Brandshank

Artist Management – Tips for Choosing Management as an Artist

Adam — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:52:58 +0000

There comes a point in a musician’s career where the proverbial brick wall jumps out and they hit it. Stopped in their tracks, the panic alarms sound and thoughts of “where do I go from here?” enter their mind as the harsh possibility of going back to the drawing board seems closer than ever before.

The most common problem is the inability to realise where they are at the moment, where they want to be and how to build the bridge that gets them from point A to point B.

Artist management is usually the missing piece of the puzzle.

Using sheer pride as their shield, artists end up going it alone and try taking on the world of music armed with their own raw talent. What artist management lack in raw talent, they make up for in experience of the music industry. Joining forces and employing an artist manager or management team will create a brand that has the raw talent as well as the experience of success in the music business: A perfect recipe.

The Job Role of Artist Management

The job of an artist manager can vary depending upon the contract agreed. There’s lots of variation involved as management these days tend to have a broader skill base to accompany digital marketing and online promotion as well as branding and traditional marketing etc. Artist management usually offer a full catalogue of services which are then packaged up to suit a certain artist or band’s needs.

Some artists might be efficient in certain areas so may decide that the management take care of only certain aspects. Other artists may need to employ them to do everything. The modern day artist will pay for a package of services that they require managing. The more services needed, the more expensive the package.

Upon employment, the artist management will make an assessment of the artist’s current situation. They will identify where the artist currently is within the industry; recognise areas of the brand that can be improved; determine leads and possibilities for growth; assess where the band/artist’s current path is heading, and direct them down an avenue that leads them to their preferred destination. They become part of the team and assist them along every step of the way.

These are just some of the services offered by artist management teams:

Personal Branding

Promotion

Recording

Industry Partnerships

Touring

Sponsorship

Online Marketing

Brand Awareness

Merchandising

Licencing

Taking advantage of a management team not only relieves some of the pressures associated with pushing a brand forward but frees up time for the artists to concentrate on perfecting their craft. After all, practice means improvement in music and by allowing a management team to look after the back-end of the band or artist, they free up time to practice the front-end – the music end.

Decide what you want from a Management Team

After deciding to hire management, you will need to approach some companies. Before going out there and contacting them however, be aware that they’ll bucket loads of questions to begin with as they try to make a realistic assessment of where you are within the industry, what your goals are, your current authority and make a judgement of your talent. You will need to make an initial personal evaluation yourself in order to better assist the potential management team and make it easier for them to offer up a package deal.

Try to ensure that you are in the strongest possible position before approaching a management company. Strengthen areas currently under your control and make inroads into showing that you have most bases covered and taken care of. This will minimise the cost of their services and will give you more control over your own image going forward.

You ideally want to be the major decision maker using the management team to offer suggestions and advice as well as letting them take care of the entire minor decision making process. You don’t want to end up feeling as though you are merely a puppet in the plans of the management team. This can lead to disagreements and arguments; things you could do without!

Where to find the right team

As with the majority of investments, most decisions to purchase come from word-of-mouth recommendations. Recommendations from people you know and trust are more likely to peak your interest than salesman offering you the next ‘miracle cure’. Listen to your industry influencers; ask them if they know of any companies that they would personally recommend. Read online reviews and write-ups about these companies. Do your research beforehand to avoid disappointment further down the line. Most artist management companies are genuine and good at what they do, but some can exaggerate their credibility; listen to the people who have worked with them and take notice who is recommending / criticising their work.

For relatively new artists who lack contacts for credible recommendations, there are lots of directories that house these types of business. Our picks of the bunch are The Unsigned Guide and Free Index.

Free Index is a free service whereas The Unsigned Guide charges a monthly fee. For what it’s worth, we advise you sign up for The Unsigned Guide. For £4.99 a month, you get some of the best information in the industry. As well as artist management listings with reviews for each listing and easily filterable preferences, you get access to some of the industry’s best kept secrets. For serious artists, The Unsigned Guide is gold dust.

Contacting a Manager

After having carefully read the reviews from others that have worked with the managers, be sure to read their terms and conditions first. A good company will have your own interests at heart and shouldn’t just be in it for a quick steal. Your success is their success, it’s as simple as that. The better they do the job for you, the more popular you become and the more secure their job becomes within your team. They should be doing their best to improve their job security and by doing their best, your act will reap the benefits.

