“The result is as much the portrait of a milieu as of a family. At its heart is a tract of seventeen houses, on both sides of a street where Amatis, Stradivaris, Guarneris, Bergonzis, Rugeris, Storionis, and Cerutis coexisted. Among them, in midblock, is the Casa Amati, with several wings, a shop, and a courtyard, inherited from Nicolo’s father and grandfather…Over forty years, there seem to have been as many as seventeen [apprentices], mostly from other instrument-making centers like Padua, Bologna, Milan, and Venice. Those who could then went on to open their own shops, establish the Amati style and model in other towns, and transform it into a global standard.
Three apprentices stand out. One of the most notable is Andrea Guarneri, who opened Cremona’s second shop around 1650 and founded his own three-generational dynasty…The most tantalizing apprentice, if he was one, is Antonio Stradivari. Early instruments reflect Amati influence, but the Amati style left its marks on everyone. The Easter Monday census shows no sign of him. Coming from a local family, he had no reason to live in the master’s house, and Cremona was full of parishes other than San Faustino.
Hill colleagues and nineteenth-century biographers reported confirmations of an Amati apprenticeship. But the Hills never saw any evidence of them…Yet who can imagine that the greatest maker of them all taught himself or that, in a corporate order as hierarchical as the Church, he could have opened a shop if he had? Given Cremona’s options, if not the Amati shop, where would he have gone?” (Schoenbaum, The Violin p. 27-28)
My take (unrelated to Jukkas violin comments), Uli can be petty and unscrupulous which makes it easier to deride Behringer as a company, but there are only three reasons why competitive products should be curtailed.
- Fraud - e.g. Behringer copies Arturia’s Keystep and labels it “A genuine Arturia Keystep, get the original!”
- Plagiarism - e.g. Behringer copies the Keystep as the Swing and they claim to be the original creators of the world’s first portable, step-sequencer keyboard controller. They claim Arturia copied them.
- Monopoly creation - e.g. Behringer undercuts and then buys out all competing instrument companies with the goal of preventing any new companies from entering the market and controlling/gouging prices on customers who have no other options for purchasing gear.
Boutique companies are not affected by Behringer because their audience is buying them for their boutique design. A Behringer copy isn’t going to put a shop of 1-3 people handmaking eccentric pedals. People who would buy the Behringer weren’t going to buy the original, and people who wanted to buy the original will avoid the Behringer in search of status, value, quality, or genuinely wanting to support the small shop.
Larger businesses that sell to international retailers, whether they have 30 or 300 employees, all take advantage of mass production and outsourcing in the search for profit. Some treat their customers better or act a little more ethical in some situations, but they aren’t individuals trying to make a living by selling unique works of art/craft. It is their job to make their products more attractive if they want to make a profit, whether by making them cheaper, higher quality, more innovative, or improving their reputation (e.g. donate to charity, support artists, treat their workers ethically).
It isn’t all black and white and I am not making an argument in support of Uli’s business style, but every major company is in the same capitalist game as Behringer and their goal is to make money. These aren’t non-profits trying to get as many instruments into as many hands as cheaply as possible for the love of music and art. They don’t deserve consumer protection out of some strange idea of “justice” and they will succeed if they appeal to the market (again, doesn’t mean underpricing our outproducing Behringer, they can hold customers by reputation and community connection).
