The more some things change the more they stay the same for the NAMM Show, which this week celebrates its 125th anniversary as the world\u2019s largest annual trade event for the creators, manufacturers, retailers and distributors of music instruments, equipment, technology, sound, lighting and recording gear.<\/p>\n
It will take place Tuesday through next Saturday, June 20-24,\u00a0at the 1.8-million-square-foot Anaheim Convention Center \u2014 which has hosted the annual January event since 1976 \u2014 and in adjacent hotel ballrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the first NAMM Show in 1902 in Baltimore, the board members realized they had to have more hitching posts for members\u2019 horses. And today, parking is still a problem at the NAMM Show!\u201d said Dan Del Fiorentino, who since 1999 has been the historian for the Carlsbad-based NAMM (short for the National Association of Music Merchants).<\/p>\n
That first NAMM Show at a Baltimore YMCA drew a few hundred attendees, nearly all of them piano dealers. Today, NAMM has 15,400 global member companies \u2014 including Fender, Yamaha, Gibson and San Diego-based standouts as Taylor Guitars and Deering Banjos \u2014\u00a0and individual professionals that represent a global workforce of more than 475,000 employees.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s NAMM Show will feature more than 1,650 exhibitors representing over 3,500 brands. It will offer myriad educational workshops, industry updates, 175 bands performing on seven stages, and the unveiling of numerous new instruments and products for retailers, distributors, musicians and other attendees to try out. There will also be a record number of influencers and content creators, who in recent years have started to supplant traditional media outlets covering the NAMM Show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to reaching consumers who are not NAMM members and musicians who play music as a hobby or semi-professionally, the influencers that cover new product rollouts at NAMM Show tell the story to tens of millions of people worldwide,\u201d said NAMM President and CEO John T. Mlynczak.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Creator\u2019s Lounge \u2014 where influencers can attend intimate performances, check out new products and do interviews \u2014 will be twice as large as in 2025, which was the first time we had the lounge.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s NAMM Show will also see the return of an array of awards events, including the second annual Bass Magazine Awards Show, which is open to the public and this year is partnering with NAMM for the first time. To be held Thursday at the Observatory in Santa Ana, it will honor such notable bass guitarists as Marcus Miller, Mike Dirnt of Green Day, Les Claypool of Primus and Laura Lee Ochoa of Khruangbin. Dirnt\u2019s Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented by former San Diegan Mark Hoppus of blink-182.<\/p>\n
\u2018Spirit of togetherness\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NAMM Show is the only time each year that all of us in the global music industry can get together, shake hands and talk person to person,\u201d said Bass Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jon D\u2019Auria, who attended his first NAMM Show in 2008.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really about networking and making personal connections in such a communal environment, and NAMM is the connector that brings us all together in one space. Tens of thousands of people attend and you can really feel the spirit of togetherness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bass Magazine Awards will be in good company.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, the 42nd annual TEC Awards will honor an array of top pro audio and sound recording veterans at the Anaheim Hilton\u2019s Pacific Ballroom. Billy Corgan, the leader of Smashing Pumpkins, will receive the Tec Innovation Award.<\/p>\n
On Friday at the same location, the 14th annual She Rocks Awards\u2014 which are produced by The Women\u2019s International Music Network \u2014 will salute a dozen musicians and industry veterans. The honorees range from singer-songwriter Rachel Platten and TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson to Roland Global Product Marketing Manager for Wind Instruments Reina Ichihashi and former Prince and Jeff Beck bassist Rhonda Smith.<\/p>\n
Other 2026 NAMM awards events this week will include the 24th annual Milestone Awards and Believe in Music Awards, the 14th annual Oral History Service Award and Roadies of Color\u2019s 6th annual Lenny Award Ceremony<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really a people-oriented industry,\u201d said NAMM historian Del Fiorentino.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also do an annual posthumous tribute program that honors people who have left us since our last annual NAMM gathering, primarily music-store owners and manufacturers. Doyle Dykes plays guitar and a Scottish bagpipe group comes out and plays. We keep the history alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Industry Insights<\/p>\n
