The 2022 Winter NAMM Show Moves to June

NAMM has announced that The 2022 NAMM Show is now scheduled for June 3–5, 2022, in Anaheim, California, at the Anaheim Convention Center. The annual winter show had previously been scheduled for January 20–23. With the move of The 2022 NAMM Show to June, the organization has decided not to hold Summer NAMM in Nashville.

According to the association, the news of the return of the show and the change in dates addresses ongoing concerns about pandemic activity, new product development and launches, available in-store inventory and current travel restrictions.

Joe Lamond, president and CEO of NAMM, talked to Music Inc. about the timing behind this seismic, but sensible, shift on the day the announcement was made.

In August, as NAMM came to this decision, it faced two main factors forcing its hand — both pandemic related. The first was travel bans currently in place. Lamond pointed out that NAMM is a global show, drawing distributors, buyers and key influencers from 130 countries. “From most of the world, you are not allowed to come to the United States [right now],” he said. “While there’s no guarantee that [travel bans] will be lifted by June, there’s a better chance of it.”

The second factor Lamond pointed to was the range of supply chain distortions caused by the pandemic.

“NAMM is known as the place where new products are launched,” he said. “Distortions have led many, many companies to hold off on introducing new product because they are still trying to deal with the disruptions of getting existing product into the marketplace.”

Lamond said reaction to the rescheduling from NAMM membership has been positive. “The members I’ve talked to have said this is better, to much better, to absolutely better,” he said, adding that they’ve said this fits perfectly with how their new business cycles have evolved and might fit their corporate structure better, longer into the future. “In other words, we may have another problem on our hands, which is what if they like this better?”

Which begs the question — what about 2023? Lamond stated that days scheduled for the show in January 2023 are “hard dates” and NAMM has already sold a lot of space for them. At the same time, the association is “going to be trying to hold as a safeguard something in the late spring in Anaheim. That’s a little more complicated of a Rubik’s Cube, as you’re asking a city to make accommodations without anything other than a just-in-case from us.”

Lamond summed up what The NAMM Show is and made a promise for next year. “This is where companies shape how they’re viewed in the world. That’s what’s really important, and that’s not going to change,” he said. “That’ll happen in June.”

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