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[Daniel Levi]

Just got an email,  It's official, MG bought TC

http://www.music-group.com/news.aspx

MUSIC Group has today announced the acquisition of TC Group, one of the largest group of companies in the professional audio industry. Headquartered in Denmark, and with offices all over the world, TC Group owns and manages some of the most acclaimed brands such as Tannoy, Lab Gruppen, Lake, TC Electronics, TC Helicon and TC Applied Technologies.

The addition of Tannoy, Lab Gruppen and Lake allows MUSIC Group to round out their professional install and touring sound offerings alongside Midas, Klark Teknik and Turbosound, while TC Electronics and TC Helicon represent the industry’s leading brands in the guitar effects and voice processing sector, and perfectly complement MUSIC Group’s Bugera guitar tube amplifier brand and highly successful Behringer prosumer division.

TC Electronic has also long been established as a leader in broadcast, studio, mastering and production processing, where it gained ultimate authority in loudness control and mastering. For decades now, Tannoy’s HiFi products continue to win “Best in Class” Awards, and as a result the brand has developed a huge following of audio enthusiasts around the world.

TC Group’s strong focus on product innovation and IP creation is further demonstrated by their TC Applied Technologies company, which is invested in cutting-edge semiconductor designs, networking and interface technology.

MUSIC Group founder and CEO Uli Behringer commented, “MUSIC Group stands for relentless focus on innovation, business transformation and overall IP creation. Since the acquisition of Midas, Klark Teknik and Turbosound, we have been continuously pursuing brands that complement the mixing console, processing and loudspeaker excellence offered by these historic brands. Throughout our search, TC Group has clearly stood out as the ideal match because of their world-class brands, impressive intellectual property, sterling reputation and first-class team of people. I am very proud to welcome the TC Group team into our family.”

Tannoy, Lab Gruppen and Lake will now join MUSIC Group’s prestigious Midas, Klark Teknik and Turbosound anchor brands to further strengthen MUSIC Group’s continued expansion into the professional A/V market. Aimed at delivering complete system solutions to Install and Touring customers, the combination of these brands represents an unprecedented range of choice for the most demanding of applications.

Uli Behringer continued, “We will invest heavily in positioning TC Group’s brands at the very pinnacle of the industry, as we have done with Midas, Klark Teknik and Turbosound, where we have invested over $100 million in highly automated and integrated manufacturing facilities, quality control systems and engineering resources, including a new Center of Engineering Excellence in Manchester, UK.

TC Group will now equally have full access to MUSIC Group’s extensive resources and advanced automated system platforms in such areas as product development and lifecycle management, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and finance.”

TC Group’s CEO Anders Fauerskov responded, “We are very honored that during the acquisition process, some of the largest industry players were bidding for TC Group; however we have selected MUSIC Group as they represent the perfect fit in terms of strategic direction, overall synergies and company culture. Our team is thrilled to join MUSIC Group and open a new chapter for TC Group and its prestigious brands. With the incredibly talented people and massive resources of the MUSIC Group behind us, the team is excited to enter a new era of unprecedented innovation and growth.”

[Ted Christensen]

http://www.music-group.com/news.aspx

so...behringer owns lab gruppen now too?

[Ray Aberle]

so...behringer owns lab gruppen now too?

By "Behringer" you mean Uli Behringer, the CEO of The MUSIC Group, yes.

"Behringer" the music company is a owned subsidiary of The MUSIC Group, as is now TC Group, along with Turbosound, Midas, Klark Teknik, among others.

Interestingly enough, The Music Group is a holding company based in the City of Makati, Phillipines.

[Tim McCulloch]

Interestingly enough, The Music Group is a holding company based in the City of Makati, Phillipines.

That's where Uli resides these days.

[Ray Aberle]

That's where Uli resides these days.

That'd make sense. But did he move there and then found The Music Group, or did he found TMG and then decide to move to the Philippines? Other then being conveniently close to Chinese production facilities, I'm wondering why they chose that country to base out of.

-Ray

[Tim McCulloch]

That'd make sense. But did he move there and then found The Music Group, or did he found TMG and then decide to move to the Philippines? Other then being conveniently close to Chinese production facilities, I'm wondering why they chose that country to base out of.

