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The rise of online gear stores has spawned a middle class of music memorabilia that benefits both bands and fans.

“This is for all the kids who make music in their bedrooms.”

Setting up a home studio doesn't have to be hard or expensive.

In this two-part series, we layout the basics on selling gear you no longer use, and how it can pay for new gear you’ll love.

While many small manufacturers and retailers believe Amazon is the place to be, Lyris Autran is forgoing the opportunity.

If there was ever a chance to own a piece of Beach Boys history, today is the day! It has been confirmed that Brian Wilson will be selling some of his old musical gear on Reverb.com

Reverb's end-of-year lists give us insight into the gear guitarists snapped up the most.

Rise Against bassist Joe Principe is selling several off a bunch of instruments and gear that he’s used to record some of the band’s most iconic tracks.

With 2019 nearly in the rearview mirror, it’s time to look back on the year that was. As part of our year-end coverage, Chicago Inno is recapping some of the most notable Chicago startups and tech companies that were acquired in 2019.

We’ve always had a sneaking feeling that effect pedals are, in some respect, just grown-up toys.

David Kalt on the acquisition and next steps for Reverb and his career.

Just yesterday, we reported on a mysterious Instagram social media campaign centered around the hashtag #blackedxout, which has been shared by a variety of boutique effects pedal makers. “What does it all mean?,” we asked. Well, now we have the answer, as Reverb has announced the Blacked Out shop, which features 19 pedals from 17 companies, released in limited-edition, never-before-seen 'Blacked Out' finishes.

Since the introduction of fuzz boxes, tremolos, wah-wahs and other basic effects in the 1960s, the market for pedals has grown as demand for such devices has increased, with popular recording artists embracing the cool new sonic palettes presented by each subsequent generation of stompboxes, as they're commonly known. Guitarists have grown to love them for their relative affordability, their tradability, the musical creativity they inspire and the sheer excitement they can bring to an otherwise ordinary guitar-and-amp setup.

MIA Member Reverb.com have funded a wonderful new initiative which allows teenagers in Dublin to borrow musical equipment from local libraries… The GRD Gear Library is a music instrument loan service for teenagers run in partnership with Dublin City Libraries. Any teenager who is a member of Dublin City Libraries can borrow Girls Rock Dublin music gear through the Libraries booking system. The service is free and is the only of its kind in Ireland.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching for those of us in the United States, and that means it’s almost time for shopping. The holiday gift-giving season begins on Black Friday, but you can’t go out into the cold without some idea of what to get. That’s where GamesBeat comes in. We have a handful of shopping guides to help you pick up the perfect gifts for the special someone in your life. And it’s OK if that someone special is yourself.

“A synthesizer is an instrument that uses electronic circuits to create sounds, which are then modified and shaped by the player via the synth’s knobs, sliders, buttons, and more.” says Justin DeLay, Director of Product & Category Marketing at Reverb.

David Kalt, the CEO of Reverb, has loads of experience in this arena. He’s started multiple businesses that eventually sold for nine figures (or more). Reverb, his most recent endeavor, was purchased by Etsy in July for $275 million. He’s an expert in growing a business from an idea into an efficient enterprise, having learned the hard way how to grow a business sustainably.

Ben Folds is parting with over 250 pieces of gear from throughout his career in an upcoming Reverb sale. The singer-songwriter’s online shop, which launches November 12th, will feature instruments, microphones and other studio equipment, some of which he used during recording sessions.

Over 150 items of music gear from Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine’s career – including signature guitars, amps, pedals and more instruments used onstage and in the recording studio – will soon be available to fans via the Reverb.com marketplace.

The best tracks don’t just come together on their own. To really get in the mix, you’ll want to pick up a multitrack recorder. “A multitrack recorder allows you to record one or more sources of sound at the same time to separate tracks, and then later process and mix these tracks independently,” explains Justin DeLay, a marketing director at online music community and gear buying site, Reverb. “[It’s] something that’s crucial for maximizing the sound quality of your recordings.”

This Studio Electronics MidiMoog Rack Synthesizer is from the private collection of Martin Gore, founding member of Depeche Mode.

When CDs were invented in 1982, the market for vinyl records quickly collapsed. But around 2010, vinyl started to make a comeback, and now prices for certain rare editions are sky high. For the first time in 33 years, vinyl records are on track to surpass CD sales, CNBC's Daniel Bukszpan reported, and record prices are steadily climbing.

A drum machine bought at Chicago-based Reverb played an important role on The Black Keys’ latest album “Let’s Rock.” Drummer Patrick Carney, who purchased the instrument, said it completely shaped their song “Walk Across the Water,” and made it one of the most surprising songs to write.

If you’ve ever been to an Ed Sheeran concert or listened to indie fave Andrew Bird, you’ve likely heard a loop station in play. A portable device used in studios and live sets alike, a loop station lets you quickly record a section of your playing or singing in real-time and then play it back on repeat, or yes, on loop.

At 2019 Summer NAMM, Mallory Nees, social media manager for Reverb, shared how to perfect your Instagram game. Nees revealed social media is often trial and error and discovering what works best for your business. Check out the session video to get sure-fire tips and ideas to serve up hot content and create impact on Instagram.

Dashboard Confessional is in the midst of celebrating 20 years as a band, and as part of the festivities band leader Chris Carrabba partnered up with Reverb to sell some of the equipment that helped shape the band's sound over the past two decades.

Vibrant math rockers Battles are gearing up to release their fourth LP Juice B Crypts next month, and before the band heads out on tour in support of the new record, they’ll be moving studios and parting ways with lots of old gear. Guitarist and keyboardist Ian Williams has decided to sell off a number of old guitar amps, pedals, loopers, and other related gear online, which means if you’ve ever wanted to replicate the unique, distinct guitar tones heard on the band’s past records like Mirrored and Gloss Drop, you can now at least use some of the exact some equipment. Musical skill not included.

Software Developer Pavan Sarguru said Reverb has a wheel of fortune, but for food. The online music marketplace, recently acquired by Etsy, uses a wheel to determine where staff across teams go for lunch. It’s a respected practice at the company — one that even has its own rulebook and ethics committee.

The world of buying and selling gear once felt a little inaccessible to me. In my head, it was going to take a big chunk of change to get the sound I was hoping for. Money was tight (cheers to your 20s!) and as much as I wanted to put a couple hundred bucks into my favorite hobby, other things tended to be more of a priority.

This past week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released its mid-year report. It showed that 80% of the of music industry’s revenue comes from streaming, but it also showed that revenue from sales of vinyl records is on track to overtake that of compact discs by the year’s end, should current trends continue.

Whether its sourcing rare instruments for Joe Bonamassa, or providing vintage guitars for movies such as Back To The Future and This Is Spinal Tap, Norman’s Rare Guitars has become one of the most famous and respected guitar stores on the planet.

Fender has announced the release of five archival Stratocaster electric guitars from its vault through Reverb.com. The models – the original guitars that served as the templates for some of Fender’s vintage-inspired lines – are available through the Fender Certified Vintage Reverb Shop.

