CRS 2025 Unveils Expanded Digital Music Summit Agenda

The Digital Music Summit (DMS) will return to Country Radio Seminar (CRS), bringing an expanded lineup of panels and events aimed at integrating the digital and radio worlds to the 2025 installment, taking place Feb. 19–21.

This year, DMS content will pivot from a one-day program and will now be incorporated across the entire CRS schedule, featuring panels, networking opportunities and artist spotlights.

DMS will also bring back the “Cycle of A Song” series, which highlights tracks from three different artists spread over the three days of the seminar. This series showcases the journey of a song from creation to chart success, offering insights into the lifecycle of music.

For the second consecutive year, CRS will host the “Y’all Means All: Diversity Breakfast,” an event designed to inspire attendees to promote diversity within their organizations. The War And Treaty will appear as panelists, with more artist announcements to follow.

CRS 2025 will also debut an all-new morning session, “Ask Me Anything: Speed Dating with DSPs.” This breakfast event gives attendees the opportunity to ask representatives from major streaming platforms any questions they may have. Structured in a “speed dating” format, attendees will rotate through two-minute conversations to ensure a direct personal exchange of insights about data, back-end portals and more.

CRS 2025 DMS-Focused Panels:

“Streaming 101: Everything You Want To Know”: This session aims to be an evolution of past streaming discussions, diving deeper into the business structures of streaming platforms, free vs. premium tiers and demystifying key myths. The panel will cover the current state of country music streaming and share best practices for labels, managers and marketing teams.

“Teamwork Makes The Dream Work”: Capitalizing on the country moment in streaming, country music is experiencing unprecedented growth, with cross-genre collaborations, joint ventures, and major labels expanding into Nashville. This session will explore how the country genre reached this moment, how DSPs are handling the cross-genre boom as well as what the future holds for labels, artists and DSPs alike, with a focus on working together to sustain this momentum.

“Why Can’t We Be Friends? The Label, Radio, and Streaming Relationship”: In this conversation, panelists will examine the current relationship between streaming, radio and labels, addressing the challenges and opportunities for increased collaboration. Attendees will gain insights into the differences in timelines between streaming and radio as well as the strategies labels use to navigate both spaces.

“Sustaining Momentum: How To Turn Moments Into a Career”: This session will focus on the strategies and tools needed to maintain momentum for country artists, especially when working singles at country radio for extended periods as well as how to build a sustainable career in today’s music landscape.