Welcome to our first edition of 2020. From the looks of what has been happening around here we can already tell that it’s going to be a truly amazing year in music. The first quarter is always the very best time for new music to surface. Holiday music is put back in the Christmas library, older songs from the year prior are finally put in a recurrent category and many of our music and program directors are looking to start a new menu of music to keep their stations sounding fresh and relevant. In this issue we will help to try and guide you towards some new music and keep you apprised of what’s staying strong from last year. This all opens things up for new emerging artists and bands that deserve attention.

In this issue we also put the spotlight for our annual New Music Awards & the nominations are causing quite the buzz out there. We recently announced the nominees for our annual 2020 awards. Billie Eilish, Jonas Brothers, Lil Nas X, & Lizzo are among the many major artist nominees who made the cut. It’s a pretty stellar list that covers the gamut from Top40, Country to AC… leaving no stone unturned. Many of the above had a big impact over the past twelve months and it’s no surprise to see many of their names on the list. Voting has already started at a very heavy pace but there is still time to move the vote one way or another.

Independent artists also abound at this year’s NMA. Newcomers Joe Taylor, Benny Marsella & Rhett May along with Eileen Carey, Billy F Otis and Joy Mover are among numerous independent music artists that received nominations. Voting power now shifts to an entire new level.

NMW once again as in year’s past has provided an open ballot by which our subscribers and music fans have the opportunity to vote for their favorites. In addition to the many artists and song categories, as per usual fare there are nominations for radio stations, programmers, labels and industry professionals. We feel that it is all too important to pay tribute to the field of support that these industry pros, stations and programmers provide. Please make sure to keep all of them in mind while making your on-line votes. There is still a little time left, but don’t wait too long to support your favorites.

We will once again be on-sight for this year’s CRS ala the Country Radio Seminar in beautiful downtown Nashville Tennessee. As mentioned at the start of this column, the record labels realize the importance of the first quarter and they use this to their advantage by parading their new and already established talent to play, perform and meet radio programmers from all across the USA.

It was at an early CRS that we interviewed an up and coming artist just signed to Warner Brothers by the name of Blake Shelton and that event seemed to work quite well for Shelton. We also covered the debut appearance of a young and inexperienced Taylor Swift who has gone on to become something pretty special in our music industry. Each and every year there is a new discovery and like a box of chocolates you just never know what you are going to get.
New Music Weekly continues into 2020 offering the very best tools in the music industry for new artists and bands. Our panel of reporting stations are open to independent artists and bands provided that the music is first rate and, with our annual New Music Awards, we are able to pay tribute to the very best from both the major and independent arena. You still have time to make your voice heard by going to newmusicawards.com.