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NASMD to Co-Locate Convention With Summer NAMM For the first time, NASMD (the National Association of School Music Dealers) will co-locate its annual convention with Summer NAMM in Nashville in July. The NASMD Association represents retailers, manufacturers and service providers who share a passion for helping school music students make music. “With a mission that closely aligns with NAMM’s vision of a
more musical world, teaming up for the first industry reunion in 18 months is a natural fit,” stated a NAMM news release. “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, NASMD has completely rethought what they do and how they do it. The new collaboration is in line with this spirit.” “We are really looking forward to hosting our NASMD 2021 Convention in conjunction with
Summer NAMM in Nashville,” said Whitney Brown Grisaffi, president of NASMD and Ted Brown Music. “While so much has changed in the past year, the desire to gather as an industry, sharing best ideas and practices, has not. Budgets are tight. By connecting with NAMM, NASMD members will get a double bang for their buck. We’ll still have the wonderful opening gala and a
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full day of sessions with special guest speakers. Plus, attendees will then have the opportunity to explore Nashville and experience Summer NAMM!” NASMD will showcase two focused days of activity on Tuesday, July 13 and Wednesday, July 14, and then its membership will be ready to experience Summer NAMM in its new two-day format on Thursday, July 15 and Friday, July 16.
GAMA: Guitar Demand Is Off the Charts, But Will Supply Keep Up? The Guitar & Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA) commenced its annual virtual meeting on March 11, featuring a panel discussion titled “What Now … ? Surviving Post-COVID.” The panel was moderated by John Kelley of Ortega Guitars, the new president of GAMA, and featured Dennis Webster of C.F. Martin & Co., Jeff Moore of ESP Guitars and Brad Johnson of Guitar Center. Webster first looked at the history of his company to try to determine what the future may hold. “It was exactly one year ago today that Chris Martin addressed us and talked about the 1918 [Spanish Flu] pandemic. Nineteen-eighteen was a bad
year for us. But 1919 was the greatest year of growth we had,” said Webster. Webster added guitar sales have been quite strong, and he expects this strength to remain for at least the remainder of this year. “[Growth] will slow. But we will retain people [that joined the MI industry since the pandemic started].” Demand for guitars and accessories can certainly be considered a great thing. But one problem is supply chain congestion. “Supply is an issue. It will take much of this year to get it under control,” said Moore. “There is an inability to get parts from around the world.”
ESP’s goal moving forward is to continue to engage customers, stated Moore. One way of doing so is the online events companies hosted before, during and after NAMM’s Believe in Music Week. “Everyone had an online version of NAMM,” said Moore. “Our goal is to keep the content fresh. While waiting for supply to keep up, we can keep the excitement going.” Despite supply concerns, Moore stressed that he believes demand for guitars and accessories will continue for the foreseeable future, and this is good news. “I am optimistic,” he said. Johnson also expressed opti-
mism about the future of guitars and accessory sales. He pointed out that the post-9/11 and Great Depression eras were good for MI sales and lasted for some time before receding. “A lot rests on us to inspire and retain new customers coming into the market,” said Johnson. “… [Sales] will definitely level out, but we are gaining customers. It will definitely help our industry.” Webster concluded that today, companies are not making bad guitars. This bodes well for customer satisfaction and repeat purchases. “We are in the golden era of guitar making,” he said.
Hal Leonard Now Distributes Snark, Danelectro, Honeytone
Hal Leonard MI Products Distribution now offers Snark tuners, Danelectro pedals and Honeytone Mini Amps. Steve Ridinger, president of Evets Corp, worked with Brad Smith, vice president of MI Products with Hal Leonard, to add Hal Leonard as one of Evets distributors for the USA. All the aforementioned lines are owned by Evets Corp. Hal Leonard will support Snark tuners’ free goods dealer sales programs. “Hal Leonard is well known as the No. 1 print music publisher and as a reliable dealer source for a growing stable of musical instrument products and accessories. We welcome Hal Leonard to our family of distributors and look forward to working together,” said Ridinger. “Evets has created these reliable, affordable products that are amazing store traffic builders,” added Smith. “Our mission at HL MI Products is to support our dealers and make it easy to bring in the right mix whenever they order from us. Along with other necessities like drum heads and sticks, guitar strings, straps and stands, there is a big opportunity for us all to now be a source for these proven best sellers.” MUSIC & SOUND RETAILER
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