The World Music Coalition Launches Its first Newsletter

USA – The recently formed World Music Coalition has put out a
call for materials for its first newsletter. We reproduce the newsletter in its
entirety here:

Dear World Music Community,

As many of you know, the North American World Music Coalition is emerging as a
membership-organization to increase the visibility and viability of world music
in all its forms in North America. While we have big dreams for the types of
services we would like to offer to the world music community, we would like to
start off with a basic but content-rich e-newsletter. We envision this
newsletter to have some editorial content, but to be largely comprised of
information supplied by you, our membership. Eventually, this will be formalized
and only Coalition members will be allowed to submit content. But since our
membership drive has just had a soft launch, we will assume that you will become
a member in the near future and thus can submit content this first time around.HOW IT WORKS:
You submit up to 100 words per item in one of the newsletter categories below.
Please follow the requested format formatting the header of each listing in
bold, keeping in the words that precede a colon such as “Tour dates begin:” or
“Contact:”. Anything that does not make sense with a light edit will not be
included, so please have a friend/colleague review your listing before
submission. Note that all submissions must pertain to North America, so please
do not offer yout artists touring Lichtenstein, or list your CDs that are big in
Japan; and it must pertain to world music. The listing is submitted to
info@worldmusiccoalition.org by December 7, 2005. We expect to compile and post the newsletter to FA
World/Globe-L and on our website by mid-December.

Here are the categories in which you can submit newsletter content and the
format in which they must be submitted:

==========================
TOUR DATES WANTED
—————————————————

(this a place to solicit concert presenters with your artists; this is NOT a
place to post full tour schedules; if an artist is ALWAYS seeking tour dates —
such as North American based artists — they may post a general tour dates
wanted announcement two times per year maximum; such artists are encouraged to
submit a listing in the Coalition’s emerging “Directory fo North American Based
World Music Artists;” stay tuned for more info on that)

Please follow this format:

Artist Name, Country of Origin, Genre (optional), Band size
Artist blurb.
Tour dates begin: month, date, year
Tour dates end: month, date, year
Seeking these cities:
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

Sample:

Djelimady Diabate [fictional!], Senegal, Afrop-Pop Hybrid, 27 performers.
Djelimady has transferred the traditional calabash rhythms onto electric tabla
turntable. He bangs on the turntables with tablas attached to dijeridoos. His
stage performance is highlighted by eight foot tall Amazon belly-dancers that
use a traditional Kazakh bull-roarer to give the audience haircuts.
Tour dates begin: February 1, 2006
Tour dates end: March 31, 2006
Seeking these cities: New York, Halifax, Los Angeles, Burnaby, Seattle, Mexico
City, San Francisco, Cancun, Chicago, and of course Bloomington.
Contact: John J. Johnson, jjj@jjj.com, www.jjj.com

==========================
CD RELEASES
—————————————————-

(submit any upcoming or recent world music CD releases regardless if it is an
independent label release, major label, or artist release; we hope that over
time this will be a place where industry insiders will hear about planned
releases in advance to help with planning tours and other campaigns; remember
that savvy world music buyers from retail stores will probably gravitate to this
newsletter for this content and it may inspire concert presenters or booking
agents to look into an artist)

Please follow this format:

Artist name, “CD title,” country of origin, genre (optional)
Short description.
Record label, distributors
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website
Release date.

==========================
RETAIL NEWS
—————————————————

(news about new North American retail stores, outlets, promotion
programs/opportunities, general retail news)

Please follow this format:

Store or company name, city, province/state, country
News blurb.
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

==========================
PEOPLE
—————————————————

(news about position openings, promotions, staff changes; for organizations as
well as bands)

Please follow this format:

Organization, company, or band name, city, province/state, country
Opening or announcement blurb.
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

==========================
SIGNINGS
—————————————————

(new artist signings to booking agencies, managers, or labels, and new label
signings to distributors)

Please follow this format:

Artist Name, Country of Origin, Genre (optional), Band size (optional)
Signed to: Company name.
Starting date: month, date, year
Territories of this signing include: List countries.
Artist blurb.
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

==========================
VENUE/FESTIVAL NEWS
—————————————————

(post festival and series dates and news, announce new venues or initiatives,
call for artist submissions)

Please follow this format:

Organization or company name, city, province/state, country
Put announcement here.
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

==========================
MEDIA NEWS
==========================
a listing for milestones such as new shows launched, shows retired, host
personality changes, Peabody awards won, etc.

Please follow this format:
Organization/company name, city, state/province, country
Annoucement
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

==========================
OFFER SERVICES
==========================

(a place for members to offer business-to-business services relevant to our
member base: world music professionals; not a place to post your wedding band’s
services; if this ends up drowning in CD manufacturing, etc., we may put more
restrictive criteria on this category; examples may include visa processing,
world music photography, “ethnic” street teams, etc.; emphasis should generally
be on services and professionals that specialize in world music; the same
company may only post to the newsletter twice per year)

Please follow this format:

Five words or less about service
Organization or company name, city, province/state, country
Services description here.
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

==========================
BURNING QUESTION
—————————————————

(a place to post a question that only world music professionals can answer for
you; this could lead to a column where we ask certain “experts” to respond)

Please follow this format:

Five words or less about topic
Burning question: Put your question here?
Alias (optional): in case you want to be anonymous, make up a (clever) name
related to your question here (“Sleepless in Seattle”)
or
Contact (optional): person’s name, organization/company, phone, email, website

==========================
INDUSTRY EVENTS
—————————————————

(a place to post music industry events relevant to world music business; also a
place to post showcase details occurring at industry events; please submit your
showcase announcements now for these upcoming events: Arts Presenters, Folk
Alliance, MIDEM, and South by Southwest)

Please follow this format:

Industry Event Name
Where: City, province/state, country
When: Month, dates, year
What: Blurb about content, attendees, etc.; include specific mention of world
music and/or North American showcases/panels/etc.
Contact: person’s name, phone, email, website

For showcase announcements, please follow this format:

Artist Name, Country of Origin, Genre (optional)
Industry event: list event name here
Where: Venues, suite number, address, city, province/state, country
When: Date, time
Ticket needed: yes or no
Artist blurb.
Contact: person’s name, organization/company, phone, email, website

==========================
WILDCARD
—————————————————

(a place to post other news and announcements relevant to the world music
business community in North America)

Please follow this format:

Five words or less about topic
Put announcement here.
Contact: person’s name, organization/company, phone, email, website

==========================

Again, please submit to
info@worldmusiccoalition.org by December 7, 2005. The North American World
Music Coalition reserves the right to edit or omit part or all of each
submission received. By submitting a listing you accept that all newsletter
content is subject to human and/or technical error and accept that the only
recourse is a correction in the following newsletter.

We look forward to your submissions.

Thank you!

North American World Music Coalition