April 2025

The Future Of Our Audiophile Hobby Part 3
More about things to come and how to make them better.
Article By Roger Skoff

  In Part 1 of "The Future Of Our Audiophile Hobby", and more in Part 2 of The Future about our hobby and the industry that serves it, I wrote about earlier times, when our hobby was at its peak and everyone was "into" stereo and hi-fi, and the future seemed unlimited. I also recounted how the old saying "Familiarity breeds contempt" proved to be true and, as "hi-fi" (or the "mid-fi"-or-less gear claiming to be it) and stereo lost their novelty and became commonplace, the old "What have you done for me lately?" syndrome set in and – like the ears on the sides of our heads – people not only stopped commenting on them, they also stopped noticing them as well.

As I pointed out in Part 2 of this article, it's gotten so bad that many people – largely among the young, but including one woman in her fifties that I specifically mentioned last time, have never heard or don't know the meaning of the words "hi-fi" and "stereo".

It's not only me, but any number of audiophiles, audiophile publications, and industry leaders who have noticed and commented on this dangerous decline in our hobby and industry's popularity – or even recognition -- and have started publicly calling for something to be done about it.

Not everybody agrees on the severity of the decline, though, many point to the recent surge in the popularity of high-priced high-performance headphones, largely among younger buyers, and look to that as proof of our industry's continuing appeal. Headphone buyers, they say, are, in general, less affluent or more limited in their available space (for a listening room or full-size two-channel system), or have other reasons for not buying or being interested in more conventional High-end hi-fi systems. They go on that, as those people get older, more affluent, and have homes of their own (instead of small apartments, school dormitories, or rooms in their parents' homes) they will naturally want to buy larger, more conventional hi-fi systems.

The simple fact that Sennheiser is selling –as fast as they can make them – HE-1 "Orpheus" headphone system at $60,000 a pop, and that there are many more headphones, headphone amps, and complete headphone systems in the multi- to many thousands of dollars range seems to, if not give that the lie, at least cast some doubts about headphones being a "gateway" product and not representing a market of their own, completely separate from that for more conventional (with speakers) two-channel hi-fi systems.

And even if it were just an intermediate step along the way, it's not sufficient in sheer volume, worldwide, to save our hobby and industry.

What could save it is an international trade association that would bring our entire industry together to refresh or rekindle the interest of the general public in high-fidelity two-channel home stereo.

Aha, you might say; that's already been tried several times and has failed miserably. If so, you'll be wrong on at least two counts: Yes, there has certainly been the Electronic Industries Association (originally, the "EIA", but since that time having gone through many name changes), and CEMA (the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, another name-changing organization that started as an offshoot of the EIA) These and other organizations like them were/are, as should reasonably have been expected, focused not on hi-fi – a tiny portion of their total market – but on computers, telephones, gaming, and all of the bigger money aspects of the consumer electronics industry. And, even given that, what they did concern themselves with was not promotion or market building, even for their most profitable sectors, but lobbying USA's political Congress and other regulatory bodies to prevent legislation, regulation, or binding trade practices that might hurt their members' business, doing us little to no good at all.

AAHPAV, the Academy for the Advancement of High Performance Audio & Video, born and died decades ago, did claim to be an association exclusively for the betterment of our industry, but instead of actually doing anything, it quickly revealed itself as just another "rubber chicken society", an organization whose members (including my company, XLO) did little more than hold banquets to give themselves awards for excellence while neither accomplishing nor even trying any actual industry promotion or market building.

Note From Steven: Enjoy the Music.com's Senior Editor, Steven R. Rochlin, is the only member of the press who attended their classes / seminars and earned an AAHPAV 'Masters Degree'. Frankly, it seemed other members of the press did not care about the benefits of AAHPAV. They did not care about supporting and actively being a part of it to make our industry better represented and better prepared and trained for modern technology imho."

That's entirely understandable: It's difficult for any company to actually spend money or even put forth effort that might benefit not just themselves but their competition. A good example of this is seen in what happened to one major High-End hi-fi manufacturer when it was looking for a distributor for its products in China. Two major, very good companies presented themselves, both highly qualified, and both saying that they wanted exclusive distribution rights for all of both Hong Kong (a large and very active market, in itself) and mainland China – with more than a billion people, an absolutely huge potential market.

The company owner was pleased and flattered by the attention, but realized that just mainland China, all by itself, was so big territorially that it would be nearly impossible for any single distributor to properly cover. Instead, he preferred that it be split among at least two distributors, and maybe even more, and suggested that to the two distributor candidates who had approached him. Both refused, outright, demanding exclusive distribution rights or nothing at all.

