“Handpan Market” ? What is it all about?
I remember well how organic foods became more and more popular at the end of the 90s. It did not take long for the economy to recognize this boom and began to profit from it. The managers, who recently took care of sales at coca-cola, suddenly became at the forefront of the organic market and many of the mythical aspects of this market turned into pure business.
What I now observe in the area of handpans, reminds me very much of these memories from the 90s.
The handpans are becoming more and more well-known and the interest in these instruments, especially the interest in playing these instruments themselves, is getting bigger and bigger. And that worldwide.
This development is not surprising. After all, this trend has been going on for some years now.
About 2 years ago it was really hard to get an instrument at a fair price. Today you can buy a reasonable instrument from a budget of about 1500 euros in minutes.
Handpans to the people…
The manufacturers are becoming more customer-oriented. Not a few now offer sales space to attract interested customers. Also, more and more Handpan workshops (mostly “First touch Workshops”) are offered in cooperation with manufacturers. These not only provide their instruments for the workshop, but also offer them to the participants for purchase.
The free economy calls this direct marketing and this strategy is becoming more and more prevalent also in the handpan world.
Fair Pricing or Monkey Business ?
For a few years, the handpan market has also been very lucrative for fraudsters who have used strong demand on instruments through ebay and other channels. With the growing supply of instruments, this fraudulent species will not last long. A clearly positive aspect of the changes taking place on the handpan market.
In addition to handpan makers who offer almost permanent instruments for immediate purchase on their websites, now also traders, who offer the instruments of several different manufacturers show up. There is ONE SHOP, i can recommend:
SOUND-SCULPTURE.DE (Germany)
Large selection, fair prices, transparent (all Brands & Makers are named), good services, Real Shop & Online Shop. Unrestricted recommendation
My Conclusion about ???
The production of handpans is a handicraft. Every instrument is unique and thus this market will probably never (from today’s point of view) be industrialized.
For the buyers it is of advantage if you can try instruments of different makers and also different scales in one place. Handpan shops are actually a good development.
In the future, prices for handpans are more likely to be determined by the quality of the instruments, not by the demand – a likewise good development.
As these instruments are actually works of art, there will probably always be “leading artists” who will produce extraordinary instruments. And these instruments will also always find interested people who are willing to pay higher prices for these very unique items.
Just as with the history of organic food, it probably remains the customer’s decision whether to use the wholesale trade or rather to personally buy from the producer.
Which is in my opinion of course the better way. In terms of organic food just as well as with the handpans…..
Leave a Reply