Now that the news is out and the dust has settled, it’s time to take a look at what this means to Pioneer DJ and to we gear-hungry DJs, if only because that’s the question that keeps getting asked of us repeatedly. And with the help of some documents that have been provided by AlphaTheta, we can demonstrate the thinking behind Japanese company Noritsu Koki‘s acquisition, as well as a glimpse at future plans.
Before we start, and to clear this up again — AlphaThetha is the parent company of Pioneer DJ. It’s AlphaTheta that’s been bought from venture capitalists KKR and the Pioneer Corporation. Clear?
WHO IS NORITSU KOKI?
It’s a name that has never blipped on my radar, and has had no connection to DJing or pro audio before. They started life in 1951 as a manufacturer of photo processing equipment — the kind of machines you’d see working in the background when you took rolls of film from your two week holiday from hell on the Costa Brava into Boots or Max Spielmann’s. I’m so happy that the days of blurred paper prints of sun stroke aren’t a thing anymore.
This was fine until, like so many industries around the world, the digital age got a grip, and actual printed photos became sooo passé. So in 2010, upon having “an existential crisis” (second time I’ve written that in a week) they decided to step outside of their core activity and diversify, with a focus on manufacturing and healthcare, but to generally build a wider portfolio of interests. If I’m reading correctly, in the same way that the Pioneer corporation is nothing to do with Pioneer DJ, Noritsu Koki has nothing to do with the photo printing market anymore.
WHY ALPHATHETA?
I’m guessing it’s not because they have a long-held desire to be DJs. It feels more about having an established manufacturing business that leads a field through innovation, and AlphaTheta fits that criteria nicely.
This handy infographic shows what AlphaTheta actually does:
You knew all this anyway, but it’s nice to see in picture form. Reading is such a chore. But read you must, because these are the key reasons why Noritsu Koki acquired AlphaTheta:
FYI Teibow is another Noritsu group manufacturing company — quite the name in pen nibs apparently. I expect they’ll play a part in knocking out parts for future DJ hardware. But I like it when I read “enhancing uniqueness” — it’s a tad business speak for my liking but the message is clear.
So it’s about building and expanding Pioneer DJ’s position and then some. I’ve read an endless stream of armchair experts simply posting “RIP Pioneer” to this news, but it seems that couldn’t be further from the truth. But when did critical thought and social media comments go hand in hand? My message to those who have been spreading doom and gloom — unless you can back it up with actual knowledge, similar scenarios, or internal secret memos showing that Noritsu Koki is nothing but an asset stripper secretly working on behalf of inMusic — please shut up.
Pioneer DJ is already the industry leader and sell consistently across the board. And Noritsu Koki wants for that continue, so there’s little sense in rocking the boat in a company dominating an industry that you have no experience in. Things can change of course, but the prevailing message is business as usual.
“SO IF I CAN JUST GET THIS STRAIGHT”
I keep imagining a scenario where the Noritsu Koki bean counters are pre-sale auditing AlphaTheta’s books. They unearth a significant amount of money leaving the bank account and heading in the general direction of partner/competitor Serato.
“So if I can get this straight — one of your strongest assets is your rekordbox software, yet you pay all this money to arguably your biggest competitor to use their software?”
This being the case, there’s one line on that last slide that stands out a mile:
“Shift focus from refined products to services”
This is a totally logical move. Let me be clear on my opinion about hardware again — it’s all been done before, and done well. The opportunities to create revolutionary huge selling DJ products are thin on the ground, the Denon DJ Prime Go being a rare example of a new product that aims to be a new paradigm.
But it’s hard to imagine what can be done to mixers, players, and controllers that will cause mass hysteria and make GAS afflicted DJs sell body parts to covet them. New products will appear but likely to be largely iterative. They’ll continue to sell well, just not in the quantities witnessed in the gold rush early part of this millennium.
So it makes perfect sense to shift focus to non-hardware activity. To me this shows that rekordbox and associated music services are going to get a serious boost. V6 is due and with it comes a rumoured subscription model i.e. software as a service. But for me (and forgive me sounding like a broken record… we need a new modern-day analogy), Pioneer DJ needs to get behind rekordbox across the whole of its product portfolio, and create that true ecosystem.
DVS in particular is an area where Pioneer DJ could excel, but to me they barely acknowledge its existence compared to others. In my opinion, It’s the trojan horse to wider scale adoption. If turntablists can show how robust rekordbox is (because it is), then the word will get out.
I’m also a firm believer that new features developed in software can bring about hardware controllers, or at least allow for existing models to be updated with new hardware features. After all, people would rather turn a knob or press a button than reach over to the laptop trackpad and awkwardly attempt to adjust a parameter in the heat of a mix.
Summing up
Some of you have probably noticed a lack of numbers in this piece. I literally don’t care how much Noritsu Koki is worth, or how much they paid for AlphaTheta. They don’t matter to DJs in the whole scheme of things. I do however care about what that means to Pioneer DJ and to us DJs. I’m assured that aside from having to order a shitload of new letterheads, for Pioneer DJ it’s business as usual. Do we need another modern metaphor for that too? Stupid digital age. Think of the trees.
