Conference FAQs

For those registering for the in-person conference, your registration includes access to most conference events, including the International Folk Music Awards, daytime panels, Official Showcases, Private Showcases, and more. You also can access the conference through the virtual platform.

Day passes are available for industry attendees of the 2023 Conference at the Attendee Selections page during registration. Single Day and Two Day passes are options.

We offer scholarships for first-time artist and industry attendees that cover the cost of registration. Our Folk DJ Scholarship covers registration, hotel, and travel for one folk DJ who has less than eight years of broadcasting experience. Learn more about all of our scholarships here.

We realize that every attendee’s situation is unique and in a state of constant change, not to mention the heavy hit that many in our community took during the pandemic. FAI’s goal is to provide flexibility and minimize risk for our attendees. As a result, we have implemented a new cancelation policy for this year. Read the full policy here. 

There are no substitutions of participants allowed except in the case of company employees, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the FAI office.

Below is an estimation of total costs for one person to attend the conference, including registration, hotel, travel, and food. This is only an estimate to provide attendees a general idea of the financial investment of attending the conference. Many attendees choose to share rooms, find accommodations outside of the conference hotel, and carpool to cut costs. If you are a first-time attendee, we recommend checking out our resources for first-timers.

Total Cost to Attend the FAI Conference (based on member and advance rates)

FAI Membership (Individual) – $70

Registration – $350 industry/$200 artists

Hotel – $489 + tax (1 room/3 nights)

Meals – $180 ($60/day x 3 days)

Travel – $300

Return ground transport – $80

Promo materials – $85

Total estimated cost: $1,554 industry / $1404 artist

Ways to Reduce Costs

• Find alternative accommodations (such as an Airbnb or different hotel that fits your budget)
• Share a group membership
• Share a room at the hotel (you can join our Facebook group to find other attendees looking to share a room)
• Volunteer
• Apply for a first-timer scholarship

Every year we have folk music fans attend the conference, but we have placed limits on the number of attendees the last several years to ensure space for individuals who work in the field. Community members are welcome to apply to volunteer.

The list is on the Attendee Lists page. You can also click here. 

According to the hotel’s website, the daily rate is $22 USD for on-site parking and $28 USD for valet parking.

The hotel does not provide shuttle service. A taxi or rideshare service is about $50 USD. Super Shuttle is about $18 for one way; reservation required. 

Official Showcases are intended for tour ready artists who are interested in showcasing music to our global community. They provide the opportunity to put artists in front of festival bookers, agents, venues, record labels, DJs, and more.

No, Official Showcase application fees are non-refundable.

In-person Official Showcases are 30 minutes in length on a stage with full production. There is a 15-minute changeover between each artist.

Online Official Showcases are 20 minutes in length.

FAI caps registration to $700 for Official Showcase artists or on standby. Bands must be an FAI member to receive this rate. If you have four or more people in your band who will all be attending, please contact Folk Alliance International at fai@folk.org to receive a code for your registration. DO NOT REGISTER UNTIL YOU GET YOUR CODE.

Due to the large number of artists performing in such a compact time frame, we are unable to offer sound checks.

Backline includes guitar and bass amps, drum kits* (just bring sticks/brushes), and keyboards*. Please make sure your application clearly states what you need for your showcase.

* Not all stages have drum kits and keyboards.

FAI does not have upright basses for artists to borrow. Please reach out to local vendors K.C. Strings to rent an instrument. 

Contact our production team at production@folk.org. Not all stage plot changes can be approved based on limitations of backline and systems.

No. We are not able to change your showcase time or room due to the complexity of scheduling artists.

Yes! In addition to your Official Showcase, artists are encouraged to perform Private Showcases on any of the four nights of the conference. Artists are limited to six Private Showcases. Click here for information on Private Showcases.

Yes, but only on Tuesday and/or Sunday, or during the daytime hours of the conference. There is a Radius Clause that prohibits public concert participation by Official Showcase artists between the hours of 4pm-3am from February 1-5, 2023.

No, item sales are not allowed. FAI is a business networking conference – bring your latest CDs and share them freely with those you meet.

Yes, anyone wishing to play a Private Showcase (and their support team) must pay to attend the conference.

Artists receive a discounted registration rate.

Yes, artists are limited to six Private Showcases (in-person, online, or a combination).

