In 1982, Joe Lamond, a 21-year-old drummer, attended his first National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show. Today, he leads the 120-year-old association as President and CEO. Earlier this summer, Lamond announced that he will be stepping down in spring 2023 after more than 20 years with the association.
NAMM’s mission is to strengthen the $17 billion music products industry. The association is comprised of about 10,300 members located in 104 countries and regions. NAMM events and members fund The NAMM Foundation's efforts to promote the benefits of music and advance active participation in music.
After canceling its in-person NAMM show in Anaheim in January 2021, the association launched an online event called Believe in Music, which attracted more than 90,000 registrants. In July, the industry gathered for the first time in 18 months at the Music City Center in Nashville for the Summer NAMM Show, a scaled down two-day event. The NAMM Show will be returning to Anaheim, CA with an in-person show in June 2022.
As live events continue to deal with the ups and downs of living with the Delta variant, Lamond shared his views on the current state of the integration of digital and live and how it will impact the future of events. Here’s an edited excerpt of our conversation. Listen or watch the full interview below.
Live first. “I'm an unapologetic live person, and the pandemic has really impacted our ability to even do the most fundamental human things — which is come together. It's been a real challenge for all, especially those of us in the artistic side who thrive and gain energy by being together.”
State of the industry: “It’s the story of two completely different worlds. Live music and everything related to gatherings was absolutely devastated by the pandemic. That was no surprise. That part of our industry family has a long way to go to recovery. The surprising part — or maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise — was that as they've done throughout history, people turn to music in times of trouble. When people were told to stay home and stimulus started flowing into the economy, they went out and bought guitars and ukuleles and recording gear and podcasting equipment.”
Restart of IRL in July. “It was a smaller show than we had in 2019, partly due to supply chain issues. From a gathering perspective, there was a feeling that all the right people were in the room. We had the CEOs and the managers of many companies, and they were happy to see each other, to be together to talk and not be on a zoom screen. It wasn't a profitable show for us, but I would say it might have been one of the most important shows we've ever produced.”
Co-locations meant critical mass. “We were aware we needed to create more of an ROI for the Summer NAMM event, so we worked with other industry segment groups, like the School Music Dealers Association. We asked them to come and produce a conference they had to had to cancel twice, so they brought some critical mass. We had other groups like that, so we basically made it a small conference of conferences, and that gave dealers and manufacturers more of an impetus to be there.”
Creating community. “We also had made some changes. Manufacturers who didn't want to exhibit had a path to be there and have their own little admirals club where they could bring some samples. We tried to make it as inclusive as we possibly could. While it was smaller, we had all the major brands there, and they were doing business with the retailers. It really had a very positive feel.”
Producing its first digital event ever. In January, NAMM launched Believe in Music week, the online, global gathering that featured 983 sessions and events with 611 hours of live-streamed and programmed content. The digital-only event included 391 speakers and 1,227 participating brands in the marketplace. “We had never produced an actual virtual show before, so we had to choose a platform (Swapcard),” Lamond said. “We had to find a way to integrate our technology with the new platform, and then we had to calculate what we're trying to accomplish.”
Goals for going virtual. “We tried to accomplish three things:
- We wanted to have a platform for new products. We still realize that in our world new products get us all very excited, and that's one of the primary reasons that people go to the NAMM show.
- We wanted to provide an educational campus, and the ability for our members around the world to learn, grow and see the latest in the career development.
- Creating that vibe from the physical event that you have to be there for the transformation that comes when you're alongside 100,000 of your closest friends. We tried to recreate that feel that networking.”
Beyond borders. Compared with its last in-person NAMM Show in 2020, “we picked up another 50 countries of attendees, and we had 188 countries register. We went much deeper into areas that could never maybe physically come to the NAMM show. We created a whole new market that will now be part of everything we do going forward. We will always have this component to a physical NAMM show and by merging the two worlds, I think, we will be more effective than ever.”
Planning for the next major event. “How much digital and how much physical? It's probably going to be one of those you dial up one and dial down the other as the pandemic ebbs or flows. In general, the goal is to use the virtual component to bring all the new people that have now become part of the NAMM family and give them more opportunity.”
Lesson learned. “We learned we did too many sessions last year. On education, for example, we had over 1,100 unique events in a three-day period. We need to do fewer things but do them better. We are going to recreate Oz again and make sure that we have a transformative event.”
Integration of virtual and physical. “The combination of virtual and physical means you get to be more effective. You can maximize your networking. You can see if one of your friends is over in the other hall and you can connect to them right away and meet. You can be kind of monitoring a session, while you're going over to a buyer’s meeting you can really zero in on the things you really wanted to see and then the on-demand when you get back to the hotel at night.”
Meeting in the metaverse. Can digital be as transformative as physical? “Our kids' generation will have to wrestle with where is the merging? Where's the metaverse where I can be as moved in a virtual world as I might be physically? I'm just not there yet myself. Believe in Music Week was impactful, and under the circumstances, the best we could do. But I still believe there's a real human need, genomic need at our core to gather in like-minded groups or tribes. That goes back to the dawn of recorded human history. I don't know why, but I do believe it's part of our humanity to want to gather.”