THE NEW MUSIC SEMINAR RETURNS

Long before Austin’s SXSW trumped it as the leading music industry convention, when CMJ wasn’t even a glimmer in its founders’ eyes, the New Music Seminar was the place for the most progressive elements in the business to get together.

NMS, as it was known, began in 1980 as a series of multi-venue music showcases held annually in New York City, founded by Tom Silverman, Dave Lory and the late Joel Webber as harbingers of a new industry. One of the most notable keynote speeches was made by Malcolm McLaren, who touted the rise of hip-hop culture.

The event took place in the month of June, from 1980 to 1995, before re-launching in 2009. In addition to music industry panels and booths, the NMS hosted hundreds of bands every year from around the world to perform for music industry insiders, dubbed “New York Nights,” and later, “New Music Nights.”

The latest installment came to Universal City’s Sheraton Universal, starting Monday night, for three nights and two days, kicking off with a Opening Night Party, “The After Grammy Jammy,” at the Music Box, which featured performances by rock/blues/soul group The Little Death, U.K. sensation King Charles, hip-hop DJ Blaqstarr, MTV Best Dance Crew DJ MIA, dance/electronica sensation Jessie and the Toy Boys, L.A. buzz band Of Verona and singer/songwriter Ben Hunter.

Tuesday’s session featured the introduction of three new tech initiatives.

GigsWiz (www.gigswiz.com), is a next generation, direct-to-fan ticketing service founded in Finland by Juuso Vermasheina, Kai Lemmetty and Joonas Pekkanen. It offers artists and event organizers easy-to-use tools for promoting, marketing and selling tickets to live events via their websites and social media channels. The company was named a MidemNet Lab finalist, a Top 5 Music 2.0 Start-up by The Guardian and a Red Herring Europe 100 Winner in 2010.

Mozes (www.mozes.com), a leder in mobile engagement, released a comprehensive set of tools covering mobile commerce and social media for smart phones around live events and concerts. The company’s new tools will be use don the road by Virgin Mobile in its sponsorship of the third leg of Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour.

JamBase (www.jambase.com), designated as an online destination for live music fans, is now connected to Facebook, allowing users to import their favorite artists from the social network site to receive alerts when those artists announce shows in their area.

Among the sessions scheduled for yesterday was a panel called “First Movement: The Music Business Isn’t Over,” featuring CMT’s Jay Frank, Big Champagne’s Eric Garland and ReverbNation’s Michael Doernberg, among others. A later seminar on “A&R in the Music Business” featured J Records’ Pete Edge, Atlantic Records’ Craig Kallman, Geffen Records’ Ron Fair, A&M/Octone’s James Diener and RocNation’s Cal Nyantakyi. Another session dubbed “Touring in the New Music Business” was also conducted.

Last night at the Roxy, NMS sponsored “Artist on the Verge Finals,” with special performances by ReverbNation contest finalists Shinobi Ninja, Mike Del Rio and The Daylights, the outcome of a national talent search for those indie artists who have succeeded without major label assistance, from more than 800 entries. The Grand Prize winner will receive the NMS Reflection Award, worth over $50k in prizes.