Everything You May Have Missed at The NAMM Show 2019

Last month, we offered plenty of information about Thursday, Jan. 24’s “Breakfast of Champions” at The NAMM Show, as well as attendance figures and a couple of other tidbits. This month, we dig much deeper into the show, with a look at two other breakfast sessions and some press conferences. Let’s start with Friday, Jan. 25’s NAMM University Breakfast Session, entitled “Transforming the Music Industry: Trends, Game-Changers and Opportunities,” which was presented by Daniel Burrus. Burrus is a futurist thought leader who has given many speeches on global trends and innovation, an advisor to several Fortune 500 companies, and author of the best-selling books “Flash Foresight” and “Technotrends.” His breakfast session presentation was inspired by his latest book, “The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change Into Opportunity and Advantage.”

Daniel Burrus talks about "Trends, Game-Changers and Opportunities."

Burrus’ talk was centered on the concept of identifying disruptive trends in business before they happen and being anticipatory so that you can position your company to take advantage of disruption rather than becoming a victim of it. He warned the audience against falling into the trap of being too busy at work to notice disruptive trends developing until it’s too late. “My biggest fear for everyone is, after The NAMM Show is done, we’re going to go back to our lives and we’re going to get busy again doing what we’ve always done,” he shared. “You’ve heard the old saying: ‘If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always had,’ which is obsolete now. Today, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get much less of what you’ve always had, because the world has changed.”

Burrus identified two distinct categories of disruptive trends: hard trends and soft trends. “A hard trend is based on a future fact. It will happen. You can’t stop it. However, you can see it before it happens,” Burrus described. “The other type of trend is a soft trend. That’s based on assumption. It might happen. No guarantees here.” He identified a number of hard and soft trends. For example, hard trends include the passing of government regulations, the advancement of technology and the aging of populations. Soft trends include things like the increasing cost of healthcare in America and rising global obesity rates. Burrus added that hard trends are based in certainty, while soft trends are based in uncertainty, and that certainty is more conducive to making smart business decisions.

Chris Woods, Daniel Burrus and Marcus Bell attend the NAMM U Breakfast Session.

He also drew a distinction between “change” and “transformation.” “Change comes from the outside in, forcing us to react,” he said. “Transformation, whether it’s personal or business, comes from the inside out, giving you control, allowing you to shape your future. I don’t want us to be passive receivers of the future — ‘Let’s wait and see.’ Because if you do that, I don’t think you’re going to have a very good future. I think you’re going to be very unhappy. I want you to be active shapers of the future, creating the disruptions and the changes that need to occur.”

Burrus also implored the audience to end the generational warfare happening in their offices in order to maximize their companies’ ability to anticipate change and transform their businesses on their own terms. According to Burrus, “Here’s what the war is: If you’re younger, you’re looking at the older people in the organization, and you’re saying to yourself, ‘Man, they’re like a fossil. They’re not changing fast enough.’ […] And if you’re older, you’re looking at the younger people and you’re saying, ‘How is the world going to survive them?’” Burrus suggested that, if the different generations in the workforce would work together, they would see how well they complement each other. “If you’re older, what’s your gold? What’s your platinum? Your wisdom, your experience. But you’re also in the box, and you can’t get out,” he explained. “Young people haven’t built their box yet. They know all about technology. What don’t they know? What to do with it. Good. You’ve got some ideas. You don’t have to know how it works.”

Adrien Prevost, Jessica Fichot, Ippei Ichimaru and Sylvan Carton.

As far as the MI industry itself goes, Burrus identified a certainty that he believes the industry can capitalize on. “The future is all about relationships, not just technology. Why? Because we live in a human world,” he said. “The more we disconnect from each other, the more disharmony we get. The more we connect with each other, the more harmony we have in our lives and with our planet. Music is the great connector. And right now, we’re very disconnected. We’ve got to get more people playing instruments. We’ve got to get more people into the music.”

