The inMusic group has expanded dramatically – perhaps best indicated by the entire block of products prominently displayed at industry conventions like the NAMM show. Today, they’re announcing the acquisition of three brands from D&M Holdings – Denon Professional, Denon DJ, and Marantz Professional. This doesn’t mean that they’re outright purchasing Denon, as the D&M CEO Jim Caudill makes it clear in the press release that the agreement is “to license the rights to the D&M Pro brands [..] this is another step in our strategy to continue focusing on our core consumer brands.”
The real question is, which products will see development under inMusic’s guidance? Denon’s flagship controller line, the MC series, doesn’t quite hold up Numark product line, especially when pitting the MC6000MK2 against the new NS7 MK2 (review here) or the MC2000 against the Mixtrack Pro 2 (review here). Perhaps we’ll see the DN-HC1000s, a Kontrol X1 controller, get a complete refresh. Or perhaps inMusic is eyeing the actual hardware lines – like Denon’s SC2900 media player and DN-X1700 mixer – and considering this an opportunity to take on Pioneer’s industry stronghold on pro DJ products and club installs.
Imagine that you’re running inMusic – what would you do with your newly acquired product lines? What would get the ax, and what would you build next?
