Singer-Songwriters Flock to Cape May, NJ, March 28-29

By Michael Kornfeld

The maddening crowds of summer won’t be there, but several hundred performing artists and others engaged in the music business are expected to converge on the historic Victorian-lined New Jersey seaside resort community of Cape May, March 28-29, 2014, for the seventh annual Singer-Songwriter Cape May conference.

Singer-songwriters Melissa Ferrick and Michael Glablicki (front-man of Rusted Root) will deliver keynotes and perform during the conference, while some 150 other pre-selected musical acts and artists of various genres will showcase their talents at 17 local bars, restaurants and hotels on Friday and Saturday evenings.

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

While AcousticMusicScene.com is my labor of love, I also am a communications and public relations strategist and will be among the panelists discussing “Branding, Marketing & Social Media for Independent Artists” during a Friday afternoon conference session. Although the media landscape is in a continual state of flux, independent singer-songwriters may have more options for promotion these days than ever before. I hope to help SS Cape May attendees set the right course and navigate through the many channels available to them to reach and connect with their target audiences. Talented artists with some promotional and social media savvy, or the smarts to surround themselves with people who do, can strike a responsive chord through strategic public relations and creative communications.

Bill Pere, a former Connecticut State Troubadour who heads the Connecticut Songwriters Association and wrote Songcrafters’ Coloring Book, will share his “Top 5 Songwriting Tips to Triple Your Audience” and “8 Keys to Success in the Music Business,” while his wife, Kay Pere, leads a vocal workshop entitled “The Performing Songwriters’ Paintbox.” Jordan Tishler of Digital Bear Entertainment will explore “The Really Sexy Art of Getting Paid,” while Jason Rubal of Seventh Wave Studios examines “Mistakes Musicians Make.” Louis Anthony deLise (deLise Studios) conducts a practical seminar on “The Ten Commandments of Songwriting.” Dr. E. Michael Harrington, a professor at Berklee College of Music, discusses “Navigating the Copyright Maze.” Other hour-long panels and workshops will delve into “Recording, Producing & Mastering Your Music,” “Revenue Streams for Independent Artists,” “Creating New Paths to Success in the Music Industry,” “Publishing, Licensing & Copyrights,” and “When DIY is Not Enough.” There also will be a “Producers Panel.”

The conference registration desk opens at 11 a.m. on March 28, 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. Showcasing artists and panelists will receive credentials for the conference, while others may register to attend the daytime events and receive a SS Cape May compilation CD for $100. Evening showcase performances –- apart from those featuring the keynoters, for which there is a $15 fee each night — will be free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.sscapemay.com.