News Releases

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, closed its 2007 Summer NAMM show today at the Austin Convention Center, reporting an overall decrease in registrants from the 2006 summer trade show in Austin, with 12,845 total registrants for the three-day event. Even with the decrease in overall registration, the buyer-to-seller ratio was strong with 2,992 dealers and employees seeing products from and meeting with the 339 exhibiting companies.

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, opened its Summer NAMM trade show today, which runs through Sunday, July 29, at the Austin Convention Center. Between 10,000 to 12,000 music products industry professionals from 37 countries are expected to attend Summer NAMM to view the latest musical instruments and products from more than 300 exhibiting companies.

NAMM’s Ad-Hoc Technology Committee released another component of its business-to-business technology standards for the music products industry. This document, the Advanced Shipment Notice (ASN), is a key component of the XML-based industry standard, which has been dubbed "Version 2007.1". The committee met at Summer NAMM in Austin to put the finishing touches on the ASN document. The committee is also working to add additional documents to the specifications. These additional components are expected to be published later this year.

In fall 2007, the Disney Channel will present a special telecast, High School Musical: The Music in You, a docu-musical from two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA, American Dream). Kopple followed the month-long process of Fort Worth, Texas, students producing a stage adaptation of Disney's High School Musical, capturing with her camera the auditions, rehearsals and performances and how students balanced it with the rest of their lives.

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, announced today that Joseph Perry, a graduating senior at John H. Pitmin High School in Turlock, Calif., and Zach Morris, a student at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center from Flagstaff, Ariz., are the recipients of the William R. Gard Memorial Scholarship.

Students in high-quality school music education programs score higher on standardized tests compared to students in schools with deficient music education programs, according to a study published in last week’s issue of the Journal for Research in Music Education. This is the first study ever to examine the quality of school music programs as a factor affecting test scores, independent of the socio-economic level of the school or school district.

“Work hard, play hard” is a fitting motto for the 18 bands selected to perform at the three regional qualifying playoffs of the Seventh Annual FORTUNE Battle of the Corporate Bands. The final competition will take place at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in October.

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products association, today announced the 14 recipients of its 2007–2008 grants program, allocating more than $500,000 in funding to support community music-making programs. The new grants, while only a small portion of NAMM’s overall annual multimillion-dollar reinvestment back into the music products industry, serve an important function by enabling worthy organizations to run programs designed to increase interest and participation in making music.

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products association, today announced it will offer free materials to NAMM Member retailers who would like to show their support for music and music education in their communities. The Sesame Street Music Works Community Outreach Bundle and SupportMusic Community Action Kit can be used to show retailers’ support for families and schools, increase the size their sales markets, and promote their businesses as the source for music making and music education advocacy in their respective communities.

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products association, today announced that the U.S. Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 121 on Tuesday. The Resolution states that music education grounded in rigorous instruction is an important component of a well-rounded academic curriculum and should be available to every student in every school. According to NAMM, the Resolution underscores the vital need for all children to receive the many scholastic, social and developmental benefits that are associated with making music.