Students from Heavy Rotation Records and the BIRN thrive behind the scenes at music conference

By Danielle Dreilinger
Berklee.edu Correspondent
November 27, 2007

Related Links • Berklee Steps Out at CMJ • Students Get Schooled • Berklee CMJ Photo Gallery • Press Release • CMJ Music Marathon in Review (New York Times, October 20)

Clubs were classrooms for business-oriented Berklee students at CMJ. Along with running the showcase, Heavy Rotation Records co-director and music business major Ryan Van Name attended panels on hot topics such as digital rights management. "I got to see both sides instead of just reading about it," he said. Van Name also praised the panel "Booze, Boobs, and Bribery," which covered corporate sponsorship and payola.

It wasn't all daylight and no stage lights—Van Name went club-hopping to discover new bands and convince them to play Café 939 when it opens. The new coffeehouse will feature all-ages performances at night.

Matt Marando of the Berklee Internet Radio Network (the BIRN), the college's non-commercial online radio project, came to get "a better understanding of how other college radios work [and] make connections with radio stations all over the country so we can become part of the college radio family."

He and colleague Julie Grebenau recorded the Berklee showcase and interviewed eight bands, then turned their raw tapes into a two-hour radio show.

Grebenau said CMJ offered opportunities for her as both a radio host and a musician. Becoming less businesslike for a moment, she enthused, "It's just heaven!"

Heavy Rotation faculty advisor Jeff Dorenfeld with label director Ana Molina and (right) former label director Erica Duncan Photo by Nick Balkin

Danielle Dreilinger is a writer/editor in Berklee's Office of Communications.