While most of us lust after battered old instruments, dropping a potentially hefty amount of cash on a guitar that’s old enough to remember the last time Britain wasn’t part of the EU is a scary prospect if you don’t know what you’re doing. And that’s where we’re here to help.

On YouTube, you can watch a segment from Universal Newsreel titled “Teen-Age Rage: Modern Sitar Rocks the U.S.” The clip came out in 1967—one year after “Paint It Black,” two years after “Norwegian Wood,” and at a time when the craze for Indian sounds in Western rock was at a peak. The video shows studio guitarist Vinnie Bell demonstrating an instrument he developed with Nathan Daniel and the Danelectro company: his new signature-model electric sitar.

SUNN O))) and EarthQuaker Devices join forces to create Life Pedal. This is a limited, hand numbered, tube amp crushing octave fuzz and distortion with boost. Life Pedal empowers the operator to immerse themselves in the same full spectrum overdriven sonic palette as used on the Life Metal album.

Back in June, iconic drone-metal icons Sunn O))) announced the Life Pedal, a brutally heavy collaboration with EarthQuaker Devices. The resultant run of 1,000 distortion pedals sold out within hours, but fortunately it’s been given a second lease of, erm, life.

In this episode we sit down with Sebastian Fabal, Senior Director of Operations & Outreach at Reverb.com

Musician Rob Scallon teamed up with fellow musician Mary Spender to perform an acoustic cover of The Beatles song “Come Together” on an amazing double sided-guitar. Scallon played the guitar side, while Spender played bass and sang.

Every year Inc. Magazine publishes its Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 lists of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. (based on percentage revenue growth from 2015 to 2018). And this year many local businesses cracked the list, including several companies that are familiar to Chicago’s tech community.

Billy Talent has been around for more of a quarter of a century, which is more than enough time to accumulate too much gear.

In 2002, Gibson gifted Les Paul a White Custom 50th Anniversary Les Paul to commemorate half a century of partnership. The exclusive guitar has now been listed on Reverb by Paul’s longtime luthier and tech Tom Doyle.

For Fast Company‘s inaugural Best Workplaces for Innovators list, we set out to find companies that empower all employees—not just top executives, scientists, or coders—to create new products, improve operations, and take risks. We searched for businesses where innovation isn’t just a buzzword but a part of the value system and culture.

As Chicago’s tech and startup industry becomes more saturated with growing and sustainable companies, offering a competitive salary, a 401K and decent healthcare benefits is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to recruiting and retaining talent.

Online instrument marketplace Reverb.com has partnered with former Pantera bassist Rex Brown to sell more than 70 pieces of music gear used live and in the studio throughout his career.

The defining qualities of a reliable pedal board go beyond just providing a better way to store your pedals: they make your setup time much faster, and keep your tone free of excess noise and interference.

Music gear-selling site Reverb has signed an agreement to be acquired by Etsy, the global online marketplace for handmade and vintage items, for $275 million. The deal is expected to close in the coming months, upon which the six-year-old Reverb will remain a standalone business, with added support from Etsy. Reverb founder and CEO David Kalt detailed the news in a blog post, noting that the company has had a "friendly relationship" with Etsy for several years.

That’s right, Reverb.com has partnered with progressive metal giants Periphery to launch the Periphery Signature Reverb Shop! Unlike other Reverb shops that have been hosted by bands in the past, this one features signature gear and software developed by the band themselves, and not the more traditional vintage/used gear the guys might have used in the past.

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus is auctioning off one of his custom basses to benefit the Trevor Project LGBTQ+ charity. The auction for the bass is currently open via the online gear marketplace Reverb.com, and will run through July 8. Along with the money from the winning bid, Hoppus will donate an additional $5,000 to the Trevor Project.

Which companies are growing fastest in the Chicago area? Here are 50 on a roll: In our annual feature, which we’ve published since 2007, we identify the companies whose revenues are rapidly outgunning the rest. We start by profiling the top 10 firms to get an idea of what it took to make them grow; the other 40 are presented in list form. This list was produced with accounting firm Plante Moran.

SUNN O))) and EarthQuaker Devices join forces to create Life Pedal. This is a limited, hand numbered, tube amp crushing octave fuzz and distortion with boost. Life Pedal empowers the operator to immerse themselves in the same full spectrum overdriven sonic palette as used on the Life Metal album.

Frightened Rabbit is paying homage to late frontman Scott Hutchison with a Reverb auction of their gear benefiting Tiny Changes, the mental health charity they launched last year in his honor to help raise awareness and provide support for children and young people struggling with mental health issues. “We felt that putting everything up for auction would give people an opportunity to get something from the band that they themselves can put to good use,” the band's drummer, Hutchison’s brother Grant, said in a statement. “Mental health was a cause that was very close to Scott’s heart and one that he would be extremely proud to see his family and the band supporting.”

Ever wanted to own some of Avenged Sevenfold's gear? Well, Reverb are making it "almost easy" as they've just launched their official Reverb shop featuring more than 20 pieces of gear and memorabilia. The band is selling off the items, with the proceeds raised going to aid the Notes for Notes organization, a non-profit that builds, equips and staffs after-school recording studios inside Boys & Girls Clubs.

Chicago Inno regularly features startup offices in our ongoing Office Envy series, but to help give a glimpse into some of the most interesting, unique and spacious local tech offices, we have compiled a list of 10 we envy the most.

My guest on the podcast this week is David Kalt, who launched the super popular gear site Reverb.com in 2013 after growing frustrated with the process of buying and selling guitars on eBay.

It seems safe to assume that anyone reading this column likely knows the basics of late-’50s Gibson Les Paul “Bursts.” Sunburst-finished Les Pauls made between 1958 and late 1960 rank as some of the most coveted of all vintage guitars, and the market for these instruments is mostly made up of well-heeled aficionados who evaluate circulating specimens in terms of originality, pedigree, and caliber of flame top. The market goes up and down in different years, but generally top-tier Bursts with original parts and high-grade maple tops command prices in the $300,000 range.

Headquartered in Chicago’s Roscoe Village, Reverb sits at the intersection of music and technology as the leading website for buying, selling, and learning about musical instruments. In just over six years, Reverb has grown into the best place online for anyone—from couch musicians to the members of Green Day—to connect over the perfect piece of music gear.

Chicago is known for its harsh winters, but it's actually a hospitable environment for entrepreneurs--and blows away many of the other metropolitan areas trying to compete. For starters, Chicago has a diverse business culture--no single sector drives more than 14 percent of the local economy--and its tech scene has been growing in recent years. That's helped Chicago land at No. 36 on Inc.'s list of Surge Cities, an index that measures the U.S. hubs with the most economic momentum.

A Day To Remember fans have an amazing chance to own some of the band’s original gear. The band posted a listing of multiple items including guitars and amps for anyone to buy and record music of their own with.

