Anti Social Camp 2024 Spotlights New York As Songwriters Music Capital

Danny Ross, founder of Anti Social Camp is ready for his 2024 event to start. It runs from June 10^th through the 15^th in New York City, bringing together songwriters, producers and artists. The camp is a clever premise: group together in threes an artist, songwriter and producer then see how much new music can be created. This year’s edition builds on the Anti Social Camp, Vol. 1 compilation album which first released in March of this year featuring selected newly created songs. This year, there should be a new album which follows based upon some of the songs about to be created. The album releases are on the label Amuse.

I spoke with Danny Ross about this years’ event. Fundamentally, the music turns on two axes: talent and capacity. Danny Ross’ aha moment was when he began grouping the attendees so that a producer, songwriter and artist are grouped into a unit which has the capacity to create new music. That music can be recorded and shared as part of the exercise. Ultimately, relationships are formed by those in attendance, and new works are created. Some of those will make it all the way through to being recorded for sale or distribution. Ross expects more than one hundred recording sessions which foretells a significant amount of new music to come out of the event.

There is a certain immediacy when you group creatives together and provide access to production space. No one wants to be left behind or to come up dry. The collective ethic is to create, and there is an urgency to be in the arena with peers, debuting ideas which result from the access to many creatives and production facilities.

Music, like any other creative craft, requires effort. Often the biggest impediment to creating new songs is simply getting started. Nothing jump starts action like the knowledge that hundreds of your peers are doing that very same work. Just like a journey of a thousand miles starts with but a single step, writing a song begins when you pick a note or key, then build from there. The essence of Anti Social Camp is no one wants to be left behind. Grouping creatives in one place and for a short period of time with the mission of making new works adds a bit of competitiveness to the process. No one wants to be left dry while their peers are knocking out a new chorus. Both time and peer pressure makes the process a sprint and a game. And when the end result is new music, everyone is a winner.

The Anti Social Camp event is well supported by the music community, with Grayson Music, TIDAL, Amuse, Amazon, Bandsintown and the New York City Mayor’s office among the long list of organizations contributing to facilitate Anti Social Camp’s programming.

New York City is also a key factor for the event. Anti Social Camp celebrates NYC as a key location where creatives and production intersect. The sheer mass of talent which aggregates there opens myriad opportunities for songcraft. There are other music centric communities such as Nashville and Los Angeles, but the pure density of opportunity in New York City makes it a key hub for creators.

Anti Social Camp is attracting prominent players, this year’s team anticipates participation from Jacob Collier who will receive the 2024 Anti Social ICON award, Miranda Lambert, Rob Thomas and more. It is always beneficial to have input from those who have already mastered the difficult path from idea to realization of a song which gains traction.

Danny Ross has built a community which supports the craft of music in New York City. Anti Social Camp continues to build its brand and reach. These annual gatherings further strengthen both Ross’ brand and the songwriting culture which he is helping to ingrain in the New York music community. Both New York City and the broader community of music fans are winners as the work of those at the Anti Social Camp leave their mark for the future in the form of a song catalogue.