Track Record: Shure CEO Christine Schyvinck on the company’s 100th anniversaryWhen you type the word “microphone” into a Google image search, the first item that comes up is Shure’s SM58. Everyone from the biggest performers in the world to artists taking the stage for the first time uses the famous wired vocal mic.

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The SM58 is just one staple of the audio market that Shure has released since it opened its doors in 1925. When MusicTech asks Shure Chairman, President, and CEO Christine Schyvinck about its full century of success, she’s quick to reel off the core values Mr Shure – as she calls founder Sidney N. Shure – laid out so long ago.
“Listening to our customers, always making high-quality solutions, dealing in our business practices in the most ethical way possible, and showing respect to each other and our partners,” Schyvinck says. Mr. Shure started out as a one-man show, helping every customer and building every product, she notes. “Those values are engraved in our brains.”
Schyvinck herself joined Shure in 1989 as a Quality Control Engineer, then held positions such as Vice President of Corporate Quality, Vice President of Operations, and Chief Operating Officer, stepping into the top role in 2016. She now oversees thousands of employees on five continents, but an essential part of her job is making everyone feel like they are a part of a family, as she did for the company’s recent 100-year celebrations.
“We spend a lot of time in the field trying to figure out what customers are trying to get done in their day jobs”
“We have more people outside of the United States than we have inside, and we really wanted to make sure that this celebration let everybody participate,” Schyvinck says. “In many locations, musical entertainment was provided by the associates. We have a passion for the products that we make because we have that interest and curiosity with our own hobbies and our own interests.”
Audio quality is a passion for Schyvinck and Shure, which is why the SM58 remains the legendary product it is decades after its introduction in 1966.
“If you count the fact that SM58 heads go on a lot of wireless solutions, that would be more than half of our business. We never worry about that product,” Schyvinck remarks with a big smile, explaining how, after nearly 60 years, its technical components haven’t changed. “Maybe some kind of material becomes unavailable, or a supplier changes. But by and large, the construction of the product is the same.”
“Any podcast, any livestream for gaming, you’re going to see Shure microphones being used”
Timeless Sound
There’s no need to change the SM58 because everyone still loves its sound, and as Shure ventured into gaming and podcasting, Schyvinck saw new opportunities for another classic product that remains beloved for its audio quality: the SM7 voiceover mic, which was developed in 1973.
Gamers had started adopting the SM7, but they wanted a product that could plug directly into their computers. So Shure’s engineers went to work developing the MOTIV series.
“We had this decades-old product with this little brother, the MOTIV line, coming out around the same time. Popularity was growing, and the need was growing during the pandemic,” Schyvinck says. “Those solutions are ubiquitous. Any podcast, any livestream for gaming, you’re going to see those microphones being used.”
Schyvinck knows what mics are being used in gaming and podcasting because she takes pains to stay updated on what’s happening in the audio market. “I make sure that the executive team gets out and about,” she says, mentioning a recent tour of the Chicago Bulls’ arena home, the United Center. She and her team saw, from end to end, what it takes to broadcast an NBA game. “We spend a lot of time in the field trying to figure out what customers are trying to get done in their day jobs.”
That on-the-ground experience is, for Schyvinck, crucial to being able to live out Mr Shure’s values – the principles that have guided the company to its pole position in audio technology.
“Shure has a reputation for being easy to work with and having very rugged, reliable solutions. At the same time, we’re known for exceptional audio and intelligibility. Those are the tools that we want to use for all of our innovations going forward,” she says. “A hundred down, and another hundred in front of us.”
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