Burrus also identified several opportunities for transformational change that exist right now. “The tools to transform every single business process are already right there for you, and it’s amazing how many of them are free. If you don’t do it, someone else will,” he said. He pointed to geolocation, artificial intelligence, app-based purchasing and logistics, and in-store digital kiosks and as technology-based solutions to common problems plaguing the MI industry that are available today. He also suggested that the future of business will be driven by a major customer-centric trend: XaaS, or Everything as a Service.

However, Burrus warned that the trust of your customers should be your chief concern whenever you decide to transform your business. “Before implementing any kind of change, ask yourself where is the trust between us and the people who will be impacted by the change?” he said. “Think of it like an old-fashioned gas gauge. If I implement a change in this way, what happens to trust? And if, in your mind, trust goes down, don’t implement it in that way. […] Change how you implement it so that trust stays where it is. And by the way, if any of you can raise the bar on trust, you’ll be in business for a long time, because we live in a human world.”

Ultimately, the central message of Burrus’ presentation was that the future of retail, and therefore the MI industry, is brighter than the naysayers would have you believe, but realizing that brighter future will require transformational change, and it is up to each individual member of the industry to implement that change.

“Some brick-and-mortar retailers think the good old days are behind us,” he said. “They’re closing over a hundred stores. Sears and others are doing that right now. At the same time, there are others who are saying the future of brick and mortar [doesn’t] look like the days behind us, but the good old days are actually ahead of us. And they’re opening stores, hundreds of them. What’s your future view? Are you glancing up at the rearview looking backwards, or are you looking through the windshield, seeing what’s really there for you?” He added, “You might be thinking, I don’t know if the future is going to be good. Then make it good. It can be a less human, less connected future, or we could be more connected, more enlightened. ‘Wait and see,’ I don’t like those odds. Let’s get involved.”

Who Decides Your Brand?

On Saturday, Jan. 26, the NAMM University Breakfast Session, “How to Win in the Age of Disruption,” featured Scott Stratten, author of the books “UnMarketing” and “UnBranding,” who offered his approach to making your business stand out in the digital age. And as you can likely tell from the name of his book alone, Stratten’s view of marketing isn’t always conventional — but it’s certainly a perspective worth taking into consideration.

When many of us hear the word “branding,” our minds jump to all the different strategies business owners are using to promote their companies. Branding is often treated as something that managers and employees do in order to make their businesses stand out, but Stratten opened Saturday’s breakfast session by offering a different take on creating a brand. In fact, he rejected the notion that an organization’s brand is decided by those on the inside. Though retailers can certainly brainstorm ways to implement their desired image, a company’s brand is ultimately created by its customers.

“A brand is simply when you see something — when you see a logo, when you see a person or a band, or even an album cover — whatever you think, that’s the brand,” Stratten explained. “It’s not what I think of myself.” This isn’t the most conventional view of branding, but it’s one that business owners would do well to pay attention to.

“Psychologists say when we see a logo, we think of two things: our most recent experience with the brand we’ve had or heard and the most extreme experience with the brand we’ve had or heard,” Stratten added. He then recounted the experience of a family that had stayed at the Ritz Carlton while on vacation. After checking out of the hotel and traveling home, they realized that their son had left behind his favorite toy, a stuffed giraffe named Joshy. The father told his son that Joshy had decided to take an “extended vacation,” calling the Ritz Carlton in a panic immediately after. But he needn’t have worried. The employees at the hotel had found Joshy while cleaning the family’s hotel room, and they agreed to overnight the stuffed animal back to them at no cost.

This alone might have left this family with a positive view of the company, but the father’s expectations were exceeded when he received the package the next day. Not only did the box contain the stuffed giraffe, but inside of it were pictures of the Joshy’s so-called “extended vacation.” The employees of the Ritz Carlton had taken photos of the toy giraffe lounging by the pool, and they’d even given him his own Ritz Carlton nametag.

“You see how your view of a brand can change with a story?” Stratten concluded. “We all want word of mouth for our business, but we forget the one thing that makes that happen, which is doing things worth talking about.”

