Kronos "All Access" Party

[Thoraldus]

And YET AGAIN ...

... The only thing that confuses me about this is why Korg - as in the company called Korg - are happy with this perpetuating confusion; and you would think that Korg-USA would spend the small time required to provide a broad portal to individual Korg web sites in order to provide a consistent sense fo what Korg is internationally and nationally. ...

Kevin.

I think it is important to learn the difference between a manufacturer and a national sales company.

I have no personal knowledge, but I would guess that Korg Japan, Korg Italy and Korg USA are three separate entities. Each with their own goals and web sites.

Korg Japan DOES have a portal to the individual Korg distributor web sites ... reread my post above.

[sparkie]

I already pre-ordered a Kronos 61 from Sweetwater. I want a free Microsampler, too!

I understand Korg wants to sell keyboards but its a bad marketing strategy I think! I agree 100%..if you have one on order, why do we have to listen to a demo to get a free micro sampler? I wonder what Kronus price they are going to charge to get the microsampler? Retail or discount price? Any preorder should get one within a certain period of time!! Whats keeping someone from cancelling an existing order and then reorder in person to get the free keyboard?

[EnjoyRC]

Any preorder should get one within a certain period of time!! Whats keeping someone from cancelling an existing order and then reorder in person to get the free keyboard?

Agreed... There should be some appreciation shown to those who preordered the first batch.

[burningbusch]

Korg Corporate - WAKE UP - you're pissing off 9/10ths of your market - that is - the rest of the world

FYI, the USA's $14.7 trillion dollar economy is 25% of the world's economy ($58 trillion). When it comes to hi-tech products, the USA commonly accounts for 35% - 45% of the market. I would guess Korg USA sales fall into that 35% - 45% range.

Busch.

[jimknopf]

GDP - gross domestic product

European Union: $14.9 trillion (2010 est.) / real growth rate 1.8% (2010 est.)
United States: $14.72 trillion (2010 est.) / real growth rate 2.7% (2010 est.)
China: $9.872 trillion (2010 est.) / real growth rate 10.3% (2010 est.)

Source:
(CIA world fact book)


I think the the times when the USA were dominating the world economy by a large margin are simply over. They still have the by far highest income per citizen, while many could ask how much of that is based on loan instead of real economic power.

What stirs the kind of discussion in here is the fact, that economically they still behave very dominant in certain key areas, while the rest of the world has growing problems to see good reasons for that degree of dominance.

Not to get me wrong:
The very last thing that will make me envious are gifts like a microsampler for US Korg customers by Korg. May they live happy and in peace with it.

What I challenge, though, is that Korg Japan, like many other companies, stays in the old bad habit of informing and delivering to US citizens first, naming schedules and prices, while being impertinent enough to have an equally powerful economy like Europe's wait for the same level of information and respect several months longer. This kind of behavior is completely intolerable from a European (and perhaps also Chinese) point of view, even though I know it has historical reasons.

This is the crucial point: in a common world a certain level of common treatment is a must, and you can't even hide behind total economic dominance as lame pretext any more.

[danatkorg]

Several quick points:

* as long as it costs money to transport goods from one place to another, there will be regional promotions.

* as long as cost of doing business varies from one place to another (including business taxes, regulations, wages, rent or real estate cost etc.), there will be differences in prices.

* regional/national distributors buy product from the manufacturer (in this case Korg Inc. in Japan), and then sell to dealers, who sell to customers. Prices may vary all along the line, and the time at which prices are set will almost certainly vary as well.

* transport time, logistics, regional/national regulations, and other factors may all play a part in variations in release schedule from place to place. Even much larger companies (such as Apple, somewhere around 1,000 times bigger than Korg) have similar issues.

* regarding "equally powerful economy like Europe's wait for the same level of information and respect" - note that Italy had hands-on KRONOS demos in music stores starting a couple of weeks ago, while the USA is still waiting until next month. Most countries in Europe have their own Korg distributor - it's not quite a single market yet.

[GregC]

I think it dampens the fun when plain facts get in the way of an Internet conspiracy theory.

[xmlguy]

Here in NoCheapKeyboardistan, we offer a free Chinese AK-47 for every Kronos you buy, so that you can safely protect it on the donkey cart ride home to your village. Unfortunately, we still have the 400% RegimeGraftAndDealerMonopolyAddedTax for all electronics except lighted photographs of our beloved leader.

Hey, look, our first shipment of Kronos is on its way! Start saving up your goats and oxen for purchase.

[Pepperpotty]

Here in NoCheapKeyboardistan, we offer a free Chinese AK-47 for every Kronos you buy, so that you can safely protect it on the donkey cart ride home to your village. Unfortunately, we still have the 400% RegimeGraftAndDealerMonopolyAddedTax for all electronics except lighted photographs of our beloved leader.

Hey, look, our first shipment of Kronos is on its way! Start saving up your goats and oxen for purchase.

Lmao!!!

I suppose when you put it like that I should be grateful for what we get here in the UK. Lol.

