NAMM ’ S BELIEVE IN MUSIC WEEK REPORT
by Bruce Adolph
Here is another major event that was impacted by COVID this year . Rats ! Each January the Winter NAMM Show is held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California ( yes , right across the street from Disneyland ).
For the most part , this is an industry only event and you have to go through a process to be given an entrance badge ( the coveted NAMM Badge ). In 2019 this international meeting of the musical instrument community drew over 115,000 attendees from all over the planet over a four-day period . This huge crowd is placed into seven cavernous halls of over 2,000 exhibit booths . It seems like every maker and brand possible is there of guitar , bass , amps , keyboards , drums , pro audio , recording , orchestral instruments … the list goes on and on .
This is a very large mainstream convention to say the least , but the Lord has given us favor with the people who run NAMM and we at [ WM ] are able to be involved in many different ways .
This would have been my 40 th Winter NAMM and I look forward to it each year . We have a team of our [ WM ] folks there and have an exhibit booth of our own to meet and shake hands with the public . Plus , we help Sponsor Yamaha ’ s Night of Worship , as well as host several of our own events .
1 ). THE PRE-NAMM HANG : Where we hold a Meet n ’ Greet for Christian and Worship music artists to meet with 15 different company ’ s A & R folks and see their new products in a smaller more personal environment .
2 ). TEC TRACKS : Our Editorial Director Doug Doppler hosts five different workshops in the TEC Track training area ( one of them in Spanish ).
3 ). WORSHIP MUSICIAN CHAPEL : Each year on the Sunday morning of NAMM we hold a 30 minute non-denominational allare-welcome time of special music , worship and an encouraging word from a guest speaker at the Hilton Hotel next door . We get a good little crowd there and the Lord blesses our time together . In fact , after the service , many people hang around for a good while talking and getting to know some of the other Christians in the industry .
So , with the tight restrictions that COVID has brought to the world , you can image that the good folks at NAMM couldn ’ t hold the convention in its regular capacity . They had to make the difficult decision to try and create the best virtual event they could and still try and keep a sense of that special community that only a NAMM convention can . They will be the first ones to tell you that nothing can compare to the person-to-person meeting of all of those different musical tribes from around the globe .
After much planning , they landed on presenting the Believe in Music Week . One of the benefits for you our readers is that you can sign up – even now that it is over – and watch over 150 TEC Track seminars , see 80 hours of NAMM TV presentations of new product and artist