It Matters Who You Hire

Stratten tells this story every time he has a speaking engagement about marketing because it perfectly captures how to make a name for your business. And after stressing the importance of giving people a good reason to talk about your brand, Stratten moved on to discuss his favorite part of the Ritz Carlton story: its “authors.” He pointed out that the staff members who found Joshy and took the photos were a frontdesk clerk and a laundry worker. “Two of the lowest paid and lowest appreciated people at the workplace are the biggest brand creators,” Stratten emphasized. “Which is the same as your business. Whoever’s dealing with the public the most, whoever’s dealing with the clients the most … they are your brand.”

This is why it’s so crucial that retailers hire employees who are passionate about providing good customer service. Stratten also highlighted the importance of training workers and making them feel valued. Even if their time at your business is “just a job” to them, Stratten believes that employers can keep staff members interested in their work by providing feedback and taking their suggestions into consideration. And yes, that includes millennial staff members.

“I don’t care what age you are, you still want to feel valued in the workplace,” Stratten said. “Is there a difference between the millennial generation right now than when we were that age — when [Baby] Boomers were that age? Yes. The difference is disruption.”

From there, the author segued into one of the main themes of his lecture: disruption. Disruption, as Stratten defines it, is “change without time to resist it.” And the faster that technology — and society in general — advances, the more valuable it becomes to have a staff of workers that can quickly adapt. It’s also necessary, of course, to be capable of adapting yourself. Businesses that don’t change to accommodate new developments are the ones that won’t survive the digital age.

Gone are the times when employers and business owners could avoid change until retirement, leaving the next person in their shoes to figure things out.

“Change is not slow anymore,” Stratten pointed out. “And if a generation — especially the younger half of millennials — has grown up in disruption, and that’s the only norm for them, that’s an asset to your business.”

Of course, having a versatile staff isn’t the only means of keeping your business afloat in the age of disruption. According to Stratten, taking your customers’ concerns and complaints seriously can go a long way when it comes to keeping them around. This is one of the best ways to adapt when it comes to competing with online retailers like Amazon. It’s inevitable that things will go wrong at some point — whether a customer is shopping online or at a brick-and-mortar store — but making the effort to fix those situations is the sign of truly valuable customer service. And that is often what keeps consumers shopping at independent retail stores, even when there’s an easier alternative.

Stratten cited the example of a review left for an Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Texas. The reviewer initially left the store a one-star rating on Yelp, detailing her unfortunate experience with her furniture delivery. Everything from the delivery date and time to the color of the furniture she ordered had been wrong, and the delivery workers merely shrugged off her complaints. The writer revised her review, however, after the owner of this particular store immediately reached out to her to rectify the situation. Not only did he apologize for her unpleasant experience, but he went out of his way to ensure that she received the products and service she should have gotten in the first place. And that extra effort changed her mind about whether or not she would ever shop at that store again.

“To be great at service in retail, you only have to be average, because everybody else sucks,” Stratten quipped. But there’s some truth in that statement, especially when it comes to competing with corporate giants. At the end of the day, consumers will often choose brick and mortar over convenience if their experience with the former is a positive one, he added.

The opposite is also true; if a customer has a negative experience with a retail store, or if they find that they’re ignored and invalidated when it comes to seeking your business, they’ll likely be inclined to shop online instead. “Sometimes,” Stratten said, “just sometimes, it’s us. Sometimes, maybe, and I’m stretching here, but if my feet are in your store, and I choose to work with another company somewhere else — virtually — maybe it hasn’t gone as well as it could have in the store.”

Stratten’s advice to retailers is to look at themselves and be honest about where they stand. If you’re providing the quality of customer service that brings people in and keeps them there, great. And if you aren’t, it’s better to own up to those flaws than to blame the changes in retail. Because when retailers blame Amazon and big-box stores, they relinquish their control over the situation. But when they analyze how they’re contributing to the problem, they’re able to fix it.

