CMJ’s return this year will be virtual

CMJ announced its return back in April, with new owners Amazing Radio behind it, and plans to hold the festival in NYC this fall for the first time since 2015. "Come hell or Coronavirus" said Amazing Radio's Bill Hein at the time, but as the coronavirus has canceled most festivals this year, CMJ's relaunch will now be online-only: "a virtual event set up to emulate the iconic New York City festival and its spirit of new music discovery," reads the press release.

The festival will take place at some point this summer, details TBA. Meanwhile, CMJ is calling for submissions from "emerging and independent artists" to perform at the virtual CMJ. To do that they'll need to sign up (for $30) to be an Amazing Radio "Amazing Artist" which they say has other benefits, including "radio play" and eligibility for their new One Night Stand livestream series.

Amazing Radio has been around in the UK since 2009, and is an online radio service which focuses on emerging artists and offers the ability for artists to upload songs through the site that then can get placed on different stations, and allows fans to pledge money directly to artists. CMJ's relaunch coincided with the launch of Amazing Radio US.