Iconic DJ brand Vestax has gone out of business, according to reports in the Japanese business press. The long-standing DJ brand ceased trading on 31 August, they say, which confirms what both ex-employees and industry partners have told us.
We have repeatedly emailed everyone we know at the firm since its non-appearance at BPM this year, but nobody has refuted the information we received when we asked them directly. And – as DJ Tech Tools reported today – its LA store, its US support numbers and its social media channels are all dormant. We’d truly love to be proved wrong, but we think this news is now pretty certain.
Despite nobody at Vestax replying to our questions, we feel we owe it to you as readers to at least be aware of the situation before spending your savings on this brand. As soon as we have the official word, of course, we’ll update you.
The first big victim of DJ industry consolidation?
While the VCI-100 basically started serious digital DJing, and the quality remained high with the VCI-300, VCI-380 and VCI-400, Vestax’s lack of aggressive R&D in the face of bigger competitors and some weird product decisions (miniature stereo systems, cheap headphones, live streaming hardware packages) seems to have been the brand’s death knell.
Sad though this is, we think this is just the start of the consolidation of the DJ industry, with bigger brands tightening their grip, and those with more involvement than just hardware manufacture ultimately surviving. Of course, Vestax is still a respected brand name, and we’d love to think somehow it’ll live on (who knows what brand rights can be sold/salvaged?) but it certainly appears that Vestax as we know it has gone for good. RIP.
Do you know more than us? Have you suspected this too for a while? Is this part of a bigger trend in the DJ industry? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Phil Morse