Billie Eilish, Kelly Clarkson, Cat Power, P!nk, Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton and many more artists have donated items to the Girls Rock Reverb Gives Auction. The event, which will run from May 21-28, will feature used or signed gear, memorabilia, concert tickets and VIP experiences from those acts as well as Mavis Staples, Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, Tash Sultana, Colbie Caillat, Elle King, Chelsea Wolfe, Charli XCX, Bonnie Raitt, B-52s, Loretta Lynn and many more.

David Kalt is the founder of Reverb.com, a marketplace for musical instruments and gear, and the owner of the Chicago Music Exchange, a vintage guitar store in Chicago. He also co-founded and was the former CEO of online broker optionsXpress. Want to know what my day looks like? It’s easy for anybody in my company […]

Earlier this year, the World Health Organization issued a new set of guidelines urging parents to limit screen time for kids under the age of five. According to the health agency, reduced time in front of iPads, smartphones, and other electronic devices—combined with more exercise and better sleeping habits—results in healthier adults.

We recently reported on Sandvik Group’s “unbreakable guitar,” a 3D-printed instrument that was put through its paces by Yngwie Malmsteen who—at a Florida club—attempted to smash it against amps, the stage floor and anything else in sight, only to have it emerge unscathed. Now, that same instrument is up for auction at Reverb.com, with all proceeds from the sale benefiting Engineers Without Borders in Sweden.

Guitarist Jim Peterik, formerly of Survivor, is known for hit songs like "Eye of the Tiger," as well his work with .38 Special and the Ides of March. His collection of 193 guitars contains some true rarities.

It’s not easy finding a way to make a living doing something you’re passionate about. First, you must determine what inspires you, then find the perfect company that can support you and match your zeal. Lucky for you, the world of Chicago tech offers a huge diversity of roles in an ever-expanding list of industries. We spoke to technologists at four companies across a number of fields to learn how they found their golden tickets working at companies that capture their enthusiasm.

Daniel Lopatin (better known as Oneohtrix Point Never) is getting rid of some things. More specifically: synthesizers, samplers, speakers, and other pieces of gear he’s used over the past decade to create his music. Today, the producer announced he is the latest artist to partner with gear marketplace site Reverb to launch an official shop. Among the items for sale is a Roland SP-555 sampler that Lopatin used extensively on his 2011 album Replica. It will be sold pre-loaded with a memory card containing some of the samples used on that album and subsequent live performances.

Reverb.com, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling new and used musical instruments, announced today that it has donated more than $250,000 – worth of musical instruments to youth music education programs across the U.S. and beyond. Since launching its Reverb Gives initiative in 2018, the music gear marketplace has helped put musical instruments into the hands of students at more than 70 youth music education organizations. Reverb’s goal is to donate $500,000-worth of musical instruments by the end of 2019.

See how he does, and, of course, find out how many of these questions you can answer yourself!

The Vamps might have just announced their new EP Missing You and released Right Now with Krept & Konan but they’ve still found time to auction off some of their old equipment in support of Teenage Cancer Trust. Today it’s been announced the quartet have teamed up with music equipment marketplace Reverb for a special sale of their guitars, amps and more which have been used on their many previous tours.

Californian luthier Justin Abernethy has built a reputation for creating boutique instruments that combine his love for offsets and vintage gear. The man himself tells us all about his journey to boutique guitar nirvana…

Brace yourselves The Academy Is… fans, for you can now purchase a piece of TAI history. Drummer Andy “The Butcher” Mrotek has opened a Reverb shop to sell his drum gear the band used during tours, but you’ll need to act fast before it’s gone!

You can finally get your fingers on a rock god’s legendary ax with these faithful recreations. The back stories are pretty good, too

Despite the contested debate over whether building a partscaster is truly building a guitar or rather just assembling one, it is still a great learning experience for every guitar (or bass) player. Not only do you end with a customized unique guitar but hopefully a greater understanding of guitar maintenance and repair as well. Over the next few weeks I invite you to follow me as I attempt to build my first partscaster, no guitar kit, no wood blanks, just pieces and parts found online hand-installed by me.

"The World of Vintage Guitars" è supportato dal mercato online di Reverb.com e gli esperti di Reverb saranno a disposizione per fornire consigli sugli strumenti e le attrezzature vintage di alta qualità durante il Musikmesse Plaza.

A variety of CEOs, have spoken up about the value of liberal arts degrees. "A well-rounded liberal arts degree establishes a foundation of critical thinking. Critical thinkers can accomplish anything," Reverb.com CEO David Kalt wrote in the WSJ, for instance.

A couple years back, to mark the 50 year anniversary of the Cry Baby, the first commercially available wah pedal, hitting the market, Reverb.com's Joe Shadid performed 50 of the most classic wah riffs in a single take. Among the better-known classic songs he demonstrates are Earl Hoooker’s “Wah Wah Blues,” George Harrison’s “Wah-Wah,” Jeff Beck’s “I Ain’t Superstitious,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused.”

Reverb places equal importance on culture and brand. The company’s level of customer experience leaves its primary competitor, eBay, in the dust. Music creation is an emotional process and Reverb encourages its staff to channel their passions through every customer interaction. Employees are tasked with creating dialog and developing content that is inspired by their personal preferences and reverence for great equipment, artists, and music. The results are unique, fueled by passion, and serve to empathetically connect with the needs of its musician community in meaningful ways. Customers are willing to lay down $10,000 on a guitar without even playing it. Reverb’s culture is its brand and its brand is its culture and this alignment results in amazing customer experience.

You’re never too old to learn to play a musical instrument, but finding a tutor and the time for lessons is another matter. If working with a personal teacher isn’t an option for you — or your interest in noodling around on a guitar, a piano or another instrument is still at the casual level — turn to your laptop or mobile device to learn the basics in your own time and space. Here are a few ways to get started.

Affirm’s tempting pay-less-upfront-now proposition is popping up on more and more retail product pages. Instead of forking over a full $250 for a new rug, pay just $25 a month for 10 months, with 0 percent APR. That sounds a lot better on the surface, but Affirm’s loan system has broader implications for retailers.

The allure of the junk-shop bargain is one of the biggest thrills in guitar buying. But tread carefully as some used ‘bargains’ can end up being more expensive than they first appear. Here, we guide you through the process and tell you exactly how to buy a used guitar…

Though it may not have the notoriety of Nashville, Chicago has long been one of the country’s most notable music hubs. It has been called home by musicians from every genre imaginable, including jazz legend Nat King Cole, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, hip hop mogul Kanye West and pop punk sensation Fall Out Boy. But what you may not know is that Chicago is also home to a number of innovative music tech startups.

For such a short moth, there was a lot that happened in the Chicago tech scene in February. Companies raised a healthy sum of $128 million and Relativity announced plans to add 300 new team members before the year’s end. Along with that, 15 executives found new positions across a number of companies. Here’s a few you should know about.