Bearing in mind that managers are usually a single person (although it’s not uncommon for teams of management), you need to find a manager who has a similar personality to you. They need to be able to fit into the team like they’ve been there a while. A good sense of humour and a down-to-earth attitude aren’t part of the job description but it will make the communication a whole lot easier – and fun.

Good management will fully explain what they aim to achieve for you and will agree on where your goals are and explain how to achieve them. Signs of bad management are those who try to get you to sign on the dotted line as soon as you enter the room. Good management should create excitement and give you renewed hope about taking your act forward. Good management will have you begging to sign on the dotted line rather than trying to enforce you to.

Upon meeting them, ask how many artists and managers they currently have contracted to their roster; too many artists and not enough managers could potentially limit the time they spend assisting your career. Check that some of the artists they currently employ produce a similar style of music to your own. If they’ve been successful with similar acts then you know that they have the experience of the genre.

The Contract Details

All manager contracts vary as mentioned earlier, so it would be impossible to go into all the details regarding contracts. But some base knowledge should help you acknowledge whether a contract suits you as well as the management team rather than just suiting the management team.

Ensure that once the contract is drawn up, it is checked thoroughly by a well-established and experienced music contract expert. Entertainment attorneys are often the most experienced at this type of thing. They will be able to quickly identify small print and hidden clauses in the contract that could potentially leave you liable to unexpected hardships in the future. Run it by them first before you sign.

The contract should have targets and realistic performance goals that the management will aim for. The contract should also include get-out clauses that permit you to end the deal at your discretion if the management aren’t performing as well as they’d promised. Whether these clauses are in the form of penalties, subsidies or a complete contract cancel, ensure that you have some sort of get-out clause; it’s your safety net.

Good management will happily include these get-out clauses in the contract because if they are who they claim to be then they’ll be confident of delivering what’s required of them.

So hopefully this will have made things clearer about steps you can take once you hit the proverbial brick wall in your career. There are always people and companies that have experience and expertise in areas to take you the extra mile when you’re at a cross-road. Don’t be afraid to let someone else take the reins for a while; after all, if you do your research beforehand and choose the right management, then they will have as much drive to make your career a success as you do yourself.

Let us know in the comments if this post has been helpful and remember, there’s more than one way to reach the top!

How to Improve Engagement on Facebook

Adam — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:37:08 +0000

Facebook and its Fan Pages are renowned for being difficult to amass a significant following; even though the music industry is easier than most industries. Music lovers and fans are loyal types and tend to give lots of support to the musicians/artists that they enjoy; so how do you bridge the gap and make these loyal fans engage on your page?

Although Facebook is the most popular social platform on the planet, it still pales in comparison to its nearest competitor Twitter when it comes to engagement. Twitter gets a lot more engagement for the general public as they enjoy the ‘close’ interaction that they have with celebrities etc. They prefer the 140 character limit as opposed to some of the longer Facebook posts you see these days.

However the mould is broken for bands, musicians and record labels etc. as evidence suggests that – for these – Facebook is more engaging: A recent study from Social Bakers has proven that brand engagement is stronger on Facebook than it is on Twitter.

So, taking this into consideration, musicians should be promoting their brand on Facebook as much as possible and using techniques that encourages engagement with fans.

Here is a list of ways to increase engagement on Facebook for your brand. It’s all about posting PICTURES!!… but there’s more to it than just imagery!

Personalise

Be personal about what you’re doing day to day. Fans are nosey; music fans are especially nosey and love this type of engagement. If you’re writing song lyrics let them know; give them tasters. If something has given you inspiration for an album cover let them know and post a picture. Let your personality shine through and include humour along the way.

If you’re not working on anything at the moment and are struggling to post anything with personality, a simple ‘fill in the gap’ post is often a safe but sure-fire way to increase engagement:

Illustrate

Posting pictures has been proven to be the best way to engage with fans. They are quick to look at so don’t take up all the readers’ time and can speak a thousand words. You’ll find that pictures get more engagement than any other type of Facebook post and can be the ice-breaker that sparks conversation with fans.

Compliment

Remember to complement those who have helped you along the way and give credit to fellow artists who may have helped you with your mixes/song creation etc. The creation and distribution of music is a team game. More often than not, whatever you achieve in this business may well not have happened if it wasn’t for the help of others. Compliment them and help promote them like they did with you. These industry relationships will only enhance your credibility in the future.

