What is A2IM Indie Week?

This was my first time attending A2IM’s annual conference known as Indie Week. This three-day event showcases itself as the conference created by independents, for independents. This year, it was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Times Square, New York City. It’s packed with panels, events, and networking opportunities for the independent music community based in the U.S.

Who Attends Indie Week?

As one of the largest gatherings of the independent music community, this conference brings in a wide range of professionals including record labels, distributors, DSPs, artist managers, music tech startups, agencies, and even independent artists themselves looking to get insider tips and make valuable connections. 

What Does Indie Week Offer?

Beyond the late-night events and afterparties hosted all across New York City, A2IM Indie Week delivers a significant number of programming throughout the day. I found these panels to be not only informative, but inspiring as someone starting out in this industry. Topics ranged from AI and tech to artist marketing, touring, sync licensing, data analytics, and DSP tools. As a first-time attendee, I was focused on soaking up as much information as I could, especially through these panels. Keep reading for more on what I learned! 

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My A2IM Indie Week Panel Takeaways:

1. How Can Independent Artists Discover and Grow Their Audience with the Power of Data - Presented by Chartmetric 

Andreas Katsambas (President & COO, Charmetric) 

• An in-depth walkthrough of Chartmetric's platform and how artists can use this data and reporting to understand and grow their fanbase.
• Key tools highlighted:
  
  • Career Stage – identifies where an artist is in their journey (read more about this here).
  • Similar Artist Clusters – helps discover artists with similar branding/sound to learn from.
  • Brands Tab – reveals what commercial brands your audience resonates with.
• This was a great, analytical and straightforward session for artists looking to make smarter, data-backed decisions to grow their careers.
  
  

2. Level Up Your Release Strategy: Spotify’s Tools for Audience Development

Hosted by the Spotify Team

• Quick overview of features within Spotify that indie artists can leverage across their pre-release, release, and post-release stages: 
  
  • Countdown Pages – to build hype and create a “moment” with fans.
  • Clips – artist-created short video content to boost visibility to new audiences.
  • Showcase – feature past or new releases on the Spotify Home page to stand out.
• Since most indie artists are already releasing their music through Spotify, these are simple and practical tools also available that they should be taking advantage of. 

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3. Keynote: The Future of Indie Music Tech by Cherie Hu 

Cherie Hu (Founder, Water & Music)

• Highlighting the tech side of the industry, Cherie Hu off this conversation with a thought-provoking visual of just how much consolidation exists across major labels and private equity firms, and how this overlap is reshaping the entire music tech ecosystem.
  
  • She related this visual to an “ouroboros,” or a self-consuming loop. Basically saying that the industry keeps feeding into itself, limiting innovation and making it harder for indie companies to break through. 
• Hu also had an insightful take on AI’s widespread use, which she believes is creating a demand for “grounding media” right now. She urged indie companies to consider which AI tools are actually solving problems versus just creating new, unnecessary work. 
• This was one of the most illuminating sessions of the conference, offering a detailed look at key industry trends indie companies should be thinking about.

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4. Elevate Your Game: Video Content That Boosts Streams 

• Six professionals shared best practices for video content strategies indie artists should be implementing. Here are their tips: 
  
  • Using lyric videos with original audio, but translating lyrics to other languages. This is a way for artists to grow their fanbase in other countries and go more global. 
  • Open videos with attention-grabbing hooks in the first three seconds like “POV:” or “I just broke up with my boyfriend…” (we showcase similar approaches in our blog post here)
  • Lean into and spread user-generated content (UGC) from fans.
  • Celebrating song anniversaries is a great opportunity to create fresh video content, keep fans engaged, and promote your back catalog.

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5. Keynote: Tim Ingham in Conversation with Zena White

Tim Ingham (Founder & Publisher, Music Business Worldwide), Zena White (COO, Partisan Records)

• This was more of a casual, conversational session that focused on the impact and success indie music has globally, and not just in the US. Which is something that indie artists should be more inclined to use (we cover more about this topic on our post here on Trigger Cities)
• Less tactical, more about personal perspectives, favorite recent music, and the role of music journalism. 