-Ray

Taxes and cost of living.

[John Fruits]

Next up they should buy Philips Lighting.  They have been up for sale for a while and have some very big boy lines.  The current Behringer lighting product doesn't get a lot of love. 

[Stephen Kirby]

J.R. I seem to remember you or some other proper EE doing a comparison between the Europower amps and QSC RMX's and finding them nearly identical in topology/layout although with very cost constrained implementation.

I've owned the signal processing gear where I thought I could get the same performance/functionality for less, only to have to dump it as the performance wasn't the same.  I completely understand the economies of scale in manufacturing and some of the cost advantages in offshore manufacturing.  I'm off in a week to a southern China manufacturing complex to dial in processes for a consumer product.  I've been through the whole migration of manufacturing there.  Although it still makes me wonder about the total cost of offshoring when I check into a hotel in Shanghai and run into 40 Apple employees from Cupertino in the lobby.

In my world of Silicon Valley these days, Industrial Design is king.  Creating it, protecting it, and trying to keep others from copying it.  When I look at the B DI boxes my keyboard player has, the size and shape is identical to my BSS DI.  Of all the other DI's I've ever seen, these are the only two that have that same size and shape.

I've seen first hand the functional copying of guitar stomp boxes, albeit in cheaper generic cases.  I don't think it's libelous to have the opinion that the history of the company is built on much more imitation than innovation.  Which is unfortunate since the early beginnings were of an innovative small scale company.  Maybe this is like a case of John Mayer producing syrupy pop songs so that he can play the blues.  Build up a company so that you can acquire the talent to innovate what you really want.  Unfortunately when you do this, it takes awhile for the stain to wear off.

[John Roberts {JR}]

J.R. I seem to remember you or some other proper EE doing a comparison between the Europower amps and QSC RMX's and finding them nearly identical in topology/layout although with very cost constrained implementation.

No not me, but I recall seeing the photographs posted to the WWW revealing the similarity between those two amps, just like everybody else did. IIRC Bob Lee even recognized some identical paragraphs in the owner's manual since he wrote the QSC one (apparently not copyrighted back in those kinder gentler times.). 

I've owned the signal processing gear where I thought I could get the same performance/functionality for less, only to have to dump it as the performance wasn't the same.  I completely understand the economies of scale in manufacturing and some of the cost advantages in offshore manufacturing.  I'm off in a week to a southern China manufacturing complex to dial in processes for a consumer product.  I've been through the whole migration of manufacturing there.  Although it still makes me wonder about the total cost of offshoring when I check into a hotel in Shanghai and run into 40 Apple employees from Cupertino in the lobby.

That's the rub of having a production floor on the other side of the world. It's better now than it was, but leaving Chinese factory managers to use their personal judgement when they can't get in touch with somebody from the home office to answer a question, has been the root cause of many production SNAFUs. Bills and routings must be complete, and accurate. Leave nothing to chance.

In my world of Silicon Valley these days, Industrial Design is king.  Creating it, protecting it, and trying to keep others from copying it.  When I look at the B DI boxes my keyboard player has, the size and shape is identical to my BSS DI.  Of all the other DI's I've ever seen, these are the only two that have that same size and shape.

Trade dress is a form of IP and there have been pretty interesting court cases regarding hand held test equipment dress that was copied, but in our industry few bother to perfect design patents (different than utility patents) or otherwise protect such things.

I suspect the lads at Apple have always been protective of their ID et al. While Apple ripped off the technology for their music players from Creative Labs.  Probably cheaper to just buy them 

I've seen first hand the functional copying of guitar stomp boxes, albeit in cheaper generic cases.  I don't think it's libelous to have the opinion that the history of the company is built on much more imitation than innovation.  Which is unfortunate since the early beginnings were of an innovative small scale company.  Maybe this is like a case of John Mayer producing syrupy pop songs so that he can play the blues.  Build up a company so that you can acquire the talent to innovate what you really want.  Unfortunately when you do this, it takes awhile for the stain to wear off.

I don't think it matters what you think "isn't" libelous, in fact it doesn't much matter what you or I think at all, but it matters what we say, as young, wet behind the ears newbies may learn something unpleasant from our ramblings. 

