We always look so forward to the CRS in beautiful Nashville Tennessee. It comes at the perfect time of year just as artists and record labels get set and ready for the new releases and this event provides the prefect launching pad. In this wide-spread industry it’s so hard to get everyone together and with CRS this is the one time you get find all of the artists and industry in one place. It appears to us that this is the earliest the event has been and we must admit that it caught us a bit off guard. Nonetheless our team swung into action and we’re set and ready to make the most of a good situation.

The CRS provides us as a publication, the opportunity to meet and interview many artists and bands. It gives us a much better insight as to what these artists are all about. There are numerous photo opportunities that this event provides as well. We caught the early rise of Country stars from Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift to the Band Perry, all of them we first met right here at CRS. This event also provides the opportunity to get together with many of our radio station programmers and industry professionals. Many of the record labels still attend and that is helpful to all, especially when you are getting set and ready to release a brand new single by a new artist or even an established one.

For those of you seeing this publication for the very first time, welcome to our “new music revolution”. We combine the very best and most current chart information from both the major and the independent music artists. In our world all radio stations are treated as equals regardless of market size. With the many changes in the music industry, many artists have chosen to release product through the independent arena and New Music Weekly is here for them to keep track of how they are doing up against the rest of the competition. This publication has become an invaluable tool for many record promoters and labels that have been in search of ways to monitor the success of new artists and bands.

NMW has recently released the nominations for our annual New Music Awards. Even in this special CRS issue you will see some mentions of artists and bands that are up for our annual awards. As of this writing we are in the process of launching a world-side broadcast of the “winners” in the coming weeks. The publication has also provided a vehicle by where the fans and friends of nominated bands and artists can vote for them on the magazine’s website. The votes will have a profound impact towards the final outcome. We urge all of you in becoming involved in this process as there are many deserving artists out there in need of your support. We are here to continue to be a voice for the many who need it.

Our Spins Tracking System continues to provide critical reports and chart activity each and every week. The panel of our stations, as you will see in this publication, includes Top40, Country, Hot AC and College. NMW also provides a blue-print of radio station information right before your eyes. Our station reporters are very supportive of new artists and their music and many don’t really care what label the artists are on, they care about providing the very best music to their local listeners.

We are looking forward to getting together with many of you during this rather short week. If we have not been able to fit your artist into our jammed schedule, be patient as we will get to most of you before the week is over. All of us want to welcome you to this on-going “new music revolution” and we’ll see many of your great artists and bands at the top of our New Music Weekly charts. Let the fun and games begin!