Our friends over at www.datatransmission.co.uk will celebrate their third birthday this week.
Following their third rammed session at The Silver Bullet with Beardyman and Grum, their 3rd Birthday party held this Friday 21st January sees the DT crew head to the hospitable Old Queen’s Head on Essex Road in Angel for Data Transmission Presents…The Class Of 2011 – a chance to check out some of their hot tips for the new year and celebrate the 3rd Birthday at the same time.
Headlining is the excellent Hijack, hero of the chunky ‘n’ filter house scene and head of Jack Union Records, with two first-rate other DJs in the form of Ninja Tune’s future garage signings and remixers to The xx Dark Sky and Rinse FM’s eclectic bass hero Marco Del Horno, with his potent blend of house, dubstep, electro, garage and UK funky.
Entry is free before 8PM (the venue is open all day) and just £4 (no advance tickets) with the event running from 8PM – 2AM.
Get yourself in the mood with DT’s podcasts from Hijack and Dark Sky and look out for Marco’s Podcast, coming mid January…
For full events details, visit Datatransmission.co.uk
Good afternoon! As promised here is part 2 of our interview with Andi Durrant where he gives his thoughts on the music industry in 2011.
How easy/difficult was it to be a music artist in 2010. Do you think it will get easier/harder in 2011? Why?
I’d say it was very difficult – especially if you’re just starting out and trying to get recognized for your work. It used to be the case that only a very small amount of people could use a recording studio, or even afford to hire one. Now for around £200 and a laptop you can do virtually everything, which is why I’m now receiving an average of 400 new tracks a week to listen to. Trying to stand out from that huge crowd is no mean feat.
Social Media has exploded over the last few years. Do you find tools such as Twitter and Facebook useful as an artist or just something you have to be on these days?
I absolutely love Twitter. I was scathing at first (“Who wants to know what salad Ashton Kutcher had for his lunch?”) but then I got the point of it – you only follow the people you’re genuinely interested in and its opened up a new world to me. I’m on there all day every day catching up and chatting with the rest of the electronic music community. I actually think it’s brought us together a bit more and strengthened the scene. DJs and dance music artists have really embraced Twitter and come off all the better for it. As for Facebook, I see that more of a promotional tool. It often seems a bit too personal sharing all your pictures with the world, and is ruined by people spamming your wall and trying to make you play imaginary farm games.
2010 has seen a rise in the popularity of cloud music services such as Spotify. Do you see them breaking in to the mainstream in 2011 and becoming the new way we consume music?
I’m sitting on the fence on this one – I really wouldn’t like to guess. The Spotify business model isn’t working for artists at the moment, and I don’t see that changing very soon… but then a new service might pop up next week and change the whole thing again!
How important do you think mobile technology and apps will be for the music industry in 2011?
VERY important. We’re nearly all living our lives through iPhones, iPods and Blackberrys these days, so those artists who have the best online presence, the most up to date and interesting Apps and websites, and make their music the easiest to access will come out on top.
Finally, do you think 2011 will be the year that the music industry will ‘get fixed’?
The music industry was probably broken the day it began. It’ll never be fixed and I’m not sure any of us want it that way even if it could be.
Some great insights from Andi. Share your thoughts with us about the state of the music industry in 2011 on Twitter @pokerpr
Happy New Year one and all!
We kick start 2011 with a special guest blog interview with Andi Durrant. As presenter of the biggest dance music show in the UK on a Saturday night – formerly on Galaxy FM and today rebranded to Capital FM – and one half of DJ and Production duo Riley & Durrant; we couldn’t think of anyone better to provide their insights into the music industry for 2011.
Who do you think really made their mark in 2010 / who impressed you in 2010?
In terms of dance music, 2010 was the year of the Swedish House Mafia – Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. From their massive Monday night residency at Pacha in Ibiza every week over summer, to selling out clubs, stadiums and festivals all over world, to collaborating with some huge A List singers and stars.
They went from being three relatively unknown DJs from Sweden to worldwide Popstars, so whether you like their music or not, you’ve got to respect their drive.
What’s your stand out album/track of 2010?
The tracks we’ve played most in our DJ sets and on my radio shows all seem to have been by Thomas Gold this year. He’s a DJ and Producer from Munich and is behind some brilliant dance floor destroying weapons at the moment.
