VULTURES: Reverb.com’s 43% Price Hike on Musicians
By: Ivan Munoz
Vultures, buzzards, the birds of death, what ever you wanna call them, Reverb has personified this avian opportunist. And let me tell you, they’re circling.
Etsy’s acquisition of Reverb, the beginning of the end.
In a previous article we discussed Guitar Center’s predatory and vile “used gear buying event”. Unfortunately, they’re not the only one’s who have opted to take the low road during these tumultuous times.
A couple months ago I received an email that detailed Etsy’s acquisition of Reverb, the popular one to one musical instrument and guitar gear marketplace. They swore up and down this shake up of business would NOT negatively affect its users.
Yet they kick us when we’re down.
So you can imagine my disappointment when I heard about the upcoming change to one of my favorite websites.
“Growing Together” … a.k.a. growing Etsy’s and Reverb’s wallet together at the cost of its users and community.
Then, the inevitable came: a price hike from 3.5% to 5% in the cut they take from musicians on the value of the gear sold. That’s a 43% increase!
Utterly insane. It came in the form of your typical corporate email, bad news, acting as it’s in everybody’s best interest, talking out of both sides of their mouth, and ultimately not taking any accountability for their greed and how it affects others.
Like many musicians, I like to buy and sell instruments and instrument parts on Reverb, most of the time to simply fund another project or clear out my parts bin. I know of many people who rely greatly on Reverb via the sale of vintage guitars and parts as a large chunk of their income, and many musicians who will have to resort to Reverb to sell their gear to make ends meet. Trust me, when you’re reluctantly parting with an instrument to pay for food, bills, or rent, you’re already in a tough spot; and every dollar counts.
The economy is in ruins right now. Musicians are at their lowest point in decades. All gigs are cancelled, live music isn’t even going to make a return until 2021, and event that may be pushed back. The Covid-19 Corona Virus pandemic has crippled an entire industry and it’s workers.
80% of the largest one-day drops occurred over a period of less than just two months! Earlier this year February & March 2020.
Put it like this: The global music industry is valued at around $50 Billion, half of which comes from live music. What happens when, within the course of a week, an entire industry loses half ($25 billion) of it’s value? Well, we’re in the process of finding out.
Where is the empathy, Reverb? Is it not the very same musicians that made this entire website possible that you have now betrayed with your predatory fee change? Have you fallen so far as to price-gouge, to bite the very hand that feeds you? You stress these community values and yet you do something that devastatingly undercuts the very community you claim to care for? The very community you claim formed you, and is part of you?
You know musicians are hurting right now and may have to resort to selling their prized possessions and tools of their trade; probably at a very low price considering the current economy. So you’re going to bleed us dry? Do you truly only care about the shareholders? I thought this was supposed to be a musicians’ market place designed to empower us. Your blatant disregard and demonstration of how little you care about working musicians is incredibly hurtful and something your image will never recover from.
If someone is hungry enough, yes, they’ll pay 20 dollars for a slice of bread. Why? Because they are under situational and economic DURESS! You have put musicians in a position in which they’re forced to use your service even though they know it’s blatantly predatory. As a result, many sellers of gear are already promising to pull their inventory from the website by August 4, in an act of solidarity to musicians.
Yikes! Less than a month and the entire economy tanks. Talk about a severe downturn. The entertainment and music industry is perhaps taking some of the largest hits from this abrupt depression.
The musicians economy is at it’s darkest and lowest point it’s ever been and Reverb decides that now, in the middle of a pandemic, when 90% of musicians are unemployed, starving, and on the verge of being homeless – struggling to pay rent… they decide that now is the right time to somehow squeeze a little bit more blood from a stone, stick the knife in our back and twist it.
Shame on you, Reverb. You have lost the very heart and soul that made you special, you have turned to the dark side of greed and avarice and have shown your true colors. In this truly unethical and immoral move, Reverb has revealed themselves as an enemy of the every day working man musician – the very people they have purported themselves to be loyal advocates for, for all these years.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love using Reverb, window shopping, buying and selling, or just taking in some nice photos of cool and vintage gear. As someone who checks their Reverb “feed” more than 10 times a day, so much more than facebook, I must say, it’s truly saddening, disheartening, and disappointing, to see them take such a stand against those that make their business possible. As a result of this, I have almost entirely stopped using Reverb; just doesn’t feel right.
I’d like to take this moment to thank the tried and true online marketplace, eBay. They have stepped up to the plate and announced that they will be reducing their final value fee (FVF) to 3.5% on musical instruments and musical instrument accessories. Now THAT is how to properly respond to a musicians economic hardship.
In these destitute times of adversity, we often reflect on what matters most and fall back on what truly comforts us to our core. For myself and most people I know, that thing is music. So pick up your guitars, or put on your headphones and get lost in the music - away from this crazy world for a while; I promise you, we’ll get through this together.
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About The Author
Ivan Munoz is a musician, bassist, singer, musicians advocate, and member of the Victor Talking Machine Company. Along with this Ivan can be found devoting his time to various musical projects, compositions, and working on musical instruments. Click the photo for more!