Social media is currently the number one method used to find out about the latest trends, news, film, and music. The top four apps currently used are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram, with billions of users each month. Top businesses know the importance of utilizing social media to grow their audience and their profits – like Reverb.com. Reverb is the world’s most popular music marketplace, providing an online platform for musicians to find the perfect music gear, or to sell their own. And when Mallory Nees became their Social Media Manager, Reverb saw a tremendous growth in their social media followers, especially among women.

While Jimi Hendrix’s main instrument throughout his career was a Fender Stratocaster, he also played Gibson Vs and SGs. One thing he never played, of course, was a Gibson-branded Strat, primarily because they never existed. But in 2009, they almost did, when Gibson announced a collaboration with Authentic Hendrix LLC to produce three Jimi Hendrix Strat-style guitars.

A 1998 gold DS-1 Distortion, one of Boss’ rarest pedals of all time, is available for purchase on Reverb.com. The golden stompbox, produced to commemorate the shipment of 6,000,000 Boss pedals, boasts the phrase “to celebrate 6,000,000 units, Feb 28, 1998” on its footswitch just below the Boss logo. Additionally, the standard input and output labels are replaced with "Oct 1977" and "Feb 1998" referencing the date of the first-ever Boss pedal and that of the 6,000,000 shipped milestone.

The three-day (June 28-30) event at the sprawling (250,000 square feet) arts complex will also feature a raft of non-musical events, including John Hodgman's Comedy Cabaret, Genelec Sound Installation, Wilco Loft Reverb sale, axe throwing, nature hikes, Ghost Town studios screen printing workshop, a Euclid Records pop-up shop and yoga

While the fashion, food, and fitness industries tend to dominate the conversations around influencer marketing, the truth is that influencers exist everywhere products are sold.

Reverb.com is a marketplace that makes it easy for anyone to buy and sell musical instruments online. The company offers a number of features to instrument sellers, such as a free customizable website, and assigns metadata to each product to make searching and filtering easy for prospective buyers.

The good people of Reverb walked us through their massive booth this year at the NAMM show and let us see all the unique and custom pieces of gear that go through their hands!

The She Rocks Awards celebrated seven years on Jan. 25, honoring some of the music industry’s leading ladies. The annual event was held at the House of Blues Anaheim, in the midst of The 2019 NAMM Show. Helmed by Laura B. Whitmore, founder of the Women's International Music Network (WiMN), this year recognized vanguards such as Terri Nunn of Berlin, Lisa Loeb, Nita Strauss, and Macy Gray.

Green Day are cleaning out their closets. The veteran punk trio will be offering up more than 100 pieces of gear from the past 25 years, nearly 50 of Billie Joe Armstrong's guitars, as well as five of Tre Cool's drum sets in the Official Green Day Reverb Shop, which launches on Feb. 7.

Not to name-drop or anything, but Bonita-raised drummer and multi-instrumentalist Ilan Rubin has played for Nine Inch Nails, Angels and Airwaves, Paramore and NOFX, just to list a few. He even has his own project called the New Regime. With that kind of resume, you'd expect him to have collected quite the assortment of signature and custom gear. Based on everything that will soon be up for sale on the Official Ilan Rubin Reverb Shop at Reverb.com, that's exactly the case.

We join Dan Orkin of Reverb.com to find out more about the current state of the vintage-guitar market and hear his expert tips on how to get a great deal on your next second-hand or vintage guitar – and avoid expensive mistakes...

Rock N Roll Vintage and Fanny’s House of Music have used Reverb.com to great advantage, significantly boosting their respective profits. Since its launch in 2013, Reverb.com has become an integral and nearly ubiquitous tool for independent music shops working to expand their reach from a local to a national (and increas- ingly international) level.

2018 highlight: Producer and all-round synth-nut, DeLay can be found leading the charge over on Reverb.com. While most of his work may now be taking him away from appearing in front of the camera, he’s still responsible for the wide-ranging amount of content to come out of Reverb towers.

In the past, guitarist Joe Shadid has treated viewers to Reverb Riff Marathon videos where he plays 20 famous Telecaster riffs and 20 famous Les Paul riffs in one take. Now, he’s offering up some Christmas cheer with a new Reverb video, which features Joe, on a Rivolta by Dennis Fano Mondata XVIII Russo Red with Bigsby tremolo, and Jake Hawrylak running through a one-take medley of 20 famous Christmas songs.

Freezing temperatures and chilling wind gusts are becoming more frequent in Chicago — and next in line is the occasional snow storm. Now, the city doesn’t shut down when it snows, but just because the CTA is running and the roads are open doesn’t mean you want to go outside. Fortunately, Chicago tech knows how you feel. Continue below to check out five local tech companies that make life after after a big snow storm just a bit easier.

For many, giving is a fundamental aspect of enjoying the holidays, and simple acts of kindness can go a long way in demonstrating that we care about others. Chicago tech companies understand this, and many take time during the holiday season to give back to the greater-Chicago community. We spoke to 11 companies about their holiday philanthropy efforts and what drives their benefaction.

Like most people, Reverb.com Social Media Coordinator Mallory Nees never grew up dreaming of working in customer support. “My career in customer support was primarily the means to an end as I pursued my dream of becoming a world-famous theater actor,” joked Nees, who holds a BFA in Acting from DePaul. However, her tune changed once she joined Reverb’s customer engagement team. Like many Reverb employees, Nees is a musician, and she quickly developed a passion for the company and its customers.

You may want to spring clean your house, barn, garage or attic because these ordinary things just lying around could be worth money. Click ahead to see 25 valuable things that could be hiding in your house.

On this week’s edition of Find of the Week, we’ve got Mikey Demus of Skindred fame and his all-new official Reverb shop! That’s right, the guitarist is having some incredibly rare and unique sales via his Reverb shop, which will officially launch on December 17th, so mark your calendars!

Yes, every tech company wants to finish the year strong, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t time to take a night and celebrate the year’s successes over drinks, dinner and dancing. As you might have guessed, Chicago tech companies are particularly good at throwing parties. Continue below to see how some of the city’s tech companies celebrated the year’s end, and be sure to check back next week for part two of our holiday party series.

Ever wanted to own a white 1962 Gibson SG Standard electric guitar that was used on Son Volt’s debut album “Trace”? Now's your chance. Son Volt’s Jay Farrar is putting a boatload of his musical instruments, Son Volt test pressings, records from his personal collection and more up for sale to the general public through reverb.com, which is presenting the Official Jay Farrar of Son Volt Reverb Shop and the Official Jay Farrar of Son Volt Reverb LP Shop.

We have written a number of articles about Reverb.com in the USA over the last few years and thought it was a good time to update you (especially UK retailers): The rapid success and growth of the platform is remarkable and after five years, 250,000 sellers have sold more than $1.0billion on the site!

A big part of being a financially intelligent DJ and getting the equipment you need is being able to sell your used DJ gear at a good price, quickly. The internet has evolved and there are more options than eBay & Craigslist. In this guide, we go deep on various channels available, what you need to know about each and how to offload your gear at the best price possible.

