musicians friend living up to its name

I'm not a total "gear-head" but I do make my fair share of gear purchases throughout each year. In most cases, I have purchased from Sweetwater, where the service has been great and they are usually willing to beat prices advertised by competitors like Musicians Friend and AMS. However, my salesman has been a bit "off" lately, seems to only want to chat when I am ready to put some money down, and manages to leave out answers to some of my questions when I send them over. So I have been branching out a bit, looking at deals with other sites like Music123, Sam Ash and ZZounds.

In the past, I was even willing to pay a little more for Sweetwater service in a few cases where they could not do a price match. I also dig the fact that they ship out a handful of Halloween candy with each order. Sure, it is cheesy, but who doesn't like Laffy Taffy? (Rap groups are even making songs about it these days.)

Imagine my surprise when I received a free copy of Keyboard magazine in the mail the other day. Included in the clear plastic envelope was a letter from Musicians Friend, explaining that I will be receiving a free year's subscription to keyboard magazine as their way of saying thanks for being a customer. What a nice gesture. I have received free single issues before from Sweetwater, but never a full annual subscription.

Now, it's important to understand that this isn't exactly a "selfless" act. After all, the magazine is jam-packed with features covering the latest music gear, gadgets and toys, most of which can conveniently be picked up at Musicians friend. Keyboard magazine is also smart enough to know that most first time subscribers to a magazine will end up renewing their subscription at the discounted renewal rates.

None-the-less, I haven't subscribed to any music-based magazines in a while (since I was getting frequent reviews for my music), so it is nice to get back "in the loop" for a little while. Assuming that I don't get a bill later this year for my "free" subscription, I just wanted to say "thanks" to Musicians Friend!