Thank

Thank fans who compliment your own work and listen to their constructive criticism. It may help you further. Artists often take influence from fans and by allowing those fans to steer your progression could be the key that determines whether you leave a legacy or fail. Encourage them to give their $0.02 and you’ll find that not only are you increasing Facebook engagement but you’re also fine-tuning your act.

Upkeep

Keep your Facebook fan page up to date with what’s happening. There’s nothing more dissatisfying than an idle Facebook page. Let them know what you’re doing or what you have in the pipeline:

Fans can be fickle at times and as it only takes a minute or so to post a comment or picture, you’ll find that failing to do this and letting your page go stale will have a huge effect on fan engagement. There is an evident pattern between activity and audience. Regular activity has been proven to increase the frequency of new fans and followers liking your page as shown in the graph. New fans and followers are worth a couple of minute’s effort here and there!

If you’re a record label and are trying to manage numerous social profiles at any given time, it may be beneficial to use social tools like HootSuite or TweetDeck. These allow users to manage various social profiles from one dashboard. We use these at Brandshank and can safely say that we’ll never look back!

Reference

Reference other artists who you’re taking influence from and like the sound of at the moment. They will be more inclined to do the same back and may spark them into enquiring about a potential collaboration or partnership. This is also a quick and easy way to make friends in the business and you can use references and compliments as ego bait that can help you get more contacts and build relationships that enhance your brand image.

Engage

Engage fans in conversation. Post posts that are likely to spark interaction and then answer all or as many fan comment posts as you can. Fans will appreciate it and will bring fans with them as they spread the word that you have a lot of time for fans.

Socialise

Make fans aware of your other online presences. Show them links to your website and its products, point them towards your other social platforms. You want to engage them via as many channels as possible and introducing your Facebook following to your Twitter or SoundCloud audience will keep fans engaged. Then why not direct this new ultimate audience to your merchandise and music via the website?

It’s all about building trust and engaging your audience using all these methods and then once your audience is engaged enough, direct them to your music and you’ll find that past window shoppers will turn into paying customers and past paying online customers will turn into fans that follow your act around and go to gigs. Then hopefully the fans that did this anyway will continue to spread the word for the benefit of you and music as a whole!

Engage, interact and just generally bring yourself down to grassroots level and have a laugh.

Let us know in the comments if there are any other techniques that you can add to increase brand engagement on Facebook.

25 Example Websites of Big Background/Minimal Web Designs for Inspiration

Adam — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:07:38 +0000

Here is a collection of some of the best designs in music. We build great websites for the music industry but these lot weren’t made by ourselves but are a bunch of sites that are good enough for us to give our stamp of approval.

In this list we have sites that are heavily reliant on backgrounds, sites that have been designed with a minimalistic feel to them and designs that have incorporated clever imaging to good effect.

Enjoy!

Bashy

The Bright Music

Professor Green

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Ebony Cuts

Faithless

Osborne Drums

Rita Ora

Chris Brown

Michael Korstick

Image the Music

The Killers

Kings of Leon

Cinq 7

Kevin Rudolf Media

Ryan Edgar Music

Yello Rainbo Records

Beyonce

Jarvis Cocker

Sick City Club

4AD

Oh Land Music

Futuretainment

Under the Psycamore

Goldfrapp

So there you have it; some of the best designs in music at the moment. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section and we’d be happy to take a look!

Until next time.

50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music

Anthony — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:50:13 +0000

Welcome to the final episode of the 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music series. Now before you read on, take a deep breath, relax and prepare yourself to be dumbfounded, bewildered and educated with a shed-full of musical knowledge that only the Brandshank Elite (you) have backstage access to. In this final series we count down our picks of the electronic bunch! So, for the last time this series, let’s continue…

#5 – LOVE DECADE MASS ARREST

In July 1990, the Love Decade party held at Gildersome, Yorkshire was stormed by police at 5 am in the morning. Rave martyr Rob Tissera, the DJ playing at the time, got on the mic and exhorted the crowd to keep the bastards out. Revellers held them off for nearly 3 hours but the party eventually stopped and Rob was wrongly fingered (grow up children!) by the police to be the rave’s “Mr Big” and sentenced to 3 months in prison. The real “Mr Big” was Tony Colston-Hayler who the Mirror dubbed “The self-confessed king of the acid house warehouse parties”. 836 ravers were arrested that night and detained in 26 police stations. Only 8 of the rebels were actually charged with anything! It remains one of the biggest mass arrests in British history.

