Postcard from NAMM 2024

Don’t forget when you read 9000 times between now and next January how NAMM is dead, this was the most packed I’ve seen the Marriott EVER. Maybe there was another convention going on at the same time? Maybe Larry got some fans to come over from Disney? Or maybe it is just bullshit, NAMM isnt going anywhere. The whole week had a lot of energy and it seemed very much business as usual.

Sales are down industry wide. I spent 4 days talking to the folks who make and sell all our favorite gear. Covid hit and a lot of folks bought guitars. They all went to work now and back to the gym or whatever else they do so sales fell off a cliff. Naturally the trade show will reflect that. I predict in a few years, less than 5 years and NAMM will be right back to 2020 levels again.

But Larry and friends, yea. Kick ass show. As always. Proud to call him and many of them friends. Great seeing them again.
 
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In 2009 it was down from previous years, by a wide margin, but it came back bigger than ever. It was a little depressing to see the exhibit space scaled back so much this year compared to 2020, but I’m hopeful it will rebound once again.
 
GlennO said:
In 2009 it was down from previous years, by a wide margin, but it came back bigger than ever. It was a little depressing to see the exhibit space scaled back so much this year compared to 2020, but I’m hopeful it will rebound once again.
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At least it was bigger than April. Seemed considerably bigger.
 
And honestly the size it is NOW we need a bigger team to cover what we’d like to. I’m hoping to publish Tuesday because NAMM news quickly becomes irrelevant after the show ends. We can really use 2 more people to edit and publish what we shoot there. As a team of 2, I just can’t get to everything relevant in 4 days. It’s not possible. You’d need 4 or 5 teams of 2, then people back home editing and publishing within 24 hours to really do this right.
 
I think I read a stat that Jan. 2020 pre Covid NAMM attendance was over 110,000 and this year it was 62,000. This is my first post-covid NAMM since and I could tell it wasn’t as crazy - but that was kinda good, I could actually get into a booth and talk to people and play gear much easier than in 2020.
 
austinbuddy said:
I think I read a stat that Jan. 2020 pre Covid NAMM attendance was over 110,000 and this year it was 62,000. This is my first post-covid NAMM since and I could tell it wasn’t as crazy - but that was kinda good, I could actually get into a booth and talk to people and play gear much easier than in 2020.
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In 2019, I couldn't get inside the Fender booth at all....
 
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