CMJ no longer credible
If you needed another sign that the power structure of the music industry is shifting then look no further than CMJ. The long running annual music event at one point was viewed as something akin to an independent music festival. However, along with SXSW and Cochella it has slowly turned into a trade show; a week long junket for the New Industry Insiders made of the Pitchfork-led blogosphere.
"Sponsers" include companies desirous of the refracted "hip rays", such as Puma, News Corp owned Myspace, and Apple. What are they paying for exactly? Schwag and booze.
What bands are featured at CMJ these days? Along with the "Indie" labels current flavor of the months such as Tapes N Tapes or Hot Chip, one may also find major label bands attempting to appeal to the indie demographic, such as Albert Hammond Jr, The Decemberists, Diamond Nights, and The Walkmen. In the small print, small venues you shall find the actually independent bands on actual independent labels. These bands and labels have no money or schwag to woo the blogosphere or "independent" press, which is why you will not hear about them. 20 or so bands are mentioned constantly by the taste makers, and yet there are 1400 bands (literally) playing CMJ this year. Still more unsigned bands are rejected for not having glossy enough press kits or professional enough sounding demos. Do these bands deserve to be in an independent music festival less than Albert Hammond? Who is making these decisions? Just what is independent about CMJ anyway?
In a way, we already knew this: the "industry" is not a collective, it is a competitive throat slash. It's the discovery of twenty bands in a field of roughly 7000000000000.
Living the dream has become "try not to be what everyone else already knew you were."
Sorry you had to find out this way, kiddo. On a lighter note, I got a free pass, and saw some kickass shit. Reviews coming on absurdistmedia.blogspot.com soon.