Celebrating Women in MI

In recent years, the MI industry has increased its efforts to welcome women into its ranks. The Smart Women in Music (SWIM) Fund and the Women’s International Music Network (WiMN) are just two of the organizations making strides in celebrating women’s accomplishments in MI. Both organizations hosted events at The NAMM Show that honored these accomplishments and encouraged women to pursue opportunities in a historically male-dominated industry.

The SWIM Fund held its SWIM reception at the Hilton Anaheim on Jan. 23. Women @ NAMM presented the event, with SWIM Captain and NAMM Chair Robin Walenta opening the discussion with a toast. Crystal Morris of Gator Cases then came onstage to welcome special guests Eva Gardner, bassist for Pink!, and Arnetta Johnson, trumpet player for Beyoncé. The two artists spoke of their experiences growing in the industry, highlighting the importance of actively supporting and lifting up other women. They gave advice to business owners and employees, ranging from forging genuine bonds with everyone you meet, to writing all of your ideas down on paper. Following their commentary, it was announced that the SWIM Fund has created a new website where women in the MI industry can expand their reach and connect with mentors to guide them in their careers. A scholarship opportunity was also announced, through which six emerging female leaders in the industry will be able to attend Summer NAMM. The scholarship will help cover the travel and hotel expenses, and will give these women opportunities to shadow successful industry figures and attend numerous educational sessions. In addition to these announcements, Christie Carter of Carter Vintage Guitars also offered to match every donation to the SWIM fund up to $15,000 until Feb. 28. Overall, it was an inspirational evening with many positive outcomes for women pursuing careers in the MI industry.

And the WiMN always makes its presence at The NAMM Show known by hosting the annual She Rocks Awards. At the 2019 installment of the event, taking place at the House of Blues Anaheim on Jan. 25, the WiMN honored a number of female musicians and leaders in the industry with prestigious awards. Honorees included Terri Nunn, Macy Gray, Lisa Loeb, Nita Strauss, Erika Ender, Dana DuFine, Dale Krevens, Lynette Sage, Samantha Pink and Terri Winston. Interspersed between award presentations and acceptance speeches were several impressive performances. Strauss rocked the house with a cover of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On,” and Ender sang the hit song that she co-wrote, “Despacito.” Other highlights included Loeb playing “Stay (I Miss You),” which was featured in the movie “Reality Bites,” as well as Laura Clapp’s cover of Macy Gray’s GRAMMY-winning song “I Try.” And the finale showcased covers of several of Janis Joplin’s greatest hits. The WiMN also premiered songs from “Girl, the Album,” a female-friendly collection of pop songs the organization is working on. This year’s She Rocks Awards certainly gave attendees a night to remember, and it showcased just how far female musicians and leaders can go.

The Loudspeaker System Showcase

The 2019 NAMM Show included the first-ever Loudspeaker System Showcase, which took place in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. The event served as a “shootout” for loudspeaker manufacturers to demonstrate their systems in a real-world live environment. Eleven manufacturers, including Alcons Audio, BASSBOSS, Crest Audio, dbTechnologies, EM Acoustics, Martin Audio, RCF, TW Audio, Verity Audio, VOID Acoustics and Yorkville Sound, showed off their speaker systems. Each company also had representatives on hand to answer the audience’s questions about the systems and educate attendees on the finer points of live sound.

“The Loudspeaker System Showcase was designed to offer member companies the opportunity to demonstrate both flown and portable systems in a real-world setting to a mix of industry professionals,” said NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond. “The controlled environment of the Anaheim Convention Center Arena provided side-by-side listening opportunities for evaluating leading loudspeaker systems from around the pro audio industry, in addition to getting further technical details and pricing information from qualified representatives of each company.”

