Iconic guitar maker more than strum of its parts

0 Rock star Eric Clapton playing his Fender Stratocaster in concert The chief executive of iconic guitar maker Fender has hailed “explosive” growth in ukulele sales and said the firm was tuning up its digital content business to attract more musicians.

Scots-born Andy Mooney said the company has launched Fender Play, an online music tuition platform, after discovering a large slice of its sales were coming from beginners buying a guitar for the first time. While Youtube huge number of has a guitar tuition videos, Mr Mooney said Fender’s subscriptionbased model would prove successful because there remained a customer appetite for premium content.

The guitar maker is also hoping the digital product will fuel demand for its musical instruments and hardware.

Mooney, who was born in Whitburn, West Lothian, said: “We have seen 1.5 million units of ukulele sold in the US. The category is absolutely exploding right now, which I feel really good about.”