News: Piano sales dropping. Today's generation learns instrument in new way

ShiroKuro · 2025-10-05T14:23:25+00:00

Sharing this here not only so everyone else can see it, but also so I can come back and watch it, because I haven't yet! 😅 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pia...

keff

ShiroKuro This year I have become aware of one piano shop closing in Manchester but new shops opening in Newcastle, Preston and Halifax. All of these are in northern England. I have no knowledge of piano shops elsewhere in the UK. I wasn't too surprised by the Bechstein centre closing in Manchester as there are four other piano suppliers there.

lilypad

The piano group that I'm in meets once a month on a Sunday. Just recently, one of the 3 piano stores in Portland, Oregon where our piano group meets is now closed on Sundays.

ShiroKuro

lilypad I imagine it's tricky to find places to gather. I wish we had even one piano store in my town!

When I was in Japan this summer, there used to be two piano stores in the town where I stayed, but one closed during the pandemic. At least the other store is still there. They offer a rental piano studio, which I used during my stay. There were a few other places in the town to rent a place to practice, but that store's location is the only place that would be large enough for a gathering.

Physical gathering places, and physical stores, are an important resource that I worry are becoming rarer, especially in any city that's not super large.

Back to the article linked, I watched the video. I don't know if I totally agree with their message (that the decline in acoustic piano sales isn't a bad thing). Availability and affordability of digital pianos is a good thing for learning and getting into the instrument. But I want to see the piano industry stay robust, that's connected to all the associated things, like tuning but also things like informal music gatherings and more formal concertizing as well.

Any random store can sell a digital piano, but acoustic piano sales require skilled sales people and special shops. I don't want those to decrease any more than they already have!

keff

Forsyth's is the oldest established music shop in Manchester and is still going strong. It is one of the venues for the Manchester piano group which operates under the name "Lets Play Piano". Unfortunately the meetings in Forsyth's are on the first Saturday of each month when I am unable to attend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjk11ZppQuI

ShiroKuro

P.S. the city I currently live in (pop. approximately 80,000) does not have a piano store and the only public (or semi-public) places for piano gatherings (as far as I can tell) are churches. The community music school where I take (took? more on that later!) piano lessons holds its recitals in one of those churches. I don't know how much they pay to do so, but I assume there's a small fee. The past recitals I've been in have an older S&S grand that isn't great. It's no horrible, but my piano at home (Yamaha C2) is much, much better. The school is holding its fall recital at a different church this time, but I'm not likely to be able to attend, so I won't find out about that piano.

We have lived in this town for about 2.5 years, and I have yet to find a community of adult piano enthusiasts. 🙁 I imagine if there was a piano store here, that would be a resource for making those kinds of connections.

pseudonym58

ShiroKuro No college or university within an hour's drive of where you are? I think that's where I would begin. Sometimes a library might have a small concert series... Or maybe I'm just living in the past. 😕

ShiroKuro

pseudonym58

I live in a college town. It's not concerts I'm after, but people who are hobby pianists like me and want to play for each other in the kind of gatherings @lilypad and other PT members have described.

pseudonym58

ShiroKuro My point is that perhaps among the people attending concerts will be amateurs that are interested in perhaps working together or performing for each other informally. Or a music teacher at the college would know other like-minded adults.

Player1

ShiroKuro

I think it's a shame that people don't gather to play music together. (Or get together for much of anything else except to drink beer and scream at the TV over some sports game).

I'd like to see more mom & pop coffee shops/bistros have music nights. I imagine that unpaid musicians strutting their stuff and musical talents for the (mostly uninterested) patrons would be a good thing for the business because it would bring in more business. Or it should.

As for electronic pianos outselling traditional strings, the new stuff is lighter, smaller, and never needs tuning. They doesn't sound nearly as good, but most people haven't ever heard a concert grand in full-throated splendor so they wouldn't know.

As for venues, try the local lodges. Many of them have small spaces for membership events and might be willing to host events for outsiders for a small fee or even, hopefully, free. These are usually adult spaces so kid events might not go over with the general membership but many have youth organizations that could be approached.

navindra

Here's the YouTube link.

https://youtu.be/aCAmtsOJl7c

Hannah Beckett is not some random piano technician... she is the owner of Piano Buyer. Nice to see her!

Her tuning hammer looks fascinating. I've never seen anything like it. She also seems to be using pianoscope on that Estonia.

ShiroKuro

navindra Hannah Beckett is not some random piano technician... she is the owner of Piano Buyer. Nice to see her!