My favourite non-dance floor track was probably the Shazam remix of Bertie Blackman “Black Cats”. I must have played that 100 times and still not got bored of it.
On the album front, I think it was pretty spectacular for Daft Punk to score the Tron movie. They came up with something I wasn’t wholly expecting, and although the soundtrack album isn’t an easy listen, it represents how far electronic music has come in the last 20 years.
What Producer or DJ do you have your eye on in 2011?
Dirty Secretz - a male/female DJ and production duo from Leicester who’ve been sending us LOADS of brilliant house music over the last 6 months. We asked them to remix a track for our Electrik Playground label, and we’ll be booking them for our events in 2011. I really hope they break through and get the recognition they deserve.
What new musical trends do you see coming through in 2011?
I think they’ll probably be some more dubstep tracks and acts crossing over into the charts as we see that scene go much more mainstream. It’s never worked that well in the clubs outside of London (except for 3 or 4 specialist nights that do really well) but it seems to have found its feet on the radio so I reckon people like Katy B will become big pop stars rather than niche urban acts.
Do you think there’s any room for dance music to go any more mainstream in 2011 than it has already in 2010?
The weird thing with electronic music is one man’s “dance” track is another man’s cheesy pop record… is another man’s underground… Take the Black Eyed Peas “Dirty Bit / Time of My Life” thing. I really don’t like that track – it’s a simple mass-market product for children or people who don’t really like music very much, but some people will say it’s “dance” music because it’s got electro synths and a big kick drum. It’s not though. Real dance and electronic music is thriving and more popular than ever.
Stay tuned as tomorrow we’ll be posting part 2 of the interview where we will be looking forward in to the state of the music industry in 2011.
Poker PR would like to wish everyone we’ve worked with this year a very Merry Christmas!
We’ve had a busy 2010 working with our favourite audio and visual provider, Avid Technology; the ground breaking www.Burn-Studios.com and its ambassadors Richie Hawtin and Cassius; the Gap Yah team including comedy troupe The Unexpected Items and super producer Adrian Zagoritis; Azuli Records, Phonetic Recordings, and loads more there’s not just enough room to list!
Our work has taken us to The Gadget Show Live event at the NEC Birmingham with M-Audio and Pro Tools. To music conferences the International Music Summit, Ibiza, and to our stand-out conference of year – the Amsterdam Dance Event, which celebrated its 15th anniversary as leading international conference and festival for electronic music.
Facebook applications have been popular amongst our clients where we’ve built a handful of interactive apps into our communication strategies. We’ve shot some interesting videos to promote new product ranges and our media campaigns have spanned international markets.
Social media was always going to become an even bigger communication tool in 2010 than it was the previous year, and throughout 2011 it’ll continue to grow, despite some brands and musicians still not understanding its weight or importance.
Next year we’ll continue to evolve, exploring new ways to speak to and connect with audiences. The music industry will face the same piracy issues and fans will continue to search for interactive content from favourite brands and artists. As long as the demand is there, we’ll continue to work with our clients finding brand new ways of audience engagement.
Unless you’ve been hidden under a rock this week, you’ll be aware of one the biggest stories to hit electronic dance music: Burn Studios’ ambassador Plastikman – aka Richie Hawtin – is inviting music creators to remix his work unlike ever before.
The track up for remix is ‘Ask Yourself’, an ambient and minimal release that appeared on Plastikman’s album, ‘Closer’, and features in his new Plastikman 2010 live show.
From www.residentadvisor.net and www.burn-studios.com you can download the remix parts; create an original sounding piece of work, and upload back to the site.
The winning remix will incredibly appear as a digital release on the highly anticipated ‘Plastikman Arkives’ – a made-to-order box set that pulls together all 17 years of the Plastikman story so far, released on Hawtin’s iconic Minus label. It’ll feature a whole barrage of remastered albums, a new DVD; CDs of rare, unreleased, and exclusive material plus lots more. Each remix submitted will be listened to by Hawtin.
