R.I.P. NAMM

[Bruce]

Trade shows are dead! Just listen to the oracles of YouTube and forum sites and it is a constant echo predicting the death of not only NAMM, but all trade shows thanks to a medium that gives every common idiot a voice right alongside professionals and the people who are actually manufacturing the stuff. I mean, who wouldn’t want to pick through THAT??

Let me tell you, this must be the best attended funeral in the history of deaths because this place is PACKED! No shortage of exhibitors or events taking place and the booths are all quite busy. Not quite record breaking 2020 attendance but maybe along the lines of the few years leading up to that. I really dont see how Fender and Gibson can stay away. My prediction is they will be back within the next 3 years. NAMM isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. You cannot replace a handshake, a conversation, an in hands demo or a lunch meeting with a YouTube video.

 

[ChordInversion]

I'm always cheering for anyone trying to make an honest living, and I am just old enough (early 50s) to be attached to the idea of NAMM. I also am not an expert on musical instrument retail. So I hope you're right.

I don't know that if I were a decision maker at a major manufacturer like Fender or BOSS that I would go back. It's a big, expensive undertaking for a high profile company. There's the "big booth" fee, building out the display, transporting the display with all that gear, and flying, lodging, and paying a bunch of your people to be there rather than doing their main job duties. For far less than the cost of participation, I could easily send advance units of every new product offering for the year to all of the major retailers, who will then post well done video ads for me. Throw in a few YouTubers (note: many manufacturers are already doing all of this anyway). I could then sell those units at deep discount as demos on my website (most big manufacturers do some degree of direct sales now), recovering most of my cost. Or the retailers/YouTubers keep them at that same discount. Heck, the demo units could be free to keep for the major players, and I still come out way ahead. I won't have to worry about the ambient cacophony from the convention center floor yielding a useless demo, either. And I can schedule my releases when I think they make sense, like just ahead of Black Friday/Cyber Monday, instead of planning for January and July.

When a larger number of smaller players were a bigger part of guitar gear retail, I would absolutely find the conventions to be compelling. Those store owners were the customers, and you were getting product in their hand the most efficient way possible - and they paid for their own travel and lodging! Now, with much more focus on getting demos directly to the players, I would be interested in seeing just how much conventions move the needle in the broader market. If the big names find themselves losing sales to brands that attend NAMM, that will 100% prove you right.

 

[Stone]

Well In observation NAMM is causing GAS here on this Forum with the participants , No one here has mentioned GAS'ing for non participants Like Fender and Gibson
so there must be something to it

 

[ChordInversion]

Well In observation NAMM is causing GAS here on this Forum with the participants , No one here has mentioned GAS'ing for non participants Like Fender and Gibson
so there must be something to it

Fair. But then again, lots of GAS-inspiring product rollouts happened throughout 2023, with no convention involved.

 

[Stone]

Fair. But then again, lots of GAS-inspiring product rollouts happened throughout 2023, with no convention involved.

Yup i agree GAS is a all year round thing, it just seemed to have intensified slightly more since NAMM

 

[norminal]

To be fair, the majority of “NAMM is dead” banter that I’ve seen is from YouTube guitar channels.

Last time I spoke to the owner of my local music store, he laughed when I asked him about it. He doesn’t go these days, as he’s pretty dialed in product line-wise and has a very close relationship with all of his sales reps. They just do their orders remotely and schedule sales meetings for after NAMM.

NAMM is alive and well.

It’s not what it used to be, and it may never return to that given how much business is done online these days, but not even close to being dead.

 

[timbuck3]

To be fair, the majority of “NAMM is dead” banter that I’ve seen is from YouTube guitar channels.

Last time I spoke to the owner of my local music store, he laughed when I asked him about it. He doesn’t go these days, as he’s pretty dialed in product line-wise and has a very close relationship with all of his sales reps. They just do their orders remotely and schedule sales meetings for after NAMM.

NAMM is alive and well.

It’s not what it used to be, and it may never return to that given how much business is done online these days, but not even close to being dead.

I noticed a lot of releases are guitars and amps in the $2-5k ranges. That’s insane

 

[timbuck3]

Also namm used to be interesting and something to look forward to but no more. It’s long winded

 

[FuzzyAce]

Yup i agree GAS is a all year round thing, it just seemed to have intensified slightly more since NAMM

So NAMM = beans.

 

[norminal]

I noticed a lot of releases are guitars and amps in the $2-5k ranges. That’s insane

Laughs in Gibson

 

[Rushed]

may head to namm in 2025 since it seemed busy and fun

 

[Sascha Franck]

From various videos it looked like each and every gearfluencer was there, no wonder it's been crowded.

 

[duzie]

 

[Bruce]

Also namm used to be interesting and something to look forward to but no more. It’s long winded

A lot of it is what you make of it. I have many friends and partners there I look forward to seeing, plus there are a metric shit ton of events going on. Really enjoyed the She Rock Awards. Larry Mitchell at the Marriott stage is always a win, too. I wouldn’t go to just trudge around to look at gear. Not for 4 days and across the country anyway.

 

[Bruce]

From various videos it looked like each and every gearfluencer was there, no wonder it's been crowded.

Fricker sat down in his ever so sexy cammo shorts right across from my wife and I in the media center. Talk about starting off the day with a fart.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Dead cause Matteo killed it

 

[PLX]

YouTube guitar channels

Those guys are the worst.

 

[SKU]

Clickbait idiot Youtubers are clickbait. Water is wet. "We HAVE to talk about something ...", "Why I think NAMM is...", "The thing nobody tells you about NAMM"
Oh and the faces:

 

[Bruce]

Clickbait idiot Youtubers are clickbait. Water is wet. "We HAVE to talk about something ...", "Why I think NAMM is...", "The thing nobody tells you about NAMM"
Oh and the faces:

The phenomenon of ‘lets make the YouTube thumbnail look like I’m having a colonoscopy with no anesthesia’ is probably one of the top 10 dumb things on the internet.

 

[metropolis_4]

Dead cause Matteo killed it

What an odd combination. I wonder whose idea it was to pair up the two of them.

I love both of those guys though