A Charity Event Needed Assistance

Until There's a Cure There's a Dog :

Recently I had the opportunity of being one of the producers for a respected charity event called, “Until there’s a cure, there’s a dog”. This event took place on Saturday September 18^th 2012 and was held at the Orlando Civic Center. RachelleTravaglini and I put a lot of energy into this event as reps from Full Sail. She is one of Full Sail’s career development specialists for the EBMS program and I am known for large events in Philadelphia. Together we made quite the team!

Artist Alife Talent Agency

Artist Agency Review:

This blog post is a review of Artist ALife talent agency and what they stand for in our contemporary underground music culture today. Artist Alife is a newer agency I stumbled upon that just so happens to represent some extremely talented musicians. Alife focuses on talent management and international artist marketing in the electronic music scene. They center their artist roster in the electronic genre but also have an Artist Alife Urban Unit known to bridge the gaps in other genres such as hip-hop. The philosophies of the electronic culture and the hip-hop culture looked extremely different years ago. But today they are more alike then ever as they fuse into one anthers sound classifications. There is a seamless transition in these sub-cultures recently growing in today’s pop culture. So many pop icons are making this sound grow as they use loops from electronic producers. Daft Punk’s Harder Better Faster Stronger came into hip hop and from then on I am hearing more and more get looped in! As artists today fuse these genres talent agencies can divert from market segmentation to a new transition of the two genres. For Artist Alife that change alone makes the abilities of hiring and connecting artists and artist managers more diverse. Who would have thought “techno” and “hip-hop” would unite in the music cultures? This 5 year-old agency has the right idea on taking control through promotional efforts and taking marketing concepts for top artists in the industry and using it to lift off the newer names on their roster.

Steve Angelo V.S. DJ Sneak

Steve Angelo V.S. DJ Sneak

House Music Beef With DJ Sneak Plays Out in Steve Angelo’s Set: REALLY??

Now this is a review on an article that was recently written in the Houston Press by Dennis Romero on June 9^th.  Also there is so much controversy over these comments made by Sneak on Twitter that there was an interview done to save face. A one on one follow up interview was made to clear it up both sides, but only Sneak complied to complete the interview. Angelo refused to answer the same questions Sneak took on under the publication BIG SHOT. So if you haven't heard about it and you are wondering what I'm talking about, there is apparently some controversy going down about two amazing producers DJ Sneak and Steve Angelo. Steve Angelo is one third of Swedish House Mafia and rather well known for his remix by Robin S. “Show me Love”.  Let’s also add that Swedish House Mafia and Steve Angelo for that matter are very well known in the commercial house genre. It’s a more trendy club sound that can be ranked in the David Guetta realm with big build ups and vocal progressive tones. If you are a fan of Guetta then I suppose you enjoy listening to them. Then we have a funky bumpy L.A. producer, DJ Sneak that calls their music "fake house music" over Twitter. Not the most professional statements to tweet on I agree, and not many enjoy such slander. I know if someone called my music fake I wouldn't be so inclined to follow their music. But it's still an opinion, so Sneak doesn’t think it’s real house music, and what is real house music to Sneak? So many define house differently, even the writer Dennis Romero apparently, by his article in the Houston Press. In his reference, Steve Angelo get’s wind and plays EDC 2012 and drops a track with a sample “tear the club up” and another tune, “f**k haters”. This is meant to be some type of response to DJ Sneaks remarks on Twitter and at the end of Steve Angelo’s set hands the decks over to Erick Morillo, a New York Progressive House Legend. Steve Angelo announces him as “the guy who taught him how to DJ in clubs”. So Romero explains what's a Puerto Rican DJ compared to a "Colombian DJ. Then the article ends with a big, “Game Over” for DJ Sneak.

So Dennis, the article is a nice twist on some of this drama regarding these amazing musicians, but where are you going with this? It’s drama that really has nothing to do with what’s real

How To Book A Venue

WAYS TO RESEARCH AN EVENT:

How to book a venue!

When booking a venue for your next gig there are several ways to go about it. If you know that your going to put a lot of time into promoting this night you may wish to view multiple venues to fit your style. Figure out exactly what you want, imagine your crowd in the venue, take note to where the sound is. What is the quality in speakers, where does most of the sound hit, look for a booth or stage where you can see what you need to make the show happen with the right equipment.

Laws of Piracy & Sound Exchange

Electronic Piracy Laws and how music distribution is changing!

Has DRM really been around since the 90’s? DRM is known as Digital Right’s Management. It was around since the early 90's and even thrown into the movie Hackers. It was created to help regulate the digital files that we obtain. Some refer to it as Digital Restriction Management, because it is all about restricting how we obtain our music. The government is regulating what we do and how we do, even if we like to pretend they are not involved in piracy. The “No Electronic Theft Law” (NEFT Act) is very similar to the copyright violations that involve digital recordings and what is considered illegal for distributing digital assets. Some of the criminal penalties can land you up to 5 years in prison and up to $259,000 in fines even if you didn’t do it for monetary or financial gain (www.riaa.com).