In addition to offering a new attraction for The NAMM Show attendees, the Loudspeaker System Showcase also reflected The NAMM Show’s growing emphasis on the pro audio side of the MI market. According to Lamond, “The Showcase is a natural extension of the tools and technologies in which people make and listen to music. For those professionals on the road, the ability to visit, engage and hear the differences in the systems and have the signal chain all in one place — plus the education to support it — made sense to us. In many ways, it completed the signal chain of the tools and technologies found across the show floor.” He added, “We look forward to the Loudspeaker System Showcase returning to The 2020 NAMM Show.”

Chris Martin I

Pre-Show Events

Although The NAMM Show officially started on Jan. 24, those who attended early discovered a treasure trove of educational sessions, events and press conferences.

The C.F. Martin press conference on Jan. 23 featured tons of new product releases, but also an introductory speech by Chris Martin IV, who joked he was attending his 746,000th NAMM Show. “About seven years ago, [Hal Leonard’s] Larry Morton at this show came up to me and I asked if I would want to become a part of the NAMM Executive Committee. [Morton was NAMM chairman at the time]. I said, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, ‘It’s a journey, but it will be fun.’ I asked [my wife] Diane what it would entail. I said, ‘I don’t know, but it will be fun.’ She said, ‘OK, go for it.’ “I am six years into that journey now,” Martin continued. “I started out as treasurer. … I am the vice chairman now. Next, I will transition to chairman.”

As vice chairman of NAMM, Martin also serves as chairman of the NAMM Foundation. “I am so honored to be [at theNAMM Foundation] with [NAMM chairman and CEO] Joe Lamond, [Two Old Hippies’] Tom Bedell, [former New York Yankees superstar] Bernie Williams and [Sweetwater founder and CEO] Chuck Surack. When Bill Collings passed, I knew he left a legacy that was worth preserving. I want to thank many of you who have supported the Bill Collings fund. It’s very important to me. I miss Bill. Bill was a character with a capital C.”

Press conferences took place in droves on Thursday as well, once the show started. Most debuted some excellent new products, but other headlines were made as well. Case in point was the PRS press conference. During this event, company founder Paul Reed Smith recapped the company’s recent success. “Three years ago, we were at $40 million [in sales]. Two years ago, we did $50 million, and last year we hit $58 million.” Smith then went on to describe that the company has achieved such success by not striving to be a “brand” but by making high-quality musical instruments.

“What’s extraordinary to me is that we’re guitar makers and amp builders. We try to provide you with something that when you get it out of the box, you’re really excited and you don’t want to sell the next day…the first goal of the company is to build the best tools. Our artists would never play our guitars unless they loved them, unless the instruments do the job for them… and if there’s a better tool, I’d better be concerned cause they’re going to start using it.”

Peter Frampton

The 34th Annual NAMM TEC Awards

The 34th Annual NAMM TEC Awards took place on Jan. 26 at the Hilton Anaheim. At the event, winners were announced in 23 technical and eight creative excellence categories centered on audio production for music, television, film and live events.

Comedian Demetri Martin returned for his second year as host of the TEC Awards. With the notably self-deprecating Martin setting the pace for the proceedings, the event struck a decidedly irreverent tone, much to the apparent delight of attendees looking to unwind after several hectic days on the show floor. However, Martin and his fellow presenters were sure to get serious at times and give kudos to the impressive achievements of the award winners and nominees.

Highlights of the event included the legendary Herbie Hancock inducting Skywalker Sound engineer, producer, and director of music and scoring Leslie Ann Jones into the NAMM TEC Hall of Fame. In her acceptance speech, Jones offered her own unique perspective as a woman who made a name for herself in the old boys’ club of studio production, and she also highlighted the efforts of herself and other women in the recording industry to champion up-and-coming female audio engineers and artists.

The event ended with a spectacular performance from Les Paul Innovation Award honoree Peter Frampton, whose setlist included his smash hit “Do You Feel Like We Do,” as well as a stunning cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” during which Frampton used his trademark talk box to pay tribute to the late Chris Cornell’s incredible vocals.

To view a complete list of winners, as well as video clips of the event itself, go to msr.io/34th-namm-tec-awards.