KMC Music Strengthens Regional Sales Support With Three Key Appointments

KMC Music (www.kmcmusic.com), the industry-leading distributor of MI and ProAudio solutions, today announced the appointment of three new regional sales managers for the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and West/Northwest sales territories.  According to KMC Music Vice President of Sales James Tsaptsinos, all three appointments bring significant MI retail and sales management experience to their new positions.

“Our philosophy is, and always will be, that it takes a retail sales veteran to understand the unique needs of today’s MI retailers, and the appointment of Michael Stockdale, Ryan Morgan, and Mike Johnson to key district sales management positions more than lives up to this philosophy,” Tsaptsinos said today.  “Each of them have countless years of experience in their respective territories demonstrating track records for building cost-effective, sales-productive business building programs for retailers. They all started their careers working for and managing MI retail stores as well.  We are thrilled to have professionals of their caliber join our sales team.”

Based in the Baltimore, Maryland area, Michael Stockdale now assumes the position of District Sales Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Region.  He brings an extensive record of experience and success to his new position, having started his career as an Assistant Store Manager at Sam Ash Music, where he served for three years. Michael’s field experience includes having served as the National Product Sales Manager for Music & Studio Environments at IAC Acoustics, District Sales Manager for Specialty Brands at Fender Musical Instruments, Inc., Regional Sales Manager at Line 6, and District Sales Manager at Korg USA and Behringer. 

Ryan Morgan brings an equally impressive resume to his new position as District Sales Manager for the West/Northwest Region, based out of Bend, Oregon.  From a career starting in his Family’s Music store as a child to an 8-year General Manager of various Guitar Center locations, Morgan went on to serve as Director of Operations/Marketing/Sales for Boulder Creek Guitars/Riptide Ukuleles/Wedgie Picks and Accessories and Sales Manager for Bedell Guitars and Weber Fine Instruments. 

Based in Orlando, Florida, Mike Johnson now assumes the position of District Sales Manager for the Southeast Region.  Most recently, Johnson served as National Sales Manager at Gold Tone, Inc. Michael’s 30 years of MI experience on the National Level for Brands like Samick and regionally for Line 6 make him an obvious choice for KMC.

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Paiste America Appoints KMC Music to Serve as its Sole United States Distribution Partner

Strengthening a percussion portfolio that already includes Gibraltar, Latin Percussion, Remo, Toca, Vater, and Vic Firth, KMC Music (www.kmcmusic.com) today announced that it has been appointed to serve as the sole United States distribution partner of Paiste America (www.paiste.com), one of the world’s most renowned lines of cymbals, hand cymbals, and gongs that includes the iconic Paiste 2002 Series and the highly respected Paiste Signature Series.

“The addition of Paiste to our already extensive percussion portfolio reinforces our position as the MI retailer’s only true one-stop source for all of their percussion needs,” KMC Music Vice President of Merchandising Roger Hart emphasized today.  “We are proud to be able to offer our customers the cymbals used by artists that include Stewart Copeland, Nicko McBrain, Ian Paice, and Alex Van Halen, among many, many others.” 

The success of Paiste can be directly attributed to the core philosophy that underlies all of its product development programs.  “As a family business, we have always been driven by the goal to constantly create new sounds with cymbals, gongs, and bronze percussion instruments that meet the unique needs of drummers and percussionists,” explained Paiste CEO Erik Paiste.  “And now, with the help of KMC Music’s extensive in-field sales, merchandising, and support teams, the Paiste line of cymbals and gongs is going to be more immediately available to the largest network of MI retailers in the world’s largest MI retail marketplace.” Key house accounts will continue to be served by Paiste America and its own sales team.

“Experimentation, integration, and revolution are all a normal part of the Paiste product development effort,” Erik Paiste continued.  “The art of percussion has evolved to a point where the technical and musical components that go into creating ‘sound’ have reached unprecedented new heights.  Today’s drummers and percussionists speak many musical languages and actively perform in several genres.  Paiste is committed to keeping up with these trends and, as a result, our product line today meets more musical styles and needs than ever before.”