#4 – NORMAN ‘E’ COOK

In the late 80′s, Norman Cook suffered from clinical depression caused by the split from The Housemartins, his wife leaving him and his career taking a nose-dive. One night, his friends dragged him to the Escape bar in Brighton and offered him a treatment in the form of a pill – Ecstasy. He took it and half an hour later (just as the chorus to CeCe Peniston’s ‘Finally’ kicked in), he came up and so did his frown. The next morning his face ached as he’d not smiled in months and his life was turned around. He thought that ‘E’ could change the world. He started to translate those feelings into music under the alias ‘Pizzaman’ and scored some early dance floor hits in the 90′s, most notably with “Trippin’ on Sunshine”. If it wasn’t for Ecstasy that track would have never been made or incidentally, Fatboy Slim wouldn’t have been born.

#3 – LAND OF OZ

In August 1988, The Sun published an investigation into the Heaven night club (then owned by Richard Branson) which was home to Paul Oakenfold’s Monday night event, ‘Spectrum’. The Sun reported that “Junkies flaunt their craving by wearing T-shirts sold at the club bearing messages like ‘can you feel it?’ & ‘drop acid not bombs’”. Being as naive as they were, The Sun had taken the term Acid House and linked it with LSD rather than Ecstasy. Because of The Sun’s article on Heaven, Richard Branson told Paul Oakenfold that he need only to rename his night rather than shut it down. So, Spectrum closed but opened up again within weeks renamed ‘Land of Oz’.

#2 – GATECRASHER MILLENNIUM – CRASHED

At the Gatecrasher Millennium party at the Dom Valley Stadium, Paul Van Dyke was all set for his big moment as the midnight chimes signified the beginning of a new millennium. To bring in the new year Paul dropped a specially prepared edit of “For an Angel” to which the crowd euphorically cheered. Cheers soon turned to boos as some leathered idiot had climbed up a vertical pillar that was supporting the marque. The police made Paul turn off the music while they tried to get him down. Judge Jules even got on the mic and shouted “get down you fucking idiot. You’re going to ruin it for everyone”. Eventually he got down and Paul ran over to the guy and lamped him one; sparking him clean out in the process. Happy new year mate!

BONUS FACT: For public safety precautions Gatecrasher Millennium had a site morgue in case of a disaster.

#1 – FREEDOM TO PARTY

On January 27th 1990, 8,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square, London, for the “Freedom To Party” campaign against the “Increased Penalties” bill. Amplified music was banned by the Police although this did not stop Debbie Malone singing “Rescue Me” accapella. They did arrest Rave MC Chalky White just as he was about to give a speech (he had been arrested 7 months previous for ecstasy possession). Later that night a free party was staged by Genesis’88, Biology, Sunrise, Weekend World, and Fantasy FM 1990. There were running battles between the police and ravers intent on getting into the building but the police gave in and the rave continued until 9am. Although it was a party that made rave history, some schmucks saw it as an opportunity to make a few quid buy selling sleeping pills, claiming they were Ecstasy. As a result, there were 100′s of ravers giving it ‘zzzz’ upstairs instead of raving downstairs. Just say no kids

BONUS VIDEO: Check out this video footage from the Freedom To Party rave compiled by the main promoter himself; Wayne Anthony.

So there you have it, the complete 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I’ve enjoyed researching and writing it. If you absolutely loved it then why not subscribe to our blog, follow us on Twitter, and Like us on Facebook if you wish to be educated on all things ‘music’.

If you missed last week’s episode, you can catch that here – 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music #10 – #6.

Thanks for reading

UK Music Festivals 2012 – The Ultimate Calendar for 138 of the Biggest and Best Music Festivals

Adam — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:27:51 +0000

With the festival season now upon us, events organisers are putting their final testing preparations into place before they open the doors to the festival faithful.

With gigs beginning to start around the country over the next few days, we thought it would be useful to bring our readers this year’s offering of The Ultimate UK Music Festivals Calendar 2012.

Use it as you please. It can be a check-list if you like or you could print it off and use it as toilet roll when you run out and need to go; it’s completely up to you.

Here we have listed the biggest and best UK music festivals of 2012 in order of geological area. In each area, they are also listed in date order within each area as well.

