Hinshaw Music, Inc. : a case study of an educational music publisher

Hinshaw Music, Inc., a publisher of educational music, is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was founded by Donald G. Hinshaw and Cliff L. Poole in June 1975. In its nine years of existence, Hinshaw Music has grown rapidly and achieved wide success achieving the half-million goal in 1980, and doubled that figure two years later.

This case study was undertaken to try to identify the various elements that have led to the company's success. Data were collected through recorded, in-person interviews with company executives at various levels. Observation of the working operation also provided a means of data gathering.

Success resulted, first, from an unusual gathering of talent and experience among company founders and other original executive employees. Second, success resulted from a series of intelligent operational policies. One, for example, is that of consistent quality both of the composition and its ultimate appearance in printed form. Accordingly, each composition submitted is carefully considered for its genuine "artistic depth" as music. Skilled printing techniques reproduce it on paper stock that is better than is typical within the industry. Because of this selectivity, Hinshaw publishes fewer compositions each year, but customers reward this combination of well-known composers and quality reproduction with their loyalty.

Promotion and marketing, too, have led to rapid growth. Among the most effective is that of constant contact with potential customers, both through weekly memoranda and through numerous "get-together" music reading workshops.