Socialization at CMJ 2011

After spending the past week in Manhattan and Brooklyn for the CMJ Music Marathon, I feel obligated to relate some of this week's readings to various trends I noticed on my trip. One thing I noticed in particular was the importance of socialization. Initially, I viewed the primary goal of my trip as networking with other radio stations, promotional firms, record labels, and other industry folks. Reflecting now, however, I feel that a large portion of my adventures this week were actually attempts at socialization made by promoters.
For each day of my five-day stay New York, I was basically courted by promotional companies. I have worked with a number of these people over the past two years, but met even more during CMJ. Every day my presence was requested at a number of promoter meetings and showcases, and even offices. A large part of these meetings was getting a general feel for a company (and it is unarguable that each company has developed its own culture) and in finding ways to work efficiently with the group based on feedback on various artists and events.
Since I've been working as a music director for over two years, I have learned a good deal about how to hold my ground when working with promoters, and as a result I am being considered by a few companies for internships and/or employment. Most of the socialization this past week was an attempt to help me adapt to a company's culture, and seeing if I am actually worth hiring. One group in particular was interesting in how they handled the socialization. Within this group, all of the promoters were encouraged to attend the same events of artists they had been/are promoting. This group, while maintaining a level of cohesion in requiring support from all members, was also very open to discussion about the artists. Two other groups tried to develop cohesion through different activities than simply attending showcases together. For one event, I was asked to perform karaoke because the group viewed it as essential "to put oneself out there" despite how uncomfortable it may be, in order to make a solid impression and ease later interactions. This same company also works as a team in several annual 5K charity races to build cohesion outside of the office. As unrelated as some of these activities may seem to promoting musicians and other programming, it is hard to find a stronger or more outgoing team of promoters.
Overall, I think this showed both socialization that encouraged individuality (attending showcases for the group, but encouraging honest positive or negative feedback) and socialization that put little emphasis on individuality and a huge emphasis on group cohesion (numerous team events that are unrelated to record promotion). All of the companies I met with showed how cohesive they were as a whole, and it was interesting to observe how they used different methods of socialization, and how effective those methods were at crafting a stronger group.