The annual 2018 NAMM Show took place from January 25th-28th in Anaheim, California. NAMM stands for the National Association of Music Merchants. The NAMM Show is a huge event that features not only music, but also sound and live event technology to professionals and students in the music industry. It is a great networking and educational experience for musicians, audio engineers, distributors, merchants, educators, students, and other music industry professionals.
Famous musicians and professionals in the music industry attended and/or performed at NAMM including Hunter Hayes, Jake Miller, Kevin Breuner, Ok Go, David Kalt, etc. To start of the 2018 NAMM Show, NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond stated “…you are a group [music industry professionals] that dared greatly, you have guts… dare greatly as we enter 2018”. This set the tone for the entire conference that we as members of the music industry are going to begin to see and be a part of an ever-changing and growing industry.
Throughout the 4 days, there are hundreds of panels, lectures, concerts, special events and more! On the trade floor there were 20,000 booths featuring everything from specialty instruments and equipment to the latest music technology.
Some of the most talked about companies to watch at this year’s NAMM show included, but weren’t limited to, Gator Cases, Taylor Guitars, Hal Leonard, Big Fat Snare Drum, Cordoba Guitars, and Cole Clark Guitars. The NAMM Show is the perfect event for anyone and everyone involved in the music industry. I highly recommend attending next year’s winter NAMM Show or the upcoming summer NAMM Show in Nashville from June 28th-30th.
Nice summary of what goes on at Namm for those of us outside the music industry.