Each year during the annual IBMA World Of Bluegrass Business Conference, a variety of educational seminars are offered for the benefit of the professional membership. Topics are varied, and are geared towards the needs and interests of artists, event producers, bluegrass associations and songwriters.

Topics this year included getting radio airplay for your CD (led by several prominent bluegrass broadcasters), health insurance issues for performers, and a business mentoring session with Mac Wiseman.

The seminars are also recorded for wider distribution, and this year’s are available now through IBMA. They are available on either CD or cassette, and are offered for $15 each, with discounts in quantity.

Though attendance at the seminars was restricted to the IBMA membership, the audio recordings are available to members and non-members alike.

You can find the ordering details, and a list of the seminars which are available, on the IBMA web site.

That’s the question that’s answered in the final installment of Wichita Rutherford’s IBMA video clips. It’s one of Wichita’s great True or Rumor podcasts. If you just can’t stay out the personal life of a bluegrass celebrity and have to know what Alison called her grandmothers, then you’d better click over to Wichita’s Blog, watch the video, and find out the truth from Alison herself.

Sadly, Wichita is saying this is the last of the video clips in the series. That saddens me because I was cheering him on in his Ricky Skaggs impression and really wanted to see him nail it. I just know he can do it.

To watch him try, and fail, a couple times you might want to watch those clips as well while you’re on his blog.

Here’s a nice group of photos from the Exhibit Hall.

Photos by Dave Carney © 2006

Lawson and Reno	Bull Harman	Dan Miller	Herschel Sizemore
The Huber Booth	Katy Daly	Bill Keith	Sewell and Leftwich
Reid and Baucom	Merriam and Bush	Ronnie Reno	Richard Gelardin
Danny Roberts	Roland White	The Smiths	Eberle and Vorndick

Here is a gallery of photos from the Wednesday Showcases, both official and after hours, here at IBMA 2006.

Photos by Tami Roth © 2006

Jeremy Garrett	Chris Pandolfi	Andy Hall	Chris Eldridge
Jesse Cobb	Chris Pandolfi	Downhill Bluegrass Band	Frankie Nagle
Audie Blaylock	Michael Cleveland	The Lovell Sisters	Rhonda Vincent
Donica Christensen	Daughters of Bluegrass	Becky Buller	Dale Ann Bradley

Here are the rest of the photos from last night’s Awards Show.

Photos by Tami Roth © 2006

Vince Gill with The Del McCoury Band	Del McCoury and Vince Gill	Rhonda Vincent	Joe Wheatley, Country Current
Frank Solivan II, Country Current	Tim O’Brien accepts as Male Vocalist	Marty Stuart improvises when the audio goes out	The Grascals with Steve Wariner
Jamie Johnson, Terry Smith and Terry Eldridge	Darrell Adkins accepts Album Of The Year Award	Marty Stuart	Bobby Osborne and Marty Stuart
Sonya Isaacs and Ronnie Bowman	Vince Gill announces the Entertainer of the Year	The Grascals accept as Entertainer for 2006	Lewis Family tribute

Yesterday I participated in a panel discussion here at IBMA about Internet Promotions: Myspace and beyond. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. In past years the panels I’ve been a part of, whether as a speaker or a listener, were very sparsely attended. This year the turn out was great with nearly every seat full, people standing in the back and sitting along the walls. I noticed when we let out that the panel in the adjacent room was also well attended. I take it as a promising sign that people are taking advantage of such opportunities.

Our discussion was, I’m sure, a bit of information overload for those unfamiliar with the topics we were covering. We covered a wide range of topics from MySpace and other social networking sites to blogs, podcasts, rss feeds, news aggregators, and finally wound up discussing the landscape of the music business economy in 2006. The decline of CD sales seemed to be a concern that many of the artists present were dealing with. It’s understandable seeing that they derive their livelihood from such sales. What the panel said, and I’ll repeat here, is that we must realize we are in the music business, not the CD business. As that medium of delivery dies away we just have to find the new medium for making music available to the consumers.

It was a very thorough discussion of the topic with some great comments and input from those in attendance as well as the panel members. If you are interested in internet promotions and the future of digital music I would say this is something you should check out. IBMA did record the whole thing and will be making it available on CD at some point in the near future. I believe the price for the CDs is $15 and you’ll find them here when they become available.