Another one of the topics I’ve been wondering about was digital rights management. So what about the companies that play all the streams we are hearing everywhere, do artists make any money on it? How are all the royalties being collected with this new model of music we are witnessing? If I stream on youtube, I know that artist isn't getting paid! People say over and over again that record labels are going out of business and Compact Discs are obsolete, how are the artists getting paid if not by actual records sales? Is there a new way to get royalties that we haven’t explored?

One way is a new company that has recently emerged for the artists and labels, and they do a lot of the collections to keep people in business in this fast changing industry! The company is called Sound Exchange, and they deal with the digital rights of the online radio community. Sound Exchange is a non-profit and mostly collects statutory royalties from cable TV music, Sirrius XM Radio, Pandora, and other similar platforms for streaming sound recordings. “Sound Exchange has been entrusted by the U.S. Library of Congress as the sole entity of the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties on behalf of featured recording artists, master rights owners (like recording labels), and independent artists who record and own their own masters” (www.soundexchange.com). There is a great interview from the former executive director of sound exchange John Simson and he discusses the future of radio and how Sound Exchange came about. The title of the interview is called, “The Day The Music Died.”

This interview is amazing! Click the link below that's purple to watch!

CLICK HERE

: : : :  SOUND EXCHANGE  : : : :

Spatial Recognition: Neil Burgees

Recently reviewing speeches and talks on TED.com I found one that hit an area of interest of mine. When completing my undergrad I had a minor in Psychology and one of my interests was neuroscience. As an analytical individual, understanding how the mind works and what makes us have those patterns was fascinating to me! In regards to my blog the affect music perception has on neuro-responses and how our mind processes these sounds in our brain could be a great topic for study or TED talks.

Madonna raises interest at Ultra

Madonna Raises Controversy : : : : : : : :

During the final weekend of winter music conference is one of the biggest parties in the country known as Ultra Music Festival. As mentioned in my previous blog posts regarding winter music conference you can find this well known event. Again Winter Music Conference is an international summit that brings together many industry professionals to do work together and throw events together. Ultra Music Festival is known to be on the last weekend every year. This event alone has taken publicity to a new level for EDM! What do I mean by this? Last year’s Ultra of 2011 hit record highs of 400,000 plus attendee’s and has been known to sell out months in advance at over $400 a pop! That’s some serious revenue! The colossal event is reaching record-breaking heights for something that size and the talent is unheard of for this country! This year Ultra and Miami were in for a bit of a surprise though! When the crowd was chanting for Avicii, one of the new superstars hailing from Sweden, they got a surprise! Not only was he not on stage, out came Madonna to introduce this new Dj icon! Obviously she is one of the biggest known artists of our time, her presence instantly transformed the crowd. She wore fishnets and cut off shorts, a T-shirt that said MDNA, as well as her trademark channel gloves. It didn’t take her long to throw herself into the controversy of the media as she takes the mike Madonna explains how excited she is to be at Ultra and how talented Avicii is, then Madonna goes on to say, “Electronic dance music has always been a part of my life since the beginning of my career, and I can honestly say that a DJ saved my life”. But then she had a question for the cheering crowd that we didn’t expect, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly”? Molly is a slang term for ecstasy, the main ingredient is known as MDMA, ironically her shirt read MDNA and yelling the drug reference into the crowd had them in an uproar! Deadmau5, one of the leading producers of progressive house music, took to twitter and Facebook to respond to the diva’s choice words. Deadmau5 writes, “very classy there Madonna, HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???? Such a great message for the young music lovers!” (Huffington Post) Now this is especially funny because Deadmau5 is very anti-drug and her Molly reference is the very thing that gives EDM a bad rap. It shouldn’t be needed to reference drugs with music, and it does show the age or responsibility factor of our listeners when drugs are needed to listen, referenced, or used at shows. Madonna did respond back to Deadmau5 recently and it was with a photo on twitter. The photo says it all, I believe she wants to try and save face a bit. This picture is kinda small but you can click the link above to see it on here twitter.

Skrillex Takes Over

---

Skrillex Moves Forward :

One of the fasted upcoming artists today in the electronic dance music scene happens to be taking the world by storm overnight. He literally didn’t exist and then put out his first EP and was signed through Deadmau5 upon release. Scary Monster’s and Sprites on the label Mau5trap by none other then SKRILLEX has taken every slot on beatport’s top ten. That was groundbreaking for beatport, the first time seen for an artist to hold every slot, number one, two, three, and so on! Also the fact that it was a brand new name that literally just put out his first album, we as music fans tend to do a double take. Prior to becoming the infamous Skrillex also known as Sonny Moore, he was the front man for a scream-o band in his teens called, “From First to Last.” This band was unique to say the last but I think we all agree, “that any move away from singing about topics like body dysmorphia and overwrought relationship drama is a step up. At the age of 21 Skrillex is a pop icon helping the new genre known as “dub-step” reach amazing heights from a multi-genre influence, nearly taking EDM to a commercial level with a close to demonic sound. Some argue that the elements of hip-hop found in dub-step genre’s such as Skrillex help this new genre push into the mainstream. Skrillex held the headlining slot for the legendary Ultra Music Fest this past March and continues to step in and step up to mold a new genre out of what once was dub-step to a fusion of rock, house, dub-step, and so much more! If you haven't heard of him, take a listen! It's not the usual rock and roll or electronic techno sounds your use too! If you already know dub-step and Skrillex then it should be no surprise that he's touring the world in style as a new pop icon for youth today! Attached is one of his more popular tunes, and if you are really curious about the scream-o sound then take a listen to the last video. It's probably still embarrassing for you Sonny Moore to look back at! But with tour dates filling up, and new remixes being pumped out for pop stars and Rocks stars such as Lady Ga Ga and White Zombie, the sky is the limit for our new young rock an roller!

