How will the NAMM Show — the world’s largest and oldest annual musical instrument, equipment and technology show — pivot back to being a live event this weekend after canceling last year’s edition because of the COVID-19 pandemic?
By launching NAMM Show+. It is a 24/7 interactive unified platform that builds on last year’s first-ever online NAMM Show — the free, five-day Believe in Music week — to connect brands and attendees in comprehensive new ways. NAMM Show+ is open to all show registrants and accessible from anywhere in the world for those who can’t attend in person.
The world’s largest annual music instrument and equipment trade show, put on by Carlsbad-based NAMM, will also consolidate its 2022 summer NAMM Show and move it from Nashville to Anaheim, then hold separate shows in 2023 in both cities That is a 50% drop from the 7,000 brands exhibited by 2,000 companies at the 2020 edition. Attendance this year is expected to be no more than half the 115,000 in 2020.
“Noting that our European dealer base is not attending NAMM in Anaheim in June — and due to the date shift and issues with compressed timelines and logistics — we will not be attending,” the representative said via email.The absence of such major companies will be palpable. “School band instrument sales were curtailed, and live sound gear took a hit as well,” Majeski said. “But sales for anything you can play at home went through the roof. There was a torrent of stimulus money, and people were stuck at home with cash in their pockets.
“Not having an in-person NAMM Show in Anaheim last year impacted us,” Yamaha’s Sumner said, speaking from his Buena Park office. “But there’s something that happens in person — the human interaction with people and instruments — that can’t happen online. And the NAMM Show is like a family reunion where everyone from every aspect of the industry gets together to talk shop, evaluate instruments, see what’s coming next or just catch up with old friends.
“So, this isn’t at all the way I anticipated things going for NAMM or the show. At the same time, I’m grateful I’m still able to be a part of it and grateful for the opportunity to help the industry come back together again.