At this point anybody who hasn't already figured out what is what, deserves what they get.

Enjoy your visit to China,,, (nice to visit). Hope you don't get stuck on a plane coming back full of screaming adopted babies..  That can make the long flight even longer.

JR

[Luke Geis]

I would say this is par for the course really. I'm not surprised, nor alarmed.

Here is my thought on it, be it right or wrong. A company that has been around for 30+ years has no excuse to fail. Especially those in the top echelon. Not really relevant, but Louis Vuitton is a company that has been around for 150 years, and as it was then, it is still a top company with no fear of falling out of fashion ( literally ) and has never had a sale or price reduction. The point is that the company has done what it has needed to stay in the game. It doesn't matter how good your product is, if no one can, wants to, or will afford it, there is no way to continue business. If your making the best soup in the world and you know it, but have priced yourself out of the market to the point where people will not bend over backwards to get it, your going to have to do one of two things. Suck up some pride and change your pricing ( because how much could it possibly cost to make soup right? ), or find a way to make the product a must have, no matter what item. This is regardless of the fact that it costs you 10 cents to make 10 bowls of soup that you sell for $100 per bowl...... If people MUST HAVE IT AT ANY COST, they will, AT ANY COST. If they don't, they won't. So this begs the question; what did TC group do that caused them to have to sell? And why should we be upset at another company that has shown the ability to hang in the market?

Ask 100 sound guys and I bet 99% will know who both Lab Gruppen and TC Electronics is, but how many of them will actually own those products? My bet is one in 100 sound guys will actually own 2 or more products from the entire TC group catalog used for the purpose of live sound? I would venture that the majority would love to own one or more products from the TC group. Many here on this forum are in the upper tier of employment and perhaps work for a company that owns such brands though. Again however, only a few out of many companies will have such equipment. Lets assume safely that 10% of all sound companies from small to large actually own TC group products. Now if you are priced out of 90% of the market because they won't justify it's expense, does that make you safe in any market? Obviously not......... If you can't give what people want at the price they will afford, you don't have a product, you have sale.

Taking a look at the whole market shows a pretty alarming trend. A majority of top tier products are beginning to become absorbed by " Groups " that purchase them. Nexo is owned by Yamaha, EAW and Martin Audio by Loud Technologies and of course Turbosound and Midas by Music Group. Harman Group owns 8 product lines and all are top tier names. So it should come as no surprise that TC ( also a group ) has been absorbed by yet another group. The big kicker is that Music Group is kicking some serious butt right now. As shaky as their past has been ( at least from an origins standpoint ) they have come about face and have shown to abide by the simple rule of market share. Have what people want at a price they will afford. It doesn't matter if you think Behringer and Music Group is the scourge of the earth, they have beaten the odds and are not exactly hurting the market. Avid is even showing signs of rocky grounds only recently trending upwards and most of the market of mixers is owned by other groups. The interesting thing is that MG is a private company and is not traded on the open market like Avid ( who is selling stock at $16 per share ). Even Allen & Heath has a parent company who is trading in the open market. MG has kept and enhanced products once unobtainable by the majority, available to a larger market segment.

It's really hard to fathom how a mixer or even an amplifier can cost as much as a car. Some Neve mixers reach close to the million dollar mark! If I recall correctly, the Midas H3000 sold for over $100,000 when new and can be had these days for between $15,000 - $40,000 used ( depending on desperation I guess? )! Even a new SC48 will set you back 25K for just the mixer. Your still going to want the stage boxes. This really knocks a large portion of the potential market out of contention. The idea of making it so that only the best represent you is great, but if it isn't sustainable, then what good is it? The market is tough, as the ROI must be quick on something that has a life span of between 5-10 years before obsolescence. A million dollar PA would need to draw in a clear 17K a month to pay itself off in 5 years. Even over a 10 year span you would need to drag in over 8k a month! There are not very many companies that can afford to make that purchase or lease and keep the PA moving like that. Again, a very small portion of the sound market is able to do that. As things are, it is just working for a small number of companies in the live audio product segment. Once bought out by a group, the prices tend to go down or at least the technology advances, making the product hold it's current market value. The acquisition of TC Group by MG is going to make the product either better, or more attainable; hopefully both.

[ProSoundWeb Community]