A Message to Our Customers

I’m writing to address some of the questions and concerns that are surrounding Lorenz. I would far prefer to stay behind the scenes, letting our music speak for itself, but as President of Music Publishing (and a 21-year Lorenz employee), I understand that as a century-plus contributor to church and school music, there’s a great deal of personal investment in our publications. I appreciate that very much and it’s important to me to honor that and the longstanding patronage of so many of you.

First, to be very clear, Lorenz Corp. was NOT sold to GIA or anyone else. 100% of the company continues to be owned by a Lorenz. Specifically, Reiff Lorenz, who marks the fifth generation of family ownership. Yes, in August of 2020, The Lorenz Corporation filed for bankruptcy. More specifically, we filed a Small Business Debtor Reorganization under Subchapter V of the Chapter 11 U.S. Code. After going through that process for more than a year, I can speak to its many details, none of which my music degree in any way prepared me for, but I can also tell you that none of those details really matter when it comes to what matters to you.

What does matter to you is the music we publish, and yes, there have been changes there. I’ll speak to those in a moment, but first, I want to reiterate what hasn’t changed: Publishing decisions are and will continue to be made by Brad Nix, Carson Cooman, Jay Rouse, Bryan Sharpe, and their collaborators. Their efforts are supported by our Dayton-based music publishing staff who, again, work for a business that remains owned by the fifth generation of the Lorenz family, Reiff Lorenz.

Of the changes we have made, one that has sparked the most passionate reaction is our decision to stop offering our bi-monthly periodicals. At their peak in the 1950s, we had tens of thousands of subscribers. But as times change, the ways people consumed their music changed. We’ve seen a steady decline in subscribers since 1957, and we’ve known since then that there would come a time when the business couldn’t support the magazine model and we would need a different one.

We’ve been planning for the shift to the Lorenz Online digital model for more than 8 years. That this platform was launched during the upheaval (to put it mildly) of COVID was far, far less than ideal. But, despite being very unpopular with some, it was the right long-term decision so it was important that we move it forward.

There were also some publication areas, including Sacred Music Press Choral, that we identified as no longer sustainable. These are the hard decisions that the company has always made, be it Unity Music Press or JazzWorks, to use two examples from the last 15 years. As hard as these decisions are, and they are always very hard, they are made with the health of the broader business in mind.

The health of the broader business is also what we had in mind when we decided to change from a self-distributed printer and publisher to a publishing company that outsourced its distribution. This change has been impossibly hard because it’s meant laying off 72 people. People with names and stories and, for many, decades-long careers at Lorenz. It’s also been hard because we’re moving 28 trucks of stuff from Dayton to Chicago during an actually unprecedented time of labor and material shortages. I’m not asking for or expecting sympathy, but I would ask for awareness and understanding.

As frustrating as things are now, and respectfully, they’re far more frustrating for my colleagues and me, I have genuine excitement for the future. Lorenz Publishing Co. was founded in 1890 as a music publisher, and a music publisher we are today, with 30 new piano and organ collections, 50 church anthems, a stellar collection of 10 hymn arrangements from Lloyd Larson, more than 60 school chorals, and a half-dozen general music classroom resources in our upcoming Fall 2022 release. As we finalize this release and continue to work through the transition of our order fulfillment, I want to thank each of you for your patience and support. My email is kris@lorenz.com. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions now or anytime.

—Kris Kropff, President, Music Publishing