Last year, I attended two panels held during CMJ Music Marathon at the NYU Kimmel Center that turned out to be informative and enjoyable.
The first panel was called Music Journalism Exploded where journalists and editors from MTV, Spin, Village Voice and Billboard spoke about the current state of music journalism.
The second panel, The 411 D.I.Y. Roundup, had artists and publicists speak about establishing a brand for independent artists who desire to succeed without assistance from major labels.
Impressed by this I decided to become a CMJ Volunteer where I would get the privilege to network with aspiring artists, journalists and music executives, go to as many panels as I possibly can and getting in to the “must see” showcases throughout lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Becoming a volunteer:
Every year, CMJ recruits people with a passion for music to assist them with the week long event in addition but not limited to: taking photos, work in panel and venue security and registration. Many of the volunteers are college students, graduates, artists, journalists and future music executives.
Applications for volunteering is posted on the CMJ website in the summer. A minimum of 16 hours is required to work in order to receive a full badge. The full badge allows you access to everything that is part of CMJ Music Marathon for the week.
If you’re picked to volunteer, you would receive a day badge that allow access for things going on that day until your final shift.
Volunteering at CMJ:
CMJ Music Marathon is normally held in Mid-October. This year, it was held from October 15-19. While the festival did not start until the 15th, my first shift Monday morning involved me assembling badges on lanyards.
It was a long, sometimes painful task but the time I spent there allowed me to meet volunteers who analyze different genres of music such as Electronic dance music in a critical matter.
The remaining three days of volunteering required me to greet people, panel security and 8 A.M. yoga watching.
Panel security was a much simpler job than what I originally thought. Those who had full badges, day badges, speaker badges, press and photography badges were allowed in.
Those who had Penthouse badges (badges that provide access to the nearby Hotel on Rivington) showcase badges (provides access to showcase venues only) or NYU student I.D. (since the panels were held at the NYU Kimmel Center) were not allowed access.
If you were lucky enough, you had the opportunity to listen in to what was being said.
My final shift involved me doing panel security for Career Counseling sessions. Counseling sessions and Silver board meetings are unique because you have an opportunity to have one on one with someone in the industry.
To get these one-on-one sessions, you have to sign up beforehand at the time that is designated, which were 15 minutes for counseling sessions and an hour for boardroom meetings. If you didn’t show up, someone else would take your spot.
Panels at CMJ: Since attending every panel was impossible even if I weren’t volunteering, I decided to go to panels on my off shift that peaked my interest.
Jam Packed: The Explosion of Music Festivals
This panel discussed the mechanics in forming a festival, booking a mixture of heavyweight headliners and obscure acts and the profits organizers and artists make from festivals.
Bootstrapped: Indie Label Challenges
This panel discussed the challenges Indie labels face while competing with mainstream record labels for success.
From Little Gerhard to Spotify: How Sweden’s History Informs its Pop Music Industry
This panel discussed the effect of Sweden’s history on Swedish music and ultimately, international markets. At least in the American market, Swedish influence is prevalent of today’s electronic music, pop and metal (ABBA, Opeth, Swedish House Mafia and Avicii).
2003: A Hipster Flashback
This panel was the one I was looking forward to the most. I assume they were going to mention how hipsters are the butt of many jokes. Instead, the panelists spent the hour talking about a post 9/11 New York where people from other states moved to the city because the streets were considered safe and the rest is history. Bands that were mentioned in this wave of “hipsters” were The Strokes, Interpol and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The Craft of Songwriting
Out of all the panels I went to, this one was the liveliest. Award winning producer/songwriter Benny Blanco allowed everyone in a packed room to ask him questions regarding the formation of a song. He spoke about his experiences with artists like Rhianna and admits he there is no formula or rules to create songs.
Serenity Now: Rock and Roll your Soul Yoga
This year, CMJ added yoga classes for those who want to get or stay fit and were offered at 3 P.M. Tuesday and 8 A.M. Wednesday and Thursday. Instead of playing traditional yoga music, modern music was played in the background.
CMJ Showcases:
Hundreds of bands part of CMJ Music Marathon performed at venues throughout Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. As long as you had a showcase, day badge or full badge, you could go to as many venues as possible. I took advantage of my full badge by traveling to Williamsburg on a Saturday night and go to the many venues in that area.
The Novocaines at Trash Bar: This garage rock/punk band from Australia has toured with the likes of Them Crooked Vultures. Their set consisted of heavy and melodic tracks that managed to be extremely catchy.
Strange Talk at Spike Hill: These guys performed to a packed, hipster/party crowd at a bar that is split into two sections. Their synthpop tunes had everyone dancing.
Father John Misty at Music Hall of Williamsburg: One of the most anticipated acts at CMJ, I saw why many looked forward to this show. Father John Misty aka J. Tillman of Fleet Boxes is witty as he is eccentric. His humorous lyrics about relationships and life draw parallels to Jonathan Coulton, only without the urge to make science fiction references.
Not many acts can come on stage dancing with a woman in a bunny mask wearing underwear and sitting for over an hour motionless. At one point, Father John Misty described her not as a woman but an aesthetic figure. He also had a giant carve out of an iPhone and performed as if people were seeing him on an iPhone. The best part of the set was when he mentioned his refusal to know what CMJ stood for.
CMJ for the record is an acronynm for College Music Journal.
