We’ve all seen the dire headlines seemingly foreboding that the guitar is on the way out, and the recent news of industry giant Gibson filing for bankruptcy certainly only fueled the fear fire. The reality is, however, that the sales numbers in the guitar industry as a greater whole are actually healthily on the incline. A 2017 study by IBISWorld clearly indicates that the guitar manufacturing industry overall has experienced a sustained 1.4 percent growth rate in the last five years, with the number projected to increase until at least 2022.
Additionally, according to the National Assosciation of Music Merchants, or NAMM as most are more likely familiar with, guitar sales have in fact risen by over 28 percent in the past decade. Nearly 2.6 million electric and acoustic guitars were sold in the U.S. alone in the past year, almost 300,000 more than in 2009. Even for Gibson themselves, their own guitar sales rose by ten percent between January 2017 and January 2018 despite their troubles. Representitives of the company admitted that the failing of the giant was largly due to its innovations department, and not quite keeping up to trend enough to sustain itself. So don’t fret – or perhaps continue to do so – as these isolated incidents are not wholly representative of the state of the instrument at large. It is the innovation of both leading companies and players themselves that together will keep the beloved guitar here to stay for the forseeable future.
To read the IBISWorld study and see the numbers for yourself, check it out here.
Image via Susan Mohr.