I thought I recognized the name!

trecorda

navindra
I agree with Navrinda that the editor and the now owner of Piano Buyer should not encouraging sales of digital pianos in any acoustic forum. I do not know about her tuning. There are still acoustics new and old being sold. Encourage the sales of less expensive pianos. If one cannot buy a U1 then a P22 ( or is it a P21?) or perhaps a B1, B2 or B3. I presume a Rutmuler is now very expensive because of Tariffs? Also Marketplace on Piano Buyer perhaps something creative like visit a seller of a used piano, show off used grand. I realize this is idealistic, well at least do something better than what she is doing now in that YouTube. A used acoustic is a better advert for a new accoustic piano than a digital. I am not anti digital we have nice Roland which we use. Just my thoughts, but then perhaps I am just getting old? ☺️

raagamuffin

Acoustic Piano sales have dropped, it's true. My question is, are the people who now buy acoustic pianos more focused on the craft ? Or is it the same ratio of interior design to committed pianists as in the past?

ShiroKuro

raagamuffin are the people who now buy acoustic pianos more focused on the craft ? Or is it the same ratio of interior design to committed pianists as in the past?

This is a super interesting question! I don't have any actual data... but among other things, I feel like I see fewer and fewer pianos in real estate listings and in interior decorating photos.

So if I had to guess, I would say that fewer and fewer people buy acoustic pianos as furniture or for other visual reasons, and that most people these days who are buying acoustic pianos are buying them to play them.

ShiroKuro

trecorda A used acoustic is a better advert for a new accoustic piano than a digital.

Indeed it is!!

As much as I believe digitals are good options and that it's important to make piano accessible to all regardless of financial ability or living space restrictions, I do hope people will continue to promote acoustic instruments over digitals. We need the entire acoustic piano industry to persist and be a robust and healthy industry, long into the future!

pianoloverus

ShiroKuro It's not always a question of finances or space when it comes to choosing a digital over an acoustic. Vertical acoustics take about the same floor space as digitals, and there are plenty used acoustics verticals that are as inexpensive as decent digitals. I do think that if one wants a new instrument and has a limited budget a digital can often be a better choice then a new acoustic or even an inexpensive used acoustic.

raagamuffin

pianoloverus
I concur on this point (digital being a better choice), I think one has to WANT an acoustic. That means knowing that there are costs beyond the initial outlay, 2-3 tunings/adjustments a year for 2 years can easily equal the cost of a cheap digital.

keystring

The article starts with the idea that the piano used to be a "fixture" in homes, and gives scenes of families gathering around the piano. I've read this scenario more than once. We see it in the opening of All in the Family with Edith and Archie. I was born in the 1950s. I don't think I recall a single home that had a piano, not ours, nor the home of any friend. This contrasts sharply with the ideal of the past that I see so often cited. If anything, I imagine that with digital pianos and keyboard, a lot more people have some version of piano in their home, and that it is accessible to a wider social strata. The opportunity to learn is much greater as well, thanks to the Internet.

pianoloverus

keystring I don't think what you describe is some ideal. I think it's based on the number of pianos sold or the percentage of homes with pianos. IOW it's based on actual statistics.

sweelinck

keystring
Once pianos were well established, they became fixtures in homes of those who could afford one up until the advent of radio and the victrola, after which there was a decline. Prior to the advent of radio and of the victrola, if you wanted music in your home, you had to make it.

keystring

pianoloverus I don't think what you describe is some ideal. I think it's based on the number of pianos sold or the percentage of homes with pianos. IOW it's based on actual statistics.

I was describing to the scenario being describe: a piano in many homes in the good old days, and families standing around the piano. I often see the past painted in rosy pictures and the present not. I'm at an age where the past described is the past that I lived, and I realize that what's described is not what I saw or experienced. There are many things in modern life that I think are very good and even better than then.

pseudonym58

A grand piano, especially that of a well-known manufacturer, strikes me as a very expensive interior decoration option! 😁

Vuong

pseudonym58
A grand piano built by a well known manufacturer like Steinway is used by some rich people as a show off, since many do not know anything about music. On the other hand other less well known manufacturers like August Forster or Sauter produce superb grand piano useful to people who know music and have no need to show off.

pianoloverus

keystring Because it's not what you saw or experienced doesn't mean it didn't occur. As I previously said, I think that scenario of a lot of homes having a piano is based on actual figures of sales of pianos or of percentages of homes that had pianos. Here are the facts based on a search for piano sales since 1950:

Piano sales peaked around 1950 but have seen a significant decline since then, dropping from highs of over 240,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 18,000 in 2024. This drop is due to a combination of factors, including the rise of digital keyboards, economic changes, and shifting cultural trends.

1950s peak: Sales reached over 240,000 pianos annually in the United States during the 1950s.

1970s and 1980s: Sales saw a peak in 1979 with nearly 290,000 pianos sold.
1990s decline: Sales plummeted to a low of 98,778 units in 1994.
2000s and 2010s: Sales held steady at around 31,000 units per year for the decade leading up to 2024.
2024 dip: Sales fell to fewer than 18,000 units in 2024.

Reasons for the decline:

Digital competition:
Digital pianos and keyboards have become more popular and affordable alternatives to acoustic pianos.

Economic and cultural shifts:
A combination of economic factors, such as affordability issues for millennials, and changing cultural trends have contributed to the decline.
Changing home environment:
The acoustic piano, once a common feature in middle-class homes, is no longer as central a part of home life as it once was.