Yahoo Music! GM, Michael Spiegelman hosted today’s panel on Social Media and Revenue at the Winter Music Conference 2009. Guest panelists included Andrew Fox from ClubPlanet.com, Ron Sperling from ConcertSceneTV.com, Micahel Lucero from Microsoft’s Zune digital music platform, Jim Mahoney from A2IM and Ron Suarez from LoudFeed.com.

Most of the discussion centered around using social tools to build an audience and then take your perceived reach to brands to capture discretionary spending dollars that brand manager have to play with. Andrew Fox implied that in today’s music market, brands are were the dollars are coming from, taking up where major labels have cut back.

The colorful Ron Sperling from ConcertSceneTV.com gave his perspective as a media producer and former ad agency executive who has created experiences. He impressed upon the room the importance of the live element of music and how larger dollars are won because of the importance of the fans personal connection to the music and how that effects what they’ll spend.

Yahoo Music! GM, Michael, Spiegelman did an excellent job in his first year moderating the panel, pulling an impressive list of guests to the table. In year’s past, WMC has had a difficult time pulling executives from this level of the Internet industry, but this year was an exception.

Micahel Lucero from Zune briefed the audience on brand deals with artist through Microsoft products like the X-Box and let artists know that Zune does have programs for new artists to get exposure through the service.

Rod Suarez was making his first ever WMC appearance both on a panel and as a delegate to the conference. His company, LoudFeed, is providing artists with viral marketing tools.

We were walking to dinner from the Royal Palm and bumped into Dave Dresden and Davey Gold (pesudo-retired dance music industry radio promo veteran and New Jersey DJ) on Collins.

On Friday, March 27th at 4:00 PM, Netmix founder and Zaah Technologies VP of Product Development, IA and UxD, Tony Zeoli, will participate on the RSS Feeds, Podcasting & Webcasts panel at the 2009 Winter Music Conference.

This panel will address the ways in which new music is being presented today – access, distribution and dissemination of both dance music and information. Also, this panel will discuss the innovative advances in technology ushering in this dramatic shift that’s transforming the music & broadcast industry.

Moderator:

• Laura Betterly- Yada Yada Marketing, Inc

Panelists:

• Jonathon Alexander- Tap It FAME
• DJ Philammon- BPM.FM
• David Porter- 8tracks.com
• DMS12
• Asya Shein- MIR Media
• Anthony Zeoli- Zaah Technologies/ Netmix

The List Web site

Looking for the hot parties at the 2009 Winter Music Conferece? The List, a web site created by the organizers of the WMC, is the best place to begin your search. Check out The List on the Winter Music Conference Web site.

The site is updated weekly with a countdown to the conference, which takes place from March 24th to the 28th in sunny, Miami Beach. Check the main Winter Music Conference Web site for conference details.

Mindshare: The Party flyer

Netmix.com and Zaah Technologies present Mindshare at Label Lounge, where Music Technology professionals meet New Media folks for a night of networking, music and play.

DJ Tony Z makes his return to the DJ booth to blend warm house vibes from the tech house, techno and deep house genres. DJ Madsol Desar puts a classic vibes house set together.

From 7 to 9 PM, the networking gets started with a $4 Happy Hour(s) drinks special on beer and mixed drinks.

Our Netmix gift-bag raffle takes place at 10 PM. With the purchase of a drink between 9 pm and 10 pm, get a ticket for the raffle and you’ll have a chance to win the following:

10 gift-bags will be raffled off. Each bag includes separate items donated by various partners, including New Riders, RockYourReligion.com, PhetusExclusives.com, BM Linx, Kristine W, Threadless.com, 622Photography.com, Zaah Technologies and more.

