Sweetwater's GearFest 2015 Draws Record Crowds and Sales

Free Music and Pro Audio Trade Show Continues to Grow -

Fort Wayne, IN, June 16, 2015 - Sweetwater Sound, the No. 1 online retailer of music instruments and pro audio equipment in the U.S., has announced that GearFest 2015 was a bigger success than ever, breaking every record established by previous GearFest events. Launched in 2002, Sweetwater's free, annual GearFest is the nation's largest customer-focused music and pro audio festival, featuring exhibits from more than 400 manufacturers, workshops, clinics, seminars, live demos, special performances, a musician's flea market, and much more.

This year's two-day event, which took place June 12 and 13 at Sweetwater's corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, provided more opportunities than ever before for thousands of musicians, engineers, and producers to participate in the festivities, with customers traveling from all over the world to attend.

Attendance was record-breaking, with more than 10,100 participants, up 27% over 2014, and with sales up by more than 35% over last year.

GearFest hosted a multitude of musicians performing and in workshops continuously on five different stages. Featured guests included Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, founding member of Steely Dan, and session guitarist for the Doobie Brothers, Eric Clapton, and Sheryl Crow; Deep Purple vocalist and bassist Glenn Hughes; Shawn Pelton, drummer for Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, and Van Morrison; bassist Nathan East, who has worked with Barry White, George Harrison, Sting, and Stevie Wonder; and, guitarist Mike Stern, who has performed with jazz greats like Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, and Jaco Pastorius. Other musicians included guitarists Mark Holcomb and Javier Reyes, keyboardist Steve Weingart, and many more.

Sweetwater's Mitch Gallagher hosted an historic panel discussion with three pioneers of synthesis and electronic instruments: Roger Linn, Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith. Technical Grammy award-winner Roger Linn invented the LM-1 Drum Computer (the first sample-based drum machine) in 1979. He later designed the Akai MPC60, which combined a sampling drum machine with a real-time MIDI sequencer. Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits, and his Prophet-5 was the world's first fully programmable polyphonic synth, as well as the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor. And Tom Oberheim co-designed the Synthesizer Expansion Module (SEM), a device that allowed musicians to simultaneously combine live playing and sequenced playback - a concept that pre-dated the MIDI revolution.

In total, GearFest included more than 200 workshops and seminars on guitar, recording, and live sound, music creation with computers, acoustics, songwriting, and how to use electronic instruments.

Housed in 19 tents, more than 400 manufacturers of musical instruments, music technology, and audio equipment were on hand to provide GearFest attendees a look at the latest gear.

GearFest 2015 also served as the Grand Opening of Sweetwater's hugely expanded and just recently completed new Music Store. GearFest attendees experienced one of the largest music instrument and audio gear stores in the Midwest, with the largest on-site inventory of any music store in the country.

For those who couldn't attend GearFest in person, videos, photos, and updates were posted on Sweetwater's popular FaceBook page, as well as on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

For those in attendance, the opportunities for social media interaction included taking pictures in front of a Marshall Amp Wall and throughout the campus. Using the hashtag #gearfest, attendees could view their social media posts on a large display in the Downbeat Diner. Estimated total attendee posts for the two days was more than 15,000. Customers using the hashtag were also instantly entered in a drawing for fifteen great prizes.

In addition, hourly prizes were given away to attendees, totaling more than $80,000 worth of music instruments and equipment.

More than 30 videos, including interviews, product demos, and the Synthesis Pioneers Panel, were recorded and will be posted throughout June at Sweetwater's YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/SweetwaterSound

Sweetwater Founder and President Chuck Surack remarked, "This year's GearFest was one of the most exciting and humbling experiences of my career. I personally greeted thousands of our customers at the front door as they arrived and was astounded by the enthusiasm everyone seemed to have for Sweetwater, GearFest, and, in particular, for their interactions with our incredible employees. That, along with its continued growth in overall attendance and sales, has made GearFest a truly unique event in the music retail business."

Synth Symposium Photo (left to right): Roger Linn, Dave Smith, Tom Oberheim, Mitch Gallagher.

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