Attendance should again top 60,000 for this year\u2019s members-only confab, which NAMM veterans have described as \u201cthe Super Bowl of music trade shows,\u201d and as the music world\u2019s equivalent of both Disneyland and Willie Wonka\u2019s Chocolate Factory, \u201conly bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of the 2026 honorees and attendees will require hitching posts \u2014 so far as can be determined \u2014 a point NAMM head Mlynczak plans to slyly make during his Thursday morning \u201cIndustry Insights\u201d keynote address in Anaheim. He\u2019ll be joined by a number of guests, including noted multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, music educator, YouTube star and influencer Rick Beato.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a perfect year to not only celebrate NAMM\u2019s 125-year history but to talk to someone like Rick about the future, because he\u2019s so knowledgeable,\u201d said Mlynczak, who has headed NAMM since early 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can also talk about music products that don\u2019t exist anymore and about not having enough hitching posts in Baltimore \u2014 or parking places in Anaheim,124 years after the first NAMM Show.\u201d<\/p>\n
With such a landmark anniversary at hand, it comes as no surprise that a sense of nostalgia and longevity-fueled pride will be in the air this week for NAMM.<\/p>\n
But the nonprofit trade organization\u2019s year-round focus is very much on the present and future of the global music products industry it represents. And despite some unprecedented challenges in 2025, there was enough modest market growth for the industry to make it the fourth most profitable in NAMM history.<\/p>\n
The total figures for 2025 won\u2019t be released until March. But the 2024 tally was $17.8 billion for the global market \u2014 of which North America accounted for $8.2 billion \u2014 according to The Music Trades, the New Jersey-based publication that has tracked the global music-products industry since 1891.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that there was modest growth last year compared to 2024 is pretty remarkable,\u201d said Paul Majeski, the publisher of The Music Trades.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the fact that there wasn\u2019t a gigantic decline \u2014 and that the industry actually moved forward a little last year \u2014 is amazing considering all the problems with tariffs, credit, affordability and declining school enrollments in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n
$500 million tariffs<\/p>\n
By far the biggest challenge came last April when President Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cLiberation Day\u201d saw a massive increase on tariffs on products and raw materials imported into the U.S. For NAMM\u2019s member companies, that meant enduring $500 million in tariffs in 2025, a staggering $350 million increase over what they paid in 2024.<\/p>\n
What made the tariffs even more daunting is how suddenly they were imposed and that the amounts of the tariffs differed from product to product and country to country.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast January at the NAMM Show, my talking points were that we were back to stability and that 2025 would be a year of stability and growth,\u201d NAMM honcho Mlynczak recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can look back now and say I didn\u2019t know what was about to happen. But none of us did. We had finally recovered from the booms and busts \u2014 the \u2018COVID hangover\u2019 \u2014 and thought we would be stable throughout the year. And we were, until about April 2 or whenever \u2018Liberation Day\u2019 happened,\u201d Mlynczak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, between COVID ups and down and tariff ups and downs, we did quite well in 2025. NAMM is known for getting through whatever is thrown at us by working together and making rational moves. And whenever there was a new post on (Trump\u2019s) Truth Social or a (misleading) media report, we waited until we could vet them with documentation so that we could tell our members: \u2018This is what actually happened and this is what you can expect.\u2019 We support our members by being flexible and adaptable, and being flexible and adaptable is our new \u2018normal,\u2019\u201d Mlynczak said.<\/p>\n
NAMM\u2019s nimbleness enabled it to provide its members with valuable information about the industry\u2019s rapidly changing landscape in the wake of such large tariff increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that the industry has absorbed those tariffs without having an impact on consumers is amazing,\u201d said The Music Trades publisher Majeski. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say it hasn\u2019t had a big impact on manufacturers \u2014 it\u2019s a huge amount to absorb \u2014 but all those companies are private. So, while some prices have gone up, they haven\u2019t gone up commensurate to the additional costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
NAMM\u2019s ability to pivot under Mlynczak\u2019s leadership is applauded by Majeski and by Tom Sumner, the president of Yamaha Corp. of America. The company, which was founded in Japan in 1887, has long been one of NAMM\u2019s biggest exhibitors.<\/p>\n