So if you know you’re going to have some free time, with a bit of spare cash and be in the South-West over the weekend of 16-18th June, all you have to do is have a look on this calendar and round-up all your buddies!

We’ll start from North and head South… enjoy!

SCOTLAND

Rock Ness 2012

Friday 8 June – Sunday 10 June
Loch Ness, Scotland
Cost: £159 for the weekend with camping / £149 for the weekend non-camping

Eden Festival 2012

Friday 15 June – Sunday 17 June
Raehills Meadows, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Cost: £79 for the weekend

T in the Park 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
nr Kinross. Scotland
Cost: £199 for the weekend

High Flying Birds @ Edinburgh Castle 2012

Tuesday 17 July
Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland
Cost: £44 – £65 – SOLD OUT

The Wickerman Festival 2012

Friday 20 July – Saturday 21 July
nr. Kirkcudbright, Galloway, Scotland
Cost: £90 with camping and parking

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival 2012

Friday 3 August – Saturday 4 August
Inverness, Scotland
Cost: £95

Loopallu 2012

Friday 21 September – Saturday 22 September
Ullapool, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland
Cost: £75 for the weekend with camping

NORTH-WEST

Strummercamp 2012

Friday 1 June – Sunday 3 June
Manchester Rugby Club, South Manchester
Cost: £65 for the weekend

Dot to Dot festival (Manchester) 2012

Monday 4 June
Various locations, Central Manchester
Cost: £20

Parklife Festival 2012

Saturday 9 June – Sunday 10 June
Platts Field, Manchester
Cost: £64.50 for weekend, Saturday sold out

Chester Rocks 2012

Saturday 16 June – Sunday 17 June
Chester Racecourse, Chester, Cheshire
Cost: £35

Beat-Herder 2012

Friday 29 June – Sunday 1 July
Gisburn, Lancashire
Cost: £100 for the three days with camping

Kendal Calling 2012

Friday 27 July – Sunday 29 July
Lowther Deer Park, Hackthorpe, East Cumbria
Cost: £105 for the weekend with camping

Maryport Blues Festival 2012

Friday 27 July – Sunday 29 July
Cumbria
Cost: £58 for the weekend

The Wombats in the Forest 2012

Wednesday 8 August 2012
Delamere Forest, Delamere, Cheshire
Cost: £25.50

Creamfields 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Daresbury Estate, Halton, Cheshire, UK
Cost: £125 for 2 day camping, or £145 for 3 days

Solfest 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Tarns, nr Aspatria, Cumbria
Cost: £95

NORTH-EAST

Evolution Music Festival 2012

Sunday 3 June – Monday 4 June
Spillers Wharf, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
Cost: £35 for the weekend, or £25 for day tickets

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Stadium Of Light 2012

Sunday 24 June 2012
Stadium Of Light, Sunderland
Cost: £45

Americana International Festival 2012

Thursday 5 July – Monday 9 July
County Showground, Newark, Nottinghamshire
Cost: £120 for full festival with camping

The Magic Loungeabout 2012

Friday 27 July – Sunday 29 July
Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire
Cost: £112

Leeds Festival 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Cost: £197.50 for the weekend, £85 for day tickets

Limetree Festival 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Lime Tree farm, near Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire
Cost: £85

Galtres Festival 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Crayke, North Yorkshire, UK
Cost: £90

Bingley Music Live 2012

Friday 31 August – Sunday 2 September
Bingley, West Yorkshire
Cost: £45 for 3 day weekend

Musicport 2012

Friday 5 October – Sunday 7 October
Whitby Pavilion, North Yorkshire
Cost: £65

MIDLANDS

Off The Tracks Spring Festival 2012

Friday 25 May – Sunday 27 May
Castle Donington, Leicestershire
Cost: £70 for the weekend with camping

The Acoustic Festival of Britain 2012

Friday 25 May – Sunday 27 May
Uttoxeter Racecourse, Staffordshire
Cost: £85

Dot to Dot festival (Nottingham) 2012

Sunday 3 June 2012
Various locations, Nottingham
Cost: £20

Download Festival 2012

Friday 8 June – Sunday 10 June
Donington Park, Leics
Cost: £75 a day tickets. Only tickets available for Friday and Sunday left. Weekend and camping is sold out.