• A $50 T-Shirt Coupon Code from our friends at Threadless.com
• An 11 x 17 print of “The Colored President”: a portrait of Barak Obama by urban artist, Vic Nisoci (ArtWeCan.com). The original oil on canvas was donated to Russell Simmons Hip Hop Summit Action Network’s Hip Hop Inaugural Ball; it will be auctioned later next month.
• The new dance single, “Never,” by accomplished dance artist, Kristine W.
• A pre-release album from BM Linx entitled “Black Entertainment”
• Designing for the Social Web (Voices That Matter) by Joshua Porter (New Riders, 2 copies) – ISBN 0321534921
• SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate (Voices That Matter) by Joel Postman (New Riders, 2 copies) – ISBN: 0321580087
• Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? (Voices That Matter) by Susan M. Weinschenk (New Riders, 2 copies) – ISBN: 0321603605
• A special Netmix Podcast MP3 Data CD, containing 3 Netmix Podcast MP3’s – Subscribe to the Netmix Podcast Feed at: http://tinyurl.com/5wqm3m
• Netmix/Phetus Exclusives T-Shirts (5) from Urban Art inspired brand, PhetusExclusives.com
• A Peace Pendant from RockYourReligion (1)
• 100 Free Prints from PhotoMama.com
• 15% off of photography services from 622photography.com
• A hardcover copy of “Outliers,” the latest book by Malcolm Gladwell

BM Linx

Kristine W "Never"

Ultra Music Festival 2008

The Ultra Music Festival (UMF) — the world’s leading two-day electronic and alternative music experience set for Friday March 27 and Saturday March 28, 2009 during the Winter Music Conference in Miami–has announced more exciting additions to its lineup. Promoters for the festival have revealed that The Prodigy (who will release their new album Invaders Must Die on March 2) and Pendulum, two of the most anticipated live acts for 2009, have been confirmed along with DJ titans Paul Van Dyk and Armin Van Buuren. Moby has also tapped UMF for his exclusive Winter Music Conference appearance.

Ultra Music Festival at night

Other acts that are newly confirmed for UMF include: David Guetta, Above and Beyond, Erick Morillo, Booka Shade, the Swedish House Mafia featuring (Steve Angello, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso), Benny Benassi, Rabbit In The Moon, Infected Mushroom, Fedde Le Grand, Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Tiga, Perry Farrell, ATB, M.A.N.D.Y. v. Tiefschwarz, Kraak & Smaak, Dirty South, Pete Tong, Loco Dice, Steve Lawler, Boys Noize, Markus Schulz, Kaskade, Late of the Pier, Planet of the Drums, Andy C + MC GQ and The Whip.

The complete listing of participating artists to date is:

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

Main Stage:

Tiësto, Bloc Party, David Guetta, The Ting Tings, Deadmau5, Santogold, Steve Lawler, Perry Farrell, Late of the Pier. Bayfront Stage: Pendulum Live, Roni Size Reprazent, Rabbit In The Moon, Craze & Klever, Kevens. Carl Cox & Friends Stage: Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Loco Dice. Mid Park Stage: Swedish House Mafia, Benny Benassi, Tiga, Dirty South, Busy P, Chris Lake.

SATURDAY, MARCH 28

Main Stage:

The Prodigy, Paul Van Dyk, Armin Van Buuren, Eric Prydz, Above and Beyond, Fedde Le Grand, Infected Mushroom, ATB, Kaskade, Markus Schulz. Bayfront Stage: Deadmau5, Bookashade, Cut Copy, Simian Moblie Disco, Crystal Castles, M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Tiefschwartz, Boys Noize, Hercules and Love Affair, The Presets, Kraak & Smaak, The Whip. Carl Cox & Friends Stage: Carl Cox, Moby, Erick Morillo, Pete Tong, Elio Riso. The Mid-Park Stage: Roni Size DJ Set, Planet of the Drums (featuring AK1200, Dara, Diesel Boy, J. Messinian), Goldie, Andy C and MC GQ, Hybrid DJ Set, Ed Rush and Optical, Bassbin Twins, Soul of Man, DJ Icey, Evol Intent Live, Chase and Status, Drumattic Twins, Baby Anne.