Instead of that, the company owner told the two distributor candidates that they should both work the entire territory for one year and, in the end, whichever firm had done the most business would be granted the exclusive distributorship. Even though they agreed, would you like to guess what happened? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Neither one of the distributors had advertised or promoted the line at all – each thinking that there was no point in developing the market for the other one to take over and, as a result, there was no promotion at all.

We may have, to some extent, the same problem with the hi-fi industry, in general: What needs to be done to get our hobby and its products into the public eye (or ear) is major promotion – not just on the internet or in audiophile publications, but on television, with product placements in every appropriate movie, and in the national non-audiophile print press. That costs more money than any single company in our industry can afford, and the same thing would apply to it as did to the Chinese distributors – why promote any products other than your own? Why spend money that might benefit not you, but some other company?

Well, a way around that has already been found and is in the process of – hopefully – being put together.

Audio Industry Associations, International ("AIAI", pronounced "Aye-Aye", an international affirmative) will, for the first time that I know of, be a real, live, worldwide, audio industry trade association, whose sole purpose will be not to pat each other on the back and give out awards, not to be a banquet and social society, not to lobby Congress or in any other way benefit any industry other than, specifically, our own, but to act solely and effectively like a hi-fi industry advertising and PR firm, spending member money (a projected $2 million or more each year), to build consumer awareness of, and a new and growing market for, high-end stereo audio.

The idea has already been discussed with, and promised support by, some of the most important manufacturers, distributors, and dealers of hi-fi equipment here and in other countries. Similarly, even though they know that AIAI (also called the "Association") will be spending its promotional money on advertising not to audiophiles, but to the general public, four of the most influential audiophile publications in the United States and an equal number in other countries have already promised the Association free advertising to recruit new members. They know that growing the interest of the general public in great new hi-fi gear will boost industry sales, bring in new customers and audiophiles for the industry to advertise to, and thus, eventually, boost their own circulation, sales, and revenues, as well.

Even at this time, with all of its concerns, Copilot, Microsoft's new AI Assistant, had this to say about the world hi-fi market on March 21, 2025:

"The global home audio equipment market is estimated to reach approximately $32 billion in 2025. This includes sales from manufacturers, distributors, and dealers. The market is projected to grow significantly, reaching around $94 billion by 2035, driven by advancements in digital audio and smart home integration."

That, of course, as the AI stated, includes far more than just high-end home stereo, But, even if our part of that total home audio estimate is really just $5 billion, (about 15%), all it would take for the Association to reach that USD 2 million revenues goal from membership dues would be just 1 dollar out of every 2500 in sales, or, to put it differently, only FOUR ONE HUNDREDTHS OF ONE PERCENT (0.04%) of world-wide total gross sales, even at that $5 billion limited rate.

What that means (in a blatant reductio ad absurdum) is that even assuming that limited total sales volume of just $5 billion to be true, if only just 10 percent of all of the world's hi-fi industry (with only $500 million in total sales) joins AIAI, and pays membership dues of just four-tenths of one percent (0.4%) of its total gross revenues – an amount vastly less than the typical company's advertising budget – raising that USD 2 million for advertising and PR will be no problem at all.

Remember that that's with only 10% of the world's hi-fi manufacturers, distributors, and dealers joining the Association, and with a total world home hi-fi sales volume of just $5 billion. In reality, we think we have good reason to believe that the actual membership and world sales volume, once AIAI gets fully started, will be greatly more than that.

So, if we're going to have the money, how's it going to be spent? And who's going to do the spending?

First, let's talk about what the money is going to be used for.

That's simple – an absolutely first-rate program of advertising, PR, and product placement for a general audience – not audiophiles. We've already got them, so what AIAI will be going after is all of the people we don't have. And it will do that with a two-pronged attack, first to put a recognizable hi-fi component (a turntable, High-End hi-fi electronics, or a pair of speakers) into any place in any entertainment (TV, Movies, video streaming services) where it makes sense. We don't even have to mention it or call attention to it; just to have it there and to have people know what it is and see that it's part of "the Good Life". Doing that is cheap. There are companies whose whole business is arranging product placements (Think of all of the people you've seen drinking a recognizable brand of social drink, for example, or driving a recognizable brand of car, and you'll know what I mean), and they do it on a national scale for an affordable price.

The whole point of what the Association does, even in its PR and paid national advertising in national media, will not be to sell any particular product but to sell the idea of hi-fi, even if it's not in use at the moment, just as long as people see it and recognize it for what it is (or, at least, what we want it to be) – something as ordinary as apple pie, that everybody has or ought to, and that maybe they ought to get for themselves, too.

