New Music Seminar 2012: Here's What You Missed This Week

For the past three days, Webster Hall has been home to the notable New Music Seminar. Held annually, the seminar consists of "movements," held by "conductors" and lead by "players." Each of these movements discussed an array of issues, concerns, and hopes affecting music in the industry today.

The conductors and players leading these discussions included many of the leading individuals in the music industry including, Jay Frank, Founder of CEO DigSin, Bryan Calhoun, VP New Media & External Affairs, SoundExchange, Russ Crupnick, Senior VP & Senior Industry Analyst, NPD, Josh Friedlander, VP Strategic Data Analysis RIAA, Gregory Mead, Co-Founder, Musicmetric, Chris Muratore, VP Merchant Services and Emerging Growth, Nielsen Entertainment, Alex White, Co-Founder & CEO, Next Big Sound, and many more.

The three-day seminar was packed full, introducing attendees to the ever developing music business and artists that will encompass the future of the industry.  In case you missed out, check out some highlights below!

[Diane Burch]

[Alek Sandar, Yozmit] [Tom Silverman]

Movement Highlights

The movements from the seminar ranged from music licensing, utilizing fans for exposure and advancement, personalization of digital radio, and many more. Check out a couple highlights below!

Music Blogs (Studio): Discovering the Best New Music. This movement's conductor was Bill Werde, Editorial Director of Billboard and the Players were Christopher J. Kaskie, President of Pitchfork, Matthew Perpetua, Founder of Fluxblog, Daniel Petruzzi, President of Okayplayer, and Anthony Volodkin, CEO of Hypemachine. The players discussed how to find new music, whether it is from finding new playlists on Spotify or new Pandora stations. They also discussed how to promote new music by reaching out to different blogs and writers for exposure.

The Social Media Movement. This movement's conductor was Ian Rogers, CEO & Founder of Top Spin Media and the Players were Ime Archibong, Platform Partnerships Manager of Facebook, Cameo Carlson, Head of Digital Business Development of Borman Entertainment, Michael Doernberg, CEO & Founder of ReverbNation, Julien Mittleberg, Co-founder of Cellfish, Julie Perry, VP, Social Media Director of BLASTmedia, J Sider, CEO of BandPage, and Jordan Walker, US Label & Artist Relations of Spotify. The increase in social media use was discussed in conjunction with a potential over saturation of the market. They additionally discussed increasing exposure via social media tactics.

[Wyclef Jean, Andrew W.K., Tommy Ramone, Chuck D, JD Sampson, Hoodie Allen, Garland Jeffreys via]

Artist On The Verge Project 2012

This project was designed by NMS to support emerging artists on the scene. It helps them attain national recognition to further progress themselves as artists. The AOV top 100 chart is carefully curated with artists that have largest chance of gaining national success, which is determined by music sales, promotional giveaways, touring history, merchandise sales, media, social media, etc.

Every year three artists are chosen for a chance to win over $200,000 in marketing, promotion, equipment, and industry leader consultations. This year, the three artists that performed were Maren Morris, Black Cobain & Black Alley, and Ninjasonik. Maren Morris, who was slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, won the prize.

[Black Cobain] [Ninjasonik]

[Ninjasonik, Maren Morris, Black Cobain]

Check out a clip of Black Cobain below!

NMS New York Music Festival

This year, NMS hosted their first music festival, located in over 17 different venues and featuring over 150 artists. Artists performing included, Travis Porter featuring surprise guest Jim Jones, Ziggy Marley, Riots !n Paris, Futuristic Lingo, Deniro Farrar, King L, Fresco Kane, Uncle Murda, Yonas, Nova Social, and many more.

Check out a video of Travis Porter performing at SOB's below!

[Photos via Todd Owyoung and Chris Owyoung]