Tag Archive for 'DJs'

Kid Koala Releases New Album As Mini Gramophone

Time and time again we stress the importance of getting your fans involved with your music. Whether you host a remix contest, make an iPhone app or generally think out of the box when promoting your music. Here is a great example of a creative way that Canadian DJ, Kid Koala, released his music with his fans. He made the CD packaging for his recent record “12 Bit Blues” into a DIY mini record player with a mini record inside the CD box. Extremely creative, innovative, and a memorable event for any casual fan. Beyond this particular record, Kid Koala has made his past concert experiences interactive as well.

More power to you Kid Koala! Share your creative ways of interacting with your fans below!!

Help Photek Make a Song and Win!

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Calling all DJ’s, Producers and Recording Artists!!

Talenthouse is partnering with MixMatchMusic‘s online remix technology to give you the chance to remix Photek’s track and submit it to Talenthouse for a chance to be on an upcoming Photek release. For all of you Drum & Bass lovers out there, here’s your chance to help Photek finish a song! Photek, who has been producing and spinning creative drum and bass since 1992, is looking for dubstep and 4 to the floor remixes of his Drum & Bass track, “Fake ID”. He’s asking creators to produce a banging track that people would want to hear in a club. Our friends at Talenthouse say that they’re not looking for Photek clones, but for people to be original. Can you dig it?

If your remix is selected by Photek and the Talenthouse community, it will become an official Photek release and you will be credited in full as the official remixer and receive full promotion and distribution.

How to participate:
The Photek “Fake ID” remix contest can be found on the Talenthouse website as well as in a Remix Wizard that has been setup for the contest.  Stems can be downloaded from either place, but please be sure to upload your remix to both places. If you don’t have any music making software, you can use MixMatchMusic’s MixMaker to make your own remix online! For a complete list of rules and requirements, check this.

Who is Photek?
Although Photek is recognized as one of the founding pioneers of Drums and Bass, what sets him apart from the crows is his amazing ability to take the signature Photek sound to different places, outside the D&B genre.

While on Virgin Records, he managed to chart some of the most groundbreaking music into mainstream consciousness with the albums “Modus Operandi” and “Solaris”. His singles have spanned the full spectrum of electronic music, with straight up club hits like “Mine To Give” to the most legendary & abstract “Ni Ten Ichi Ryu”. It is this versatility and originality that has made Photek a favorite among artists such as Trent Reznor, Andre 3000, Bjork & David Bowie.

Originally from London, Photek is now based in Los Angeles where he finds himself evolving into an ever broader range of music through film music and artist collaborations. The UK/USA connection seems to have worked out perfectly for Photek, with the “Love & War” named Single Of The Week on BBC Radio 1 in London and his mixes of NIN’s “The Hand That Feeds” a hit on KROQ in Los Angeles.

Here’s a little taste of some of Photek’s remix, production, and score credits:
Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Bjork, Gwen Stefani, Goldie, Zero 7, Shy Fx/Elephant Man, Everything But The Girl, Roni Size “Reprazent”, Beth Orton, Attica Blues, London Electricity, Bumblebeez, Therapy, The Faint, Ringside, Jem, Rairbirds, Craig Armstrong, M. Night Shyamalan’s – Signs, Six Feet Under, The Matrix – Animatrix, The Italian Job, Stay, Invincible, American Wedding, Dreamland, Blade, City Of Industry, Raising The Bar.

Meetup.com – Niche Social Networking in Real Life

Ever wish you knew more people in your city who shared that weird hobby of yours? Or want to find some contacts in your industry to meet and network with during free time on your next business trip? These things and much much more are now becoming very feasible thanks to the wonderful little service called Meetup, which describes itself as the “world’s largest network of self-organized clubs and community groups.”

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I first discovered Meetup several years ago while searching for a local group to practice Danish with since….ya, there usually aren’t very many Danish speakers around. Well, that endeavor never came to fruition. Despite significant local interest no one took the initiative to actually start the group (and no, I wasn’t about to be that ambitious myself). But, I kept them in mind as a resource. A year or two later I finally attended a Meetup for Europhiles, where I met lots of people and had a great time blablabla, but it was basically just a social event.

Then, last fall I discovered the SF New Tech Meetup group, which blew me away. Though I’ve only been to one meeting so far due to scheduling conflicts, seeing first hand the caliber of people in that group inspired me to join a crapload of other local tech/entrepreneur Meetup groups. Not only are there countless events to choose from, but some of the mailing lists that hit my inbox are full of great resources and opportunities.

Sidenote: I highly recommend that anyone looking for tech-related job opportunities get on these mailing lists as members are constantly posting about positions they need filled.

Last weekend the San Francisco Webeneur Meetup held a blogging workshop with Ted Prodromou (social media guru), during which it became clear to me just how powerful Meetups can be. Organizer Bill Ayers certainly has the vision and the energy to guide local entrepreneurs to success. This entry of his blog has a picture of a few of us during workshop (from left to right, Johanna, Ted, and me).

What I found so inspiring was that other than the content of the workshop (which rocked), the 6 of us attendees grew increasingly more enthusiastic about one another’s businesses and were blurting out suggestions all day long – some brilliant, some absurd. I kept thinking that if we could collectively accomplish this much with just 8 entrepreneurial-minded people in the room, imagine the possibilities when you have a couple hundred people putting their minds together, with their respective educational backgrounds and networks of contacts to draw from. Now I’ve joined 10+ other meetups also related to tech/music stuff and my only complaint is that I can’t attend meetups full-time.

What about people who aren’t into emerging technology? What if you’re more interested in breakdancing or culinary arts? Improv acting or religious debates? Trust me people – it’s all there.

So. Let’s look at some examples of meetups related to music.

  • Maybe you’re a DJ in New York looking to connect with other kick-ass DJs to collaborate with. The New York DJ Meetup has 105 people for you to hit up.
  • That djembe is sitting in your apartment in Atlanta collecting dust and you want to find a place to jam and meet people? Then the Atlanta Drum Circle Meetup is for you.

So, don’t be afraid. No matter how obscure your interests are, chances are there is probably a meetup somewhere out there for you. And if there is not, you can start one yourself.

If you are currently in any meetup groups, I’d love to hear which ones! Leave a comment or email me.