Playback - Winter 2009 - (Page 18)

RETAIL Industry Innovator: Establishing a Niche FOR NICK RAIL OF NICK RAIL MUSIC, THE KEY TO SUCCESS HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN FINDING HIS OWN UNIqUE NICHE. When Nick Rail was a child, he felt overshadowed by his older brother, who by the age of 5, displayed prodigious talent in drawing and painting. “I wasn’t jealous of his gift, but it left me looking for my identity,” says Nick. “To my good fortune, my elementary school decided to start a music program when I entered fourth grade. I was able to join band, took up the cornet and I was off and running.” In high school, he traded the cornet for a trumpet, then the trumpet for the tenor sax. He soon added the bassoon and flute to his repertoire. After graduation, he attended the University of California —Santa Barbara with the intention of becoming a band director. Over the next three years, he grew discouraged by the idea of about teaching and the state of education, and spent a year at Allied Music in Elkhorn, Wis., studying band instrument repair. When he returned to Santa Barbara, Nick got a job at La Grandeur Music, where he worked for 10 years. “In addition to building and honing my repair skills, I learned sales, inventory, road repping and eventually management,” he says. He I liken the business to gardening. We’re the guys you go to for help in making your garden grow. We help you plant the seeds of little musicians and are there to nurture them as they grow.” 18 PLAYback

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Playback - Winter 2009

Playback - Winter 2009 Contents From the President NAMM Events Music in the News A New Year... a New Look at Technology Commercial Retail Reps in the Field Washington Watch International New Domestic Members NAMM Foundation Music Notes Resources Viewpoint

Playback - Winter 2009

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