A Recap of The 2025 NAMM Show in Photos and Videos
No matter what corner you turn at The NAMM Show, you’ll find musical instruments, music tech and live music. Held January 21–25, 2025, the show brought together a global audience to demo music products and explore the latest innovations from hundreds of brands. Plus, attendees participated in education sessions covering a gamut of industry topics and let their hair down at live music performances found on stages across The NAMM Show Campus. Here’s a snapshot of what was found.
Highlights From the Trade Show Floor
This year’s attendees had access to a trade show floor bursting with musical instruments, music equipment, technology and accessories Thursday through Saturday. From product demos to artist performances, there was no shortage of happenings. Here are just a few:
Richard Rourke, keyboardist and backup vocalist for Hans Williams, performs for attendees in the Locally booth.
A Deering Banjo exhibitor’s lightning-fast fingers bring the instrument to life.
Shanghai No. 1 National Musical Instrument Co. exhibitor shows attendees the sounds of the ruan, a Chinese instrument that looks like a banjo but sounds like a classical guitar.
David Ahlund demonstrates the features of the Roland V-Stage.
Attendees Kevin, Johnny and Mark smile in front of Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto’s drum set at the Gibraltar Hardware booth.
Travis Larson performs in the Ernie Ball booth.
Best in Show
With so many incredible products on the trade show floor, it’s a tough call for the Best in Show panel to narrow in on their top picks. See the winners.
Bands at NAMM
The NAMM Show Campus featured multiple stages with live performances from hand-selected Bands at NAMM artists. Thanks to their artistry across many genres of music, these musicians showed attendees how products on the trade show floor become conduits of human creativity. For a more intimate look into some of the bands’ work, inspiration and reasons for attending The NAMM Show, check out our article, Meet the Artists Behind The 2025 Bands at NAMM.
Electric violinist and influencer Mia Asano performs on the ADJ Arena Plaza Stage Thursday afternoon.
Friday on the Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage, Daring Greatly performs “Trouble,” a staple in the rock and country band's live shows.
Education Sessions and Hands-On Learning
Training for Live Event Production Pros
On Wednesday, Audinate offered Dante Certification Level 1 for attendees who wanted an introduction to the network platform focusing on AV connectivity. Students attending the training participated in a hands-on portion using their PC or Apple computers. Those completing the Level 1 certification (2nd edition) can comfortably design, setup and operate a Dante audio/video system on a single network switch. Level 2 certification was also offered.
Musician, audio engineer and producer Dani Lion with 2 Rivers Remix Society, a nonprofit that organizes free live music events for indigenous communities and featuring indigenous artists, attended the certification course because her organization aims to start running Dante for its festivals. “Dante is the new wave of what everyone wants to be working on,” said Lion. “It will give us the proper signal flow and run us smooth.”
2 Rivers sponsored three of their techs (including Lion) to attend The NAMM Show so that they could take the Dante training. “I got to work the switch, which was really fun,” said Lion. “As long as you understand the concept of routing, you’ll be able to get it pretty easily.”
Producer, audio engineer and DJ James Bullock of Groove Line Productions, a mobile DJ service, also attended the training. “I see a lot of top engineers in the industry right now using Dante,” he said. “A friend of mine just got his certification and he’s in audio school, so it’s coming full-force and I want to take a jumpstart on it.”
Bullock, a first-time NAMM Show attendee, said one of his key takeaways was learning that he can hook up his DJ system with Dante. “Instead of running DMX cables I might be able to run ethernet cables and do my DJ system that way.”
Justin Alquist, the technical trainer for the course, said that the Dante certification program moves people’s careers forward and is one of the highest respected certification programs in the industry.
“When employers see this certification, right away they know that the individual is capable of running a Dante network,” said Alquist. “Employers reach out to us to confirm a certification is valid, and we do confirm that.”
The art of the mix
On Friday, attendees were eager listeners and Q&A participants in “The Perils of Grand-Scale Score Mixing” with award-winning audio engineer Eva Reistad, known for her mixing works “Dune — The Sketchbook Album” by Hans Zimmer and “Cinderalla” by Jessica Rose Weiss, among many others. Reistad brought a great deal of passion and humor to her NAMM Show students as she shared examples from “Planet Earth II.”
After the session, Andrew Sherbrooke, a graduate student studying film scoring at Berkley, said, “As a composer who’s writing large scale scores already, what I have gleaned from [the session] is super useful, and there’s a lot that I’ve written down that I’m going to continue to digest and research.”
Chad Loughrige, head of the music technology program at Capital University, was interested in Reistad’s session because he teaches post production and post production mixing.
“It’s always good to be reassured that what I’m teaching is being done in the industry,” he said. “At the same time, I get to hear about new workflows that composers and post production mixers are using, and then I can bring those back to school.” Loughrige added, “This has been the very best presentation I have seen yet.”
Bucket drumming
What if you’re not in pro audio, but you’re a teacher in the classroom looking for new teaching programs and techniques? Then The NAMM Show has something for you, too.
On Thursday in the Hilton Avila, a group of attendees gathered for “Bucket Drumming for Music Educators.” Percussionist and teacher David Birrow shared methods for teachers and drum facilitators to introduce drumming to students, especially elementary and middle school kids. Here’s a sample of an activity that helps kids learn different layers of percussion:
“The movement, the chanting out loud provides readiness for drumming for the rest of your life,” said Birrow.
Awards Nights
Every year at The NAMM Show, industry luminaries are recognized for the incredible work they’ve accomplished over the past year. It’s an opportunity for industry colleagues to be among each other and celebrate the best works produced from their fields.
On Thursday, the best in pro audio and sound production gathered to celebrate the winners of the 40th annual NAMM TEC Awards. Jack White is pictured below performing with his band after receiving the Innovation Award. See the full list of the 2025 NAMM TEC Awards winners.
On Friday, the 23rd annual Parnelli Awards celebrated the best in the live event industry. Roy Bickel is pictured below receiving the Visionary Award. See the full list of Parnelli winners.
The NAMM Dealer Awards was also held Friday evening, recognizing the achievements of music retail stores around the world. Brighton Music Center (below) received the top honor as 2025 Dealer of the Year.
The She Rocks gala was held Saturday evening to place a spotlight on women in the music industry. Below, Lindsey Stirling performs with a fellow violinist.
Industry Icon Sparks Inspiration on Stage
Singer, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier created an unforgettable moment for attendees at the Grand Rally for Music Education when he turned them into an audience choir.
“There’s something about completely removing the barrier between this pedestal and position and where you all are,” he said to the audience. “The best part of music is that we are all participants and the more people who are invited to contribute the more magical it is.”
Collier revealed the magic of the human connection in the room by conducting attendees through a series of vocalizations and harmonies. Audience members filled in the lyrics when Collier took to the piano to play “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Somebody to Love.”
From around the world to The NAMM Show, audiences have joined Collier’s on-the-spot choirs — now, NAMM attendees can proudly say they have, too.
Share Your NAMM Show Experience
What was your NAMM Show experience this year? Share your photos and videos with #NAMMShow on social media! Also, check out our album of 2025 show photos. We look forward to seeing you in 2026.
About the Author
Jessica A. Baris is a writer on the marketing team at NAMM and editor of Playback Blog. She shares member stories, covers The NAMM Show and collaborates with industry experts to create content that educates and informs NAMM members. Baris leads a musical life as a Latin dancer, growing singer and player of instruments, including castanets, clave and tongue drum.