---

"FROM FIRST TO LAST" - Sonny Moore a.k.a. Front Man known now as Skrillex

In the News... NextAid lends a hand

There is a Los Angelas based company known as NextAid, which harnesses the unique power of music to support sustainable development in Africa. They are set to return for their eighth consecutive year at Winter Music Conference to bring together conscious artists to inspire social action together. This Wednesday NextAid partners up at WMC with, Rootz media, Media Services NYC, and Fusicology to present to you, IGNITE. Official badge holders are welcome to attend, others need to purchase tickets before they sell out. IGNITE is an exclusive event on March 21st 2012 taking place at Red South Beach Hotel from 5pm-11pm and the line up is extensive!

Also NextAid has partnered up with Winter Music Conference on a grand scale. All event tickets that are purchased online for all WMC events using "wanttickets.com" have the option at check out to donate one dollar to NextAid. Ticket buyers may not notice such a small number of giving really adds up when there is 100,000 people attending and purchasing multiple tickets for multiple events. If we all donated think of what that would do? This project specifically is benefiting Nairobi, in South Africa.

What is Winter Music Conference all about?

 

So what is Winter Music Conference all about anyway?
What is WMC? This week is the kick off to one of the most monumental events in the music industry for electronic music. If you are a follower of "electronic dance music" (EDM) then you must know about Winter Music Conference! WMC happens annually ever March in South Beach, Miami. This year marks the 27th consecutive year! "WMC attracts thousands of artists from 70 countries and over 100,000 event attendees each year for a concentrated schedule of more then 400 events, parties, seminars, and workshops" (wintermusicconference.com). This event gets global sponsoring and has hotels and near by establishments planning ahead to be on their "A" game for the massive rush. The clientele that conference brings is not the usual spread either! It's a mix of young professionals, press, industry heads, record labels, and fans all intermingling in crowds at hotel parties, beach parties, pool events, seminars, etc. The international ratio is heavy for this specific week draws in travelers from across the globe in large numbers. You may see royalty from another country or your favorite film stars in town and other upper class moguls because of the South Beach luxuries along with the glam of the music industry professionals. It's a unique blend of music, sun, attractive people, and networking possibilities. I'm sure after reading this blog you know I'm a major fan and will be attending as usual!I plan to be at the NextAid event mid day on Wednesday March 21st, and benefits will be raised to go to Africa from the party. Most of the talent come Wednesday will be New York and Chicago artists whom I connect with. Good people and good energy at this show. Officially the conference began today, even though parties started last Wednesday. After the kick off event today there will be panels all evening and again into the morning. Registering for a badge is now closed, and record labels flying you out usually get crews in on Tuesday. If your reading this blog and would like to attend you may be closing towards the deadlines!

Phil Weeks - Raw Instrumental LP - Rob Soul Recordings [RBLP03]


: : Phil Weeks is no rookie when it comes to programing a dance floor! He continues to utilize the less is more method! This LP goes from a abstract deep lounge feel to more funky flared house in the usual Phil weeks format. The tune "Family Tree" has layered percussion in a detroit techno vibe. "Don't give up" has crisp high hats and a disco element to it."Pimpin 4 weeks, Oh Yea, and Disco Fever" has a quirky vocal loops. His layouts are more simple, but simple is effective and this LP is all instrumentals. Great for dj's that want to work their mixes and lay more on! Weeks is known for a particular sound of deep and funky, with those usual crispy highs! Rob Soul rarely puts out anything not worth picking up so this album can be found on juno or beatport.

Artist : Phil Weeks
Title : Raw Instrumental LP
Label : Rob Soul Recordings
Release Date : 03/09/2012
Source : Web

01.Opener (Instrumental Mix) 2:09
02.Walking In The Dark (Instrumental Mix) 8:02
03.Come To Me (Instrumental Mix) 6:24
04.The One (Instrumental Mix) 7:03
05.Dirty Groove (Instrumental Mix) 6:07
06.Pimpin 4 Weeks (Instrumental Mix) 7:14
07.Half Time (Instrumental Mix) 2:29
08.Dont Give Up (Instrumental Mix) 5:46
09.Family Tree (Instrumental Mix) 5:38
10.Oh Yeah (Instrumental Mix) 3:04
11.Disco Fever (Instrumental Mix) 6:18
12.On Da Raw (Instrumental Mix) 5:57
13.Do That Dance (Instrumental Mix) 3:11
14.Closer (Instrumental Mix) 1:34