This year’ s show was a lot of fun, and it included math even. How is that? NAMM was founded in 1901 and turned 125 years old. I have personally been to 43 of those. So that also means I have missed 82 conventions. Yikes! This year felt stronger than last year as the National Association of Music Merchants recovered even more from the down years of Covid. It felt like more people attendeewise, but it wasn’ t as high a number as the past years. I contend that the biggest show on earth for musician’ s gear now is at a very good fighting weight. It seemed like most of the attendees were there to pay attention to really what was new equipment and to do the business of the music gear industry, rather than folks who were there for the spectacle of it. My t-shirt idea for NAMM has always been,“ Old rockers never die, they just clog up the aisles of the NAMM Show.” This year the aisles may have been full at times, but they were passable. The food wait times weren’ t too long and you could find a bathroom that didn’ t have a line for it. That is more like my style. Ha!
( and a bit of witness) we sell our“ Love One Woman … Many Guitars” and“ What Would Jesus Play?” t-shirts.
WEDNESDAY: The next morning we had a lot on our plate as we loaded in a full video crew( 7 guys) into the loft of the building we rent called the Colony House which we use for our Pre- NAMM HANG that night. What was different this year is during the daytime we were going to” Live Stream” a whole new concept“ 10 Cool Things From NAMM”
With the help of my able-bodied co-hosts – our own Gear Editor Doug Doppler and industry leader of many things – Jeff Hawley Vice President, Marketing- US MI / Pro— Nexora( JAM Industries), we showcased 10 Sponsor’ s( 7 of them being under the JAM / American Music and Sound banner) first impressions of new gear right in front of the video cameras. It was totally unrehearsed, a bit nerve wracking for me as this was my first time in front of so many cameras and pretty much shooting from the hip with two good friends in Doug and Jeff
Here are some numbers to support my claims … 60,000 + show attendees, including 8,760 + international attendees from 122 countries, regions and territories. 1,650 + exhibitors( we were one of them) representing 5,400 + brands( 25 % more than last year). Nearly 15,000 artists demonstrating and endorsing products and brands. 200 + education sessions with 550 + speakers( we presented 7 of those). 1,600 + media, influencers and content creators reaching over 200 + million followers, which is 50 % more than 2025.
Filming the“ 10 Cool Things from NAMM” Live Stream
So, there was growth where it counts. We offered more content than we ever have, with the help of some great partners and sponsors.
TUESDAY: I’ ll walk you through the trip to Anaheim from my eyes. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and headed to the convention center. We got our NAMM Badges for entry and then went and set up our double wide booth. We present both our [ WM ] Worship Musician and Collectible Guitar magazines there and for fun
Filming the“ 10 Cool Things from NAMM” Live Stream
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