Springtime may be off-season for the historic Victorian-lined seaside resort community of Cape May, New Jersey. But singer-songwriters and others engaged in the music industry will be there on Friday and Saturday, March 25-26, for the fourth annual Singer Songwriter Cape May music business conference.

More than 130 acts, from solo artists to full bands, have been selected to showcase at various venues over two nights, while contemporary folk singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky and rocker Pat Dinizio, front man for The Smithereens, are this year’s keynote speakers. Both Kaplansky and DiNizio are slated to perform as well.

SS Cape May also will feature two afternoons of panel discussions, workshops, mentoring and demo-listening sessions, and exhibits at historic Congress Hall & Harrison Conference Center. There will be plenty of opportunities for networking with other singer-songwriters, musicians and music industry professionals.

Friday afternoon workshops include DYI 2011: Taking Gig Swapping to the Next Level; Embracing the New Media Revolution (AcousticMusicScene.com’s Michael Kornfeld is among the panelists); Choosing a Studio in 2011: New Ways to Use the Recording Process; Brand the Band: Communicating Your Identity; Realistic Music Careers; and Marketing Your Music for Film and Television. Saturday’s sessions focus on Publishing, Licensing, Copyrights and the PROs; The Recording Academy: Meet the Local Grammy Chapter (NARAS); Meet the Producers; The New Music Business Paradigm for Singer-Songwriters, and Art of the Song.

The conference registration desk opens at 11 a.m. on March 25, while mentoring and demo listening extends from noon to 5 p.m., and the workshops take place between 1 and 5 p.m. each day. Conference registration is $75 and includes admission to all daytime activities, as well as a SS Cape May compilation CD. Evening showcase performances are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.sscapemay.com.