The Women’s International Music Network (the WiMN) proudly announces the 2019 She Rocks Awards honorees. Paying tribute to women in the music industry, the seventh annual She Rocks Awards will take place at 7:30p.m. on Friday, January 25, 2019, at the House of Blues Anaheim, during the NAMM Show.

There are loads of deals floating around this Cyber Monday for DJs and music producers. It’s more common to see savings for plug-ins and software, but this year there’s also a good chunk of hardware available with slashed price tags. So, this could be the time to splurge. From Serato, Moog, Pioneer DJ, V-Moda, Native Instruments, and more, here are the best picks to beef up your studio at a discount this holiday season.

The early 1960s must’ve been an exciting time to work for C.F. Martin & Company. Folk music was hitting a peak in the popular consciousness and Martin guitars—like the stalwart D-18 and D-28 dreadnoughts—claimed a reputation as the essential tools of the genre. A simple glance at the Martin serial number chart shows that 4,642 guitars were built in 1960, with the total reaching 12,880 in 1967. Demand was on the rise, and so was Martin's business.

If you want to make a memorable musical tribute to the Super Mario Bros. video game, you might as well play it on a guitar built using a Nintendo Entertainment System. That's exactly what musician and YouTuber Rob Scallon did in his music video, posted on Sunday.

Last week, 1871 and the CEC held the 11th Annual Momentum Awards Dinner in celebration of Chicago's fast-growing community of innovators, pioneers, and entrepreneurs. This year's event observed the theme of an emergent tech ecosystem, which includes emerging technologies, leaders, and opportunities that embody the creative potential of change and innovation. During the ceremony, a number of awards were presented to local companies and entrepreneurs who embody the emerging and creative potential of change and innovation – in case you couldn't make it, we've got everything that you missed right here.

The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr is selling off a host of amps used throughout his career with the iconic New York garage-rockers. Eight amps are set go up for sale on Reverb, including several Fender Hot Rod DeVille combos. “These amps have been played on early Strokes albums and all over the world - two of them as recently as last year, when we played Lollapalooza Argentina in front of 90,000 people,” said Hammond.

Recently, I read a statistic that’s been keeping me up at night: Only 34 percent of U.S. workers are engaged, according to a recent Gallup poll. That means a whopping two out of every three employees are checked out at work. The same poll found that these unengaged employees are costing companies billions of dollars a year in lost productivity and, unsurprisingly, many employees are searching for new jobs.

Halloween celebrations are opportunities to express interests and creativity in a fun and engaging way. In the workplace, they’re also a great way for coworkers to bond. We spoke to nine companies about their Halloween festivities this year, and how the festivities help them balance work and play.

You may want to spring clean your house, barn, garage, or attic because these things ordinary things just lying around could be worth money.

IF YOU WANT SOME EXTRA cash in retirement, you may be thinking about putting household goods up for sale. Among boomers, 33 percent mentioned they plan to sell items they don’t want anymore, according to a June 2018 survey from Finder.com. “Selling your stuff online – from old cellphones you’ve acquired over the years to that record collection collecting dust in your attic – has never been easier,” says David Kalt, CEO and founder of Reverb.com, an online marketplace for musical instruments.

It was announced today that Midnight Oil will be selling a bunch of their instruments, amps, and more on Reverb. The sale starting next week features almost 40 pieces of gear used by the group throughout their massive 4 decade career.

Once a Reverb.com pro, now part of an independent retail team, Music Makers' Evan Holmes serves up advice for the fourth quarter. The retailer's coordinated use of Reverb and its own e-commerce site has set a blueprint for what the Music Makers team calls "bringing Main Street to the mainstream." Now a year into Music Makers' transformation and entering the fourth quarter, Holmes weighs in with five tips for using Reverb to crank up sales this holiday season.

At large companies with hefty budgets, a full-blown journey marketing exercise might consist of investing in expensive marketing technology, hiring a research firm, and more. But even as a small business with limited time and money, you can still identify your various customer types, map out their pathways to conversion, and better connect with them along the way. Here are just a few pages you can take out of the “journey marketing” playbook.

Sonic Youth are the latest band to team up with online instrument marketplace Reverb to sell off some gear and memorabilia, making select guitars, effects pedals, and other items available directly to fans and collectors. Among the items for sale are a Japanese-made Fender Jazzmaster (“used by [Thurston] Moore for over a decade”), a Fender Precision bass used by Kim Gordon in Sonic Youth as well her solo career, and hundreds of effects pedals used by the band throughout their career. Preview some of the items at Reverb. Items go on sale October 30.

During World of Bluegrass last month in Raleigh, I caught a live set from Hawktail, who were there as an official Bluegrass Ramble Showcase act. A few weeks later, I discovered this video of the band doing this same number, the old time fiddle tune, Say Old Man Can You Play The Fiddle, which they recorded for the folks at Reverb.com. They also performed a tune of their own composition called In The Kitchen, which highlights Kowert again.

Great horror films aren’t just about creepy visuals and jump scares. They’re about the entire visceral experience of terror. In a new video from the music experts at Reverb, we can see how horror film scores have evolved over the years, how they attached themselves to different musical trends, and attempted to manipulate audience expectations to provoke the desired reaction.

When it comes to making sure you and the musicians at your church have all the tools needed to bring worship song to life, not all budgets are created equal. And whether you bring your own music gear or the church provides you with instruments, one fact remains: music gear can be expensive. If you're like me, you like to switch up your tools frequently to not only challenge yourself but also to keep up with the ever-evolving sounds of modern worship music.

Marty Friedman’s new live album One Bad M.F. Live! will be released tomorrow (19th) via Prosthetic Records. According to Reverb, that’s not the only Friedman collection that will be available as the ex-Megadeth guitarist will have his own Reverb shop open. Reverb has partnered with Friedman to sell nearly 20 musical instruments including guitars, amps, and gear used on albums and tours since the 90’s.

From the Wurlitzer Sideman to the TR-808 to Teenage Engineering, Reverb shares a colourful and informative 15-minute documentary on the history of the drum machine. Moby, who is selling 200 drum machines for charity, contributes.

If you want to make electronic music, but you also want to use your hands, an analog synth or drum machine is your best bet to get in the nob-twiddlin' mood. Luckily, Moby is unloading nearly 200 of his favorite drum machines from his personal collection. "This is the equipment I've used to make all my records,” Moby said of the gear. “I have so much equipment and almost all of it has profound sentimental value to me, including synthesizers I started using in the '80s. But rather than keep it all in storage, I want to sell it for a good cause."

Reverb, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling music gear, announced that it raised more than $20,000 for the Girls Rock Camp Alliance through its Girls Rock Reverb Charity Auction. Proceeds from the auction—which featured gear, signed memorabilia, and more from artists ranging from Lady Gaga and Hayley Williams to Dolly Parton and Kacey Musgraves—will support more than 100 programmes across the globe offering summer rock camps and related music education programming for female, transgender, and gender non-conforming youth.

