Home » The new life of music, at the time of the pandemic and beyond

The new life of music, at the time of the pandemic and beyond

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The present is Bluetooth. And maybe the future too, unless Apple wants to get a grip on it. But even that wouldn’t be a problem. Dave Rogers, president of Harman International’s Lifestyle division, il American brand purchased by Samsung in 2017, which is behind some of the most famous names in high fidelity and music reproduction (AKG, Arcam, Bang & Olufsen, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel and more), has a unique perspective. His company is doing well, there are no problems and even the planetary pandemic on the one hand and the great global shortage of chips on the other have created imaginable problems but also unforeseen possibilities. Two examples? Cars and houses: “We are continuing to sell a lot to improve listening to music in homes and cars bought second hand – Rogers told us – Who would have expected it?”.

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New platforms
The shortage of chips has slowed the production of the new cars, with the result that the used car market has exploded all over the world: “And whoever buys a used car keeps a small budget aside to redo the after-sales system, adding Bluetooth, perhaps changing the system of entertainment with a more modern and compatible with today’s smartphones “. A market in which Harman is investing heavily, together with the parent company Samsung: at the Ces in Las Vegas this year, which was held the same even if in a very reduced version due to the pandemic, the company presented solutions for intelligent audio in the automotive sector in addition to products for the home and outdoor environments. There are many components that, in fact, form the foundation for an integrated platform. Even if something is still missing.

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This of the platforms, however, is an idea that stimulates Harman a lot, and Rogers has anticipated a piece of the future: “We will announce it later in the year, but we are working on a solution. software e hardware which integrates the products of the Harman family “. The idea is to allow you to easily switch between connecting headphones from the telephone to the home system without problems. What he does comes to mind Apple with dedicated devices and chips, and the goal is clear: to create an integrated platform, which obviously also involves Samsung.

Dave Rogers, president of Harman International’s Lifestyle division

Yes, the pandemic is good business
The other front is that of the house. The pandemic, lockdowns, remote work: everything has pushed people to spend more time at home and “the consequence has been that many have started consuming more audio and video, but they also talked more, and so they took the time to buy hi-fi systems, smart speakers, microphones, quality headphones, wireless systems “.

The pandemic, directly or indirectly, confirmed a good deal for Harman: “We have 3 business areas – explained Rogers – and the one that suffered the greatest slowdown was that for concerts and installations. But we are sure that this sector will start again in 2022 e big gatherings will return. Meanwhile, we have grown in all other sectors, from the consumer to the home creator, who today is increasingly demanding in terms of equipment “.

But at the Ces, Harman also collected other successes: a dozen awards for the design of devices, such as smart speakers, party boxes, high-level amplifiers, sound bars. The result is the result of a work started 7 years ago: “We created our own design team – recalled Rogers – which continued to work even during the pandemic, creating over 46 new products in the past year. It is an independent team from Samsung’s, as well as the R&D team. Our philosophy is to collaborate with the parent company, of course, but also to compete. Samsung had already bought large companies before us, but the integration didn’t bring the expected results. Because of this they decided to keep us apart. Samsung strongly believes in the idea that everyone must stand on their own legs and this makes us much more performing. And it seems to me that the results can be seen ”.

The Harman International market
The results can be seen above all in the numbers: since 2019, which was already a record year, Harman has not slowed down. The company grows, most of its segments grow, most of its markets grow. The one notable exception is China, where Harman was growing in double digits and where it has now slowed down to single-digit growth: “The largest market is the one that covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa, excluding Russia. The second is North America. Asia has slowed down due to the pandemic, especially China, which has literally closed entire cities and many factories. But there are clear signs of a restart there too, and in any case the main problem is another: the very strong competition with local producers who brazenly copy our products and those of other foreign brands “.

The Harman Market is made up of many segments and many areas, but there is one in particular that has begun to amaze. After 10 years of an essentially flat growth curve, with the pandemic the luxury audio market started to grow again, in particular the top of the sector, in which Harman participates together with a handful of other world producers: “It has grown relatively a lot, next to the smart house, for which we do a lot of research and development. But luxury audio is something else. There are the turntables that we produce under the Mark Levinson brand and which are positioned very high in both quality and price. It is certainly a market made up of nostalgia, but also of taste, of the search for quality not only of listening, but also of its experience and rituality “.

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Apple, friend and foe
In conclusion of our meeting with Rogers, a reflection on Apple could not be missing. The Cupertino-based company plays a central role in the sector as an alternative platform to Android and as a provider of increasingly successful services such as Music and Apple TV Plus, but also smart speaker, videoconferenze, audio. And for some time it has been rumored that he is working on a proprietary alternative solution to Bluetooth for the AirPods headphones: “If that’s true, there will be no problem. We have always been compatible with the entire Apple ecosystem, even if they have a habit of creating proprietary bottlenecks and forcing third parties to pay for the license for interconnectivity ”. A few examples? “The Lightning plug and first the 32-pin connector of the iPod and iPhone. To build compatible appliances, we producers have to pay for the certification, which is basically a tax on our products “.

According to Rogers, the possibility that Apple declares war on Bluetooth there is, but it’s not likely: “Bluetooth has changed over the years. Today it has become central to our business as well as to everyone’s because it has improved a lot. The bandwidth, the number of controllable devices, the useful distance, the battery consumption have increased. Wifi is fine, cables are fine, but Bluetooth is best of all. If Apple wants to do something else, we will adapt. But anow we think about the customers, and the best way to get them to hear good audio and good music today is Bluetooth ”.

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