The New Sounds of Music City: 5 Key Takeaways from Summer NAMM 2017

Last week, the Summer NAMM conference brought over 14,000 musicians and music industry professionals from all over the world together to learn about the latest innovations in Nashville, Tennessee. While NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants)  is well known for showcasing the latest and greatest in musical instruments and recording technology, this year’s event also included many educational panels sure to be of interest to attendees from all aspects of the industry.

On Saturday, July 15th, I attended the “New Sounds of Music City” panel, featuring an all-star roster of panelists, including:

Leslie Fram, Senior Vice President of Music Strategy, CMT

Tracy Gershon, Artist Manager, Redlight Management

Ale Delgado, Label Manager, Infinite Cat Records

Sinclair, Nashville-based Pop Recording Artist

Josh Collum, Co-Founder, Sorted Noise

Dexter Palmer, CEO & Founder, 24-8 Management

The panel focused on how Nashville is evolving into a more welcoming home for genres outside of country music, and how both artists and industry professionals can take advantage of the changing landscape. The panelists shared countless pieces of wisdom, but I narrowed down some of the very best into my top 5:

There’s a niche for everything

Nashville is only becoming more and more supportive of all genres of music with each passing year. For example, Dexter Palmer is putting on the first annual Deep Tropics festival in August, a music, art and style festival with a tropical theme featuring Gramatik, Bob Moses and more.

Spotify is only a fraction of what it will be 5 years from now

Streaming is not a fad, and artists and managers alike need to be serious and strategic with how they approach streaming platforms.

Artists can benefit by embracing the positive aspects of how fans now consume music

While there are of course financial ramifications to streaming, Sinclair emphasized how she views it as a positive that anybody can listen to her music whenever they want.

Creating lasting fans takes work

Meeting fans at shows is not enough. After meeting them, artists need to connect with them online and have new content immediately available to hold their interest.

Balance the line between accessibility and mystique

In today’s social media era, fans want to know what artists are doing at all times. Don’t be afraid to share, but don’t be afraid to keep a certain level of privacy either.

I would highly recommend NAMM to anyone looking to learn from some of the best and brightest in the music industry. For information on their upcoming shows, visit https://www.namm.org/.