CMI Music & Audio

History

CONTENTS

Active Marketing

Musical Instruments

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CMI Music & Audio has been wholly owned by the Trojkovic family since its inception back in 1978. The founder Drago Trojkovic in his role as the managing director was the main driving family member until 1996 when Peter Trojkovic joined the company on a full time basis to assist in implementation of the Companies planned future growth and expansion. Peter brings to CMI 20 years experience in the pro audio field, having been the founder and principal of one of Australia's largest audio concert production companies.
Needing a dynamic and committed sales and marketing manager CMI sought the services of Graeme Mitchell, a proven achiever and 25 year veteran in the music distribution industry. In 2002 Graeme accepted the challenge and joined the team and in 2006 was rewarded with a Directorship and Shareholding in the company making him the only non family member to do so.
CMI Music & Audio has grown to become one of Australia's largest and most respected Music Product Distributors, nationally marketing and distributing contemporary Musical Instruments and Professional Audio Products. Based in Melbourne with its head office and large national distribution Warehouse, the Company also maintains a national presence with Company sales offices in each Australian state and territory.
Armed with extensive sales, service, marketing and retail distribution experience, and coupled with local market knowledge, CMI Music & Audio are able to fulfil broad product opportunities to ensure brand exposure and success. The group prides itself on its unique approach to product marketing and customer service including after-sales service and accountability.
Each product line distributed is finely tuned and competitively priced to suit local conditions and maximise its potential in the Australian marketplace. Furthermore, each brand is marketed individually with a view to encouraging and promoting brand awareness and building Brand profile.
CMI Music & Audio are committed to expansion and growth through partnering with their strategic dealer network and innovative marketing and distribution of its major brands.

CMI Headquarters

Central Music Imports (CMI), have been at the present location since early 2000. The facility boasts 47,000 square feet, consisting of two large warehouse areas plus two product demo and display rooms incorporating a dealer training-conference facility that includes full audio visual capabilities.
Located in the western suburbs of Melbourne 10 minutes drive from the CBD, CMI is close to the picturesque and historic suburb of Williamstown, boasting some of Melbourne’s finest restaurants and accommodation. CMI dispatches many thousands of items through the doors every week and

efficiently handling the logistical challenge of shipping fragile goods Australia wide. The commitment of the staff to continually improve the performance in this field is obvious to our customers. In 2005, CMI doubled its warehouse space to cope with demand and to provide a more efficient and accurate service to our customers. CMI also provide a subsidized freight policy to assist some outlying dealers and this program provides a level of service which is unsurpassed in the music industry throughout Australia. The CMI warehouse is set up for regular unloading of 40’HC containers and efficient dispatching from small orders to concert production systems.
Rapid and accurate service is our goal and we believe that no matter how high the level of excellence achieved we can continue to improve and strive to surpass our previous accomplishments.

Outstanding Achievements

It’s great to be recognized as leaders in our field by industry peers and suppliers. Whilst we understand the effort made by manufacturers to produce products of excellence, we also believe it is imperative that CMI takes these efforts very seriously and with this in mind CMI works hard to expand the market share for the brands it represents. Our desire is not to achieve awards but to do the best job possible for our partners. Some of the awards in recent years include:

ESP 2003 - International Distributor of the Year 2006 - 2nd Place of Annual Sales Amount Digitech 2002 - Asia/Pacific Distributor of the Year 2003 - Distributor of the Year 2004 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2005 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2005 - Asia/Pacific Rim Distributor of the Year 2007 - World Distributor of the Year Hughes & Kettner 2004 - International Distributor of the Year US Music 2004 - Distributor of the Year 2005 - Distributor of the Year 2006 - Distributor of the Year 2007 - Distributor of the Year Randall 2003 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2004 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2005 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2006 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2007 - Outstanding Sales Achievment Washburn 2003 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2004 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2007 - Outstanding Sales Achievment Eden 2003 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2004 - Outstanding Sales Achievment 2007 - Outstanding Sales Achievment HK Audio 2005- Most Improved Territory

Sales Force

CMI believe sales executives provide a very useful conduit to dealers and hence are fully committed to providing our dealer base with personal sales assistance from some of the top professionals in the field. CMI have sales staff based in every major market in the country providing a service second to none Australia wide. All of the field sales staff are fully trained professionals that can provide the latest information on all products CMI distribute. The CMI Audio division have a specific product specialist, trained in conjunction with our suppliers to deal with projects that require extra attention. CMI also employ a full time trainer for MI products – providing sales staff training for dealers and end user clinics. The award winning tele-sales department at CMI provide an concise and professional service to all in coming callers to head office. CMI covers the Australian market place like no other distributor and it shows in the results.

