Welcome to our annual CRS and NMA Nominations issue. For those of you viewing this publication for the very first time, New Music Weekly continues to champion an on-going and special “new music revolution”. Our publication gives you the best overview on how major and independent artists are doing in multi-formats of radio from Top40, Country to Adult Contemporary. Our panel of reporting stations is at an all-time high as we continue to build a strong field of music, program directors and radio stations from coast to coast.  Here at NMW all stations are treated as equals regardless of market size. This gives artists from all genres an opportunity as we continue to help “level the playing field”.

To our good friends at CRS, we send out a special welcome as this event gets started in a brand new venue. The Omni presents some new and fresh opportunity to this annual grand affair and as we have often noted, CRS comes at the perfect time of year. In the early first quarter it is the best time to break new artists and singles and you can’t find a better platform by which to help make these things happen than by attending CRS. The gathering for programmers, many of which preside over multi-format stations also gives artists and labels the opportunity to break bread with the very best in the industry.

New Music Weekly is on sight once again at CRS to spend time with emerging and established artists.  We are able to obtain enough material and information to help us through the entire year. The outpouring of interest in our publication is an indication as to how pivotal our presence is and we are trying to get to as many of you as we can within this short period of time. All of the event and luncheons also provides opportunities for photos and additional editorial that we will be featuring in many of our future issues.

This is also our New Music Awards nomination issue. We are so very proud of this year’s list of artists and their songs, many of which you can view in this particular issue. The event also gives us a change to honor radio stations, record labels, programmers and industry professionals and a big congratulations to all who made the cut. You will also find some artists displaying additional information that equally deserves your immediate attention. Please spend some additional time viewing our charts and the nominees.

NMW subscribers, editors and music fans had a hand in the final list of our nominations. On the NMW website we provided an open ballot by which the general public could participate in choosing the nominees. Now that the list has been confirmed, music fans and the public can also now participate in the final outcome via their votes. The sight will be open to the voting public for about three more weeks so help us “rock the vote” so that we can have a fair and honest outcome. Our next issue will feature the winners for the New Music Awards and we wish all of the nominees the very best in turning the nomination into a win.

The field of new music during this first quarter is exploding by leaps and bounds. All you have to do is take a very close look at the charts to see exactly what we are talking about. With holiday music now in a re-current category and programmers cleaning up their lists from last year, we see a new explosion of new singles and artists that gives us an indication that this is going to be a grand year in music. From Top40, Country & Hot AC new music abounds at this early stage and we are here to cover all of it for you.

New Music Weekly continues to offer artists and record labels the very best tools of the trade. From our tracking services, editorial and multiple charts, we can give you a very different overview into what is really going on. Our stations, music and program directors are extremely open to new music provided that it fits their particular format. We welcome you to become a part of this on-going “new music revolution”. Again a big congratulations to our NMA nominees and another shout out to all of our friends at this year’s CRS. All the signs are out there that this will be one of the best years in music ever. We hope to meet most of you here in person and keep the spirit of this music industry alive & well.