Prosound News - April 2008 - (Page 10)

[10] Roland’s Cakewalk Investment Not an Acquisition by Christopher Walsh BOSTON, MA—Roland has increased its investment in Cakewalk, with which it has had a long business relationship. The January announcement, which was published in the NAMM Show’s daily publication, The Upbeat Daily, has sparked some confusion among the pro audio industry and audio professionals, however. Cakewalk founder/CEO Greg Hendershott wrote to Cakewalk customers in January, stating, in part, that “We’re announcing an expansion of our strategic relationship with Roland. This is the natural progression of a relationship that goes back more than a decade. In 1995, Roland began distributing Cakewalk products in Japan. In 2003, Roland invested in Cakewalk to help fund the development and marketing of joint products. At that time, they also started distributing our products in many markets outside the U.S. Now in 2008, Roland is increasing their investment in Cakewalk, and together we are committed to creating a series of impressive software/hardware joint products. “Although Roland now owns a bigger share of Cakewalk, they didn’t acquire the whole company. Cakewalk is not becoming a ‘division’ of Roland. On the contrary, we remain committed to developing standalone software, as well as hardware/software products. We’re updating our logo today, to prepare you for seeing it on some very exciting joint products in the months and years ahead.” Yet some news reports suggested an outright acquisition, and, Cakewalk public relations director Steve Thomas allows, a reference to future products being branded as “Cakewalk by Roland,” in The Upbeat Daily, fueled confusion. “I’ve heard so many extreme characterizations of this,” says Thomas. “The most ridiculous one is that the whole shop is closing and we’re all moving to California, which is not happening.” Acquisitions, in recent years, of software developers such as Steinberg and eMagic, Thomas adds, may have predisposed people to assume the Roland/Cakewalk announcement was a similar occurrence. “There’s enough of that out there that people are going to wonder—that makes sense,” he says. “Putting it all in proper context is what [Hendershott’s] customer letter was about. There has been a standing relationship between these two companies— Roland and Cakewalk—that goes back over a decade. There’s been a progression of events and getting closer together as far as [an] alliance for strategic reasons and partnership. Having the economy of scale to have Roland and their distribution subsidiaries take over our worldwide distribution a few years ago was a good move by us.” Thomas continues, “At the end of the day, it’s not a whole acquisition. They have a majority stake in the company at this stage, relevant to stock ownership. However, the general day-to-day in the course of how we’re proceeding hasn’t changed. Greg Hendershott is at the helm, as well as all of us that have been key to getting it to this point.” Cakewalk www.cakewalk.com Roland www.roland.com D&M Holdings Acquires Allen & Heath by Clive Young CORNWALL, ENGLAND—D&M Holdings has acquired Allen & Heath, designer and manufacturer of audio mixing consoles for sound engineers, live sound installations and DJs. “The acquisition of Allen & Heath is a strong complement to our Calrec and D&M Pro brands,” said D&M Holdings chairman and CEO, Eric Evans, in a statement. “This acquisition broadens our product offerings to our longstanding DJ customer base and expands our business in the professional market into installed live sound.” Allen & Heath is distributed in more than 80 countries, has more than 150 employees in R&D, sales, marketing, manufacturing and administration, and will continue to be led by its current management team. Said Evans, “Allen & Heath is a strong brand in the professional live sound performance market and well suited to benefit from the D&M business platform. Like our other premium brands, Allen & Heath can continue to focus on innovation, while D&M provides expanded global market reach and other support. We also see useful tie-ins with Calrec, our live-to-air broadcast console brand, and Denon DJ.” Allen & Heath’s America’s distribution agreement with AM&S was not addressed. It’s been an interesting time for D&M—in late March, Japan’s Jiji Press reported Harman International offered to buy 49 percent of the company for $701 million, and that it is making a play for an additional 12 percent of D&M owned by Philips Electronics. D&M owns the Denon, Marantz, Boston Acoustics, Snell and McIntosh home audio brands, while Harman owns the Infinity, JBL, Harman Kardon, Audio Access, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel home audio brands. Both companies involved issued “no comment” statements. D&M Holdings www.dm-holdings.com Trust to Benefit Paralyzed Producer NEW YORK, NY—Scott Harding, a Grammy-winning producer/engineer, was the victim of a car crash that left him partially paralyzed in February; now the music community is coming together to support him through difficult financial times. Harding, better known as Scotty Hard, was returning home from a late-night mixing session when the cab he was in was broadsided by a stolen car. The impact crushed Harding’s T5 vertebrae. Harding’s condition is serious; he is without health insurance and is facing large medical and legal fees. The short-term need to raise cash in order to handle his affairs is very real, and as a result, his friends and colleagues have united to form the Scotty Hard Trust, a special account which will help to handle Harding’s financial needs through private monetary donations. Those interested in making a donation can do so via PayPal at the Trust’s website. Scotty Hard Trust www.scottyhardtrust.com Correction Paul Brown, Chuck Cymone and David Karasony were not involved in the engineering or production of Chris Standring’s Love & Paragraphs album, as stated in the March 2008 “Tracks” chart on page 32. Also, in the photo caption on page 26 of the same issue, Music & Arts studio was identified incorrectly. psn April 2008 http://www.cakewalk.com http://www.roland.com http://www.dm-holdings.com http://www.scottyhardtrust.com http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/prosound_200803/index.php?startid=32 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/prosound_200803/index.php?startid=26 http://fullcompass.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Prosound News - April 2008

Prosound News - April 2008 Sound Business Contents Sound Retail Mojo’s Working at NY Noise Studio Showcase: Jungle Room Studios Software Tech Tracks Sessions Nomad Takes Root TCB at NYC’s JSM SoundScreen White Space Turning Gray Audio for Video and Broadcast Field Reports:Sony PCM-D50 Linear PCM Recorder; Holophone H4 SuperMINI Surround Microphone Sound Innovations: Earthworks Audio PianoMic System Frozen Liquid Live Sound Showcase: Jill Scott Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Advertiser Index Company Index Classifieds Music, Etc.

Prosound News - April 2008

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