The Ultra Music Festival is South Florida’s favorite music festival, internationally renowned for its memorable live performances and DJ sets from the world’s top electronic and alternative rock artists. It will take place during the 24th annual Winter Music Conference on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 at the beautiful waterfront location of Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami (the same grounds it has occupied since 2006). Tickets are currently available via www.ultramusicfestival.com for $129.95 and then $149.95 as the event approaches. Two-day VIP passes are available for $350.00.

Access the UMF online at these sites:

www.ultramusicfestival.com

www.myspace.com/umf

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Due to the Nor’easter that cut across New York State, I was stuck in Long Island with not much to do. I checked my Facebook to see what people were doing during the storm. Up popped a message from Tommy T, a long time friend of Netmix. He let me know that he would be DJing at a modern, upscale sushi bar and lounge, Nisent in Woodbury, NY. The location is about 15 minutes from my office at Zaah in Farmingdale.

For a blustery Friday night, there wasn’t much going on. So it was good to see Tommy and his friends celebrating Melissa’s (we don’t have her last name) birthday. I figured I’d pop over and check it out

Stay tuned, as Tommy and I might plan to do something together on Long Island, at this spot, in the future. It’s an incredible space. Loft-like with a killer sound system. The kitchen was closed by the time I’d arrived, so I’ll have to play food critic another time.

Props to all the Long Island folks I met last night at Nisen. Enjoy the photos!

– by Tony Z

Aqua-Booty Party

DJ Greg Cuoco has relaunched his legendary Aqua-Booty party at Sin Sin, the upstairs room at Leopard Lounge on 2nd Avenue and E. 5th St. Tonight, Greg will share the tables with prolific producer and keyboardist, Eric Kupper. The event is hosted by long time dance music industry oracle, Debra Eriksen.

Aqua-Booty was a necessary stop for many underground house music DJs in mid to late 90’s. Given focus has been so much on trance and tribal house at some of the larger venues in New York City, it’s nice to see that some folks are bringing that underground, New York house sound back.

The party will take place the third Thursday of every month. Upcoming DJs include Tony Humphries, Scott Wozniak and Oscar P.

Also tonight, Roger Sanchez is back at Cielo for his Secret Soul Sessions party. This event is probably the most heavily attended house music night in the city, save for certain parties at Pacha. It’s best to come out early. Don’t wait until 12 midnight, because you might be turned away at the door. For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page.

If you miss out tonight, check out Scott Wozniak’s and Luis Baro’s party, Moonshine, downstairs at SB2 on Friday nights. For more information, hit up their Facebook event page.

– by Tony Z

On Friday, December 5th, rogue urban artist Phetus will display over 30 canvasses at East West in Westbury, LI. The show starts at 7 PM. Be there.

cmj music marathon

‘ll be attending this year’s CMJ Festival in New York City, which takes place on October 21 through October 25th. Check out CMJ.com for more information.

I’ll also be on the panel, “Web 2.0, Music 2.0 and the Blog Factor,” which takes place on Thursday, October 23rd at 12:30 pm in Rm. 905 of NYU’s Kimmel Center on Washington Square.

Jenny Tan’s Minitek Festival hit a bit of a pothole on Friday night at New York’s Penn Plaza, when the fire and police department shut down the all night event at around 2:30 AM, with a line of approximately 1,000 techno enthusiasts stranded outside waiting to get in.

Blog posts on RedBeatle.Wordpress.com, Basstown.Blogspot.com and Jaskim.com describe confusion that ensued. Someone also posted their to the Resident Advisor forums. Of course, RA haven’t posted any updates about the festival on their home page in both their news and blog section, even though they’re the online ticket broker.  No wonder why electronic music can’t get out of it’s own way. Not a good look. It’s like everyone took the weekend off to party, forgetting their esponsiblity to communicate with their audience.

