Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Fair has decried some of the current widespread tariffs newly being leveled against much of the world by the U.S. government earlier this week. Fair, who’s day job finds him working at musical instrument, etc manufacture/distributor St. Louis Music, claims that the tariffs in place will have a wide-ranging effect on the music instrument business, with the price increased eventually expected to be passed down to the general consumer.
Speaking via Threads, Fair stated earlier this week:
“I work for a company that owns a variety of instruments brands: guitars, percussion, orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds etc. our landing costs have sky rocketed and those costs are being turned into higher prices that will be unfortunately be handed down to the consumers. We have tried to avoid increases where ever possible but a lot of it is unavoidable. Some of these brands used to be made in the US but that priced them entirely out of the market so production shifted to overseas many years ago.
I work directly with Main St. brick and mortar music stores, some that are barely scraping by. These increases, no matter how small, will make it even more difficult for these stores to survive. I am by no means an expert on international trade but I am seeing the damage caused by these tariffs first hand and this is just the beginning. Hope there is still a market left once the dust clears.
Also, the idea that domestic or other manufacturers that are NOT affected by tariffs won’t raise their prices to match the market have not paid attention to history. We saw prices increased by those unaffected as soon as they were announced and as we see with inflation, once prices go up they do not come down for any reason. The market resets, everyone jumps on board to maximize profits regardless of their costs and keeps it moving.”
The aforementioned tariffs and revised policies in regards to U.S. immigration have already begun to have negative effects on the music industry. A newly published piece via Billboard warns of potential price spikes in prices vinyl, plus the increasing difficulties foreign artists are facing while touring the United States and more.
