Spring is “in the air”, and make no mistake about it, for many this is the best time of year. Throughout most of the country, this has been without a doubt one of the most brutal winters in many years. From New York to parts of California the images flashed on our television sets and computers told the story is stark images. Most all of us welcome Spring with open arms and for the music industry, it’s time to get busy. Here at New Music Weekly we are seeing new records and artists coming in at a very rapid pace and that’s a good thing for all of us. For programmers, it’s a time to start looking at your Spring into Summer songs as they get their playlists set for an amazing time in music.

This issue will also serve as a Post CRS (Country Radio Seminar) volume as well. Many of our stations, music and program directors and music pros made the visit to Nashville for what was another grand event. We have often mentioned in the past that although the focus of the CRS is geared at country music, a good many of our music and program directors have multiple formats so your opportunity to break bread with these fine individuals is also beneficial to those who are working Top40, AC to even College radio. This year was no exception and our New Music Weekly cameras were on sight to capture a lot of the activity and action. Our recent CRS issue was welcomed at the event and once again was viewed and read by a good many in attendance.

Among the other things we will be covering and mentioning are the winners for this year’s New Music Awards. The announcement for the finalists was recently made and it was our pleasure to honor some of music’s finest. Once again NMW did not only honor some of the top recording artists and bands in both the major and independent arena, we also paid tribute to radio stations, music and program directors, labels and industry professionals. The response we received from our on-line announcement was quite over whelming and once again the fans and supporters all had a hand in the final outcome. It’s also time to once again congratulate the nominees as well, being that this was a very tough and competitive year. We really want offer a very big “thank you” to all who participated.

This is also a time when acts start to really focus on their plans for Summer. For many the touring season is right around the corner, so the push for music is in full-gear. Even for many of the independent artists and bands, this time of year can provide the chance to visit markets that are playing your music or it might be the time to visit radio for a promotional tour. We often get shots of artists swinging through different parts of the USA, visiting with our New Music Weekly stations and their programmers. NMW is always welcome to run those pictures in future issues so please feel free to keep sending them to us. We will always try to make some room for our artists and the stations that support them.

New Music Weekly continues to offer the best “tools of the trade” for just about all your music needs. From our STS tracking system to digital services we keep tabs on what is really going on with a fair and balanced look at how major and independent artists are faring at radio. In our world all stations are treated as equals regardless of market size. A good many of our reporters are not afraid to take chances on new records and artists provided the sound fits their format. We continue our fight in this on going “new music revolution” and can proudly claim that many new artists and bands get their records started right here on the pages and charts of our publication. Once again we want to congratulate all of the winners for our New Music Awards and we wish all of you continued success in 2014. Now let’s go and enjoy some of this fine Spring weather.