Tony Zeoli is Founder and CEO of Netmix.com and Radio Station by netmix.® Originally launched in 1995, Netmix was was considered by Billboard Magazine to be the "innovation and advancement of dance music on the Internet." Tony had launched the world's first Internet mix show website featuring the most influential DJs from around the globe. After two-and-a-half decades, Netmix has since evolved into an online station directory and powerful WordPress plugin, Radio Station, for broadcasters and webcasters to manage their statioon's show schedule in WordPress. Tony has been an innovator at the intersection of music and the Internet for the past thirty years in project management, product development, and digital strategy,. He is also the founder and CEO of Digital Strategy Works, a WordPress web design and digital marketing agency. And, Executive Producer of the Asheville House Music Society, an online House Music mix show. Tony is located in Asheville, NC where he loves to mountain bike, hike, and play golf with his son.
aturday night, I was all set and ready to rock my first mix using Traktor DJ and a bunch of new MP3's I'd downloaded from Beatport.net, which has to be one of the coolest download site's for dance music in the world. I love the interface, very clean and easy to use. Loading audio using Flash is so much better than going to site's like Vitaminic and having to launch Real Player for every sample.
On June 19, New York Times columnist Daniel Altman offered up a stellar column on one aspect of DJ culture rarely making the mainstream press. In the Travel section of NYTimes.com, under the heading Music, Altman's Never Mind the Concierge, Where's the D.J.? spotlights thriving lounge culture driven by talented DJs spinning a wide variety of electronic, dance, hip hop and international beats at some of the world's coolest hotels. In the days of relentless paparazzi shoving their way into the paths of jet setting young trendsetters, high profile celebrities and well heeled, respected businessmen and women, instead of partying outside the hotel at a city's super hot nightspot, the party is now happening AT the hotel! The paparazzi's camera's shielded from view.
kay...have you had enough Kaskade yet? Not me...I went to hear him last Thursday night at Cielo Club in New York City. And I wasn't disappointed.
Cielo continues their commitement to the music by bringing breaking wunderkid from San Francisco (See last week's post for more on Kaskade's origins in the biz). A very cosmopolitan, sexy crowd filled the dancefloor all night as Kaskade layed down a blend of vocal vibes and deep tech house. From jazzy vocals and remixes of classic dance tracks with a darker flavor, Kaskade held the floor like a champ from when I arrived to when I left. I was definitely impressed. I think this kid's going to be around for a long time to come.
Last week, my friend and editor of Raves.com, Jennifer Warner and I had an impromtu IM session over AIM. We haven't spoken in what seems like forever (really a year or so...has it been that long?). The conversation turned to MySpace.com the music-driven online social networking community. We didn't realize we'd both signed up to the site but hadn't connected yet.
Linking into her MySpace page, an .mp3 file of a house music track she'd embedded in her bio section began to play automatically. It was super hot! I had no idea who it was but it one of the best house music tracks I'd heard in a while. I furiously typed, "YO! What is that track playing on your page?" Jen quickly replied, "Kaskade! " She explained, Kaskade, one of her favorite house music producers is on Om Records out of San Francisco. Of course he is! I should have known.
So, you must be wondering what I've been up to the last few days since there hasn't been a posting. Well, I've been working hard on various projects, which I'll run down for you here.
Oh what fun I had last night! three glasses of Chardonnay and a champagne drink with raspberry vodka and peach juice at MEET on Gansevort and Washington, with my friend's Jodi, Jay, Tim and Allen, and I was ready to roll on into Cielo, Manhattan's DJ driven hot-spot to see LA's super-hero house Dj David Alvarado and San Fran's JJ in the mix at the BPM Magazine sponsored, Thursday night soire.
JJ was on point from the minute we walked in until his last tune at 1:30 AM. A lush mix of pretty, soulful deep tech-house vibes was just so much fun to dance to. As he blended track into track, some with a latin-tinged sals flavor and others with a sensuality that I hadn't heard in such a long time, I was reminded of how much I love that West Coast, vibey, San Franciso deep sound. The club wasn't very crowded (by 1:30 AM most of the bottle tables sat empty), but everyone there seemed to be on or around the dancefloor, most likely because people (like me) were having so much fun. My friend Jodi and I were really kicking it for a while on the dancefloor...getting into the groove and watching everyone else losing themselves in the mix.
On Sunday, my friend and classmate Noriko and I visited the Japan Society on Manhattan's East Side to see an intriguing and thought provoking art exhibit entitled, Little Boy, The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture". Created and curated by world-reknowned Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami, the show explores the impact of Japan's otaku subcultures in art, film, television, books, magazines and its ties to commercialism in Japan's burgeoning consumer society.
So, I'm on the train last week and I realize, like everyone else has in the last two years or so, that our iPod's are just really helping us all push the boundaries of what we listen to.
I know that this has been written about over and over, but I still can't get over the fact that my iPod has helped me achieve musical paradise in that I am not constrained any longer by the physical limitations of a compact disc or cassette tape. And, now that I am really aware of this, I truly believe that this revolution in music consumption is going to open up doors for the music industry like never before.
As I looked across the aisle to a girl sitting in a seat directly across from me, I noticed her CD player and through my complete understanding of the transition from compact disc to MP3, I had this incredible feeling of power, that I had broken free of the chains that bound my musical consumption. I looked down at my own iPod and I thought to myself, this is just incredible. The fact that I can take all this music on the go with me, and I only have a 20 Gig. Wait til I upgrade. Or, even better, wait another 5 years when the limitations have become almost non-existent and the future is more than we imagine today.
Yesterday, I attended the 2005 edition of Digital Media Wire's Digital Music Forum in New York. For a one day conference, it is becoming de rigeur for anyone interested in the digital music industry. I did not attend last year, but did so the year before. At that time, it was clear the war going on over the legality of Peer 2 Peer software companies, for example Kazaa and Morpheus, who's software allow the end user (that would be you) to share music files over the Internet, was centerstage.
Today, I will be attending the Digital Music Forum...