Active Marketing

CMI began a ‘Christmas’ mail drop catalogue concept many years ago. This concept has now developed into a sixteen page document released bi-annually, in quantities that exceed 3.5 million copies and involve over 70 dealers. The catalogue is CMI’s approach to direct marketing and has extremely impressive results with each issue. The future of this CMI ‘catalogue partner’ program is

set for growth as it provides a highly cost effective advertising campaign that works!
CMI have also initiated and host the Annual 4 day Dealer Conference - Frontrunner, at this event CMI flies in, accommodates, wine and dines the top 100 plus dealers in Australia with CMI’s international suppliers. Delegates from all over the world visit Australia and present their latest marketing initiatives and products to the people selling their brands in Australia. This is an invaluable exercise for international suppliers and the strong desire for suppliers to return year after year is clear testimony to the success of Frontrunner.
CMI is also very active in local advertising, training staff in the use and selling methods of products, guitar clinics, (which feature some of Australia’s and the world’s top players) and regular in-store promotions. In the audio area, the Brand Detective catalogue has established itself as a great selling tool for audio dealers, providing full colour pictures, endless specifications and great deals for the end users. Again CMI’s commitment to advertising and promotions is unbreakable and the results of these efforts contribute to the success of CMI’s brands.

Musical Instruments

This is the original and core business of CMI. For many years CMI has been a leader in guitar products in Australia. With many years as the Digitech distributor, CMI has progressed to other leading world products such as ESP guitars and basses; Washburn guitars; banjos and mandolins; Hughes and Kettner amps; Randall and Eden amplifiers, Monterey musical instruments and accessories; Dean Markley strings; Rapco cables; UXL cables and accessories. CMI was built around supplying great value and high quality products to Australian musicians and this remains the foremost goal of the business. Products may come and go but relationships can last a lifetime and it is with this commitment CMI approaches all challenges. The growth in these brands has been strong and consistent all because CMI understand the MI market in Australia and are prepared to spend where it counts, to build brands and secure ongoing business in the market segments it covers. The future for CMI in the distribution of musical instruments is far from having peaked and we continue to aim for excellence in sales and marketing of quality products and exceptional value.

Pro Audio

CMI has been developing the Pro Audio side of the company since the late 1990’s with spectacular success. CMI introduced DB Technology speakers into the Australian market six years ago and has had exceptional success with rental companies, installation and general retail sales. Whilst CMI has been distributing Wharfedale Pro for only a few years, we can safely boast the largest number of units sold through retail sales of any other brand in the Australia market. HK Audio made a decision to switch to CMI as their Australian distributor in June ‘05 and in March ‘06 (just eight months later), CMI was awarded the accolade of Distributor Of The Year for HK Audio. Above are just a few examples of CMI’s ability to drive professional audio products in the Australian market. Be it a basic passive 10 inch horn cabinet or a full concert line array turnkey system. CMI has the staff, infrastructure and customer base to meet and exceed manufacturer’s expectations.

Key People


Drago Trojkovic Managing Director Drago founded CMI in 1978. After recognizing the need for providing quality instruments to a fast growing retail market, he set about sourcing a stable of leading brand instruments and accessories from major suppliers around the world. Today Drago Leads CMI in sourcing and supply as well as overseeing the ongoing best dealer service with a focus of providing the highest quality and value to musicians Australia wide.	Peter Trojkovic CEO/Director Peter’s history in pro audio in Australia is second to none. The driving force behind CMI’s audio department, Peter knows audio and is committed to making CMI a greater force as a distributor in Australia. His vision for the future of CMI includes all facets of the business and continues to work tirelessly towards this goal.	Graeme Mitchell Sales Director Graeme’s enthusiasm for the MI business is a major part of why the sales team at CMI has excelled. Providing the motivation and support for both the sales team and dealers has lifted CMI to the forefront of MI distributors in Australia. According to Graeme the future is very bright for CMI and is looking to add to an already successful company

CMI Brands

Our extensive range of equipment comes from some of the worlds most recognised brands, such as;

·Belkin
·DB Technologies
·Dean Markley
·Digitech
·DOD
·DSPPA
·Duracell
·E Bow
·Eden
·Eminence

·ESP
·HK Audio
·Hughes Kettner
·Italia
·Jose Ortega
·Lakland
·Mindprint
·Monterey
·Motorola
·Nashua

·Neutrik
·Parker
·Peace
·Peak
·Pheonix
·Progressive
·Prolux
·Promax
·Randall
·Rapco

·Rimshot
·Ruby
·Shure
·Soundking
·Sperzel
·Superlux
·Switchcraft
·UXL
·Vinci
·Washburn
·Whafedale Pro
·Wilkinson