Between The Waves Conference and Festival provides musicians the knowledge to pursue, the expertise to implement, and the tools to guide their journey toward earning a living making music and have a good time doing it.

Experienced industry professionals share relevant practical knowledge and provide specific actionable takeaways during independent musician focused conference sessions on topics such as songwriting, music technology, marketing, creative arts law, and business matters. A varied session structure including lectures, interactive roundtables, workshops, panel discussions, memoir-style talks, ask-me-anything style Q&As, panel reviews, one-on-one mentoring, and technology demos contributes to an engaging attendee experience and frees presenters to tailor session structure to the subject matter.

Attendees enjoy direct interaction with manufacturers and service providers in the trade show exhibition hall, a unique opportunity for them to learn more about the people and businesses catering to their needs, the instruments, gear, products, and services available from those vendors, and how these offerings can help them achieve their goals.

Experts from around the country in town to deliver conference presentations and staff exhibition booths during the day are on hand at Madison's anchor live music venues at night to witness festival performances by Madison's top acts as part of diverse bills and curated showcases that offer a vibrant testament to the world-class musical talent in the area throughout a range of genres.

By design, Between The Waves Conference and Festival sessions and performances provide opportunities for songwriters, composers, and performers to network and build community with other musicians and with talent buyers, producers, publishers, and other music professionals in a collaborative artistic environment conducive to exploration, interaction, and shared learning.

You can earn a living as a working musician. Let us show you how.