National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), established in 1901, is the not-for-profit association that “strengthens the $17 billion global music, sound and event technology products industry” and whose association and trade shows (including the annual Winter edition in Anaheim, California) serve professionals wanting to seek out the newest innovations in music, recording technology, sound, stage and lighting products.
It’s a big financial commitment for any store to travel there from the UK, we know many of you have considered it, and wondered of the value and so we spoke to Store Manager, Duncan Andrews, at Hickies Reading to hear his experiences of attending.
I am the Store Manager at Hickies in Reading, and following a successful 2018 in terms of sales, we have plans for a makeover to enhance our friendly neighbourhood music store vibe. We decided to head to NAMM to start looking for new stock, new deals and merchandising inspiration.
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of going to the Winter NAMM Show in California, it’s the biggest music gear event in the world. This year, Hickies Music Store and partners managed to make that dream a reality for me as I headed across the Atlantic for the weekend of 24-27 January.
The first day of the show is a lot to take in as a first-time visitor. You find yourself in the beautiful LA sunshine, blown away by the sheer size of everything, especially The Anaheim Convention Centre which is the dedicated venue for the show.
Doors open at 10am and first impressions are that this place is huge, the venue is so big in fact, that I got lost trying to find the entrance and exit! I met up with friends and we spent the first couple of hours looking around all the stands. I play guitar so I was excited about seeing new custom-built, abstract-designed guitars at the Gibson Custom Shop as well as the PRS Private Stock. It was incredible seeing what some brands are doing with different wood tops and colours.
Spectacle is a huge part of the weekend, there were some really cool booths – the Rickenbacker stand where their guitars and basses famously hang in the air lived up to my expectations.
If you are a musician, music retailer or just a music fan, I would highly advise checking out the NAMM Show and making it a goal to get out there. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, both as a musician and as a retail manager, and I hope to continue to work in this exciting community for a long time!
Amongst our goals for the weekend were to let our customers on social media see new gear making a debut at the show, interview manufacturers and artists, and most importantly, product testing.
Friday was a very important day for us; we had back-to-back meetings set up throughout the day with companies such as Godin, Ibanez, Korg and Fishman. We select manufacturers after we look into what consumers and popular musicians are using gear-wise, and look at how to provide more of those products for our customers in-store.
We had our first meeting with PRS Guitars. PRS are focusing a lot on their SE range this year, which is great news for us as that’s what we primarily stock in our stores. With some new exotic wood ranges and an SE version of Mr (Les) Paul’s guitar, we have a lot of exciting new products on their way to Reading high street.
We also had success with Fishman – we are now one of their official dealers, stocking pickups and amplifiers. There is also potential for a dealership opening up with Ibanez guitars in the near future!
The Saturday and Sunday at NAMM are quite a contrast to the weekdays, as the weekend is open to the public. You notice how alive the music industry really is when crowds of people rush in to try out all the new gear, see their favourite musicians play and, of course, grab some freebies! If you pay close enough attention, you might even see Stevie Wonder as we did – along with Phil X (Bon Jovi) and Rob Chapman of Chapman Guitars.
It’s hard to get much work done on the weekend with so many people around wanting to chat about work and gear – it did open my mind to the idea that the industry won’t die out as long as interest in music gear is going strong.
When manufacturers, retailers and artists come together at events like this to discover technology and new techniques, the sense of community we have all created just grows and grows.
We like the idea of community at Hickies, customers enjoy the experience of coming into our stores and socialising with other musicians as well as trying out new gear to buy, and as a result, sales are now happily increasing.
If you are a musician, music retailer or just a music fan, I would highly advise checking out the NAMM Show and making it a goal to get out there. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, both as a musician and as a retail manager, and I hope to continue to work in this exciting community for a long time!