I would love to be attending NewMusicWest this year. In fact, if you are reading this and could hook me and Rebecca up at the last minute, contact me! I’d love to run around the whole weekend with my minidisc and mic to capture some stuff for the podcast.
NewMusicWest offers emerging artists and bands a chance to showcase their talents to industry professionals from across North America and around the world. Once a year, Vancouver is invaded by large numbers of managers, publicists, label reps, A&R, and media. In 2004 alone, over 40 A&R attended, including representation from Sony, Universal, EMI, and many more. With 5 nights, 25 venues and over 200 bands, NewMusicWest is Western Canada’s largest and most successful music festival.
Basically this is like a CMJ or SXSW, and I would love to have total access to everything. So many bands performing around the city, and it all kicks off tomorrow.
Raine Maida from OLP will be the artist keynote speaker for the event. Being the OLP fan that I am(which was much more back in high school than I am today), I would be interested in hearing what he has to say about the industry. The guy remains about the same, but I hear the ego has changed.