In a 1977 advertisement, Travis Bean Guitars heralded their aluminum-necked designs as "the first new development in the electric guitar since the 1930s." Hyperblolic as this may have been, it's a claim that reflects a company that was confident in the instruments they were building.

Dave Grohl is auctioning off the instruments he used to make his new solo project, Play. Reverb will host the auction, which begins October 9th and ends October 21st. The lots will include brand-new instruments and gear donated by Fender, Gibson, DW Drums, Gretsch, Ludwig, Masters of Maple and Zildjian. Grohl autographed every piece, while proceeds from the auction will benefit "organizations that help young generations of new musicians ‘just play.'"

Creativity is essential to development teams in looking for solutions to complex problems, but creativity can be a tough thing to maintain. To learn more about where great developers find their inspiration, we asked seven leading Chicago tech companies about how they think outside the box. Reverb.com is a marketplace for new and used musical equipment. The company also operates Reverb LP, which sells physical copies of music. Software Engineer Tam Dang said learning from missteps helps keep her team creative.

In his position at Reverb, an online marketplace to buy and sell new, used and vintage music gear, De helps the startup’s sellers add crucial e-commerce integrations to their shops to increase their sales. During his time at Reverb, the number of integrations deployed has increased by 150 percent, according to the company. Additionally, De has spearheaded a vision-based artificial intelligence project with Microsoft that enables Reverb’s tech to automatically identify guitars in photos by model, type and finish.

Today, Reverb, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling music gear, announced that bassist Mike Merritt—best known for playing with the Conan O’Brien house bands—has launched The Official Mike Merritt Reverb Shop (link will be live at 10:00am CT). The shop will feature several bass guitars used by Merritt throughout his career.

Out of 519 nominees, we are pleased to reveal the Top 100 Finalists for the 2018 Chicago Innovation Awards. The winners will be announced at the Harris Theater on October 29th. One of these winners will be chosen by YOU — click the button below to learn more about these organizations and cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award!

C’est un site qui porte bien son nom. Depuis son lancement en 2013, Reverb.com n’a cessé de faire écho, de la France à l’Angleterre en passant par l’Allemagne et l’Australie. Mais tout a commencé à Chicago. C’est sur l’aire de jeu de Cheap Trick et des Smashing Pumpkins que le serial-entrepreneur David Kalt a l’idée d’une vie : créer le eBay de la musique.

On the latest in Reverb's Synth Sounds series, Will Kurk dives into the cosmic Moroder-produced disco classic.

Maroon 5 has been together for two decades, and they’re moving to bigger and better things — including their equipment! The chart-topping rock band will be selling almost 200 pieces of gear it had previously used both on stage and in the studio on Reverb.com’s Techno Empire shop. Items including microphones, guitars, drum machines and more will be available on Thursday, Aug. 30.

When it comes to selling on Reverb, Thunder Road Guitars' Frank Gross is a bit of an expert. An early adopter, Gross joined the platform about a month and a half after it first launched in 2013. While Thunder Road Guitars now has two brick-and-mortar locations - one in Seattle and one in Portland, Oregon - the vintage and rare guitar dealer has stayed true to its e-commerce roots by conducting about 65 percent of its business through online platforms including Reverb, which accounts for 25 percent of the business' total sales.

Oft confused with the similar phaser, flangers are in fact a distinct species all of their own. Reverb’s Dan Orkin examines the 10 bestselling pedals found on the online marketplace. The flanger is a simple yet deceptively versatile breed of effect. The way a flanger operates is similar to a phase shifter or chorus – by duplicating and offsetting the signal of the guitar with a short and modulating delay.

Beyond the direct competition from Amazon, small businesses are feeling the effects of the new generation of customer the company has created. Both the Millenials who have grown up with the eCommerce giant and the older generations who have become accustomed to it now expect the “Amazon experience” regardless of where they’re shopping. They want options. They want free shipping. They want their items to arrive shortly after they click “Place Your Order.” How can small businesses keep up?

Musical instrument marketplace Reverb has gotten ahead of its customers’ needs by taking a truly omnichannel approach to customer service. With its emphasis on strong knowledge management practices—and enthusiasm for self-service innovations that underlie them—the team proves that technology and support professionals can make beautiful music together.

We have a new guest in the form of Justin DeLay from Reverb.com who gives us some stats and info on Reverb's sales trends. After which we talk Novation's Launchpad, Korg Gadget used exclusively for movie score by composer Tony Longworth, and the crazy, free Floyd gig in Venice 1989.

At Reverb, an online marketplace for buying and selling music gear, it’s not unusual for employees to spring into an impromptu afternoon jam session, or to see music stars like Billy Corgan roaming the office halls. The startup, which has raised more than $45 million in venture capital, has an office that features music throughout, including walls that are lined with records and electric guitars.

Mastodon‘s Brent Hinds is selling off items from his personal instrument collection – guitars, organs and more used in the recording of the heavy metal band’s albums – through Reverb.com. "There comes a time in your life when you have to get rid of everything and for me, that time is now," Hinds said in a statement of the sale. "The music gear I’m selling in my Reverb shop is legitimate shit. All of it was heavily used—all over the world on tour, in the studio, and beyond. A lot of early Mastodon work was created on this gear."

The annual Inc. 5000 list is out, and many Chicago companies made this year’s prestigious ranking of fastest-growing private companies. This year Chicago moved up to sole possession of third place in terms of cities with the most Inc. 5000 companies. It was tied for third last year with Atlanta, which slipped to fourth. The Inc. 5000 rankings are measured by percent revenue growth from 2014 to 2017.

Today’s featured guitar is a TB1000A, or Artist, which was listed by the Chicago Music Exchange earlier this year. The Artist model was the higher-end counterpart to the standard TB1000S Bean model and was distinguished by its carved Hawaiian koa top, and block inlays in the style of a Black Beauty Les Paul Custom. The body shape on both models actually evolved some in their original run. The horns were made a bit larger in mid 1977, and the body made a bit thinner the following year.

For years I wanted to learn to play the guitar. Since I have limited experience, it's a bit daunting. Going to the guitar store I found literally hundreds of acoustic and electric guitars for sale, and no real guide to what's right for a middle aged beginner. I wanted a used acoustic guitar, in case I decided I simply didn't have the commitment or chops. Trying to find a good, reasonable quality guitar was really overwhelming. There are guitars on Craig's list, Reverb, at the guitar centers. New and used. Dozens of manufacturers. How's a rookie to know what to do?

That guitar or drum set you bought years ago because you thought you were going to start a band can be turned into cash if your dreams of rock stardom never materialized. In fact, J. Money reported selling an electric guitar, amps and accessories on Craigslist for $225. You also can sell musical instruments online through sites such as Reverb, which charges a 3.5 percent fee on sales, or at a physical retailer such as Guitar Center.