From a product perspective — I expect to see more development in rekordbox and related products than I do a slew of new shiny. I have been talking about “Pioneer DJ’s response to Denon DJ’s Prime” for a long time now, but it’s a phrase I’m despatching to the literary bin. It’s more clear than ever that Pioneer DJ feels no need whatsoever to keep up with the Joneses, and will do whatever the hell it wants. Despite what you might like to think or hope to be true, it seems to be working out for them just fine.
Everything is pointing to a very bright future indeed for Pioneer DJ under Noritsu Koki. Be happy for them and for what it means to us.
So unfortunately it seems it Pioneer DJ will become more software/service base rather than newly desired products like DJM-S9 II and DJM 900 NXS3. What a shame. But better being software-based rather virtually nonexistent like Traktor.
BTW… I hate the term “DJ fanboys…” since we almost all are DJ fanboys of new DJ products.
Traktor “virtually nonexistent?” Have you seen the results of the latest DDJT DJ Census? The numbers don;t lie. Traktor is far from being “virtually nonexistent.” The results may surprise you.
I think the DDJT census results show that the bulk of their readers are bedroom DJs earning nothing from DJing, buying low end Pioneer controllers and using whatever software comes in the box. That’s why Traktor is on the list. Those bedroom DJs buying NI hardware are using the bundled software.
I feel Traktor have been nonexistent in terms of progression and innovation. There will be a new Rekordbox version and probably Djay Pro 3 release before you see a major upgrade to Traktor. Traktor Pro 3 wasn’t a major improvement over Traktor Pro 2 IMO.
In the last 24 months, what have Serato and rekordbox done to innovate? VDJ and djay have done more to push the envelope than the ‘big three’…
Great point, completely agree. People often sleep on VDJ and djay because of the big three.
It’s more of a shift of focus. There will be new hardware, but software is getting more love too.
“Fanboy” is generally reserved for the blinkered “brand X for life” types who will defend their choice no matter how bad that band screws up.
Hello. Brand X For Life-type here – I just thought I’d chip-in with an observation;
Back in the days when vinyl was the only option, Technics worked and worked and worked. They didn’t die, they didn’t fail and they rarely, if ever, even stumbled – so I was Technics for life. When CD’s became pre-eminent, the previously just-about half-decent Hi-Fi people Pioneer surprisingly took that crown and I became Pioneer for life. And over those many, MANY years, I’d turn up to work at venues where they’d tried to save a few quid by buying Vestax or Denon or Gemini or whatever – and it failed, it died – and, on one occasion, it burst into flames. (an Allan & Heath Xone 464). In their defence, Vestax were the best of that bunch, with the V7 being especially great …and Rane gear has never failed on me either …and that A&H experience was a one-off …but, mostly, hardcore brand allegiances *don’t* come from Buyers Belligerence (although I’m not saying that doesn’t happen), they come from experience.
In live situations, or while recording or rehearsing, Technics and Pioneer have simply *NEVER* quit on me – and that’s why I’m theirs for life.
A&H – whoever installed it probably didn’t allow enough room around the ventilation slots. It does warn against covering them in the manual. None of my A&H kit has ever given me issues.
I think the natural progression in the club mixer line already released as the V10. I do agree that a new scratch mixer from Pioneer would be a great addition to the lineup tho.
Expect the Pioneer tax to go even higher to pay for the acquisition. We have come to a point where the equipment today still works. There’s no reason to upgrade, can you plug in a USB stick / SD Card, or CD and play/mix music? Yes you can. it’s a risky purchase, unless they lower the price to half to move inventory and increase volume then there could be something there, but it’s hard to wrap your head around WITHOUT looking at the numbers.
I always assume that the landed price is 50% of the final retail price. So cutting a product cost in half will eliminate the company in double quick time. And why reduce the price when they already outsell everything anyway? They don’t need to cut the price or sell more.
A slow decrease in pricepoints over time is a smarter move as the market balances out (with lower priced competition entering the arena). Otherwise, waiting and cutting prices all at once will devalue both the product lines and alienate previous customers who paid more for products over the past year. That being said, Pioneer has already quietly slightly decreased retail pricing for a few of its products.
Indeed. A slow and steady change of position is possible. But a rather more abrupt overnight shift up or down will be viewed with suspicion. Funnily enough, in Pioneer DJ’s case anyway, a 30% increase would probably be more acceptable than a 30% drop across the board. People would wonder why and steer clear — it’s all about perceived value.
I’ve said it a million times. The Serato Tax doesn’t make sense anymore. Serato has a pay for model available. Locking their software to specific hardware is both ‘tech support laziness” and silly gatekeeping. This comment is more of a stab at Serato (really tired of DJ’s not being able to simply just plug and play in the booth using their software of choice).
