How to Start a Music Industry Convention

I know what you're thinking - start a music industry convention?!?! Have I lost my mind?!?! Well, sure, maybe, but not about this. The fact is that all of the big name music industry events that you know about got their start with a few people who thought it might be cool to create a gathering for the music business, and there's no reason you can't do the same thing. You don't need to think about this on the scale of hosting an event that attracts tens of thousands of people from around the globe. Putting together an event that will be useful for your local music scene is a completely respectable place to start.

Why would you ever want to do something like start a convention? Well, in addition to the good karma points you'll gain for selflessly devoting your time and energy to putting together an event for your fellow music industry types, hosting a convention is a great way to promote your own projects. If you pull off a successful convention, people will start taking notice of everything you're doing really quickly - plus, since you're the organizer, you're in the perfect position for networking.

OK, still think it can't be done? Check out this step by step guide to hosting your own event. It is illustrated with photos from the UnConvention, a new event that was started in Manchester, England, in October of this year, by a small indie label without any funding behind them. Tomorrow, we'll hear from Ruth, founder of the UnConvetion, about how she got the whole thing off the ground.