If you’re on the hunt for some new gear, a couple of things might cross your mind. Do you buy new or old? Do you look at shops, online marketplaces, or Facebook groups? Do you buy in Australia or overseas? When it comes to buying and renting gear, there are lots of things you may need to consider. Let’s take a look.

Reverb.com is a marketplace for new and used instruments and music equipment. The company also recently launched a marketplace for physical copies of music, Reverb LP. Dan Melnick is Reverb’s COO and the president of Reverb LP. Melnick said that when it comes to his team’s priorities, designing mobile-focused software and user experiences tops the list.

This week, we talk to Reverb.com’s Dan Orkin. Dan recounts the company’s early days, its explosive growth, some current marketplace trends when it come to guitars (including what’s hot right now and what isn’t) and a lot more.

A Freedom Custom double-neck, a Teye Mother of Pearl and a vintage 1973 Telecaster Bass are among the offerings. Former Black Crowes—and current Magpie Salute—guitarist Rich Robinson is partnering up with Reverb to sell off some of his favorite guitars. The axes on offer include a Freedom Custom double-neck, a Teye Mother of Pearl and a vintage 1973 Telecaster Bass, among others.

Reverb.com, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling music gear, announced on July 25 they have added Crystal Morris, CEO and co-founder of leading case manufacturer Gator Cases, to its board of directors. The long-time musical instrument industry executive and music education advocate will support Reverb—which recently surpassed $1 billion in total sales on the platform—as it continues to expand.

David Kalt remembers, with a smile, the Fender Stratocaster he dreamed of as a kid. He also recalls that great day in 1985 when he finally got a 1970s Strat! The instrument has a special place in his own passion for music, an idea and feeling he never forgot. In fact, it was that passion for musical instruments that inspired him to create Reverb.

Foo Fighters‘ Chris Shiflett is selling 20 guitars from his personal collection, including ones he used during his tenure with the rock band. "I have an excess of guitars that I’ve gotten over the years — I have more than I could even really play and more than I do play. It would be fun to see these things find a home elsewhere, where somebody’s going to actually play them and put scratches on them," Shiflett said of the sale.

Gang of Youths frontman Dave Le'aupepe is auctioning off the trusty six-string he used to write and record Go Farther In Lightness, the band's Hottest 100-busting, ARIA winning second studio album. The instrument is being auctioned through online music gear marketplace Reverb.com, and the singer-guitarist will donate all proceeds to Refugee and Immigrant Centre for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a Texas-based non-profit that provides free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees.

More than $600 million worth of music gear will be sold on the Reverb.com site this year. If it were a stand-alone music products retailer, it would rank as the second or third largest in the country. But as an online platform that allows thousands of individuals and businesses to connect with buyers, it falls into a different category.

In our 21st episode, we talk with Reverb.com CEO, David Kalt, who gives us a unique, behind-the-scenes look at what has grown into the world’s most popular music gear website, connecting millions of people around the globe. We also talk about a surprise move by Eastwood Guitars in The Shorts. And at the Back of the Show, we find out if polarization really helps.

Jamila Woods has joined forces with Louder Than a Bomb founder Kevin Coval for a limited edition 7-inch that will be released via Reverb LP and charity-focused label Vinyl For A Cause. All proceeds from the 7-inch will benefit Young Chicago Authors, an inclusive organization specializing arts education programs, at which both Woods and Coval serve as artistic directors.

ARIA award-winning local producer Lachlan “Magoo” Goold has worked with some of Australia’s biggest and best bands, and now he’s preparing to auction off some sweet studio gear that’s helped shape some iconic albums. He’s still mixing bands, but a new role as Head of Audio at JMC Academy in Brisbane means he’s selling his studio, Applewood, and some outboard studio equipment he’s used throughout his career along with it.

Reverb is an online marketplace for buying, selling, and learning about music gear. Late last year, they launched Reverb LP an online site for buying and selling records. David Kalt is the Founder & CEO of Reverb. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in computer science from DePaul University. Their dynamic growth in the last 5 years, has allowed them to open offices all around the world.

MIN’s editor, Gary Cooper, speaks with Kevin Drost, Chief Strategy Officer of Reverb.com – the online sales portal that could finally give UK music shops the chance to compete with the online giants. Though Reverb. com has been around for a few years now (since 2013 in fact) I have to admit that I had been only peripherally aware of it until recently, when a retailer friend told me he had started advertising on it.

David Kalt is the founder of Reverb.com, a marketplace for musical instruments and gear, and the owner of the Chicago Music Exchange, a vintage guitar store in Chicago. He also co-founded and was the former CEO of online broker optionsXpress.

Moby is doing the impossible: he’s selling his entire record collection for charity. Literally every single record the legendary producer has ever bought or purchased or carried around the world for his early DJ sets will be available for purchase. "I would rather you have them then me, because if you have them, you’ll play them, you’ll love them," he says, "and the money will go to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. So everybody wins. Well, except me, because now I don’t have any records."

Reverb.com is making a serious run for the title of “Chicago’s coolest tech office. The music gear and equipment marketplace announced today that it has doubled the size of its Roscoe Village headquarters, which now occupies 19,000 square feet. The expanded space features music-inspired artwork, a full video recording studio and space for a lot more team members.

Headlines haven’t been kind to electric guitars. Slipping sales year over year made for a bleak portrait, and by last September, even Eric Clapton wondered if the instrument was on its way out. “Maybe the guitar is over,” he mused, responding to reports that electric guitar sales had crashed half a million in a single decade and that industry leaders Gibson and Fender were both in debt.

While this may come as a shock to some, the opportunity to play ping pong and drink beer during office hours is rarely why people leave corporate life behind for the tech world. For many, the draw is the ability to make an instant impact with their work at companies whose cultures values new ideas and approaches. We spoke to six Chicago technologists who all worked in corporate America to learn more about why they left it all behind to join fast-growing tech companies.

Lady Gaga, Paramore's Hayley Williams and Kacey Musgraves are among the women donating their gear and memorabilia to be auctioned off on Reverb for a good cause. The proceeds from the auction will benefit the non-profit Girls Rock Camp Alliance, which works to provide summer camps and education opportunities for female, transgender and gender non-binary youth.

In 2016, U.S. consumers spent $360 billion at online retailers, with Amazon accounting for a whopping $150 billion of that. In other words, almost 50 cents of every ecommerce dollar goes to Amazon. Amazon is hard to beat on price, selection, and convenience. So what ecommerce opportunities are left for startups? This is a question my fund looks at very carefully, since we’ve been focused on high-potential ecommerce plays.

Moby is selling a variety of musical equipment and gear he's used throughout his career to raise money for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "This is the equipment I’ve used to make all my records," Moby said. "I have so much equipment and almost all of it has profound sentimental value to me. But rather than keep it all in storage, I want to sell it for a good cause."

