what course of action do you take from here as a trade organization?
Our members are looking for the most factual information, so we have a lobbying firm and law firm in D.C. that allows us to get vetted, factual information. With all the news coming out, it’s difficult to get down to the actual nitty-gritty information that a brand needs. So we are a source for our members to come to. What we try to do is save them time — there’s thousands of companies impacted right now. We’re also creating a working group of members specifically who are impacted by tariffs and bringing them together every two weeks so we can feed them what we’re hearing, anything like “We think this might happen” or “There’s talks of this…”’ and they can share advice with each other.
I know this is not a support group, this is business, but in a tough time that impacts the whole industry, it almost feels like that.
Yeah, these are groups of competitors coming together, but they all are actually concerned for each other and their product categories. They’re concerned for music-making in general. It’s really sweet to see that, as an industry, people are literally sitting across from their number one competitor and saying, “What are you hearing? How can we work together?”
I know, as a trade organization, you can’t speak to individual companies and how they are reacting, but have you heard of any solutions that companies are turning to that seem helpful?
The challenge is that these tariffs are intentionally punitive, intentionally non-exemptible. The retaliatory tariffs actually make the impact harsher because we have so much strong manufacturing in the U.S., so not only do import tariffs cause problems, but export tariffs do too. American-made instruments are really coveted by musicians around the world. It’s a double whammy. The squeeze is really real.
Given tariffs often lead to an increase in the price of products, do you think this will lead to a surge in the used instrument market?
It could… we’re actually in a surge of used products right now because of COVID. In the pandemic lockdown, we saw a really big boom of musical product sales, and our industry is at the tail end of that now. Lots of instruments are being re-sold on the used market. So I don’t know how much more surging it can do, but that’s a perfectly good idea.
The instrument market has been hit with so many challenges over the last decade. From the 2018 tariffs, the supply chain disruption and surge in sales during COVID-19, and now this. Has this been a uniquely challenging decade for this market or has this market experienced this level of ups and downs before?
You’re right. It’s been a wild seven years. From NAMM’s perspective, there’s never been a more important time for us to be there as a trade association, to double down on policy work, and double down on working groups. I feel like now we are probably more united as an industry than ever.
We’re a 124-year-old organization. Historically, musical products are seen as a luxury good. Of course, I would argue music is essential to life, but we are a luxury, unlike bread or gas or housing. Luxury industries historically struggle with high inflation and rising costs… When that happens, traditionally, it becomes harder for us because people don’t buy a seventh guitar — they are trying to figure out how to feed their family. In these times, we as an industry have to come together because the last thing we want to see is companies going out of business.
NAMM members are resilient — we are very used to contracting businesses or experiencing booms, like during COVID. We have a lot of multi-generational companies and incredibly resilient people. This is probably a weather-the-storm situation, and our job is to help companies do that.
If there are less affordable, high-quality options for American families to help their children get interested in playing an instrument, what ripple effect could that have on the market long-term?
Every company recognizes that a user’s first touch point, when they buy an instrument at an affordable price, that if it’s not a quality instrument or the user has a bad experience, then we’ve lost a customer for life.
It’s important to remember that these truly are quality instruments coming from these overseas suppliers. In the instrument market, you need options at every level. Our customers’ buying habits are like a pyramid. There is a very, very small market for the highest tier, custom instrument models, but it is very wide at the bottom. You can’t have that custom shop model at the top without the support of a very wide entry-level bottom.
I understand the reasoning given for being “America First,” but we’re not an industry that builds only in America and only for Americans, and every musical brand wants to sell in the United States. We are global and interconnected. It’s very hard to disrupt that. Our companies say that any change will take about three to five years to implement. We’re talking years of planning. The biggest issue right now is that this administration has been predictably unpredictable.
We need to remember that there’s an executive order that was signed that required departments to research tariffs on every other country by April, so we could see more and more and more of these. So even though the guidance is to stop making in China, Mexico and Canada, our companies don’t know where to move to because we don’t know where the tariffs could be imposed next.
-
Pages
