The Monzino Group

Monzino Spa has the responsibility of the steering and the co-ordination of the activities. It also offers a series of services to the Group such as administration, finance and control, information technologies, general affairs and human resources. It defines the mid and long-term strategies and promotes the Group’s corporate image.

Mogar Music was founded in 1987 for the distribution of imported musical instruments and Alberto and Carla are placed in charge. From the beginning, it stood up as one of the most innovative and advanced distributors on the Italian market, thanks to its modern IT structures available to its vast network of exclusive sales agents, and its commercial policies based on values of fair trading, reliability, solidity and professional approach The brands in its catalogues are absolute market leaders. Many of them are distributed exclusively from their introduction in the Italian market: Gibson, Epiphone, Ibanez, Zoom, Tama, Zildjian, Selmer, Bach, to name just a few. Mogar Music establishes with all of them a true strategic partnership rather than a simple distribution agreement. It develops marketing strategies in co-operation with the brand owners and contributes actively to product development.

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In 1997, ten years after its foundation, the new headquarters with 3.000 square meters is inaugurated. In the following years, the premises are expandedd repeatedly to face market challenges during the company’s expansion process and the acquisition of new brands such as Engl, Laney, Line 6 and others.
In the first years of the new millennium, the range of Mogar Music’s catalogue widens further and includes prestigious names such as Mesa Boogie, DiMarzio, Ovation, Latin Percussion, Ernie Ball/Music Man, while the Gibson/Epiphone and Bach distribution are transferred to new joint ventures of the group and the brand owners. In the year 2000 www.mogarmusic.it goes on line. With this website, Mogar Music again sets a benchmark in the musical instrument market, which in these years is still tied to traditional channels of distribution, and dated communication and promotional strategies.
In 2002 Mogar Music is transformed into a joint-stock company. Carlo Bonomi, a family member, becomes its CEO. Under his guidance the first internationalization phase starts in 2003. The subsidiary branch Mogar Music France opens in Paris for the exclusive distribution of the Ibanez, Zoom, Tama and, later, the Mark Bass, Markaudio and Markacoustic brands.
In order to better meet the needs of the new and bigger market, the warehouse is outsourced to Bartolini Logistica. In this way service is significantly faster, more precise and fully computerized.
In 2008 the company further expands, opening a second subsidiary in Spain, Mogar Music Ibérica. It distributes, among other brands, Mark Bass, Markaudio and Markacoustic. In this period, the manufacture commences of wind instruments with the Group’s proprietary brand Alysée, which is exclusively distributed in Italy, France and Spain. In 2009 Mogar Music enters the pro audio sector and acquires exclusive distribution in Italy of the world famous brand Nord.
The third millennium also sees Mogar Music expand its communication activities to the new media, keeping faith to its innate vocation for innovation, modernism and customer service for both wholesale and retail customers. In 2004 another family member joined, Marco Guazzoni as managing director. He seizes the numerous opportunities offered by the internet, the many social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, and the new global communication channels such as YouTube. For these channels Mogar Music produces original audio-video content.
Mogar Music today is present in three European countries, where it exclusively distributes more than thirty of the most prestigious brands in the international market. In December 2008, the influential American magazine Music Trades collocated Mogar Music at the eighty-ninth position in the list of the two hundred and twenty-five largest companies of musical products worldwide based on 2007 turnover.

In December 2009 Music Trade magazine ranked Mogar 81st among the Top 225 MI Companies worldwide.

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Carisch was founded in 1887 as a publisher, also dealing in the commerce and importation of musical instruments and publications. In 2002, the Monzino Group acquired the ownership of the company, resuming a business that had been abandoned during the sixties: the music publishing, started by an ancestor in the 18th century and increased in the thirties under the label “A. Monzino e Garlandini”. Today, Carisch activity includes publishing, which features a catalogue of more than fifteen thousand titles of printed books, including 4.000 titles of its own production, with manufacturing and distribution of musical instruments and professional audio products. The own brands include musical instruments such as Changye guitars, Roadster drum sets, Panther electric guitars and audio systems from entry level to professional with four brands DaG, XXL, MyAudio and M1750; furthermore Carisch retains exclusive distribution of world famous brands, such as Josè Ramirez and Norman acoustic guitar brands, Godin, Fernandez and Duesenberg electric guitars and Hayden amplifiers. Carisch actually has direct premises in Milan, Paris and Madrid.

