GAMA Annual Membership Meeting

On Wednesday morning, The Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA) held their annual membership meeting at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel.

In addition to “normal” business – Membership and Financial Reports, nominations for the next year’s Board, et cetera – the get together also featured a special presentation touching upon a (perhaps THE) topic of interest to guitar retailers, suppliers, and players in the past couple of years: recent developments and activity regarding the Lacey Act, legislation initially introduced to protect endangered or otherwise “illegal” wildlife, fish, and plants (including woods), but a law which has been causing considerable – and by most accounts, undue – hassle for MI manufacturers and distributors. Guest speakers Mary Luehrsen (NAMM director of Public Affairs & Government Regulation), Jim Goldberg (principal at Goldberg & Associates, Washington D.C.), and Leo Coco (senior policy advisor, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Washington D.C.) outlined efforts being taken by NAMM and others to help react to, and reshape, the current implementation of the Lacey Act.

We’ve dug in deep for NAMM members,” noted Luehrsen in discussing the organization’s advocacy of the recently introduced RELIEF (The Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness) Act, as well as the many NAMM resources that have been made available to dealers and suppliers to help navigate the murky Lacy Act waters. “We are not calling for the repeal of the Lacey Act,” said Goldberg. “We are trying to fix some of the unintended consequences.”

Mary Luehrsen, Jim Goldberg, and Leo Coco at the GAMA Membership Meeting on Wednesday.