From leading audio and visual technology leader and fellow Poker client Avid (the company behind M-Audio and Pro Tools) the competition winner will receive an exclusive Avid Gift Voucher worth €2,500.
www.soundcloud.com is also partnering with Burn Studios for this competition presenting the winner with an annual Soundcloud Pro account worth €250.
Five runners up will each receive an M-Audio Torq MixLab DJ kit, an Avid Recording Studio package and a Souncloud Lite account.
This competition is open until New Year’s Eve, so what you waiting for? For entry details click here
Poker PR is the media agency representing the global music community platform, www.Burn-Studios.com. We’re thrilled the site has raised the bar yet again in its series of remix competitions as Hawtin joins fellow Burn Studios ambassadors, Cassius, and Ed Banger starlet Uffie, by offering a personal piece of production to be re-worked by Burn Studios enthusiasts.
MN2S are the latest electronic dance music brand to enter the mobile app world. Their official iPhone app, developed by Poker PR’s sister company Scribble, is now live in the app store and is available to download for free
The app gives the user access to all the latest happenings in the world of MN2S including live news updates, the option to listen, or buy and download music straight to your iPhone from any of the MN2S labels or artists on the day of release, plus upfront event details from some of the biggest names in dance music.
App users also have the option to browse through the infamous MN2S roster of legendary DJs and live artists including Fedde Le Grand, Martin Solveig, Alex Gaudino, Joey Negro , Kenny Dope, Bodyrox and many more; scroll through music videos or spot yourself in MN2S party photos.
For promoters, the app boasts a function to send a booking enquiry for any MNS2 artist direct to their team of agents.
To celebrate going mobile, MN2S are giving away an iPhone 4. To enter, click here
This app is the latest solution from app developers Scribble who created the app for Pete Tong’s IMS conference and for artists Riley & Durrant. Scribble’s other app solutions include events, record labels and festival brands, all now created for Android phones too.
The wait is finally over and we can at last announce the winner of the Burn Studios Uffie Remix Competition!
After listening to an absolute shed load of tracks over the past few weeks, the Ed Banger starlet has decided that the best track was by Spain’s MIDIBOTS.
Uffie said “I really like how upbeat they made this track, makes me wants to be raving on a boat then jump in the ocean!”
Listen to the winning track right here
A worthy winner, for sure. They take home an AVID recording studio package, a SoundCloud ProPlus account and they’ll also be on the way to meet, talk and hang with Uffie at one of her shows in the near future.
You can read more about MIDIBOTS on their MySpace, Facebook and, of course, their SoundCloud.
Five runners-up were selected as the five most played entries and, boy, these remixes took some serious hits. The Top 5 tracks were as follows:
- In fifth place was S1L3NC3 who racked up 3,607 plays on his remix
- Just one step off a Top 3 place was Lionex aka Technomaster, with 3,811 clicks of play
- In third place was labelfivebeat, of France. They managed a fairly staggering 4,027 plays
- Closely following on from labelfive beat in second place was GabrielSlick of Romania with 4068 hits
- And the most played track of all was DJ_Stef, also of Romania, with a gigantic 5,230 plays. Massive!
A huge thanks to everyone who entered the competition, and all those who supported it, including AVID, SoundCloud, everyone at Burn Studios and, naturally, Uffie… with a little bit of help from Pharrell Williams.
Ed Banger starlet Uffie sparks the raw creative production talent of Europe’s freshest remixers as she joins forces with www.burn-studios.com to launch the second in its series of stand-out remix competitions.
Poker PR invites the global music community to remix, ‘ADD SUV’, Uffie’s chart topping track featuring Pharrell Williams. The winning remix, chosen by Uffie, will receive:
A Complete Audio & Video Production Studio (worth €3000) from Avid, the company behind the M-Audio and Pro Tools music technology brands:
- Avid Eleven Rack guitar recording workstation (includes Pro Tools LE music creation software)
- M-Audio CX5 reference monitor speakers and SBX10 subwoofer
- Axiom Pro 49 midi controller keyboard
- M-Audio Q40 headphones
- Torq Mixlab DJ package
- Pinnacle Studio HD video editing software
- Pro Tools Mbox Mini portable recording system
A SoundCloud Pro Plus account (worth €500)
Behind the Scenes with Uffie:
- An afternoon meet with Uffie
- Accompany Uffie & crew to venue from sound check to show
- VIP access during the party
How to enter?