[TheLeadingSaw]

I wouldn't hurry up and preorder the Kronos in the All Access Part just because you get a free MicroSampler. Yeah, it's a nice thing, but not something Kronos can't do, besides, I would really suggest spending an hour or two with the Kronos (any other keyboard, for that matter) before buying it.

Anyway, I hope that someone films those presentations, and that they got an 88 note Kronos for that.

[jimknopf]

* regarding "equally powerful economy like Europe's wait for the same level of information and respect" - note that Italy had hands-on KRONOS demos in music stores starting a couple of weeks ago, while the USA is still waiting until next month. Most countries in Europe have their own Korg distributor - it's not quite a single market yet.

You are right that Europe is generally a common, but concerning distribution still in part a single market. Anyway I have difficulties to find good reasons, why demo units find their way to the Netherlands and Italy, but not to Germany, France or the UK. Weird.

You could at least introduce the Kronos live at NAMM to the American public, many weeks ago, and you have Kronoi available in the US. In Germany we haven't even seen any anywhere.

And what I also still find unacceptable is the fact that in Europe we have to wait for prices and release dates (no matter if they still move or not) until Musikmesse, while Americans got both since Namm. How weird is that??? THIS is what I call missing respect towards a higly developed European market.

@xmlguy: you don't happen to live in the USA??

[xmlguy]

@xmlguy: you don't happen to live in the USA??

Wha? Did a little ethnocentric humor give it away? What's the VAT rate in your country? It's more than the manufacturer's cost of a MicroSampler in most of the Western European countries I've travelled to. VAT and business tax structure are all passed to the buyer, one way or another. In any case, I deeply apologize to all the NoCheapKeyboardistanians for any offense.

[danatkorg]

* regarding "equally powerful economy like Europe's wait for the same level of information and respect" - note that Italy had hands-on KRONOS demos in music stores starting a couple of weeks ago, while the USA is still waiting until next month. Most countries in Europe have their own Korg distributor - it's not quite a single market yet.

You are right that Europe is generally a common, but concerning distribution still in part a single market.

For Korg at least, it's still primarily a number of different markets.

Some of the Korg distributors in Europe are:

Korg UK - UK and Ireland
Musik Meyer/Korg & More - Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
Eko Music Group - Italy
Gaffarel Musique - France
Voerman - Benelux
Music Park - Czech & Slovak Republics
Letusa - Spain
Caius - Portugal
EM Nordic - Scandanavia
Mega Music - Poland

etc.

Except for Korg UK, which is owned by Korg Inc., all of these businesses are separately owned and operated. Typically these businesses distribute various other brands of music gear in addition to Korg.

Anyway I have difficulties to find good reasons, why demo units find their way to the Netherlands and Italy, but not to Germany, France or the UK. Weird.

Germany, France, and the UK all have KRONOS units; they are just not necessarily doing the same things with them. The different distributors are choosing different strategies, presumably as they deem appropriate to their own different markets. If you want to see the KRONOS in Germany, give Musik Meyer/Korg & More a call; I imagine that they'll be doing in-store demos at some point.

You could at least introduce the Kronos live at NAMM to the American public, many weeks ago, and you have Kronoi available in the US.

Note that the USA in-store KRONOS demos, as announced at the start of the thread, don't start until next month.

And what I also still find unacceptable is the fact that in Europe we have to wait for prices and release dates (no matter if they still move or not) until Musikmesse, while Americans got both since Namm. How weird is that??? THIS is what I call missing respect towards a higly developed European market.

We announced the approximate release dates at NAMM. As with all such future projections, they were subject to change - and with the multiple disasters in Japan, I would not be surprised to see at least some delay.

Korg USA announced their prices at that time - not Korg Inc. Korg USA is the distributor of Korg products in the USA, and although they are owned by Korg Inc, they are run as a separate company.

In general, most of this stuff is much less centralized than some of the comments here would imply.

[danatkorg]

In re timing, pricing, and availability differing depending on where you are - this really happens with most things. As one example, the German-built Smart Car wasn't available in the USA for a while, but I don't think that was a demonstration of disrespect for the USA...

[jimknopf]

Dan, your detailed answer is much appreciated! And it contained some little surprises for me. For example, I wasn't aware, that any Kronos had made it's way to Germany.

One question still remaining unclear to me is the following:
If your Korg US management and the European Korg distributors had the same information from Korg at NAMM, that allowed US music stores (relying on Korg US) to accept orders at conrete prices, why can't a single European store name prices until Musikmesse in three weeks?

My concern is not to find someone I can call guilty for something I don't like. My concern is to understand what is going on there, and argue for a change.


Edit: PS: if it were only about a casual synth over the years, as with the smart car, I wouldn't care so much. But I've seen the same kind of ritual in many cases, especially in the music business, over the years, and not only from one company, and frankly, in connection with some price differences hardly explainable even with all the named factors (VAT, transport etc.), I'm not the only European 'native becoming restless'.

@xmlguy: ok yes, the "little ethnocentric humor" gave it away.
no offence taken, but some well earned feedback intended