Of the thousands of manufacturers at the peak around 1900, only a few dozen remain today. This consolidation is not yet complete. Of the big names, all founded around 1850, a few are still successfully active after 170 years, such as Steinway & Sons and C. Bechstein. Yamaha has now also been building pianos for 120 years. Only rarely does someone enter production completely anew, as Fazioli did.
Due to changes of generation and ownership, names that are still familiar today often hide quite different companies and completely different manufacturing methods from what the name suggests. Different brands all come from the same factories. Individuality in piano making is hardly found anymore, since too few buyers reward it. In the past, pianos were not necessarily built better – it was just that more time and individuality were invested in the instruments, and they were sold to buyers with purchasing power in markets that were less globally dominated.
Fewer than half a million acoustic upright and grand pianos are now newly manufactured worldwide each year. The market leader is Yamaha. It is estimated that more than 90% of the instruments built each year are made in China and other Asian countries. According to the manufacturers, around 7,000 upright and grand pianos are newly made in Germany each year – of which well over ~50% are exported.
Demand for pianos has not shifted in favor of digital pianos; rather, it has fallen dramatically compared with earlier times. As a result, there is also a huge oversupply of used pianos.