OK, its a week later and I've finally made it around to compiling my notes from the last two days of Amsterdam Dance Event. Its difficult to cover both parts of ADE simultaneously. The day program is full of incredible and educational panels (this is coming from someone who bores easily at panels) and intense meetings/networking. The night program is a plethora of parties all over Amsterdam with top-level talent and newcomers worthy of coverage. Arriving back home, I have a camera full of pictures, pages full of notes, and a stack of CDs to sort through.
In addition to the panels mentioned on the first day of the wrap-up, three more pop into mind as memorable - the USA connections panel, the gaming world, and Chuck D's keynote interview. Whenever you get Gary Salzman (Big Management) on a panel, there is going to be some interesting discussion. Mixing in dance radio guru Cary Vance, Ultra Records' David Waxman, Jim Tremayne (DJ Times), and Bruce Tantum (Time Out New York) provided enough viewpoints to share many sides on the reality of breaking into the US market, the validity of record pool/Billboard club charts, touring, and promotion. Probably the best quote came in response to the question "Is it difficult to sell European Music in the US," when Gary Salzman responded "It's difficult to sell anything."
Its still quite funny to me how it took a computer company to teach the record industry how to sell their product (with Apple and iTunes). Just as commercials have broken dance records in a major way, video games are providing major exposure to dance music internationally. According to Steve Schnur of Electronic Arts, "Music enhances the gaming experience," which is clearly the truth as you witness the success of a song like "You've Got To" by the Young Punx which was featured in the FIFA video games. Artwerk is a new music label launched by Electronic Arts is a joint venture with with Nettwerk with the first signings being Junkie XL and Datarock. "It's not working outside the box, the box is bigger" and with dance music as the soundtrack to many games, there is a whole new generation of fans out there.
As the tech toy geek I am, the demonstration following by Wii-J Timski. With the wireless Wii controllers, he uses a self-written Ableton-like software and goes into the audience. Watching him "spin," it puts a whole new dimension to watching a DJ. Rather than watching a DJ hunched over turntables/CDs/laptop, Timski is jumping around with the crowd and hyping the party. Maybe this is the way to make DJing with Ableton Live look halfway interesting?