At this year\u2019s NAMM Show, Yamaha will occupy 28,000 square feet on the Anaheim Convention Center\u2019s third floor. About 300 employees will be on hand to promote Yamaha\u2019s products and engage with retailers, creators, musicians and other NAMM Show attendees.<\/p>\n
Music under (and with) the stars<\/p>\n
As in previous years, the Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage will host free outdoor concerts for NAMM members. The 2026 lineup includes The War & Treaty, country songstress Alana Springsteen, 25-year-old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick, an all-star band and several yet-to-be-announced worship-music favorites.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Mlynczak is doing a great job,\u201d said Sumner, Yamaha\u2019s president. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely a big industry cheerleader who is rallying the international music industry. The way he attracts the global industry to the NAMM Show is really impressive. So is the way he has built the NAMM Show back \u2014 and in the right way \u2014 since the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those sentiments are shared by Chris White, the president and CEO of White House of Music, which operates stores in three Wisconsin cities and provides weekly music lessons to 1,1150 students. Along with Sumner, he was on the search committee that selected Mlynczak to become the head of NAMM after its previous leader, Joe Lamond, retired three years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe did such a great job for 20-plus years, so it was definitely a challenge to replace him,\u201d White said. \u201cWe had to find the right person and I\u2019m thrilled with our selection of John who brings the same passion for music that Joe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yamaha, an international powerhouse, saw modest growth in 2025, while White House of Music had its best year ever. Both companies made it through the COVID pandemic shutdown, which began shortly after the 2020 NAMM Show drew a record attendance of more than 115,000.<\/p>\n
The 2021 NAMM Show was held entirely online, while the 2022 edition was a streamlined, safety-first event that was reduced in size to occupy only half of the Anaheim Convention Center with exhibits spaced farther apart. The show has regained traction in each successive year, although it remains to be seen if attendance will again top 115,000, as it did in 2020 \u2014 or if it should.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year\u2019s NAMM Show had 63,000 people and that felt like the right amount,\u201d Sumner said.<\/p>\n
Intriguingly, while many predicted that the COVID shutdown would sound the death knell for much of the music instrument and equipment industries, North American sales for 2021 rose 20 percent to set an all-time record of $8,906,561,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a banner year,\u201d said The Music Trades publisher Majeski. \u201cAnd considering the impact of tariffs in 2025, things are looking pretty good for 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A year of unknowns\u2019<\/p>\n
NAMM head Mlynczak is pragmatic about the future.<\/p>\n
In addition to constantly meeting with NAMM members across the nation and abroad throughout the year, he spends time lobbying on behalf of music industry manufacturers and retailers in Washington, D.C. He is also a strong proponent of music education and a measured voice of reason regarding the impact of tariffs and the pros and cons of the increasing use of AI in music.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of mixed signals on inflation, but people bought instruments and music gear during the Christmas holidays and that\u2019s always a good sign,\u201d Mlynczak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tariffs affected everybody in our industry and it\u2019s been a difficult year to figure out supply chain and manufacturing issues here and abroad. But our industry is incredibly resilient. And once the unpredictability of the tariff rates stopped \u2014 or at least paused for now \u2014 companies have time to make a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mlynczak is now awaiting the Supreme Court\u2019s pending ruling on the legality of the tariffs imposed by President Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that their ruling will have an impact, whichever way it goes, we will work through it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re coming off a challenging year and going into a year of unknowns, but we\u2019re ready to help our NAMM members. And at the NAMM Show, companies who are competitors come together for the good of the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 NAMM Show<\/p>\n
When: Educational seminars and training sessions will be held from 11 a.m. to 3:30 pm. Tuesday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday; the trade show is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, and next Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24.<\/p>\n
Where: Anaheim Convention Center, 800 West Katella Ave., Anaheim<\/p>\n