Live from Jodrell Bank 2012

Saturday 23 June – Sunday 24 June
Jodrell Bank, Cheshire
Cost: £35 – Elbow day sold out

Coventry Godiva Festival 2012

Friday 29 June – Sunday 1 July
Coventry, West Midlands
Cost: FREE

Indietracks Music Festival 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
Butterley, Derbyshire
Cost: £67 for the weekend

National Forest Folk Festival 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
National Forest Folk Club, Leicestershire
Cost: £17 for the day event or £20 for the evening

The Rock and Bike Fest 2012

Thursday 12 July – Saturday 14 July
Elvaston Castle Showground, Derby
Cost: £40 for the weekend

Splendour 2012

Saturday 21 July
Wollaton Park, Nottingham
Cost: £37.50

Global Gathering 2012

Friday 27 July – Saturday 28 July
Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Cost: £105 for the weekend

Nozstock Festival 2012

Friday 27 July – Sunday 29 July
Bromyard, Herefordshire
Cost: £80 with camping

Big Chill @ Eastnor Castle 2012 – CANCELLED

Thursday 2 August – Sunday 5 August
Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire
Cost: £180 for the weekend

Bloodstock Open Air 2012

Thursday 9 August – Sunday 12 August
Catton Hall, Walton-on-Trent, South Derbyshire
Cost: £115 for the weekend with camping

Strawberry Fields Festival 2012

Friday 10 August – Sunday 12 August
Heather, Leicestershire
Cost: £80 for the weekend with camping

Summer Sundae Weekender 2012

Friday 17 August – Sunday 19 August
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire
Cost: £105

V Festival (Staffordshire) 2012

Saturday 18 August – Sunday 19 August
Weston Park, Staffordshire
Cost: £175 for the weekend with camping

Shambala Festival 2012

Thursday 23 August – Sunday 26 August
Held at a location yet to be broadcast!
Cost: £119 for the weekend

Off The Tracks Summer Festival 2012

Friday 31 August – Sunday 2 September
Castle Donington, Leicestershire
Cost: £70 for the weekend with camping

Bromyard Folk Festival 2012

Friday 7 September – Sunday 9 September
Bromyard, Herefordshire
Cost: £86 for the weekend with camping

Alchemy Festival 2012

Friday 21 September – Sunday 23 September
Scholey Park, Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Cost: £50

WALES

Wakestock 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
Abersoch, Cardigan Bay, North Wales
Cost: £125 for the weekend with camping or £100 without camping

Croissant Neuf Summer Party 2012

Friday 10 August – Sunday 12 August
Usk, Monmouthshire, UK
Cost: £95

The Green Man Festival 2012

Friday 17 August – Sunday 19 August
Brecon Beacons, Powys, Wales
Cost: £145 for the weekend

Hard Rock Hell 2012

Thursday 29 November – Sunday 2 December
Haven, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales
Cost: £190 for the weekend with camping

SOUTH-WEST

Salisbury International Arts Festival 2012

Friday 25 May – Saturday 9 June
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Cost: £20

Plymouth Volksfest 2012

Friday 1 June – Monday 4 June
Plymouth, Devon
Cost: £45 for the full 4 day festival

Run to the Sun 2012

Friday 1 June – Monday 4 June
Porth, Newquay, Cornwall
Cost: £75 for the weekend with camping

Dot to Dot festival (Bristol) 2012

Saturday 2 June
Various locations, Bristol
Cost: £20

Wychwood Music Festival 2012

Friday 8 June = Sunday 10 June
Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire
Cost: £132 for the weekend with camping

3 Wishes Faery Fest 2012

Friday 15 June – Sunday 17 June
Mount Edgecumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint, Cornwall
Cost: £25 for day tickets with camping

The Big Session 2012

Friday 15 June – Sunday 17 June
Catton Hall, Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire
Cost: £102 for the weekend with camping

Stonehenge 2012

Wednesday 20 June
Stonehenge, Wiltshire
Cost: FREE

Sunrise Celebration 2012

Thursday 21 June – Sunday 24 June
Gilcombe Farm, Bruton, Somerset
Cost: £122 for the weekend

Eden Sessions 2012

Saturday 23 June – Wednesday 11 July
St Austell, Cornwall
Cost: £35

Madness in the Forest 2012

Sunday 24 June
Westonbirt Arboretum, Nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Cost: £36.50 – SOLD OUT

NASS 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
Shepton Mallet, Somerset
Cost: £72 for the weekend with camping

