Irony?

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
So general discussion - if you're an artist for a drum manufacturer, why would you settle for a signature snare drum that is reasonably priced if the manufacturer makes beautiful totally expensive ones?

Case in point: I see the Pearl Joey Jordison snare selling for $299. Pearl also makes a same-size Reference snare that would sell for $750.

Yes - I know it's all about the player making the drum sound good. I just find it odd that as "the artist" you would settle for a less-expensive drum if they were giving you carte blanche on anything you may want. I would totally say, "I want my artist snare based off of your new Reference series, with some bits of carbon fiber and gold in it, to make it mine". Pearl would turn around and say "You got it, we can sell it to your fans for $1899".

Something like that would be a collector's item - like the Zildjian/Pro Drum Constantinople rides selling for $600 or so. Or even Ralph Gibson's signature Leica camera (they only made 35 of them and sold them all in 5 minutes at $28K each). Isn't that something that would be cool? Or is it cool to see all these used Joey Jordison snares on eBay selling for $150?

Thinking out loud tonight. What do you think?
 
Maybe the cheaper drum has that desired '"sound" and the more expensive one didn't.

It could be just that simple.
 
...generally speaking, and responding to the leica camera reference, german companies seem to focus on ultra-exclusive, low-quantity/high price, "signature/limited edition" releases (think, mont blanc patron/writers series, bmw/mercedes m-brand/amg-brand, leica rangefinders, etc.)...conversely, japanese companies seem to focus on wider market appeal with moderate pricing (think, yamaha signature series snares, lexus/infinity/acura, etc.), tho pearl's approach in the case cited seems a bit different, imho...
 
japanese companies seem to focus on wider market appeal with moderate pricing

I think that's the case in at least some of the instances of signature snares/kits, with the lure for the artist being a royalty on each sale. And of course the more units sold, the more the payment, so the artist goes with that (and not necessarily what's the best quality or something they'd actually use.)

Bermuda
 
...generally speaking, and responding to the leica camera reference, german companies seem to focus on ultra-exclusive, low-quantity/high price, "signature/limited edition" releases (think, mont blanc patron/writers series, bmw/mercedes m-brand/amg-brand, leica rangefinders, etc.)...conversely, japanese companies seem to focus on wider market appeal with moderate pricing (think, yamaha signature series snares, lexus/infinity/acura, etc.), tho pearl's approach in the case cited seems a bit different, imho...

I suppose this could be the cultural appeal. It's odd that whatever musically is out there, they're chasing names like "supraphonic", "stratocaster", "telecaster", "Les Paul", or "Moog", eh?
 
Pearl seems a little more guilty than most of releasing "signature" snares that bear only a passing resemblance to the drum that artist actually uses. The Joey Jordison, Chad Smith, and Morgan Rose snares immediately come to mind. They seem to be a lot more focused on hitting a particular price point than anything else.

I don't really see anything wrong with that, and those drums sound fine, but if I was a fan of one of those guys I'd rather just save up a little more and buy the drum they actually play.
 
Who knows why pearl do that but maybe it makes a statement about the type of drummers who buy signature snares.

Are artist signature drum-buyers the laymen who don't know or care about the specs? Maybe a person who doesn't care about specs but buys into the rockstar image is less likely to cough up $800 on a snare.

I think pearl made more expensive artist snares but they made a fair few steel ones, and steel snares tend to be cheaper don't they?

DW, yamaha and tama artist snares definitely weren't always cheap.
 
I'm thinking Pearl was wise enough to know that not many of Joeys' fans could afford much more. How much money does a 14 year old have?
 
I'm not seeing where irony fits in anywhere here.

The irony is that these top-level artists' "signature drums" aren't really that top-level. Some are actually artist specified drums that they use (Mike Portnoy, Simon Phillips, etc.), some are cheaper facsimiles likely using the name of the artist as marketing for royalties & increased sales, and some are a weird mix i.e. John Dolmayan's signature Tama snare which is just a Starclassic Maple snare, 1/2" shallower/deeper, with a fancy finish and Warlord lugs.
 
I'm thinking Pearl was wise enough to know that not many of Joeys' fans could afford much more. How much money does a 14 year old have?

I'm thinking Joey was wise enough to know that not many of Joeys' fans could afford much more.

He has a whole "signature" kit that he admits is a cheaper version of what he uses on stage to make it affordable for the average fan.

