My column this week for Daily Variety concerns the CMJ Music Marathon in New York. Here are a few more thoughts from CMJ chief Bobby Habert, specifically on parties and last year's dust-up over whether some applicants were never listened to.
"We're dealing with 1,000 bands playing officially and 500 to 1,000 play unofficially, five or six gigs. Clearly there's a bit of anarchy but I don't discourage it.
"My only concern is when people who should participate choose not to. It's annoying when people appropriate the CMJ name but in New York there's no way to police it.
"The parties are a necessary evil. Bands can play outside of CMJ and from a consumer's point of view it's a 24/7 event for a week. The benefits outweigh the liabilities."
In regards to last year's complaints that bands were not being listened to: "There have been (no complaints) this year. We have used Sonic Bids as our technical partner for four years. Last year we saw simultaneously how wonderful and evil the Internet could be. "There's a streaming tool on Sonic Bids that chalks up the numbers of listeners. Some people decided we were rejecting bands without listening (based on no recorded streams). We download and audition.But the din was so loud (our response) fell on deaf ears."
From my perspective, Tuesday night's CMJ highlights are Bowery Ballroom with Lykke Li, Friendly Fires, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Micachu; Middle Distance Runner at Crash Mansion; Belleville Outift and Del McCoury Band at Highline Ballroom; Vivian Girls at Red Bull Space; and the bill at Union Pool of Phil and the Osophers, Army Navy and the Poison Control Center.
It has been almost a month since I did a concert tally and since then I have seen 27 acts at eight shows, leaving me with 20 concerts and 91 acts left to see to hit my goal of 100 shows/300 acts.