The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has announced the final registration and exhibitor numbers for the 2011 Winter NAMM Show, reporting 90,114 registered attendees, a 3 percent increase from last year and representing a new attendance record for the 109-year-old show.

International registration also experienced a two percent increase from last year to 10,400. And in another sign of economic recovery in the industry, the association reported 1,417 exhibitors at this year’s show, including 247 new exhibitors.

“The world’s brightest minds and most innovative music companies came together in Anaheim for four amazing days of commerce, networking and learning,” said NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond. “After meeting with NAMM Members from around the world, I am continually impressed and amazed at the resolve and optimism our industry has shown these past years and I believe that we are now on a path of recovery and future growth as more people of all ages and talent levels discover the fun and proven benefits of playing music.”

“All in all, the events and the attendance has been up, the mood is very positive this year,” said Jon Rooff of Dean Markley Strings, Inc. “It’s not like it was two years ago, and even last year there was still a lot of negative economic talk from the dealers. A lot of people, like us, have focused their business. We’ve focused our business back on what we do best and a lot of the stores have done that, and that’s how they’ve survived economically.

“2011 for the music industry I think it’s going to be very strong, very vibrant. For our company in particular, we’re looking at probably 20 to 30 percent growth this year. It’s going to be a monster year for us, mainly because we went back to our roots.”

“This has been a really good show this year,” said Larry Urie, national sales and marketing manager at PRS Guitars. “I’m sensing a lot of optimism in the market. It’s been surprising. But we’ve been very crowded, we’ve done very, very well and I really see a shift coming.”

“This year has been crazy—from the moment the doors opened we have been busy,” said Rob Cunningham, Planet Waves product specialist at D’Addario & Company, Inc. “It’s been a constant flow of people and business is great. We had a great time.”