The Yamaha Drum Company

History Of the Yamaha Drum Company

Yamaha is one of the best-known names in the musical instrument industry. What child of the 1980s is not familiar with the infamous Yamaha electronic keyboard, for example? Competing with other Japanese musical instrument companies such as Sony, Yamaha has consistently held its own over the years, and has come to be a brand name recognized the world over for quality and variety. Yamaha continues to do well in the market today, and has greatly expanded its musical instrument offerings. In fact, Yamaha is now one of the best-known makers of drums in the world. This paper examines the history and marketing strategies of the Yamaha Drum Company.

The history of Yamaha goes all the way back to 1887. It was during this year in Japan that Torakusu Yamaha founded the company as a producer of reed organs. The original name of the company was Nippon Gakki Company, Ltd. The company had a great success with its reed organs in Japan. For two decades, sales were strong. Sales were so strong, in fact, that the company began making a name for itself outside of Japan. In 1897, the company fulfilled its first export order for seventy-eight organs to Southeast Asia. It was not long after this that the company began producing upright pianos, and grand pianos after that. Sales continued to grow as people became aware that the company stood for quality and durability of construction. People across the globe began to want Nippon Gikko organs and pianos.

By 1900, the name of the company had changed to Yamaha. By 1902, the company used its expertise in building fine quality organs and pianos to parlay an entry into the fine furniture market. Throughout the early and mid-twentieth century, Yamaha continued to produce pianos, organs, and fine furniture, and it also began to produce hi-fi stereo systems. Yamaha became known not only as a company that had quality product, but also as a company that used the latest in technology and brought it directly to the consumer. People knew and trusted the Yamaha name by the 1930s, and the company continued to grow. By the 1950s, the company had entered the motor market, and began to produce motorcycles.

In 1966, Yamaha produced its first line of drums. This was the same year that Yamaha also began producing guitars. However, Yamaha was not done with introducing new products to the market. Yamaha has introduced increasingly sophisticated stereo systems, compact disc players, and robots into the worldwide market, and continues to do so. The Yamaha name is today associated with a wide array of electronics. Surprisingly, Yamaha has even managed to continue to increase the technology of its drums over the years, something that would have seemed impossible with such a simple instrument. However, Yamaha has taken the basic drum and has remade it into a variety of shapes, sizes, and component parts. Yamaha now even produces electronic drums.

Most recently, Yamaha has produced an electronic line of drums that are probably the most sophisticated electronic drums to yet enter the drum market. The company calls this new electronic drum the DTXtreme. This drum combines the best features of both electronic and acoustic guitars, and is designed for the professional drummer. This electronic drum set offers a wide array of sounds, along with the feel of acoustic drum heads on the electronic pads. Interestingly, this drum kit is made with a wood shell like acoustic drums, and even has acoustic drum heads, with electronic components underneath. Drummers can even load their own customized sounds and loops into the drums. As can be expected, Yamaha is aggressively marketing this sophisticated new drum kit to professional drummers, using the venues that professional drummers normally use, such as professional musicians' magazines and prominent product placement in professional music stores. Tony Verderosa, who has assisted Yamaha with developing electronic drums since 1989, is also going on a one man performance tour with the drums to promote them.