The NAMM Show is considered the largest music products trade show in the world, its only major competition being the Frankfurt Musik Messe. It is held every January in Anaheim, California, USA at the Anaheim Convention Center. The January 2008 show had 1,560 exhibitors and a record-breaking 88,100 attendees. The NAMM Show is not open to the general public, only to members of the music trade.

The acronym NAMM originally stood for the National Association of Music Merchants, but has evolved from a national entity representing the interests of music products retailers to an international association including both commercial, retail members and affiliates. Therefore, the long form of the name is no longer used, and it is simply known as NAMM, the International Music Products Association.

Each Winter NAMM Show is heavily covered by the music-industry press. Thousands of new-product introductions and demonstrations are made at Winter NAMM, making attendance by trade journalists a necessity. Some publications, such as Music Tradesblank">http://www.musictrades.com/, publish special NAMM issues for distribution at the show. NAMM also produces a show directory and a daily news magazine called Upbeat, for distribution at the convention center and at local hotels.

Among music-trade attendees, the NAMM Show is an exhausting ritual. The _Anaheim Convention Center is one of the world's largest, and NAMM (since 2007) completely fills all the available exhibit space, necessitating miles of walking to cover all the exhibits. NAMM is also colloquially called "the world's loudest trade show"blank">http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/bbshop/message/78189?l=1, although this monicker is also assigned to the _E3 Expo and other shows involving entertainment. Despite severe regulations on the permissible noise level, sound level meters carried by NAMM personnel routinely exceed the 85 dBA maximum throughout most of the main exhibit hall, simply from the constant background noise. blank">http://www.modernguitars.com/wolf/archives/002851.html http://www.behringer.com/01_news/events_namm08.cfm?lang=eng

The association’s other show, Summer NAMM, was hosted by _Austin, Texas at the end of July, 2007. The smaller summer show is approximately one third the size of the Winter NAMM Show and focuses more on industry meetings and professional development courses than products. Recent reports indicated that the Summer NAMM show has suffered from declining attendance, as it has been cycled between Nashville TN, Austin TX and Indianapolis IN during successive years. http://www.tracklists.ca/latest/2007-summer-namm-wraps-declining-attendance.html http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/28554/NAMM-back-at-Nashville