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Flat blue and grey illustration of an open road case on a test bench beside a clipboard checklist with check marks, a magnifying glass, and a calendar strip with two highlighted days

How Should You Inspect Used Gear You've Bought?

Marcel Fairbairn

November 4, 2026

By Marcel Fairbairn, founder of GearSource. 25 years buying, selling, and brokering pro-AV gear...

Two white directional RF antennas and a paddle antenna clamped to aluminium truss at the side of an outdoor festival stage at dusk, with an empty field and delay towers behind

The Wireless Spectrum Squeeze Is Now a Rental Planning Problem

Marcel Fairbairn

Pro AV Industry News Live Events Industry

October 23, 2026

By Marcel Fairbairn, founder of GearSource. 24 years buying, selling, and brokering pro-AV gear...

Clean, well-lit rental warehouse aisle with racked road cases and speaker cabinets, and a mixing console on a workbench being checked between seasons.

Should You Sell Idle Gear Before Year End or Hold It Through Winter?

Marcel Fairbairn

GearSource Rental Pro AV

October 14, 2026

By Marcel Fairbairn, founder of GearSource. 24 years buying, selling, and brokering pro-AV gear...

Black road and flight cases with colored labels stacked on a grassy park lawn under a summer evening sky, waiting between shows

Is Your Next Cross-Rental Partner Sitting Idle in Another Market?

Marcel Fairbairn

Cross-Rental GearShare Rental Pro AV

October 9, 2026

By Marcel Fairbairn, founder of GearSource & GearShare 24 years connecting pro-AV gear globally.

A used line array of large black loudspeaker cabinets flown low on a chain hoist in an empty warehouse test bay, a buyer and a technician with a laptop standing at a folding table listening, numbered inspection tags on stacked cabinets nearby

Is the Used Line Array Market the Best Read on Touring Health?

Marcel Fairbairn

Used Gear Touring GearSource Line Array Pro AV Live Events Industry

October 2, 2026

Yes, for most of the business it is. Headline box office measures the biggest tours, while the used...

Evening view down a long rental warehouse aisle where one half is packed with older mixed flight cases and hand-labeled shelving and the other half holds uniform new cases with matching labels, a single operator standing between them holding a clipboard

Consolidation Is Coming for the Mid-Size Rental House, and Doing Nothing is Risky

Marcel Fairbairn

Rental Pro AV Industry News Live Events Industry Consolidation Private Equity

September 24, 2026

Every few weeks another name on a shop truck changes. Sometimes it is a logo swap; sometimes it is...

Two rental-house operators facing each other across a warehouse workbench with a laptop, an open rate card binder, coffee mugs, notepad, and flight cases in the background

How Do You Keep Both Sides Honest on Cross-Rental Rates?

Marcel Fairbairn

Cross-Rental AI-powered B2B cross-rental platform GearShare Rental Pro AV Sub-Rental Pricing Rate Card

September 17, 2026

Fair market rate in cross-rental is the price both rental houses can live with, on this deal and...

Wide dusk view of a large open-air festival main stage after soundcheck with a weatherproof line array hang above the deck, moving heads on the downstage truss, and an LED wall glowing softly against a bruised purple sky, empty barricade in the foreground and a light rain visible in the air

Why Is IP-Rated Gear Becoming the Default in 2026, and What Does That Mean for the Marketplace?

Marcel Fairbairn

GearSource Line Array Rental Pro AV IP66 Outdoor Festivals IP65 Moving Heads LED Wall

September 10, 2026

Because outdoor festivals and open-air productions are now a bigger, longer share of the touring...

The Freight Problem Live Events Hasn't Solved

Marcel Fairbairn

Live Events Touring Production Logistics Pro AV Live Events Industry Trucking Freight

September 3, 2026

Every summer the touring industry congratulates itself on another season that got through load-in,...

Late-night AV rental warehouse dispatch desk with an operator on the phone next to two trucks staged at the loading dock

How Do You Handle a Spec Change the Day Before Load-In?

Marcel Fairbairn

Live Events Cross-Rental GearShare Rental Pro AV Sub-Rental

August 27, 2026

You handle it by treating cross-rental as a core operating layer, not a favor call. When the artist...

How does the gear spec actually change once a tour crosses 20,000 seats?

Marcel Fairbairn

Live Events Touring GearSource Rental Pro AV Lighting Consoles

August 20, 2026

By Marcel Fairbairn, founder of GearSource, 24 years in pro-AV marketplaces.

Late afternoon executive conference room with three professionals seated around a long polished walnut table reviewing printed documents and an open silver laptop, warm golden hour light raking sideways across the wood surface, floor to ceiling windows behind them opening onto a hazy modern city skyline

Private equity in live events The term sheet is not a mystery anymore

Marcel Fairbairn

Marketplace Rental Pro AV Industry News Live Events Industry Business

August 13, 2026

By Marcel Fairbairn, founder of GearSource, 24 years in pro-AV marketplaces.

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