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6. Data Analytics All Stars: Turning Numbers into Music Industry Gold 

• Panel of five experts from the data analytics side of the industry. Their key takeaways for artists included:
  
  • Never rely on a single metric. The best approach is always to look at a group of metrics and ratios, and let that collective analysis lead to your next move. 
  • When analyzing or monitoring your data, and you see a spike in something, the most important thing to do is react quickly and double down on whatever you did that caused that spike. If it’s working, run with it quickly. 
• This panel was a strong reminder of how powerful smart data interpretation can be, and how prioritizing long-term fan engagement should get you to consider a variety of metrics.
  
  

7. Inbox to Income: Monetizing Your Email List Like a Pro 

• This panel actually featured our very own CEO of Songtools, Danny Garcia. Along with three other professionals that had lots to say about email marketing as a powerful yet misunderstood tool for indie artists. They talked about: 
  
  • Platform recommendations like MailerLite or Mailchimp.
  • How including unique personal touches work in getting fans to sign up for something or take action. 
  • Why indie artists of any size should use email marketing strategies, whether you have 10 fans or 10,000. It will always be a consistently reliable and efficient way to communicate with fans, offer them exclusive deals that make them feel special, and keep them updated with new releases, concerts, or merch

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8. Independent Music’s Top Women, Opening Doors for the Next Generation

• Six accomplished women working in different sectors of music, share their experiences in the industry that led them to the executive positions they hold today. 
• They discussed the obstacles they faced as women in these environments, how they’re working towards fostering more inclusive company cultures, and how to support other women following in their footsteps. Here are some things they highlighted: 
  
  • Encouraged women to take advantage of as many resources as possible that will excel their professional careers, such as: mentorship programs, leadership coaching, and public speaking coaching. 
  • Emphasized that company culture starts at the top, and executives must lead by example as well as actively craft an inclusive, and positive culture for it to be effective.
    
    

9. Storytelling That Sells: Crafting Authentic Narratives to Connect and Convert 

• Featuring six creative leaders that work in management, entrepreneurship, and more discuss how artists need to put authenticity above all. They emphasized: 
  
  • Always starting with identifying what makes the artist special, what sets them apart from everyone else, and crafting a narrative around this. 
  • Fans will always see through an inauthentic brand and marketing, creating backlash. 
  • Managers and team members can assign “homework” to help artists understand and articulate their vision - at the end of the day, the artist’s team is there to purely help them foster and execute this vision.
    
    

10. Physical-First - Dropping the Needle on Album Release Strategies

• This four-person panel covered the fastly growing value of physical media like vinyl and CDs today. They talked about: 
  
  • How critical timing is when organizing a release plan, ensuring the production and distribution of the vinyl is properly aligned with the release of the music on streaming services. 
  • These physical formats are a sensation among younger generations, especially in genres like K-Pop. These are the types of fans keeping physical media alive and thriving. 
  • Now more than ever, indie artists shouldn’t underestimate the long-term value of tangible music experiences.
    
    

Overall Highlights from A2IM Indie Week Panels:

• Cherie Hu’s “ouroboros” breakdown on industry consolidation was eye-opening to the future of music tech.
• Chartmetric’s and Spotify’s data and creation tools are a must for indie audience development.
• Email marketing works for artists of all sizes, and should be implemented as soon as possible.  
• Vinyl is thriving, and timing your physical release matters more than you think.

Spotlight: Music Industry Trends Shaping Indie Week 

Since it was my first year attending, I can’t speak to how the themes have evolved over the years. But, one thing was clear, this year’s spotlight was firmly on tech and AI. Regardless of the panel topic, AI came up in every single discussion I attended, highlighting its growing influence on the future of the independent music community. 

What stood out most was the overwhelmingly positive tone towards the role of AI. While there are some who still fear it and are skeptical, a majority of panelists leaned into how AI is a powerful and helpful tool in the indie music tech space. Many explored how it’s helping independent artists and labels scale their efforts, while still emphasizing the importance of human creativity in keeping the actual music authentic. One of the biggest takeaways was how AI-driven analytics can now give artists a major advantage when it comes to collecting and looking at data to make smarter, more strategic decisions for growth. 

Final Thoughts

Attending A2IM Indie Week for the first time was a whirlwind in the best way. From diving deep into industry insights, and exploring new companies offering highly innovative products and services for indie artists, I walked away feeling more inspired than ever by the exciting work happening in this space. Whether you're deep into your career or someone just starting out and eager to learn about where this industry is heading, A2IM Indie Week is an event truly worth experiencing. Thanks for reading, I hope this gave you a solid glimpse into what you might’ve missed if you couldn’t make it this year!