Find musical instruments, products, or lessons in your neighborhood by visiting the NAMM Member Dealer Locator.
NAMM was formed in 1901 in New York. After several difficult years during the Great Depression, NAMM closed its New York doors and re-opened in Chicago. While in Chicago, the industry enjoyed great growth and NAMM's many music programs, such as AMC, flourished. NAMM's headquarters were relocated to Southern California in 1984, where the current building was established in Carlsbad (in San Diego County) in 1997.
Our office is frequently contacted by the owners of older pianos asking about a sticker they found on the back or underside of their piano. The sticker relates to a program that occurred just before World War I called "For the Advancement of Music." In the early 1900s, there was a significant increase in the number of misleading "stencil" pianos in the marketplace, which led to the establishment of this program.
Stencil pianos often had deliberately misspelled names on the fallboard that looked or sounded similar to well-known manufacturers. For example, "Steinbay" in place of "Steinway," "Baltman" to represent "Baldwin," "Chichester" instead of "Chickering" and "Bush & Gaerts" in place of "Bush & Gerts." These pianos were often of lesser quality, and the piano industry was very concerned that consumers were being misled into buying a potentially inferior product when they thought they were getting a piano from a name manufacturer.
"For the Advancement of Music" was a cooperative effort between the National Piano Manufacturers Association (NPMA)—now known as the Piano Manufacturers Association International (PMAI)—and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). The goal was to identify for the consumer those pianos made by legitimate manufactures. Stickers were placed on every piano built for several years in the early 1900s with a serial number that was logged into a record book at the NPMA headquarters. Unfortunately, those records have been misplaced or destroyed over the ensuing years, with the result being the loss of a significant historical record.
Often those contacting our office about the stickers are hoping we can date their piano using the serial number on the sticker. Unfortunately, without the record book, that is not possible. In some cases, however, piano owners may be able to date their pianos with the brand name and serial number by referring to the Pierce Piano Atlas, which lists serial numbers for several of the older piano brands.
NAMM's privacy policy forbids the association from providing any mailing lists or mailing labels containing the contact information of NAMM Members to non-Members and non-exhibiting companies or other third parties for marketing purposes. This also includes mailing lists of trade show attendees or attendance rosters from NAMM University seminars. Exhibiting companies can receive buyer lists by completing the form in the exhibitor manual. The Pre-show lists are available to exhibiting companies only after the deadline for early registration, approximately five weeks before the show.
NAMM publishes Music USA: the Statistical Review of the Music Products Industry on an annual basis. The hard copy publication is available to NAMM Members for $25 and non-Members for $75 plus shipping and handling. To order, send an e-mail to info@namm.org or call 760.438.8001.
First, review our Membership criteria and if your company meets them, then determine which type of NAMM Membership you qualify for. Once you have determined your Membership category, download, complete and submit the appropriate application.
Over its more-than-100-year history, the association has evolved from a national entity representing the interests of music products retailers to an international association including both commercial and retail Members. The International Music Products Association’s name, NAMM, comes from the acronym “National Association of Music Merchants,” but the long form of the name is no longer used. Today, we simply say that NAMM stands for the interests of the global music products industry.
