Genelec MD talks market trends and the immersive boom

Genelec managing director Siamäk Naghian has spoken to Headliner about the evolution of consumer buying habits and the rise and rise of immersive technology across the pro audio sector.

In a wide-ranging interview, Naghian offers some unique insights into how the Finnish company has fared during the pandemic, exploring the trends that continue to shape both the professional and home studio market.

Naghian also discusses the ever-growing demand for immersive products, as well as the 15th anniversary of Genelec’s GLM game-changing room calibration software…

Thank you very much for joining us, Siamäk. Let’s start by rewinding 18 months. What was Genelec’s plan of action when the severity of the Covid pandemic first started to reveal itself?

Well, it was a very strange situation for everyone, but we can divide things into two parts – what we did before Covid and what we have done since. We have always had a company strategy and philosophy that is centred around long-term thinking. Our investment was always related to R&D, manufacturing, building long-term relationships with suppliers and partners. That has always been at the core of Genelec, and that long-term thinking has helped a lot during the crisis.

But then we faced a situation where, at the beginning of 2020, we started having issues in China, because we have our daughter company working as a distributor there in terms of marketing and sales. I was very close to them, and I started to realise something very strange was happening. Then in February we had to close the office and work remotely. So, I was thinking about what we would do if this is going to be a global situation. Very quickly we started planning and preparing for what was happening in China all over the world. We started looking at how we could change operations very early on.

For the past five or six years we have been doing a lot of work on digital content and really invested in that. In terms of shows, we quickly realised physical events would not be possible, so we started to look at options and alternatives, thinking about digital platforms for supporting customers. We tried to make sure we maintained that connection with people and gave them the same support. Before Covid, people were already producing, releasing, distributing their music digitally from home, but the pandemic accelerated that process. We had initiated this pro-at-home concept, but what was a surprise was that we suddenly had more demand for our products.

What were some of the key trends you noticed during this period?

The demand for smaller products has been very strong. Our products can now be used with active technology, so you don’t need anything else. Another thing, which is not necessarily connected to Covid, is the growth in popularity of immersive products. On the music production side, people are more and more interested in immersive setups, which is a positive thing for companies like us.

As things return to some kind of normality, do you see those trends changing?

We have been thinking about this a lot. There are certain trends in production and immersive sound that are there and will be there after Covid. I believe they will be even stronger, so I don’t expect there to be a significant decline in demand for products. But at the same time, during Covid people have had more experience with quality audio, so I don’t think they will want to give that up. Of course, as people start spending money on going out and other things, there will be an impact when it comes to people buying audio products, but the trends for music production are so huge that I don’t think the change will be drastic.

Will the types of products being purchased change?

I think sales of smaller products will continue to grow, and people will also want to expand their systems. They might start with a smaller product but then want to invest in higher quality, bigger products. But the key trend will remain - high demand for smaller products.

Have you seen any new markets emerge over the past 18 months? Where do you see potential?

The immersive part is increasing more quickly. Something that will be interesting is when immersive products and technology comes to the consumer side, like Apple has done with spatial audio. It will be very interesting to see how people receive that and what kind of impact it will have with regards to people purchasing higher quality immersive gear. That is also connected to headphones and personal listening. This is probably one of the key areas that we have to look at. The AV installation market also has lots of potential. But I don’t think here will be a dramatic shift in terms of market and where we have focus.

What is your view on trade shows? Do you think they will return in the same way as before the pandemic?

Some people think that we can now do this digitally, but I don’t think that is the way. For a while we can live in this situation, but we need face-to-face interaction and social connection. Nothing will replace that. Any trade shows that offer a means for socialisation will come back, and should come back. I don’t believe any company like us can just ignore the return of shows.

What are the biggest challenges in the market?

The big challenge is interaction. If you look at our history, we have had great relationships with the end users. One of the most negative things we’ve faced is not having the possibility to demonstrate the listening experience to people. At the same time, this online shop and online process is a very good thing, and it’s great that people have access to it, but the sort of competition we have online is not based on quality, it is based on pricing. Bringing this quality experience to people in the digital domain is the biggest challenge we will have.

Genelec’s GLM software had 15th anniversary this year. What are your thoughts on its success. Has it surprised you that it has been so popular?

GLM took more than 10 years of work before the first release in 2006, it was so ahead of its time. Nobody else was offering that, and even now there are no other options, there is some calibration software you can use for certain things, but having this kind of system with so many possibilities, even after 15 years, we are alone there. What’s been interesting over the past three to five years is that we have reached a turning point. From the beginning, GLM has not been about making up for poor quality acoustics, it’s about developing acoustics even further. People will continue to realise how useful it is, but what is surprising in the past three years is that it has expanded so much. I’m really happy to see that as we have done so much work on it.

Are you constantly looking at how you can update and develop it?

Definitely. We will be developing GLM further and expanding cloud services. The one thing we’ve done with GLM from the beginning was making sure that it, like all our products, has a long lifetime. We didn’t want to make any compromise there. So even after 15 years, the new version is backwards compatible with the first products we had with GLM. This is something we want to maintain in the future. But the expansion of GLM will be a key focus for us in the future.