Late last year, it was announced that New York City’s CMJ Music Marathon would return for the first time in five years. The week-long multi-venue festival was initially launched in 1978, and ran through 2015. However following a change in ownership and a string of legal issues, the event’s future was uncertain. Now, the British platform Amazing Radio has announced the acquisition of the CMJ brand.
Amazing Radio had planned to re-launch CMJ in New York this fall, along with an American version of Amazing Radio, however the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has potentially altered those plans. The current merging of Amazing Radio U.S. and CMJ will include online streams and virtual concerts to assist musicians affected by coronavirus-related concert cancelations. Artists will be able to upload their work to amazingradio.us, and the music will feature immediately online. The most popular artists will receive radio play on Amazing Radio worldwide. Listeners will be able to like and rate songs on the platform, as well as pledge money to artists. According to a press release, 100% of the proceeds will go to the artists.
“We plan to breathe new life into CMJ—and revive its influence and presence for the benefit of musicians and music,” Amazing Radio founder Paul Campbell said in a press release. “Its heritage is immense—but we intend to make sure CMJ’s best days are ahead of it, by combining it with Amazing Radio.”
There has been discussion of Amazing Radio acquiring CMJ in the past. During a 2016 interview with Pitchfork, Campbell told reporter Marc Hogan that Amazing Radio was once considering buying CMJ, and hired Adam Klein as a consultant to evaluate whether it should complete the purchase. Klein wound up taking over CMJ himself. Legal issues and CMJ’s eventual hiatus followed Klein’s acquisition of the brand.
Revisit Pitchfork’s 2016 report “CMJ Owner Adam Klein’s Professional Past Raises Questions Over Music Marathon’s Future” on the Pitch.