Supportively, when Eddie Van Halen switched from Music Man to Peavy for his signature guitar line, one of the reasons was to make the guitar more widely available for his fans.

But then again, the Chad Smith signature snare drum is essentially a variation of a Ludwig acrolite, and as such, it's relatively cheap drum. Yet there is no reason to think that Chad wouldn't use it.
 
The irony is that these top-level artists' "signature drums" aren't really that top-level. Some are actually artist specified drums that they use (Mike Portnoy, Simon Phillips, etc.), some are cheaper facsimiles likely using the name of the artist as marketing for royalties & increased sales, and some are a weird mix i.e. John Dolmayan's signature Tama snare which is just a Starclassic Maple snare, 1/2" shallower/deeper, with a fancy finish and Warlord lugs.

You've just described deception/ false advertising, not irony.
This thread is like the song "Ironic" where none of the lyrics actually describe an ironic event.
Perhaps Bo was listening to Alanis when he started this thread?
 
You've just described deception/ false advertising, not irony.
This thread is like the song "Ironic" where none of the lyrics actually describe an ironic event.
Perhaps Bo was listening to Alanis when he started this thread?

Semantics aside, perhaps I was ;)

I suppose this does open that "signature can of worms", but there are some signature snares that I think are really good, like the Stewart Copeland, and the Elvin Jones, the Benny Greb, and the Steve Jordan - and those aren't necessarily very expensive either (well, maybe the Greb), and those people really do/did use them. I guess it's a fascinating look at capitalism and fandom.
 
I guess it's a fascinating look at capitalism and fandom.
That's pretty much it. This may sound blunt, but endorsing artists are a marketing resource to be used as deemed appropriate by the drum company. Ok, it's by agreement of course, nobody's forcing anyone to stand by a specific design, but it's not about the artist having an ego stroking drum naming experience, it's about using that artist's appeal/notoriety to sell drums to a target audience. It therefore follows that the drum will be produced at an appropriate price point for that target audience. No doubt, the artist will receive some consideration in respect of sales, but I don't absolutely know that to be the case.

TBH, it's pretty obvious when an artist has truly steered the design of a snare. Gavin's Protean design is a prime recent example. Most others are simply a naming ceremony with some small tweak the artist/marketing department can build a claim around. It's all about as relevant as "celebrity perfume".
 
"a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result"

one would expect high-profile artists' products to have high-profile pricetags and features, but many are cheap knockoffs, which is at least amusing to me. QED.
 
I wonder how many Todd Sucherman signature snares Stanbridge has built and sold. $5,000 a snare, I doubt very many. So if you were having a signature snare built for you. It can be viewed as a promotional item for exposing your name to the drumming population. Would you rather have 10 people displaying your drum, or 1,000? Then there is the question, do you want high end highly skilled players to be using your drum so the chances of it being recognized as a great sounding instrument attached to your name would be greater, or do you want every hack in his mom's garage who can barely play let alone tune a drum play a drum with your name attached to it?

I bet every endorser has his priorities of what he expects to benefit from the partnership, and money, market niche are what I would think would be the main focus.
 
I wonder how many Todd Sucherman signature snares Stanbridge has built and sold. $5,000 a snare, I doubt very many. So if you were having a signature snare built for you. It can be viewed as a promotional item for exposing your name to the drumming population. Would you rather have 10 people displaying your drum, or 1,000? Then there is the question, do you want high end highly skilled players to be using your drum so the chances of it being recognized as a great sounding instrument attached to your name would be greater, or do you want every hack in his mom's garage who can barely play let alone tune a drum play a drum with your name attached to it?

I bet every endorser has his priorities of what he expects to benefit from the partnership, and money, market niche are what I would think would be the main focus.

Absolutely, but also- not everybody with a lot of money to spend on drums is a high-end, highly skilled player :) Maybe there should be an audition process for the right to get sold a signature Simon Phillips-Approved drum? (i joke but this would actually be amazing.)
 
Never understood why people pick on the song "Ironic" as not being Ironic. Most of the situations in the song are, but not all.

A man who is terrified of flying, when flying is statistically the safest way to travel, finally bites the bullet and flies, and his plane crashes, Is that not ironic?
 
The other side of my previous post is, how many true fans of any drummer
are true fan boys that want that drum or to spend that much.
 
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