Why join Take it Away? | Music Industries Association

Our partners at Take it Away have published a short series of videos featuring some shops and faces that you might recognise talking about how brilliant being part of the Take it Away scheme is. Don’t just take our word for it, see what they’ve got to say!

When a music shop joins Take it away, they become a key part of the music education provision in their region and part of a network of nationwide retailers.

We talk to some of our retailers about being part of the Take it away scheme.

Customers want flexible payment options

Point-of-sale finance is now an expectation from many customers. We give our members the facility to offer interest-free loans. Our loans enable more people, particularly children and young adults, to get involved in learning and playing.

Bass Direct says “the ability to offer people an interest-free option is just a joy”.

Our loans are subsidised to you, meaning you make more profit on each sale

Our subsidised interest-free loans keep service charges as low as possible for your business.

In England, subsidised rates apply to customers buying for a child or young person under the age of 26 up to a maximum loan value of £5,000.
In Northern Ireland, subsidised rates apply to all customers resident in Northern Ireland up to a maximum loan value of £2,000.

Meanwhile, our competitively priced non-subsidised interest-free loans are for anyone over the age of 18. They cover loans up to a maximum of £25,000 on a range of repayment terms.

An interest-free option often allows you to upsell to customers, enabling them to afford a better quality instrument.

As Katy of Southern Percussion says, Take it away “gave us the chance to be able to let [customers] get the instrument of their dreams and really advance their studies”.

We broaden your audience and have helped UK retailers sell to over 90,000 customers since we launched in 2007

We help you reach a greater audience of customers. We’ll promote your events and projects through social media, our website and our newsletter. Our team works hard to promote music shops by going to events like the Music and Drama Education Expo. We share retailer news online via our social media feeds and monthly newsletter. Our Search Shops tool sends new customers to Take it away shops to see what you offer and get in touch directly.

William Elphick of Hickies says the scheme means a lot for both their sales people and the teachers they serve.

What other benefits are there?

As a member of the scheme, you’ll gain free high quality Take it away point-of-sale material.

You will be a part of our network which includes key music organisations and music hubs.

Take it away is run by Creative United, we work with our retail partners, Arts Council England and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to break down financial barriers to accessing music. As such, we’re a leading voice in the movement to champion music education. We’ll use all our contacts to help create links for you with other scheme members and local music education partners.

Set up is easy

We work with finance partner Omni Capital Retail Finance. They will work with you to integrate the interest-free loan software into your in-store system and will provide free training. They provide integration guides for your web developers so you can offer loans on your eCommerce platform. As a result, you can feel confident about introducing this payment option to customers in-store and online, processing an application and answering customer questions.

How to join

Simply call 020 7759 1111, email or fill in our online form! We’ll give you all the information you will need to apply.