Alternative music conference #Happens begins Wednesday in Las Vegas. The three-day conference brings together labels, radio programmers, artists, and influencers. Channel 93.3 Denver PD, Nerf describes himself as “kind of a regular.” This gave me the opportunity to ask him to describe the event to someone who has never been.
“It’s definitely a music-focused conference which is great for the formats of Active Rock and Alternative. There’s some shop talk, and they do have a couple of bunch breakout sessions. But it’s probably primarily about the music and getting new artists in front of us programmers.”
Nerf says that #Happens sprung from a previous music event.
“There was something called Sunset Sessions for a long time, and it was similar. There were some panels and stuff like that there. Everyone stayed in the same hotel and went to these watch parties and events. In the Sunset Sessions days, pretty much anybody who could pay to be there would be in front of all these tastemakers and programmers.”
“It was a nightmare a lot of times because it would be some rich guy and his old man band that played in chicken wing bars. So you just felt like this is going nowhere, and it was like that with a lot of those bands. You’d want to leave the second the band started playing. It was a battle of attrition.”
Nerf is a big fan of the conference as it currently is.
“It’s a great event, and for Alternative, it’s the last thing of its kind like this. I am a big fan of it because I came up under a guy named Mike O’Connor. He was a real numbers guy who knew everything about G Selector, and ratings. A brilliant, genius dude, not the nicest person in the world and not a great leader, necessarily, generally not a people person, more of a numbers guy.”
“He really hated dealing with record labels and didn’t want anybody talking to another radio station, So I never went to any kind of conferences and stuff coming up under him. Once he left, my next boss was Joe Bevilacqua. He knew everybody in the business, in radio, in records, and was the opposite, a relationship type of guy. It opened my eyes to the fact that I shouldn’t be an island.”
“I shouldn’t just sit here and do my science. I should talk to other people, talk shop, and get to know how other people do things. So, I started going to these things and never looked back. I feel like it’s valuable and that we should have a good network of people in our industry. This is one of the last things, kind of keeping it together.”
And what memorable music discoveries have come from #Happens?
“A recent good one is Weathers. They’ve had two songs in the top five on the Alternative charts. They’ve had three or four hits that went to power. They played at #Happens and blew the doors off the place, it was great.”
“Grandson, also, he’s an awesome artist. And Starcrawler. I play Starcrawler on my punk station, and they’re just frickin’ crazy. It’s awesome. They’re rad, but I don’t think I could get away with it on KTCL. My punk station certainly loves some Starcrawler.”
How does he see the current state of Alternative music?
“I think two things have made it stumble in the recent past. The pandemic and the rise of TikTok, because the record labels are so invested in TikTok now.”
“During the pandemic, everybody didn’t release a record unless they were a baby band or maybe even an independent band because they wanted to tour to support these things. There were a couple of opportunist acts, like Almost Monday. I think Almost Monday might have played at #Happens, too, and they just went number one with a song. They put out a song during the pandemic, and it was one of the only songs that had come out at all, and we took it to power.”
“That was kind of a ripple effect where nothing happened in Alternative because it’s so contingent on a healthy touring schedule to back it up. So, through 2020 and 2021 that was touch and go at that. And then TikTok has shifted the focus.”
“If there was any artist development left at major record labels, it went away when it only had to be 15 seconds of a TikTok song that really got you paid as a record label. Now, they’re so hyper-focused on pop and the hook of a song that they may not even have the rest of the song. And that shifted their focus away from rock music in general, and definitely from our artist development.”
“It’s sad, but that’s kind of what they had. Steve Lacey was worked to Alternative after going to pop, and it just doesn’t really work that way. And then they’re just like, well, what are we even doing here?”
“Let’s just shut down the rock department. They had all the layoffs in the last couple of years at the labels. Now, the state of Alternative is you have to look everywhere for music. The days of sitting next to your mail crate full of unopened record envelopes and waiting for somebody to call you to tell you to open your mail, are over.”
“In fact, they’re not even sending you their shit. You’ve got to comb through related artists coming through your release radar on Spotify and opening acts that are coming through town. You have to really listen to what’s out there because it’s not going to land on your desk.”
#Happens is Wednesday through Friday at the Downtown Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Information and registration is available here.
According to the #Happens website, alumni artists include The Offspring, Papa Roach, Alter Bridge, Gavin Rossdale/Bush, Nickelback, Fever 333, Chino/Deftones, Disturbed, Incubus, Jonathan Davis/Korn, Serj Tankian, Sixx:A.M., Perry Farrell, Badflower, The Score, Bones (UK), The Federal Empire and many others.
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Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
