Should I Buy or Rent an Instrument For My Child?
Joining school band is a right of passage for thousands of young students. Every year, children around the country begin their musical journey, often as early as elementary school. Learning to play an instrument can give your child a lifelong creative outlet, benefit coordination and memory, and can reduce anxiety and depression.
As a parent, navigating your child’s desire to play an instrument is exciting. If you don’t play an instrument, or consider yourself not musically inclined, it can also be daunting. Most schools have an abundance of resources available for new musicians. Rental programs are typically the easiest way for you to get an instrument into your child’s hands. While renting is often pitched as the most economical and safest option for students first learning to play, the exorbitant long term costs of these programs are often hidden in the fine print. Before you go to your local music store or rental night, make sure you know the facts about instrument rentals, so you can make an informed decision!
Student Instrument Rentals Explained
The student instrument rental industry has been around for decades. By working directly with schools and retailers, instrument manufacturers have pushed countless parents into rental programs, giving new musicians access to beginner instruments at a seemingly reasonable monthly fee. Most rentals start at around $40-$50 a month, and can range in length from one to three years. Some rental retailers offer a rent to buy program, which puts your monthly payments toward eventual ownership. On the surface, renting an instrument seems like a no-brainer; avoid the large upfront cost of a new instrument, and have an exit available should your child decide to stop playing down the road.
Unfortunately, these rental programs and pricing structures are done by design. In the next section we will discuss exactly what you’ll be paying over the course of your rental period.
The Hidden Costs of Instrument Rentals
There is nothing wrong with the instruments offered by schools and rental retailers. In fact, the quality of the instruments is usually perfectly fine. The issue is, whether you rent for a year, a few years, or rent to own, you are vastly over paying for an instrument designed for new musicians.
Cost Breakdown of Student Instrument Rentals
Remember that $40 to $50 a month number we gave earlier? That seems reasonable, especially when the retail cost of the same instrument can climb over $1500. The problem is, no student instrument should cost that much.
Thanks to something called MAP (Minimum Advertised Price), the retail cost of the same instrument will always appear high. MAP pricing is used by manufacturers to control minimum cost of a product offered by other retailers. By doing this, manufacturers and retailers make it appear that renting will always be the most affordable option.
Rental Costs Can Add Up, Fast
Just one year of renting (at the aforementioned rate of $40-$50 a month), adds up quickly. For 12 months, you’re looking at between $480 to $600. If you rent for two to three years, you could end up paying over $1500, and still never own the instrument.
What About Rent-to-Own Programs?
Many rental programs offer rent-to-own options, which allow your monthly payment to contribute toward ownership of the instrument. While this may seem like a good option, there are a few key issues with these arrangements.
Cost
Typically, a rent-to-own contract is no less than three years, meaning you will be locked into that monthly payment for 36 months. Like we said above, the total cost of that contract is far higher than the actual cost of most beginner instruments, meaning you are overpaying by default.
Student Skill Level
Another thing to consider is by the time you have completed the rent-to-own contract period, your child will have likely outgrown the instrument they first learned to play on three years earlier. This means you are now stuck with an overpriced beginner instrument that no longer suits the needs of your child.
So, Should I Rent or Buy an Instrument For My Child?
The instrument rental industry is heavily ingrained in nearly all public schools, so getting access to a beginner instrument is going to be easy for nearly every parent. Rentals will almost always end up being more expensive than buying an equivalent beginner instrument if that instrument is priced outside normally (outside of MAP).
Finding a fairly priced beginner instrument can be difficult, but our goal at Overture is to give student musicians access to high quality beginner trumpets, clarinets, trombones, flutes, saxophones, and cornets at a truly fair price, with a buyback guarantee that gives you peace of mind.
Overture First: An Instrument Rental Alternative
At Overture, we only offer John Packer student instruments. John Packer is based in the U.K. where instrument rental programs don’t exist. This means they offer affordable student instruments ready for purchase, not rentals. At around $300-$400, depending on what instrument your child chooses, it makes John Packer and Overture the perfect choice for a beginner without the baggage of the high rental costs or artificial MAP pricing.
Overture also offers a buyback guarantee, allowing you to return the instrument, no questions asked, for 70% of the cost in the first four months, and 50% within the first 12 months.
When you buy with Overture, you not only save money and avoid complicated rental contracts, but you ensure your child is getting a high quality instrument that will help them excel on their musical journey.
Still have questions? Check out our FAQ page, read our reviews, or send us a message. We’re passionate about music, and want to be your resource through your child’s musical education!