Yes! Our Private Showcases were previously known as guerrilla showcases and are sometimes still referred to as guerrilla showcases at our regional conferences. At FAI’s annual conference, a Private Showcase refers to the intimate showcases located in hotel guest rooms from 10:30pm-3am.

Any registered delegate of the conference can perform.

Private Showcases can be scheduled anytime between 10:30 pm and 3 am CT Wednesday through Saturday evenings during conference week (February 1-5, 2023).

All registered conference attendees have access to watch the online Private Showcases at no additional cost using our conference platform.

Public tickets may be available for fans who are only interested in watching the showcase performances.

Participants will stream from the streaming platform of their choice, with shows listed and searchable by profile/tags on the Folk Unlocked conference platform. Compatible platforms include: Haivision, IBM, Mediasite, Livestream, Qwikcast, Videopress, Vimeo / Vimeo Live, Wistia, Youtube / Youtube Live.

You cannot use a direct link to Zoom; however, you can live stream Zoom to a compatible platform listed above. Zoom has instructional information on how to do this for YouTube.

No. If there is public access, we will  encouraging artists to share public access. More details will be available at a later date.

Purchasing the listing is not open yet, but will be later this fall.

A form will be sent to everyone who purchased a listing in early January 2022. You must provide the following information:

• Artist name
• Date & time of performance
• Description of show/Artist bio
• Livestream link
• Artist email addresses (the email address that the artist used to register for the Folk Unlocked virtual conference – this ties their virtual conference attendee profile to the listing)
• Keywords (like genre)

Ideally the form is completed immediately so that FAI staff can start adding the showcases to the virtual conference platform, but it can be completed anytime in the month of January. The last day to purchase a listing is February 1, 2022. Those purchasing last minute will have a few days to complete their form. We will also allow for corrections to be made to the data until February 15, 2021.

Yes, but the content must be a live recording intended for the conference. And due to licensing concerns, all pre-recorded content must be original songs or songs in the public domain. Performers who pre-record will need to get a sign-off from their label. FAI will require that all performers complete a form verifying compliance. See below for more information:

Pre-recorded Content vs Livestreamed Content

• The intention of the online Private Showcases is for the artist to create a program that is specifically for the conference. Any previous recordings that were for a different audience or purpose are not appropriate for a Private Showcase.
• Livestreamed content is preferred. Interaction is highly encouraged. The audience for the Private Showcases is diverse. Agents, managers, festival bookers, artistic directors, and fans alike all attend this event.
• Stipulations: If for some reason you must pre-record your show, then you should plan to have representatives online in the chat during your showcase time who can converse with potential clients and fans. Even with pre-recorded content, all of your content should be programmed specifically for the conference.
• Pre-recorded content must be provided via an external link to view. The compatible streaming platforms are Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo, Wistia, Videopress, Livestream, IBM, Twitch, DailyMotion, VidYard, and Soundcloud (audio files). We cannot accept file uploads for content.

Yes! We recorded an online tutorial with live questions for our event in 2021. We are using same platform. Here is the link to the resources mentioned during the tutorial.

Please note that YouTube restricts embedded videos. It’s unclear what the requirments are, but it appears that you must have 1,000 followers or an older account for the YouTube channel that you are using in order for it to embed on the conference platform. If embedding does not work, the conference attendee will still be able to click and watch on YouTube directly.

Yes. There are some panels that are only available for in-person attendees. A few of the in-person only panels may be recorded for viewing online later. 

Pre-conference events hosted on Wednesday are only available to folks attending in-person. Information about these events will be posted in November. 

There will be some pre-conference activities that are online only and networking events during the conference week intended for virtual attendees only. 

Any pre-recorded panels will be presented live in a hotel panel room for in-person attendees. 

You can learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. Contact Alex Mallett, our Director of Development, for more details: development@folk.org.

Yes. We offer full-page, half-page, and quarter-page program book ads. Artists receive a discount on their program book ads. Learn more here.

FAI will accept any vaccination approved for emergency use by the attendee’s home country and/or by the World Health Organization (WHO). An updated WHO approved list is available on this page by clicking on “Status of COVID-19 Vaccines within WHO EUL/PQ evaluation process” button.

Click here for the list from April 2, 2022.

The safety of our community is our biggest priority. FAI is willing to move the conference to online if necessary, but we are optomistic that we can safely gather together. 

In collaboration with safety experts, FAI is creating a decision matrix that will look at key items. For example, are there hospital beds in Kansas City if an attendee has a medical emergency. The assessment will be made in mid-December.