As someone who hears nightmarish support horror stories all the time, I do fully appreciate the reasons for a walled garden approach. You can take responsibility for the performance of the hardware or software you make, but not the abilities of the user.
Imagine the scenario where hardware X stops working with software Y on laptop Z — who does the user turn to when their huge gig starts in 30 minutes? It would turn into a finger pointing clusterfuck in no time, with nobody wanting to take responsibility. But of your X controller throws a wobbly, you turn to X for help, and in an ideal world should get it.
Good bug reporting from withing software (which does not exist for either SDJ, Traktor, or Rekordbox) would eliminate a lot of this issue. The tech would be able to check the log and verifiy for sure where the issue occurred, or at the very least eliminate what the issue may not be.
I spent the past three years working on a software platform which was used across multiple hardware configurations (including 3rd party knock off manufacturers). Our tech support team was able to provide support for our worldwide clients (46,000) without hiccups. Our primary clients would have issues that needed rectified sometimes within 5-10 minutes of going live. Of course, the film industry has a higher valuation than the DJ industry, so we had a bit more resources to throw around.
This so much. Traktor has the right idea about this. Why would I still need to plug in some sort of device like a dongle just to be able to use Serato while I might have a top of the line DJ mixer and media players? It makes absolutely no sense to me. I’d love to try Serato. But I have nothing that works with it, and I’m not going out to buy something just to try.
3..2..1..: Go. Let´s wait and listen all djs´s Winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics with their conspiracy´s theory about why Pioneer do not put Booth output in their mixer and why Engine from Denon is better :) :)
I’m quite confident in stating that not even the most rabid of Denon DJ fanboys for life would claim that Engine is better than anything.
It is better than nothing :P
Long term this is a good thing for Pioneer DJ. A new owner and a new direction.
In the immediate short term it isn’t the right time to be buying into the entertainment business, at least until the covid-19 situation clears up. Coronavirus is very real and isn’t going away any time soon. This is the biggest public health crisis to hit the world in an entire generation.
With clubs and bars closing, large gatherings being banned and cruise ships winding down. The holiday/entertainment industry will be on it’s knees in the coming months and I think KKR/Pioneer Corp offloaded this just at the right time.
Now this isn’t a permanent thing, only short term but the impact will be felt when bar and club owners can’t afford the latest DJ shiny or the self employed wedding/prom DJ could be out of work long enough to reconsider that new controller purchase. Money will be tight throughout the industry and pursue strings will be tightened. If you don’t need it in the club, you ain’t having it in the club.
Things will get back on the right track but in the immediate future this industry isn’t a good one to be in, especially when we rely on public crowds. I work for Carnival Corp and we have already shuttered all 18 Princess Cruises ships for a few months. This is just the start of this outbreak hitting mainstream so who really wants to be in a manufacturing industry based on entertainment when people can’t (currently) be entertained? This virus is highly contagious and can be passed on simply by talking to someone as it can live in the back of the throat. Imagine a hot sweaty club becoming a breading ground for it.
The recovery will be slow. Many places will not fully recover as some bars and clubs only need a few weeks of the doors being closed to end it all and call it a day. Boardway is also affected so even the theatre business will be on hold. NYC is currently in a state of emergency and working from home will be imminent for many.
Obviously just my 2p worth (or 2c for my American friends). I’ve worked and DJed for over 20 years in the holiday industry and know the inner mechanics. It’s going to cripple parts of the industry if this hits the heights it’s predicted to and I feel the entertainment industry will be severely affected in the short term.
Stay safe and hope your gigs aren’t affected too much.
@Mr Wilks – I wondered how it was affecting your work. Presumably you’ve been sent home for the forseeable future?
Interestingly when this was written we was still continuing back home (Australia to UK) but this changed as of yesterday morning.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/coronavirus-update-cunard-queen-mary-2-cruise-ship-passengers-a9402691.html
Airlines are also feeling this knock-on effect as well as the local businesses in ports that rely on passengers to bring in the money.
Very interesting times. Luckily our parent company is amazing and have supported both passengers and crew. I feel for the smaller rival companies though.
Pioneer can achieve software focus while continuing to be successful in hardware making the following changes and simplifications.
Opening up their software and enriching them with services :
– Open up Rekordbox DJ compatibility with 3rd party Hw products
– Build a choice services associated to their software (audio/video/lyrics streaming, library management, cloud storage)
Simplifying hardware lineup and improving its durability :
– Simplified DJ hardware lineup : 4 standalone all-in-one controllers, 4 mixers, 4 decks,
Simplified Toraiz lineup : one grooveboox/sequencer, one sampler/drumbox, one bass, one poly lead (integrate with DJ lineup for Mixing and FX)
– All products (including standalone units) with Rekordbox DJ compatibility and at least optional Serato software support
– Making their products more user serviceable (like they used to be)
– Stop making proprietary drivers when they don’t have to (Class compliant anyone ?)
With these changes, they will build and sell less hardware but will sell them at premium price Their customers will be happy, keep them for longer and praise the brand for the quality and openness of their products. They can monetize more on their software and services.