The music industry, like print, is a vast sprawling beast that comprises many very different organisations. There are individual buskers and singer-songwriters, right up through pop artists and bands, jazz combos to chamber music and on to full orchestras. Some are no more than individuals with a suitcase and guitar in hand; others can be up to 70-piece orchestras with huge numbers of assistants and support staff. Likewise print can run the gamut from a small garage bound business to huge multinationals.
What different printers produce, like the music that different groups perform, may seem to have little in common with what the others offer, but will all be lumped together regardless. That shades the view of the non professional observer. Are printers creators of newspapers, of magazines and catalogues, of books, wallpaper, menus and invitations or hoardings posters? The same, or similar technology is used across all print businesses. Likewise the majority of musical instruments are common across all genres of music, from pop and rock to big band jazz, from orchestral to folk, but what is considered music may vary from one person to the next.
Musicians do not have this difficulty. They know when they turn up to play what genre they are involved with and adjust accordingly. This does not happen in print. Every printer is a high quality colour printer offering a range of services as long as a trombonist’s arm. Very few printers can be this orchestral and should not try to be; for most it is a limited combination of services and products that they excel at, just as a jazz quartet can comprise virtuoso players, yet makes no attempt to play every kind of music. Musicians know that their instruments are standard issue and it is how they play them that makes the difference and defines them. Printers should make a similar distinction. Many others have the same sort of technology but can be printing very different things. It is not what your instrument is, but what you do with it that makes the difference. Playing to your strengths is what really matters.
Printers should tune up their message
The music industry, like print, is a vast sprawling beast that comprises many very different organisations. There are individual buskers and singer-songwriters, right up through pop artists and bands, jazz combos to chamber music and on to full orchestras. Some are no more than individuals with a suitcase and guitar in hand; others can be up to 70-piece orchestras with huge numbers of assistants and support staff. Likewise print can run the gamut from a small garage bound business to huge multinationals.
What different printers produce, like the music that different groups perform, may seem to have little in common with what the others offer, but will all be lumped together regardless. That shades the view of the non professional observer. Are printers creators of newspapers, of magazines and catalogues, of books, wallpaper, menus and invitations or hoardings posters? The same, or similar technology is used across all print businesses. Likewise the majority of musical instruments are common across all genres of music, from pop and rock to big band jazz, from orchestral to folk, but what is considered music may vary from one person to the next.
Musicians do not have this difficulty. They know when they turn up to play what genre they are involved with and adjust accordingly. This does not happen in print. Every printer is a high quality colour printer offering a range of services as long as a trombonist’s arm. Very few printers can be this orchestral and should not try to be; for most it is a limited combination of services and products that they excel at, just as a jazz quartet can comprise virtuoso players, yet makes no attempt to play every kind of music. Musicians know that their instruments are standard issue and it is how they play them that makes the difference and defines them. Printers should make a similar distinction. Many others have the same sort of technology but can be printing very different things. It is not what your instrument is, but what you do with it that makes the difference. Playing to your strengths is what really matters.
Gareth Ward
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