HotPicksUSA History
About Us
The team of Big idea Guys formed HotPicksUSA out of a desire to transition from a long successful history of music retail, into the business of manufacturing music accessories and instruments. HotPicksUSA was established in May of 2003. The company was originally run out of a small facility in the California Central Valley, in the small town of Turlock, near Modesto.
The first product created, also quickly became the origin of the company name... the "Hot Pick" which can be seen on our archive page. Quickly following that, the first 10 It's Alive picks designs were produced and brought to market. It's Alive motion picks are the first, and still only, guitar picks ever produced with motion!
American stores took an immediate liking to the It's Alive motion picks, but the original Hot Picks didn't seem to be making quite the same splash in the Music Instrument channel. Heads were put together and a new concept emerged... the shaped Grave Picker pick, quickly followed by additional shaped Monster picks, such as a Vampire, Mummy, The Wolfman and more. The original Hot Pick was phased out, and the company embraced it's new direction at its first public appearance at the 2005 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show.
In 2006, we decided to pursue licensing options. In addition to a phenomenal license with Alchemy Carta Ltd., we landed one of the biggest licensors in the world: Walt Disney! This included not just Mickey Mouse, but franchises, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tinkerbell, Winnie the Pooh and Hellraiser.
2007, and more so 2008, were incredible years for us, as we took home the "Best in Small Goods Award" two years running. In 2007, it was for our line of Pirates of the Caribbean picks, and in 2008, for our High School Musical picks. We also introduced a line of picks featuring the international country music superstar, Taylor Swift.
2009 and the future
As of 2009, HotPicksUSA has attended every Winter NAMM show since it's inception. In January of 2009, we made on of the strongest showings at NAMM, doubling our booth space and premiering not one, but TWO lines of guitars and re-launching our strap line, in conjunction to showing and marketing more pick designs than ever before!
We will continue to grow and expand our core business of guitar picks, and have solid plans of continued growth and innovation with our guitar picks, straps and much more into future years!