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Founded in 1887 by Giovanni Andrea Carisch and Arturo Jänichen for the import and commerce of musical instruments and sheet music, Carisch, in 1894, just a few years after its foundation, expands the business into music publishing thanks to sons Otto and Adolfo. In 1949 it becomes a proper music label under the guidance of Alberto Carisch, who aims at actually recording the songs that are published as sheet music by his own publishing house. Carisch soon becomes one of the most important labels. It reaches the peak of its success in the early Sixties, thanks to the hits of Peppino di Capri and to the distribution of The Beatles’ records in Italy. At the end of the Sixties, however, it enters a period of crisis. In the Eighties, Maurizio Carisch of the fifth Carisch generation re-launches the company with a new management team. He develops a new strategy that specifically aims at popular music. From these years many hits are still remembered, like the Sanremo Festival Hit Compilations, and the highly popular albums of Zucchero, for instance - up to the recent Vasco Rossi, Ligabue, Bocelli, Pausini, Ramazzotti and many others. The label continues to dedicate attention to classical music too, increasing the sheet music production of great composers like Sergio Calligaris. In 1989 Maurizio decides to sell the company to Warner Chappell Music Italiana. The management and sales teams remain unaltered, and a new phase of internationalization begins. Two companies are founded in Europe. The first of these, in 1993 in Spain, is Nueva Carisch España, which acquires the Music Distribucion catalogue in 2000 and the publishing branch of Real Musical in 2005. In this way Nueva Carisch España becomes market leader in Spain for didactic, classical and pop music scores. In 1998 in France, first with the acquisition of the Imp France catalog and then, in 1999, with the acquisition of Musicom, the new company Carisch Musicom is established. During these years Warner tries to broaden its business range: in 1991 it acquires New Kary, a company that distributes musical instruments, but it is soon forced to abandon this market and concentrate on the publishing sector only. Warner remains proprietor until 2002, when the Monzino Group purchases Carisch, appreciating its century-long success story and tradition that was passed on from father to son. This strategic choice is based on two considerations: firstly, the willingness to reactivate a family tradition, as the Monzinos had been publishers from 1772, date of birth of famous composer Giacomo Antonio Monzino, until the nineteen seventies; and, secondly, the capability to accompany the publishing business with the distribution of musical instruments, transferring know-how that has endured through many generations. In 2008 Carisch enters a new phase of development thanks to the arrival of Roberto Magrini, who is very well-known and appreciated in the music and the recording business, where he has worked since the Sixties. Carisch becomes a joint-stock company and the Group’s industrial core featuring two divisions: the first division, under the Carisch logo, continues with music publishing and teaching (the development of learning methods as well as the production and distribution of didactic musical instruments); the second, under the Monsound logo, following the acquisition of the branch from the company of the same name, is dedicated specifically to the manufacture of audio systems and the distribution of high-end musical instruments.
To face the most recent challenges, Carisch has renewed its website: it now offers avant-gardes services and has become an agile and complete medium, capable of creating interconnections between instruments, music scores and learning methods. Information on titles, musical instruments and audio equipment is fully searchable. Users can find their favorite pieces by searching in the music scores or by listening to audio contents and videos, and subscribe to a newsletter. In the future it will be possible to take interactive lessons held by famous Maestri.
In 2009, in order to facilitate and intensify relations with its editors, Carisch leaves the headquarters in San Giuliano Milanese and transfers the publishing and didactic and professional musical instruments Division to Milan; the audio division, along with logistics, move in with the other companies of the Group in Lainate to encourage the exchange of know-how in the instrument wholesale business.

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Gewa Med was founded in April, 2005 as a Joint Venture with Gewa GmbH (Germany) and Lorenzo Aramini is placed in charge of its management. The historical German company was established in 1925 by Georg Walther, and its activity is related mainly to acoustic musical instruments. Through the years, Gewa has become one of the most important manufacturers and distributors of musical instruments and accessories worldwide, developing an international sales network with its own subsidiaries and creating strong relations with manufacturers in the world’s emerging markets. The Gewa Med joint venture is headed today by Marco Checchi, and it has allowed the Monzino Group to expand its catalogue with more than one thousand pages including many prestigious brands like DW Drums, Conn-Selmer Group, Roy Benson, Tycoon Percussion, Laboga Amplifiers, VGS Guitars & Basses and many others, in addition to an endless accessory line and GEWA branded products.
The Monzino Group is among the pioneers of joint venturing with companies from abroad: in 1986 with Roland, in 1990 with Yamaha, which Monzino had already been distributing since 1987, and in 2002 with Gibson USA. These joint ventures have strengthened the relationship with customers and artists in the MI market.

On the occasion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the Monzino group, the Monzino Family establishes in June, 1999, the Antonio Carlo Monzino Foundation. Emanuela Manenti Monzino is placed in charge of its management, as Vice President. Its first act is the donation of the family’s collection of antique musical instruments to the City of Milan, where it is on permanent display in the exhibition rooms of the Sforzesco Castle. The mission of the Foundation is the preservation and the valorization of the family’s artistic heritage and the promotion of music education as a basic element of the cultural formation of the individual starting since the early age.

In order to execute the wishes of the partners to separate the trading business from the real estate business, in 2007 a partial and proportional company split-up, 1750 Immobiliare S.p.A., is established. In this way, an independent company is created, allowing a dynamic management of the patrimony and at the same time favors the monitoring the performance of the different business areas. Its main mission is the management, valorization and optimization of the Monzino Family’s real estate possessions, and the development and growth of new initiatives. Its prevailing aim is the acquisition, sale and construction (on its own or with contractors) of land and of buildings for residential, industrial or agricultural use, along with works of urbanization, and of maintenance, as well as the promotion and development of real estate projects for third parties. As far as its governance is concerned, among the administration and control systems required by the law, a dualistic system was chosen, as it allows a clear separation between the roles of ownership, management and control of the company.