More Than A 1000 Indie Bands To Appear At NY's CMJ Music Festival

[DudeAsInCool]

Somewhere between Atlanta and Norfolk, Va., a band from Chicago named Bound Stems was in its van, barreling along a rainy highway on the way to the 26th annual CMJ Music Marathon, which starts today. Bound Stems are one of more than 1,000 bands appearing over the next five nights in more than 60 clubs around Manhattan and Brooklyn, hoping that half an hour onstage could change their lives.

“Every band in the world is coming,” said Bound Stems’ main songwriter, Bobby Gallivan, through a faltering cellphone. “I’ve heard of bands that made their big splash at CMJ. Obviously that would be awesome if it happened to us.”

The CMJ Music Marathon, the music-business convention devoted to independent musicians, was started by the magazine that monitors college radio and was initially called College Media Journal. As the big-time music business struggles to hold on, the small-time music business — self-made bands, independent labels, college radio stations, music Web sites — is more active than ever.

Read more at the NYTimes