After much consideration I decided to attend the 2015 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) trade show last week in Anaheim, California.As I wasn’t an exhibiting participant, my goals were mainly for information gathering purposes.Since the trade show isn’t open to the public I figured I would give a quick report of what I learned as well as share some pictures.
NAMM is:
1) Mainly set up for manufacturers and distributors to interact as well as to get press coverage for new products.
– not necessarily a good venue for ecommerce manufacturers *unless* the manufacturers are looking for distribution networks
2) A great place to get a pulse of the industry
– one person told me NAMM used to have a whole floor dedicated to acoustic pianos.With technology being pervasive in keyboards emulating piano sounds (and doing a great job of it), the piano section was relegated to a smaller section of the show floor.
3) A place to see great musicians
– I saw or met Jonas Hellborg (one of my favorite musicians. Check out any of his interviews), Chuck Rainey (I got a chance to thank him for writing his excellent Method books which I spent thousands of hours studying when I was starting out on bass), Michael Wilton, Richie Kotzen, Billy Sheehan, Jeff Berlin, Tony Levin, Dave LaRue, Glenn Hughes, Alvin Lee, Alain Caron, Norm Stockton, Joey DeFrancesco and Doug Wimbish.
4) A place to see inspiring music business people
– I got to meet or see Ned Steinberger (Steinberger Instruments- amazing designer and nice guy), Seymour Duncan (famous pickups), Roger Sadowsky (famous basses), Peter Janis (Radial Engineering – great guy! Was the highlight of my trip talking to him and Dave Hill of Jensen Transofmer!), Sterling Ball (head of the Musicman brands – amazing instruments. I thanked him for making the Bongo bass), Phil Jones (excellent designer of the Phil Jones Bass brand), Michael Tobias (MTD basses and Tobias instruments) and Stuart Spector (Spector basses).
5) A place to walk so much your legs will ache
– my feet and legs were sore after two days of walking.According to my smart phone, I walked over 20 miles the two days I attended.
– This year there were 1,621 exhibiting companies and 99,324 registrants.
6) A place to see interesting gear
– I saw some stomp boxes, lots of technology, beautiful guitars and amazing stringed instruments.
7) A place to hear seminars on business topics like blog writing and sales
8) Very well organized
– Each *day* there was a new full color NAMM magazine at our hotel
– I would say NAMM had well over 200 workers at the convention making sure it ran well
– seminars were on time and had personal wireless headphones so you could hear the speaker over the din of people trying out drums and guitars
I am not sure why I was surprised, but just like any industry, I saw a power/social hierarchy at the show.There were the business leaders and sales men in suits with VIP access to special events, and there were the small companies, entrepreneurs and non exhibiting participants with limited access.Somehow this didn’t seem very “rock and roll” and I kind of chuckled at the situation.
While I am glad I attended this year, I am still not sure if it is worth the investment for me to exhibit at the show for my particular products as I prefer to sell direct to worship teams.But I will continue to think about it.
