Road trip to Detroit?

Motor City Music Conference 2005

Detroit Free Press:

The Motor City Music Conference (MC²) will arrive next month with more than 450 musical artists, more than 50 venues -- and more than a little optimism from organizers that their new festival can grow into one of Detroit's top cultural events.

Nearly doubling a preliminary lineup of 230 artists released earlier this month, officials have finalized most of the details for their inaugural conference, scheduled April 20-24 with a near-dizzying docket of performances and industry panels. The event could commandeer downtown Detroit for five days, with national acts (Moby, Snoop Dogg) joining local rookies for a blitz of music at venues both traditional and makeshift.

Motor City Music Website:

THE FIRST ANNUAL MOTOR CITY MUSIC CONFERENCE (MC²), will include 400 bands showcasing in 40 downtown Detroit venues, a music and lifestyle tradeshow and music industry panels at Cobo Expo Center on April 20-24, 2005.

Modeled after successful long running music conferences SXSW and CMJ, MC² will reflect Detroit's rich music history, while spotlighting these genres: rock, hip hop, electronic/techno, World Music, R&B, urban, soul, blues, country and gospel. Derrick May (Transmat), Greg Baise (Majestic/Magic Stick), Rich Hansen (Lagerhouse), Rico Shelton and Mark Hicks (Jaguar Wright, Paradime, D12) will participate in artist selection which will encompass 40% local and 60% national hot up and coming artists. The Detroit Music Awards will kick off MC² on Wednesday, April 20 at the State Theatre.