Bowls full of candy and earplugs entice passersby. The Dutch Rock Music Foundation and Moon Ska Records trade compilation CDs for business cards. Major sponsor Casio shows off its latest line of Gen-X watches. CMJ stands for College Music Journal , the magazine that reports what's blowing up and what's bubbling under on college-radio stations across America. Colleges send their station managers and program directors to network with label reps.
Journalists discover what sticks and what sinks.
The Music Marathon purports to be a barometer of what alternative rock will do in the coming year. Attendees snapped up bags bulging with enough promotional material to line every bird cage on the eastern seaboard. Astute college-radio reps sat in small circles, separating the wheat from the chaff. For the in-demand shows, a limit was placed on badge holders, which made jumping from club to club futile. It used to be you could go to three to four venues a night.