NYU Hosts CMJ Music Marathon 2008

The College Music Journal's (CMJ) annual Music Marathon returns to the campus of New York University the week of October 21-25, 2008. CMJ’s Music Marathon is the largest and longest-running music industry event of its kind, drawing thousands of music fans and industry professionals and taking place at more than 50 venues in New York City.  In addition to performances by new artists from multiple music genres, the festival includes film premieres, panel discussions, keynote speeches, and a continuing legal education symposium.

Joanne Abbot Green, CMJ Founder/Executive Producer and NYU Music Business Program alumna, was quoted in Brooklyn Vegan when CMJ moved to NYU for 2007 Marathon: "We are thrilled to celebrate CMJ's move back to downtown Manhattan…and to be working with NYU."  She went on to note that "positioning CMJ with a groundbreaking academic institution like NYU will allow for the perfect environment to present the best entertainment, networking, and educational opportunities for musicians, students, music fans, and industry professionals."

Several Music Business Program alumni and faculty will be appearing as panelists in 2008. Alums Barry Heyman, entertainment attorney at Heyman Law; Alex Holz, director of client relations at Rightsflow; Simon Kellman, manager of new ventures and global digital business at Sony BMG; and Patrick Sullivan, president and CEO of Rightsflow LLC will each be members of panels at the conference. Music Business faculty member Charles Sanders, outside counsel to the Songwriters Guild of America will also be on a panel which will be moderated by the director of the undergraduate Music Business Program, Catherine Fitterman.

Heyman will be on a panel entitled: Music Licensing Reform, digital cell block section 115. This panel will relate directly to the compulsory mechanical license which allows for the reproduction and distribution of any commercially released non-dramatic musical work. Section 115 governs the terms and conditions for these activities. The panel will discuss how the current ways of collecting royalties are ineffective when it comes to the digital world.

Holz will be on a panel entitled: Who’s up for a pub crawl? The panel will focus on the social aspect of meeting new friends and being introduced to new places in a strange city. The panel will be full of music publishers discussing current publishing topics.

Kellman will be on a panel entitled: How to successfully rise above the noise. The panel will focus on online video and how it is a key component to developing artist marketing initiatives. The panel will talk about how to get noticed and “rise above the noise” of competing artists with similar products.

Sullivan will be on a panel entitled: Global Mobile Music Business. The panel will address how consumers in 2008 directly download music, games, and powerful applications onto phones. The panel will talk about the increase in revenue through this trend within the next 5 years and how to capitalize on it now.

Fitterman is the moderator and Sanders is a panelist on: The political spin on the music industry. The panel will focus on hot button topics posing the question “What do Barack Obama, John McCain, and RIAA have in common? Change!” The panel will expand on how lobbyists are pushing new laws to change many aspects of the business and music as we know it, and endeavor to intertwine music industry issues with the laws, policies, and ethics of intellectual property.

For more information about CMJ access their website at www.cmj.com/

If you have a story idea about our current Music Business students, faculty members, or alumni, please e-mail it to catherine.moore@nyu.edu.