The tariffs that are currently being imposed by the man who is currently holding office will have "dire consequences," European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, states. It's expected that the price of everything will increase – JP Morgan analysts have increased their odds on a possible global recession to 60% (The Guardian). And honestly, the music industry isn't safe from these tariffs and their impact either.
Shadows Fall's frontman Brian Fair is witnessing first hand. Working at St. Louis Music, the musical instrument manufacturer, as a day job, Fair has stated that he has seen their "landing costs [skyrocket]."
Taking to Threads to explain the situation from a behind-the-scenes point-of-view, Brian Fair rationally explains where his claims are coming from:
"I work for a company that owns a variety of instrument brands: guitars, percussion, orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds, etc.. [O]ur landing costs have sky rocketed and those costs are being turned into higher prices that will […] unfortunately be handed down to the consumers."
From materials such as various types of wood, aluminium and steel being impacted (The Guardian), it's expected that all aspects of making instruments to increase – "We have tried to avoid increases [wherever] possible, but a lot of it is unavoidable. Some of these brands used to be made in the US but that priced them entirely out of the market so production shifted to overseas many years ago," Fair further elaborates.
Fair works "directly with Main St. brick and mortar music stores, some that are barely scraping by. These increases, no matter how small, will make it even more difficult for these stores to survive."
Aware of the inevitable arguments that could be presented to him, Fair simply states that he is "by no means an expert on international trade," rather he's stating that he is currently "seeing the damage caused by the tariffs first hand and this is just the beginning."
With a massive amount of uncertainty surrounding the US government and its current administration and the effects of the new tariffs, Fair says he "[hopes] there is still a market left once the dust clears" (The Guardian).
Fair then takes his point a step further – "the idea that that domestic or other manufacturers that are NOT affected by tariffs won't raise their prices to match the market have not paid attention to history.
"We saw prices increased by those unaffected as soon as they were announced and as we see with inflation, once prices go up they do not come down for any reason. The market resets, everyone jumps on board to maximize profits regardless of their costs and keeps it moving."
2025 has been off to a hell of a bang, huh?