That's half of it. The other half is to do what the car companies do – to make an automobile not just a useful object that everybody needs, but also, for those who can afford the best, to make it a prestige item and a way to demonstrate easily and obviously that the person who owns it has taste and class and the bucks to back them.

You can buy a pen for under a dollar, yet Mont Blanc sells them for as much as thousands. How do you think they do that? Here's a hint; it has nothing to do with how well a Mont Blanc pen works, but only with how it's seen. Do you remember the car example from Part 2 of this article?

"As it is now, if people hear that somebody drives a $300,000 Ferrari, they may think he's crazy, but they wish they were him. Our problem is that if somebody has a hi-fi system costing even a third of that amount -- $100,000 – they just think he's crazy."

With a reasonable budget, the right approach, and the right people to do it, AIAI can put High-End hi-fi where that Ferrari is now – not just a useful product, but a status symbol that people will actively dream of buying and actually plunk down the cash for if they're able to.

Yeah! Hit 'em TWICE, once with "Everybody's doing it; why aren't you?" and once making High-end hi-fi a prestige item to either show off with or aspire to!

Now, what's the plan and who are the people to put it into effect?

As planned, AIAI – in addition to whatever else circumstances, the economy, relevant legislation or its membership may require of it – will, in effect, be primarily a small advertising, marketing, and PR firm with just a single client, the audio industry. As such, it's expected that most of the work of its staff will be either in developing and administering promotional programs or in the clerical and administrative work necessary to either put those programs into effect or recruit Association members to pay for and enjoy the benefits of them.

While some copywriting or other "hands on" work might be required by Association staff for industry programs or events, it's expected that most of the actual production, graphics, filming, or whatever else might be needed will be done by outside professionals or hired consultants and, because of that, AIAI, itself, will likely need a staff of only two or three people.

Of those, one will be the Association's Administrator, one will be an Executive Assistant, and, if necessary, the third will be a Membership Director, responsible for bringing in new member companies to grow the Association.

Heading the Association's staff will be its Administrator. Because AIAI's promotional activities must obviously include hi-fi products; because those products must be selected without even the slightest suspicion of bias or favoritism; and simply because running the Association will be much like running a single-client advertising or PR firm, the Association's Administrator will not be drawn from our own industry, but will be an advertising and PR industry expert with the skills and experience necessary to accessing and influencing a mass market audience. Such a person – the retired, after decades of national marketing experience, head of the creative departments of one of the world's largest and most respected mass market and luxury goods advertising firms – has already been found and has agreed, upon AIAI's successful formation, to accept the engagement.

The Executive Assistant position will be just what it seems, and having a background and/or contacts in our industry could prove to be helpful. If a third person is necessary, the position of Membership Director might, being primarily a sales job, benefit considerably from hiring a person with prior high-performance audio industry experience.

For all services other than those performed by the Association's in-house staff, especially certain volunteer activities necessary during the Association's formative stages, outside personnel or agencies will be required. These will include an actual advertising agency, various creative and/or production staff, an accountant or accounting firm, a lawyer or law firm, and those possessing whatever other skills or capabilities may be needed from time to time.

By using outside sources, the Association will only pay for such actual work as may be required and will have neither the burden of its own facilities costs nor the necessity of managing a larger staff than the bare minimum required. All of these things are expected to give AIAI the greatest possible promotional and PR benefits for its members at the lowest possible cost.

As an indication of the sorts of outside agencies available to the Association, AIAI's founders have already discussed and expect to find support from Robb Report, perhaps the ultimate luxury lifestyle magazine, and Ross, Madrid Group, Inc. – the advertising agency chosen for Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati, for a major aircraft manufacturer, and to promote other trend-setting and luxury goods – has already expressed strong interest, with many other specialist and support firms agreeing to come on when AIAI is more fully formed.

In the next (and last) part of this article, I'll tell you about the actual organizational structure of AIAI, its Board of Directors, its 200-company Panel of Advisors, why it needs to, (and will) be international, what international support it's received thus far, and why not just the ten percent used in the example above, but practically everybody in the industry is expected to join.

This is going to be a wild and wonderful thing. It's going to not just restore our hobby and industry to their past glory, but raise them to new heights of popular appeal and bring in the new customers and audiophiles that so many people have, for so long, been talking about but never actually done anything to achieve.

And you can help make it happen!

Until then, as always...

Enjoy the music!

 

Roger Skoff