midi2marketing.com – Let's create start a dialog!

MIDI2Marketing

Let’s start a dialog!

Like MIDI 2.0 itself, MIDI2marketing is focused on dialog and two way communication.

The “dialogos” of the ancient Greeks used the interplay of question-and-answer to achieve clarity of meaning and a common goal or purpose.

For my entire career in the musical instrument industry, I have served as a bridge between engineering and marketing departments and then between the companies who make products and the people who use them.

I was able to do that as much by listening effectively as by talking.

So let’s start a conversation! I’m all ears.

Hi, I’m Athan.

I have played keyboards and loved music my whole life.

After graduating from Wesleyan University where I studied Jazz with Sam Rivers and Electronic Music with Alvin Lucier, I became a professional musician for 10 years working on the road as musical director of the Platters, in an original music band with Jerry Martini from Sly and the Family Stone and playing almost every kind of gig imaginable in all 50 states, the Caribbean and Europe.

After years on the road, I decided it was time to stop living in hotels and started working in musical instrument retail at the iconic E.U Wurlitzer store that was across the street from Berklee College of Music in Boston.

But in 1985, I found a new home working on the manufacturing side of the musical instrument business.

I became the product planning manager in Tokyo, Japan for the largest selling synthesizer of all time- the Korg M1 and lived in Japan for 7 years. While working in Victoria, Canada, I helped make IVL Virtual Vocals a de facto standard in the commercial Karaoke market by licensing MIDI controlled vocal technology to Brother, Ricoh, Sega and Yamaha among others. After working closely with Yamaha in the tsushin Karaoke market, I joined Yamaha Corporation of America where I helped design and launch the Motif line of synthesizers among many other products over 20 years.

I’d like to use what I have learned to help a few select companies who share my passion for music, technology and MIDI and make it easier and more enjoyable for anyone to experience the joy of making music.

Defining problems & providing solutions

How I Can Help.

I bring a unique skill set to any challenges you’re facing because of the diverse experience I have had in my career.

Being a gigging musician and then a studio owner, I experienced the rigor of the road and developed a deep understanding of real world mixing and signal processing.

As a retail sales manager and buyer at EU Wurlitzer’s in Boston, I developed the skill of being “Nosy, Lazy, and Greedy” (thanks, Phil Clendeninn).

I lived in Japan for seven years and learned not only how to speak Japanese, but more importantly how Japanese companies and culture work.

My years at Yamaha Corporation of America taught me about channel distribution, inventory control and strategic planning.

My last role at Yamaha as Digital Marketing Strategy Manager put me in the middle of the customer data and digital marketing tools revolution that is a key to success in today’s connected world.

And for almost all of that time I have been on Executive Board of the MIDI Association driving innovation in the global standard that allows musical instruments to connect to each other, computers, smartphone and now the Web.

Contact Me