The Long-Running CMJ Music Marathon Festival Is Planning A Comeback In 2020

Between 1978 and 2015, the week-long CMJ Music Marathon was hosted in New York City. The event came to a stop in 2016, though, when former CMJ CEO Adam Klein (who is no longer involved with CMJ) was sued by employees for unpaid wages and other damages. In 2018, it was ruled in court that Klein must pay over half a million dollars in damages.

Before today, the most recent tweet from the CMJ Twitter account came on June 29, 2016, and it read, “We love all our dedicated fans. Please bear with us.” Now, after over three years of bearing with them, fans got some good news today: This afternoon, the fest tweeted, “After a long break, CMJ is under new management and re-launching in 2020. More news soon.”

Since that first tweet, CMJ has been responding to fans and shedding some light on the 2020 festival. Responding to users who shared tweets expressing criticism about of how things went in 2016, CMJ responded, “This is a brand new company, with no connection to the former regime(s),” and, “Judge us by what we do, not by what other people did wrong.” When one user asked who is the new management of CMJ is, CMJ responded, “We can’t say yet. We’re working on some stuff first. But we are music industry people who love live music, love new artists, and love New York. Oh, and we love CMJ (at its best), too. Won’t be long before we can explain.”

Another user expressed excitement about CMJ’s return, and CMJ responded, “It because we know so many people had experiences like you, that we want to bring it back, better than ever.”

Naturally, it’s too early to know who will be performing at the 2020 festival. The most recent CMJ lineup, from 2015, featured Post Malone, DNCE, Kamasi Washington, Kate Nash, Car Seat Headrest, Sheer Mag, Neon Indian, Kero Kero Bonito, Borns, and more.