| The NAMM Team sends our best as we gear up for the first NAMM Show in Anaheim since January of 2020. It's a special edition—one time only in June! And we gather with the knowledge that music and music making has never been more relevant, more in demand and as important as it is now. As it has so many times before, the world turned to music during the challenges of the past two years.
Can I ask you a question?
Are any of you feeling like you don’t know exactly where the industry is headed or what comes next? Supply chain snags, inflation, high gas prices, and growing uncertainty around the world are likely to impact everyone. Are you feeling like I am: Wondering what the sales and distribution channels will look like in the future, and what new products (and people!) will drive the market? Perhaps my biggest question of all—after all the stimulus money is spent and stay-at-home orders of the pandemic end—how can we all work together to achieve NAMM’s mission of a more musical world and ensure that the market for music instruments keeps growing like it did in 2021?
The world is coming out of the pandemic. Against this turbulent background, our industry will gather, June 3–5, in Anaheim for the first time in two and a half years. The world looks quite a bit different, and while no one working today has ever been through anything like this, crises have happened many times in history before. We can learn from this and come out stronger. This once-in-a-lifetime moment is transformation alongside tradition. And it leads us to a big question, don’t you think? What has changed forever? And what were the good parts that we’ll likely want to keep? While I don’t know the answer to that question, I do know this: The innovative industry leaders who have decades of experience will once again gather, along with the emerging leadership of young entrepreneurs from all industry segments to explore this and many more questions.
Why do I have such faith in our industry to come together and solve big challenges? Because the smartest leaders I’ve ever known all had a few things in common, starting with their insatiable curiosity. They know that they do not possess all the answers, especially after going through something as unprecedented as the past two years. And when it comes to their biggest challenges, they acknowledge that the list of things they do not know is much longer than the list of things they do know. They admit they all have biases and blind spots, and they know they can increase their chance of success by connecting with peers, industry innovators and others who just might have something to add to the picture.
The smartest leaders in our industry have another thing in common: They have made it a priority throughout their careers to attend The NAMM Show. Today more than ever, the search for the answers to all the big questions will be found where all the leaders gather, in person in Anaheim.
Registration is open for NAMM members now at namm.org/badges.
Personally, I cannot think of any place on the planet where the odds of getting your big questions answered—and to chart your path for the future—are greater.
Sincerely, |
