Come by any Meyer Music location and you are bound to meet a member of the Meyer family. The Meyer Music name is synonymous with childhood music education, and band & orchestra instruments in Kansas City for more than 60 years. Listen in as we talk to Mike Meyer, one of the family co-owners of Meyer Music, and Chairman and Founder of Band of Angels. Band of Angels is a 501c3 Charity that collects music instruments and provides them to children in need for free so they can join band and orchestra programs. If you think music education and Kansas City, your first note was probably conducted by the Meyer family.
Transcript:
Jeff: Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. My name is Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We’re here to talk about marketing. We’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs, and we have one in the studio with us right now. Mike Meyer. I’d like to bring you in. Mike Meyer, a family co-owner of Meyer Music and also chairman and founder of Band of Angels. Mike, welcome to the show.
Mike: Well, thank you very much. It’s exciting to be here.
Jeff: It’s a good time. I want to start out because Meyer Music has been a staple of the Kansas City community for the last 60 years. You just celebrated your 60th anniversary March 5th of this year. Happy anniversary. Congratulations. That’s amazing.
Mike: Yeah, that was a big one.
Jeff: Yeah, if you are in Kansas City and you have ever, like in that period of time, if you were in band or orchestra, you have definitely played a role in that person’s family. You’ve done a lot with music at that point.
For those people who may not know the legacy, tell us what Meyer Music is.
Mike: Sure. Well, my mom and dad were both public school teachers right out of college in the 60s. And they decided they wanted to do something to earn some extra money during the summer. And they were either going to open a Dairy Queen or a music store. And luckily, it happened to be a music store because my mom had a master’s degree in piano and clarinet.
So we’re a family music store. That’s what we do. We work with kids and schools, about 70 school districts across a 200-mile area around Kansas City. And we have three locations where we do about 1,800 music lessons a week.
So we’re just kind of that good family hometown music store.
Jeff: Yeah, and it’s everything—sales, lessons, rentals. What am I missing?
Mike: Those are the big ones. Music lessons are the cornerstone. Then we sell band and orchestra instruments. We still sell some pianos, but that market is changing. And we do a lot of repair work for schools.
Jeff: Yeah, I think my parents bought a piano from your Blue Springs store back in the early ’80s.
Mike: Yeah, that would’ve been my mom.
Jeff: You’ve touched so many lives. Talk about the family legacy and how that’s evolved.
Mike: That’s probably the best part of it. A lot of people hear “family business” and think, “I don’t know if I could do that.” But for me, there’s nobody I’d rather work with.
My parents created an environment where we felt comfortable. We’d go to school, then get dropped off at Meyer Music. We’d do homework there, eat meals there. It was just home.
And when we got into the business, we were treated like professionals. Meetings had rules—no talking over each other, no personal attacks. We focused on the work, not winning arguments.
That created a great culture.
Jeff: Do you find yourself sounding like your parents now?
Mike: Oh, 100%. I understand them so much better now. My dad is still coming into the store six days a week at 86 years old.
And now with my son working with me, I see it all come full circle.
Jeff: Let’s talk business evolution. Sixty years—what’s changed?
Mike: Everything.
We started selling record players and 45s. Then organs were big. Then pianos became huge. Now that’s flipped completely.
Today, about 80% of our business is band and orchestra instruments and rentals.
The key lesson? Don’t be afraid to change.
Jeff: How do you think about that strategically?
Mike: We always looked 3–10 years out. We never expected immediate returns on changes.
Too many companies want instant gratification. That leads to bad decisions.
Jeff: Let’s talk about COVID.
Mike: That was tough. Overnight, we went from a stable business to selling what felt like the most dangerous product in the world—wind instruments.
Schools shut down. Rentals came back. Revenue stopped.
But we didn’t lay anyone off. Didn’t cut pay.
It took us 40 years to build that team—we weren’t going to lose it over a short-term crisis.
Jeff: And that paid off?
Mike: Absolutely. When schools came back, we had the people ready. Competitors didn’t.
That was the opportunity.
Jeff: Let’s talk branding—because this is where EAG comes in.
Mike: Yeah. We shifted from selling products to selling Meyer Music.
We realized people trust us—not just the brands we carry.
EAG played a huge role in helping define that. The “First Family of Music” positioning—that stuck.
Jeff: We appreciate the shoutout.
Mike:
It’s true. You helped take it to the next level.
Jeff: Let’s talk Band of Angels.
Mike: We saw families who couldn’t afford instruments. That stuck with me.
So we created a program to collect donated instruments, fix them, and give them to kids.
Now, 15 years later: 4,500+ instruments donated, 22 states reached, 750+ students sent to music camp, 20+ college scholarships
Jeff: That’s incredible.
Mike: It’s changed our company culture completely.
Jeff: Lightning round—fly fishing.
Mike: It’s a puzzle. It clears my mind. And honestly, some of our best business ideas came from standing in a stream.
Jeff: Band of Angels vs. band of demons—who wins?
Mike: Johnny wins. I’m a Johnny guy.
Jeff: Favorite music-driven movie?
Mike: I lean musicals—Dear Evan Hansen, Waitress.
Jeff: Art That Blows—favorite piece?
Mike: Hard to pick, but there’s a 7-foot droid made from instruments in our Overland Park store. Kids love it.
Jeff: Where can people find you?
Mike: MeyerMusic.com for the business. BandofAngels.org for the nonprofit.
Jeff: Outstanding. Mike Meyer, thanks for being here.
Mike: Thank you. This was fantastic.
Jeff: Great times. And we’re out.