Keynote Music have been distributing instruments and accessories for 25 years, and now service over 200 dealers in Ireland and the UK.

Mark Walsh, the company’s Marketing and Business Development manager, sees Music Ireland ‘06 as a terrific opportunity to support those dealers by promoting Keynote’s vast range of musical instruments and accessories to the public at large.

The Keynote stand is likely to be a noisy one too. As Mark explains, “Apart from a wide range of instruments, we’re also installing an electronic ‘Drumometer’ on which visitors to Music Ireland can test how fast they can play the drums! We believe this should be a fun event too, and not just about selling. But we also expect to be very busy.

“Another attraction is that we’ll be running competitions for rock star memorabilia we’ve picked up from the likes of the legendary axeman Joe Satriani, Marky Ramone and John Dolmayan of System Of A Down – so we’ll be kept on our toes, that’s for sure!”

Walsh says these are challenging times for the business but he is optimistic.

“The internet is bringing us challenges we never had to face before,” he admits. “But it’s here to stay and we have to live with it. Shops who provide a good personal service to musicians have little to fear. After all, if you need something in a hurry or if you need something repaired, it’s not the internet you’ll go to. You’ll head around to the guy in the local instrument store, who probably knows what you need and can get it for you pretty quickly. But I’m encouraged also by the fact that three musical instrument shops are opening in the near future, two in Dublin and one in the west of Ireland. That’s a great vote of confidence in the future of the industry.”

The Keynote stand will include a mammoth range of top brands, from Martin guitars worth €5,000, and D’Addario strings, to Fishman pick-ups and hardcase drum cases. And just in case you thought it was all about rock, they’ll also have a range of Feadóg tin whistles to show you too! But as Mark adds, “Apart from catalogues, we’ll also have lots of advice and information available. For example, if someone comes in to talk to us from Tralee we’ll be able to give them details of the shops closest to him or her.”

Jackie Hayden