Adaptive Music’s Tony Alexander chats with soul artist MAJOR at Music Biz in Atlanta last week (Photo: Music Biz)
Music Biz switched cities and kept most of the music business crowd. Now, Atlanta is the chosen city for 2026 as well — leaving a potentially juicy opportunity in Nashville.
Despite excessive hand-wringing over Music Biz’s switch to Atlanta from Nashville, the music business crowd showed up in droves last week. Attendance appeared slightly down from last year’s Nashville shindig, it should be noted, though the conference announced its intention to remain in Atlanta in 2026.
We’re still unclear on the machinations surrounding Music Biz’s shift from Nashville after several years in Music City, though organizers said they’ve always planned to shift cities periodically. Apparently, COVID complicated plans to jump around, though now the original game plan is being implemented.
That’s the official line and Music Biz is sticking to it, though some chatter suggests a political motivation for the shift — though that’s one hot potato we’ll politely pass along. Either way, the crowds showed up, and the event was chock-full of core music industry companies and execs.
Music Biz’s city-switch is vaguely reminiscent of the Grammys of yore, when ‘Music’s Biggest Night’ ping-ponged between New York and Los Angeles before largely being anchored in Tinseltown.
For Music Biz, it looks like a ‘build it in a new city and they will come’ dynamic is at work: for those bumping elbows at Music Biz at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly, crowds were solid and dealmaking brisk — all ingredients for a solid music industry fest that is poised to hop around.
So how does this shift the deck on the music industry conference scene?
Music Biz continues to emerge as a marquee music industry event in the US, particularly given SXSW’s waning reputation for actual business, dealmaking, and even showcase quality. Meanwhile, Nashville already has a smattering of good industry events — most notably CRS. But given the city’s density of music celebs, songwriters, and industry folk — not to mention its party getaway appeal — will somebody make a run at building a mega industry conference in Tennessee?
Separately, Nashville’s sudden importance to the music industry’s critical lobbying agenda can’t be overstated, particularly given the huge shakeup that just went down at the US Copyright Office. Suddenly, the music industry is waffling in Washington against the tech bros — can Nashville and its more red-leaning artists potentially turn things around on the AI and copyright protection fronts?
Shifting back to Atlanta, Music Biz kicked off just as Live Nation signed a major lease in the city’s $5 billion Centennial Yards mega-project. Specifically, the concert giant inked a long-term lease for a 5,300 seat venue in the downtown stadium and entertainment megaplex, a move designed to draw a string of superstar artists to the Centennial zone.
Perhaps Atlanta opts to sweeten the deal further and rope Music Biz into a longer-term relationship? It’s always nice to have an entire industry of movers and shakers strategizing in your town, particularly given the music industry’s tendency to bump local economies.
And with that, here’s just a quick canvas of the companies on deck at Music Biz this year:
Apple Music, Spotify, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, DiMA, ASCAP, A2IM, RIAA, SONA, The Orchard, OpenPlay, Empire Publishing, Rhymesayers Entertainment, Concord Music, CD Baby, Downtown Music Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Columbia College Chicago, DDEX, The MLC, AllTrack, Sound Credit, Encore Music Tech Solutions, MusicWatch, Luminate, New West Records, Music Canada, Criminal Records, Elektra Music Group, The Vinyl Alliance, Stem Disintermedia, Lark42, Sureel AI, University of North Texas, Drexel University, Music Business Toolbox, 24/7 Artists…
… and the list goes on and on.
See y’all next year — in Atlanta, that is.
