APRIL 23 I STEVE WEISS MUSIC I IN MEMORIAM
Percussion Industry Leader Steve Weiss Passes Away

Steve Weiss, owner of Steve Weiss Music and a pioneer in the rare and specialized percussion industry, passed away on April 21. He was 71.

Weiss took his first drum lesson when he 10 years old and after school got a job with the Reading Railroad, which let him travel the country and start collecting rare instruments.

In the early 1961, Weiss started renting out his percussion instruments to musicians, who soon started asking if they could buy from his collection. Eventually, Steve Weiss Music was born and grew into a renowned mail-order house for tough-to-find instruments, especially gongs. He was also a leader in e-commerce, successfully adapting his business to a highly effective website.

"The business community knows me because they grew up with me," Weiss told Music Inc. in September 2012. "Most of the people who are retiring now, I sold them their first mallet instrument or their first set of kettle drums. It's just word-of-mouth — that's how we do it."