Linkin Park enthusiasts will soon be able to buy nearly 200 pieces of gear used by the band throughout its 17-year career. The items include the keytar featured in the “What I’ve Done” music video to a theremin used by Mike Shinoda. All gear will be on sale at Techno Empire’s Reverb.com store starting Wednesday (April 4). Other key pieces of equipment going up for sale are the Amplivox S602M Megaphone Brad Delson used on tour in 2011 and a sticker-covered road case.

Reverb.com, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling music gear, has hired Gérard Danjou - former Executive Vice President of Global Business Development at Gibson Brands, Inc - to drive growth of Reverb in EMEA and APAC. Over the past two years, Reverb buyers, sellers, orders, and sales outside the U.S. have grown by over 500 percent and as Global Operations Director, Danjou will cultivate continued international growth and success.

David Kalt is the founder of Reverb.com, a marketplace for musical instruments and gear, and the owner of the Chicago Music Exchange, a vintage guitar store in Chicago. He also co-founded and was the former CEO of online broker optionsXpress.

We caught up with Reverb.com's founder and CEO, David Kalt, after this year's NAMM Show, where he was the NAMM Young Professionals keynote speaker. What follows is a great stand-in for those who could not make it to this year's keynote, as well as an exceptional continuation for those who were able to attend.

Starting in 1961, amidst the rising popularity of solidbody and thinline guitars, Gibson doubled down on its lineup of larger-sized hollowbodies with a series of artist models. First came the Johnny Smith and Barney Kessel models in 1961, followed by the Tal Farlow signature in ’62. A few years later, this artist line expanded with the launch of two Trini Lopez models: the Standard and the Deluxe.

Here at Reverb, we see thousands upon thousands of pedals and effects sell through our platform every year. From boutique shops and independent builders offering small-batch stompboxes to impassioned players simply selling a pedal they aren’t using anymore, we see an incredibly diverse cross-section of pedal commerce that incorporates just about every make and model available to today’s discerning guitarists. This constant flow of sales gives us an awful lot of data to explore and a unique vantage from which to examine various subsections of the market.

Establishing an international presence is an important milestone for many growth-stage companies — and an important one to get right, at that. We asked seven Chicago tech companies about the most important things they’ve learned in building their international teams, and how global footprints have helped shape their company cultures.

Nasdaq talks with Chicago Innovation Award winner and founder of Reverb, David Kalt about the marketplace for musicians.

Which Chicago-area companies do best by their employees? Here's the answer. Every year since 2008, Crain's Chicago Business has highlighted the local companies rated highest by their employees. In a wide-ranging questionnaire, we ask about everything from workplace comforts to benefits and culture. This project has proved so popular that this year we expanded our list of honorees to the 100 top scorers. The 2018 Best Places to Work finalists are presented here, in alphabetical order.

It's hard to build an online marketplace when the same products can be found just as easily on Amazon and eBay. But Reverb has found success in fine-tuning the way it handles data and payments. Reverb sprang forth in 2013 from a website inspired by a Chicago-based music equipment dealership and is now a fast-growing e-commerce operation that's attracted $47 million in investor capital.

If you came of age in the 1990s, you probably remember the first few Silverchair records as memorable touchstones of Australian music. And if now, 20 years later, you’re thinking about getting your own band back together – of rediscovering the chunky guitar tones you used to bash out in the garage – we’ve got some good news. Chris Joannou, one-third of Newcastle’s most famous musical export, is selling some of the instruments he collected over two decades playing bass in the band.

When Henry Brown was in his 20s and living in Chicago, he followed his dream of becoming a rock star and didn't bother with a back up plan. When the recession hit in 2008 and even jobs waiting tables between gigs were hard to come by, reality set in. So he took his prized possession — an old 1969 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Gold Top guitar he had bought for $1300 — and listed it on eBay. It sold for $2500.

Get ready, folks. We’re only three weeks out from our annual Tech Madness bracket reveal event. Each year, the Chicago Inno team hosts a reader-driven bracket competition in the spirit of March Madness to drive awareness and excitement for Chicago’s startup ecosystem.

In the past five years, Reverb.com has become one of the world’s largest music gear websites, serving as a marketplace for musicians to buy and sell used, vintage, and new music gear online. One of the driving forces behind their success is art director Lynette Sage. She works with teams across all areas of the company to develop, oversee, and implement a wide range of projects — from brand identity, to marketing campaigns, to web design and visual assets.

Eat your own dog food. Drink your own champagne. Whatever phrase you prefer, the idea is the same: Nothing shows a company’s confidence in its product like using it in-house. This is especially important in tech where companies are often asked what separates their app or software from a laundry list of competitors. To learn more about the benefits of “dogfooding,” which is totally a real term, we spoke to employees at seven Chicago tech companies who are avid users of the software and apps they build.

Reverb.com — the online marketplace for buying, selling, and learning about music gear — and Switchfoot announced that The Official Switchfoot Reverb Shop will launch on Wednesday, February 7. The shop will feature guitars, bass guitars, drums, effects pedals, and more used by the Grammy-winning alternative rock band.

Music Makers was like a lot of small-town music stores when it first opened in 2001. Owner Dave Plunk was committed to serving his Galesburg, Illinois community of around 30,000 with quality products, fair prices, and attentive service. And it was working. Then in 2004, Maytag, the area's largest employer, packed its refrigerator factory and thousands of jobs off to Mexico. With nothing on the appliance giant's scale to replace it, Galesburg suffered, and Music Makers, still located on Main Street, has struggled even as competitors, one by one, slipped from the scene.

For your Valentine's Day-hating brother: February 14th might not be his favorite holiday. OK, he hates it—but if you really can't skip over your brother when shopping for love-themed goodies, go subtle but fun with these white ebony heart-shaped guitar picks. Since he has a knack for losing things anyway, he'll have to keep 'em in case the urge to perform Green Day comes over him and he needs to pick away.

In today's Made in Chicago, we focus on Reverb.com, a Roscoe Village-based company that is a marketplace for musicians. CEO David Kalt joins us with his team to teach our anchors how to play a new instrument.

We’re an online marketplace where people buy and sell guitars, drums and other music gear. I appear in our YouTube videos, demonstrating music instruments and gear, giving guitar lessons and discussing music theory. I also teach users how to replicate or change artists’ tones. In other videos, I interview musicians, usually about one of their songs or their gear. The music industry can be tough, and for a musician like me, this is a good way to earn a steady paycheck and stay close to my art.

Reverb is an online marketplace that revolutionized how people buy and sell instruments. Now, with the launch of Reverb LP, they're looking to do the same for Vinyl.

The Women’s International Music Network (the WiMN) has announced that Melissa Etheridge and The B-52s band members Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson will be honored at the sixth annual She Rocks Awards on Friday, January 26, 2018, during the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.

Today, L.A.’s Techno Empire is selling recording equipment from The Sound Factory studio on music gear marketplace Reverb.com. The iconic L.A. studio, which has been the center of many classic recordings since the late ‘60s, will remain active while also giving artists, engineers, fans, and more the opportunity to own a piece of recording history.