The NAMM Show is an annual

trade show A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology communities". It is typically held in January at the

Anaheim Convention Center The Anaheim Convention Center is a major convention center in Anaheim, California, and is the largest exhibition facility on the West Coast of the United States. It is located across from the Disneyland Resort on Katella Avenue. The original co ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

Overview

One of the world's largest

trade shows A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and c ...

for music products, NAMM restricts entrance to owners, suppliers, distributors, journalists, employees, endorsed artists, and guests of NAMM member companies. Vendors display products, allowing dealers and distributors to see what's new, negotiate deals, and plan their purchasing for the next six to 12 months. The event attracts famous musicians, many of whom are endorsed by exhibitors and come to promote their own signature models and equipment. A smaller convention, NAMM Summer Session, typically takes place in June or July in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

History

NAPDA Convention (1902–1919)

In 1901, 52 members of the National Piano Manufacturers Association of America formed the National Association of Piano Dealers of America (NAPDA). They held the first annual NAPDA Convention in Baltimore in May of the following year. In its early years, the trade show moved to different cities in the eastern United States, including Buffalo (1903),

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

(1904), and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

(1906). In 1912, the NAPDA became the National Association of Piano Merchants of America (NAPMA), and the show became the NAPMA Convention.

NAMM Convention (1920–1975)

By 1919, the popularity of early

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and the marching band music of

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( , ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era known primarily for American military March (music), marches. He is known as "The March King" or th ...

had convinced many piano merchants to produce full lines of

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

instruments. The NAPMA renamed itself National Association of Music Merchants, or NAMM, and its show became the NAMM Convention. Its location would alternate between New York City and Chicago for the next 50 years. The NAMM Convention did not take place in 1932 or 1934 due to the economic climate of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In 1937, the first year that attendees were required to register, the NAMM Convention had 248 members in attendance, including 24 piano manufacturers, four

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

manufacturers, 11

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

distributors A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design A ...

, 10

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectu ...

s, eight

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

manufacturers, 18 miscellaneous exhibitors, and 10

string instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

manufacturers. Due to U.S. involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the NAMM Convention did not take place in 1942 or 1945, and in 1943 and 1944 the event was held as the Wartime Educational Conference. The NAMM show resumed in 1946, and was held at The Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. Beginning in 1970, NAMM added a second annual convention called the Western Seminar or Western Market. Initially held in March in Los Angeles or San Francisco, the annual show was eventually moved to Anaheim, California, in January.

NAMM International Music & Sound Expo (1976–2002)

In 1976, NAMM rebranded its midyear roving NAMM Convention as the NAMM International Music Expo. The change reflected its evolution from a national retail association into an international association whose members included commercial companies, distributors, affiliates and manufacturers. It renamed its Anaheim-based January convention as the Winter Music & Sound Market in 1979 and the NAMM International Music Market in 1988. After poor attendance and lack of direction caused the 1990 Chicago Summer NAMM show to be referred to as "the wake on the lake," NAMM moved the summer event to Nashville in 1993, renaming it the NAMM Summer Session and focusing the show on guitars and acoustic instruments. In 1999 and 2000, the NAMM International Music Market was held in Los Angeles while the Anaheim Convention Center was renovated.

The NAMM Show (2003–present)

In 2003, NAMM renamed its January event in Anaheim the NAMM Show. In 2018, the NAMM Show expanded into the new Anaheim Convention Center North building. The same year, the

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or product ...

joined the NAMM Show via "AES at NAMM" and hosted the Parnelli Awards at the convention. In January 2020, the NAMM Show saw record attendance with more than 115,000 attendees and over 7,000 brands represented. On August 10, 2020, NAMM canceled plans to hold the NAMM Show on January 21–24, 2021, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Instead, NAMM hosted a virtual event called Believe In Music Week starting January 18, 2021, which NAMM described as:

"...a mix of comprehensive programming and professional education at BelieveinMusic.tv, as well as an interactive marketplace to connect buyers and sellers – all designed to elevate the innovation and inspiration found across the industry while offering support for those most deeply affected by COVID. While not The NAMM Show or a virtual tradeshow, the initiative will meet the immediate business needs of NAMM member companies through thought-leader led education for all segments of the industry, networking and AI matchmaking, and business-to-business-focused opportunities to reaffirm and grow business connections, launch new products, share brand initiatives and engage with customers in real-time."

Believe In Music Week was viewed by more than 500,000 NAMM members. In June 2022, the NAMM Show returned to Anaheim as an in-person 3-day event. The following year's show, held in April, attracted 46,711 attendees from 120 countries and territories, and 1,200 exhibitors representing 3,500 brands. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

standard, lifetime achievement awards were presented to, or posthumously awarded to

Don Buchla Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis. Buchla popularized the "West Coast" style of synthesis. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Rob ...

Ikutaro Kakehashi , also known by the nickname Taro, was a Japanese engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He founded the musical instrument manufacturers Ace Tone, Roland Corporation and Boss Corporation, and the audiovisual electronics company ATV Corporation. ...

, Tsutomu Katoh,

Roger Linn Roger Curtis Linn is an American designer of electronic musical instruments and equipment. He is the designer of the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and the MPC sampler, which had a major influence on the development of hip hop ...

, Bob Moog, Tom Oberheim, Alan R. Pearlman,

Dave Rossum David P. Rossum (born 1948) is an American electronics engineer and inventor best known as the co-founder of synthesizer and sampler manufacturer E-mu Systems. Education and early career Rossum grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attende ...

, and Dave Smith. From January 25 to 28, 2024, the NAMM Show resumed its familiar January occurrence for the first time since 2020, with over 1,600 booths representing more than 3,500 brands and over 62,000 attendees.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Namm Show Trade shows in the United States Culture of Anaheim, California Music conferences Recurring events established in 1901 1901 establishments in California Festivals established in 1901