Head to http://j.mp/Remix-Uffie and download the remix parts. Complete your remix and upload back onto the site. Competition closes on 1 November 2010 at midday!
How Judging Works
Uffie will select the ultimate winning remix from the entire submission list of entries. The five runners up will be chosen, based on the top five most played remixes, so promote your track and get as many people listening as possible. As an additional prize, we are offering our star Twitter user a free SoundCloud Lite! For full terms and conditions and to find out a list eligible countries, click here:
After nearly two months of the online www.burn-studios.com music community busying themselves creating remixes of the Cassius classic, ‘The Sound Of Violence’; and a further few intensive weeks spent by Cassius listening to the hundreds of remix submissions, we’re now delighted to announce the winner – Tha Trickaz!
Like Cassius, Tha Tricakz are a French duo and lifelong friends, and it was their dub-step re-rub that won in the Burn Studios debut remix competition. Tha Trickaz – aka Pho & DJ iRaize – bagged themselves thousands of Euros of Avid and SoundCloud prizes, and probably the most exclusive prize of them all – a trip to Paris to mix their remix with Cassius, followed by a release on Cassius Records.
In an exclusive statement published by Poker client www.burn-studios.com, Cassius – aka Zdar and Boombass – described Tha Trickaz remix as “Powerful dub-step” that they’d put it in their record bag, which is quite an honour for the young producers. The Burn Studios ambassadors came to this conclusion after hours of discussion, listening to mixes of trance, hip hop, dub-step, drum and bass, you name it… and after the winning remix appeared in both Zdar and Bommbass’s Top 4 shortlists.
Cassius extended their thanks to everyone who entered the competition, picking out some key remixes that caught their attention, whilst offering some insightful and personal feedback. Click here to read the full statement and for Cassius’ full list of ‘honourable mentions’.
Listen to Tha Trickaz winnig mix here, and join the Burn Studios community on Twitter to find out about more about forthcoming remix opportunities.
Poker PR is pleased to be running the media launch for new jobs site, BrightonandHoveJobs.com – the only jobs board in the country to exclusively support and promote the city where it is based.
The website – designed and developed by our sister company Scribble: – is the brain child of an expert team of local, well-networked recruiters and has launched advertising over 700 jobs, many of which aren’t available anywhere else on the internet.
It’s an exciting time for the people and businesses of Sussex as BrightonandHoveJobs.com aims to create job opportunities for all; to increase local employment activity; to increase higher value jobs through a city initiative that creates better paid jobs; to make local recruiting affordable and to, ultimately, become the city’s premier job board.
It launches with founding partners, American Express, Bupa, Domestic & General, Brighton & Hove City Council, Legal & General and Brighton & Hove Albion, with a goal to ensure fluid relationships with the best and largest employers in the city.
Key features include:
- A purely Brighton based team, dedicated solely to the city of Brighton & Hove
- A national and international candidate reach
- Jobs from all sectors advertised (i.e. administration, finance, technical, sales etc)
- Full time, part time and contract opportunities advertised
- CV database of local talents looking for new opportunities
- Proactively working to reduce employers’ recruitment spend
- Proactive voice at business and council level for local employment and recruitment related topics
- Training and development services for everyone (employed or unemployed)
- CSR opportunities across the city
- Free CV filtering service (coming soon)
The key role that BrightonandHoveJobs.com will play to the local community is further solidified by the comprehensive range of other partners backing the scheme. They include:
- Albion In The Community
- Brighton University
- Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce
- Brighton & Hove Business and Economic Forum
- Juice 107.2FM
- Sussex Enterprise
On the company’s mission statement, Site Founder Gary Peters comments:
“BrightonandHoveJobs.com has strategically partnered with the city’s very best employers and service providers to offer job seekers the best job opportunities in our great city. We will ensure that jobs are created, advertised, filled and developed on an ongoing basis meaning that both candidates and local businesses will have the very best recruitment solutions available to them on one easy to use website”.
A launch party will take place on 16th September at Pub Du Vin, Brighton where the town’s media and businesses will come together to celebrate this new venture. Please get in touch to request an invite to this event.
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