One person overheard that Minimoo only had a 300 person permit for a 3,000 capacity space, however, that’s just hearsay for now. We haven’t learned the real reason, but it doesn’t really matter much today. When the authorities decided to shut down the party at 3:30 AM, Minimoo quickly regrouped and moved the event to the nightclub, Rebel. However, that change was not reflected on their web site, nor was an email sent out the list by their PR company or Minimoo themselves. Granted, it was three on the morning, but if you are going to throw an event of this size and scale, you must have your communications on point.

For a technology festival to not utilize tools such as Ning, on which you can build your own social platform, or Facebook, where they’ve set up a group already is kind of strange, no?. The last time Minitek posted to their Twitter account was on September 3rd. There were no Twitter posts last night to inform anyone who purchased a ticket what was happening at the venue or to notify them where the show would move.

Of course, the Minitek site lacks the one thing they should have had in the first place, a simple blog. Why that is, I don’t know. Everyone has a blog today. If they have podcasts on the site, why no blog?

Fortunately for Jenny and Minimoo, today’s event on Coney Island went off without a hitch. I checked it out for a bit and was impressed. A number of record labels set up booths, including Clink Recordings (we love their branding and design), Ghostly International, Catalog Records, Hidden Records, and Confined Media, a DIY operation who trekked out east all the way from Seattle, Washington. The venerable Halcyon had a booth. Shawn Schwartz and Ricardo were manning the booth. And an interesting company, Fractalspin.com, had a variety of transistor based jewlry, watches and other interesting products for sale. The only problem was that the booth’s had no electicity, which meant that the labels couldn’t set up their listening stations.

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Let’s get to the music. Adultnapper and Alexi Delano were both on point. Clink Recordings label owner and DJ/Producer, Camea, warmed up the crowd nicely with a very, very deep techno set that really took you down into that tantric place. You know that vibe, where the bottom heavy bass lines inject a moodiness into the air. We don’t know what her set list was, but there was one track she played that was just super dirty. As it chugged along, spitting its rawness out of the speakers, you kind of felt like you needed to take a shower afterward! Definitely a dope track. Wish we knew what it was.

I left around 4:30 to head over to Nathan’s for one of their world famous hot dogs. I don’t know if they provided electricity to the booths after that and I’m not sure if tonight’s rain affected the event, but we hope that Jenny has better luck at Webster Hall tonight and the event schedule tomorrow. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Anyway, let me cut this short because I have somewhere to be. Tonight’s event has been moved from Penn Plaza to Webster Hall, just in case you’re wondering. I may head over there to check out it out.

– Tony Zeoli

While I haven’t given Oasis much thought since I microwaved my What’s the Story, Morning Glory? CD when I was 14 (true story), the Brit band has cooked up an album release stunt that I find absolutely fascinating. No, it’s not another name your price scheme à la Radiohead; today, September 12th, Oasis will have street musicians scattered throughout Manhattan parks and subway platforms, performing songs from the band’s upcoming record, Dig Out Your Soul (due in the U.S. on October 7th). Among the performers are indie rockers, a funk group and a shred violinist, and though Oasis isn’t scheduled to perform anywhere, Pitchfork reports rumors that the band’s members may be peppered throughout some of the performing groups. Oasis fan or not, you’ve got to admit that this is one interesting take on the increasingly popular album release stunt.

For more information and a map of where to find the performers, visit nycvisit.com/oasis.

- Melanie Donnelly

What did I do over Labor Day weekend? Well, for one, I danced my ass off at the Turntables on the Hudson, Water Taxi Beach event to the sounds of DJ Matthias Heilbronn and the Nickodemus crew.

Water Taxi Beach is a little oasis of sand, sun, drinks and fun in the Long Island City section of Queens. Someone got the idea to set up a bar right on the East River overlooking Manhattan, so we hard working New Yorkers have an escape from the every day grind. Barbecue, fries, pizza, a well stocked bar featuring pitchers of sangria and a tent-covered dance floor and sound system are certainly a recipe for fun. Check out the DJ line-up and performance schedule at http://www.watertaxibeach.com. It’s running for a few more weeks, and will then close for the winter.

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– Tony Zeoli