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bCbusinEss.Ca junE 2018 BCBusiness 49 sort of give a quick lesson, and the audio is usually not so great, and the lighting is usu- ally quite mediocre," he says from Toronto. "Jared made it in a way that the quality was so much better." For his part, Sucherman was stunned when he •rst arrived at the Drumeo head- quarters. "I thought there would be, like, •ve guys in a warehouse," he says. "I was sort of taken aback when I walked into a building, and they owned the building, and they had a receptionist and sta• of 25. Upstairs it was like the incubator of Silicon Valley, with 12 people behind com- puter screens. I was really impressed and knocked out with the scope of the opera- tion that those guys have built." Drumeo's operations extend to stand- alone products, including its original DVD packages, drumsticks, clothing and a run- away hit, the Drumeo P4 Practice Pad. Released in 2016, the US$79 pad is the only Drumeo item carried in stores, and it's shipped by the thousands to Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Falk hesi- tates to put more muscle behind it, though. "I like to have the direct relationship with the customer," he says. "I just don't want to put the brand everywhere on anything." Falk is territorial about the Drumeo brand. "Build that brand, and then own the land it sits on," he declares. That philosophy explains why Falk regards social media plat- forms with caution: "YouTube can change an algorithm, and your videos go from get- ting 100,000 views to 10,000." But social media has been good to Drumeo—take a 2014 Kickstarter campaign to renovate and expand the company's headquarters, which raised more than $100,000, well above its original goal of $25,000. Falk again turned to the Drumeo com- munity when the business suffered a spamming attack. Last November, hun- dreds of negative reviews ›ooded the com- pany's Facebook page in a matter of hours, bringing its 4.9-star rating down to a 4. When Falk •lmed a plea to his followers for help, his SOS was viewed 50,000 times and generated 3,000 ¡ive-star reviews. "Facebook •nally removed the one-star reviews because they were all fake," Falk says triumphantly. "So now we have a •ve- star rating." The spamming incident does hint at rivals—and Drumeo could be in for more battles as it stakes a claim for online ter- ritory already occupied by entities such as GuitarTricks and Playground Sessions. Its tutorial sites for guitar and piano, Guitareo and Pianote, both launched in 2016. So far, the results have been mixed. While Guitareo had more than 403,000 YouTube subscribers and 2,500 paying members as of this March, the uptake on Pianote has been slower, with roughly 67,000 YouTube sub- scribers and 1,000 paying members. Whether Falk can replicate the suc- cess of Drumeo with these new ventures remains to be seen, but his achievement to date is no ›uke. "We're very strict on setting goals and hitting deadlines," he stresses. "We always hit a deadline. That's one of our values." His next big push: translating Drumeo content into Spanish, and creating Spanish and Portuguese portals to tap the South American market. Falk also maintains a healthy work-life balance, ensuring he's home every night by 6 to spend time with his family. It's a far cry from the life of a touring musician. "A lot of drummers, I call them road hogs: they've been rode hard and put away wet," Falk says with a wry smile. "They're on multiple marriages, they have kids from multiple people, and their kids hardly see them. That's not what I wanted." ¥ BEAT MAsTERs Drumeo tutors include (clock- wise from top left) Grammy winner Antonio sanchez (has played with Pat Metheny); Bernard purdie (Aretha Frank- lin, Steely Dan, Céline Dion); Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orches- tra, Miles Davis); Mark Guiliana (David Bowie); stanley Randolph (Stevie Wonder); and Anika Nilles (German You- Tube sensation and rising star)

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