The first quarter of the year is always the best time for artists and bands to break new records. Radio programmers have cleaned the slate on all of their holiday music and most take off some of the songs that they stuck with during the year before. With the major labels always taking extra time to get things “in gear”, it opens up some room to sneak in there before things start to get crazy all over again. New Music Weekly has all the tools of the trades to help make great things happen for new emerging artists. We are also the safe haven for the artists and bands that choose to release their product on small labels.

In this issue you will already begin to see some changes in new artists and bands moving into striking position. If some of them ended in a mid-charted position, it might be the time for a few of them to make it to the very top of our charts. Our STS tracking is a reflection of what we have been talking about. You can see the openings occur already this year and for some, this is the opportunity many have been waiting for. If you don’t think the music industry isn’t watching your moves, you need to know that they are and in a very big way. This is also the time when the majors have new budgets and for some out there on smaller indie labels, your phone may start ringing sooner than you thought.

In the coming weeks we will be announcing our next Future Hits music sampler start-up. This is a great tool for new artists and bands to get their music to “all of radio”. Artists that find their way on to our Future Hits compilation also get their music serviced through Airplay Access digitally so all of the bases are covered. This is a multi-format CD which means you will find the very best in Top40, Country, AC to College radio. Music and programmers simply take the songs they feel best fit their format. Many of our programmers have both Country and Mainstream stations all in one house so that can be of a big help for those artists that are looking for a multi-format push and coverage.

Our New Music Awards is also a great vehicle for artists and bands This is our opportunity to acknowledge the very best for both the major and independent music artists. We also pay tribute to radio stations, music and program directors in addition to record labels and industry professionals. You have one week left to go online to our sight and put a vote in for your favorites as we expect to make the announcement of our winners very soon. The list of winners will be sent to the entire music world through numerous press releases in addition to being posted in our very next issue.

The CRS (Country Radio Seminar) will be held in just three weeks in Nashville Tennessee. New Music Weekly will be on sight to meet with artists and bands and to conduct interviews in the media room the week of the event. Make sure to get in touch with us as soon as you can to secure a spot in the line-up. Our schedule is expected to be “jam packed”, but we will get to as many artists as we can. This is always a great opportunity to get together with new faces but also to connect with old friends. You never realize just how many people you know in the industry until you come to an affair such as this.

For artists looking for that “extra push”, our special CRS issue is already in pre-production. Get in touch with us this week to make sure you have a spot in this all important issue. There will be limited space but we will try to fit as many artists and bands into this issue as we can. Once again this is just an additional tool to help “spread the word” about your project. As we move into 2013 we want to wish all of our subscribers, artists and stations the very best. We will continue our on-going “new music revolution” as we spread the good word to the entire music industry.