MT: Can you tell us a little about the background to your company?
RE: The business started 54 years ago, when my mother, June, a freelance bassoonist in London at the time, started sourcing sheet-music for her musician friends. They struggled to find certain titles and she tracked these down, buying a second copy for her own stock. From having £10–£12 as working capital, she built the business to what it is today, maintaining the same ethos: if we don't have something listed, we'll always track it down. June is retired now, but is still a partner and helps with the website.
MT: What do you feel are your company's obvious strengths?
RE: We're well known for the size and range of the stock we keep, with over 50,000 titles, and for having obscure stuff that nobody else has! We specialise in wind and brass music and use our backgrounds as players to good effect. We also go out of our way to provide excellent customer service: on our website you’ll see a 5-star Google rating, something we're very proud of. We've had a successful e-commerce website for about 30 years, developed independently. As well as being a retailer, we are the distributor for Saxtet Publications, Broadbent & Dunn, OUP Archive, Con Moto, Lazarus Edition and Hop Vine Publishing, plus for individual books by Anneke Scott, Graham Salter and Richard Steggall. We print and distribute on behalf of two dozen other publishers, including a few in the US. As we print our own publications in-house, we have the wherewithal to print other editions.
A special recent project has been managing the wind and chamber catalogue of Ruth Gipps, since 2020. Up until then we’d been printing and distributing the composer's own Tickerage Press. We're not far off completing the re-engraving of works and making the full catalogue available, which is good timing given how popular her music has become.
MT: Who and where are your main customers?
RE: Professional and semi-professional ensembles, orchestras, schools, hobbyists and students – from across the world. We serve music college students in particular, aware that they go into performance or teaching and form long-term relationships as customers.
MT: What other activities is the company involved with?
RE: Taking our cue from instrument manufacturers, and from the company's desire to support young musicians, the June Emerson Wind Music Young Artists scheme was set up in 2016. This provides mutual support, for artist and retailer. We also established the Launchpad Prize, awarded to a wind or brass ensemble at a major music conservatoire, for which we provide music vouchers, a dedicated space on our website, rehearsal space and so forth.
Thanks to mum (who's quite the eco-warrior), we've always strived to do things in a greener, more sustainable way, and this applies to every aspect of our business. We pride ourselves on reusing, and have never bought a cardboard box!
You can find June Emerson Wind Music at stand C10 on 22 & 23 February 2024 at the Music & Drama Education Expo, The Business Design Centre, London. Make sure that you visit musicanddramaeducationexpo.co.uk to book your FREE ticket to Europe's largest conference and exhibition for anyone involved in music and drama education.