Larmer Tree Festival 2012

Wednesday 11 July – Sunday 15 July
Larmer Tree Gardens, Tollard Royal, Wiltshire
Cost: £190 for the full festival

2000trees Festival 2012

Thursday 12 July – Saturday 14 July
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Cost: £66 – SOLD OUT

Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and Rally 2012

Friday 13 July – Sunday 15 July
Tolpuddle
Cost: £25 for the weekend or Sunday is free

The Wanted in the Forest 2012

Friday 20 July
Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Cost: £27.50

Chagstock 2012

Friday 20 July – Saturday 21 July
Chagford, Devon.
Cost: £65 for the weekend with camping

Steps in the Forest 2012

Sunday 22 July
Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Cost: £36

Camp Bestival 2012

Thursday 26 July – Sunday 29 July
Lulworth Castle, Dorset
Cost: £175 for the weekend with camping

Sidmouth Folk Week 2012

Friday 3 August – Friday 10 August
Sidmouth, Devon
Cost: £248 for the full festival

Relentless Boardmasters 2012

Wednesday 8 August – Sunday 12 August
Watergate Bay, Newquay, Cornwall
Cost: £89 for the weekend with camping

Beautiful Days 2012

Friday 17 August – Sunday 19 August
Escot Park, Fairmile, Devon
Cost: £120 for the weekend – SOLD OUT

Aeon Festival 2012 – CANCELLED

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Shobrooke Park Estate, Crediton, Devon
Cost: £60 for the weekend

Watchet Live 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Watchet, Somerset
Cost: £60 for the weekend with camping

Greenbelt Festival 2012

Friday 24 August – Monday 27 August
Cheltenham Racecourse
Cost: £99 for the weekend

End of the Road Festival 2012

Friday 31 August – Sunday 2 September
Wiltshire
Cost: £150 for the weekend

Waveform 2012

Friday 31 August – Sunday 2 September
The venue is yet to be published
Cost: £85

Acoustica Festival 2012

Friday 14 September – Saturday 15 September
Various locations, Exeter, Devon
Cost: £18 for the weekend

Westfest 2012

Saturday 27 October
Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset
Cost: £45

House of Fun Weekender 2012

Friday 23 November – Sunday 25 November
Butlins, Minehead, Somerset
Cost: from £299.52 for shared chalets

All Tomorrow’s Parties curated by The National 2012

Friday 7 December – Sunday 9 December
Butlins, Minehead, Somerset
Cost: £180 self catering

SOUTH

Brighton Festival 2012

Saturday 5 May – Sunday 27 May
Brighton, Sussex
Cost: Varied

Hampton Court Palace Festival 2012

Wednesday 13 June – Sunday 24 June
Hampton Court Palace, Surrey
Cost: Varies

Glade Festival 2012

Thursday 14 June – Sunday 17 June
Houghton Hall, Norfolk
Cost: £135

Isle of Wight Festival 2012

Friday 22 June – Sunday 24 June
Newport, Isle of Wight
Cost: £190 for the weekend with camping

Blissfields Festival 2012

Friday 29 June – Sunday 1 July
Winchester, Hampshire
Cost: £74 for the weekend

Cornbury Music Festival 2012

Friday 29 June – Sunday 1 July
The Great Tew Estate, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Cost: £175 for the weekend with camping

The Hop Farm Music Festival 2012

Friday 29 June – Sunday 1 July
The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Kent
Cost: £162 for the weekend

Lounge On The Farm 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
Canterbury, Kent
Cost: £115 for the weekend

GuilFest 2012

Friday 13 July – Sunday 15 July
Guildford, Surrey
Cost: £130 for the weekend with camping

Swedish House Mafia @ Milton Keynes Bowl 2012

Saturday 14 July
Milton Keynes Bowl, Milton Keynes
Cost: £45

Truck Festival 2012

Friday 20 July – Saturday 21 July
Steventon, Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Cost: £69 for the weekend

WOMAD 2012

Friday 27 July – Sunday 29 July
Malmesbury, Wiltshire
Cost: £135 for the weekend

Tom Jones at Osborne House 2012

Sunday 29 July
Osborne House, East Cowes, Isle of Wight
Cost: £40

V-Dub Island 2012

Thursday 2 August – Sunday 5 August
County Showground, Northwood, Isle of Wight
Cost: £25 for the weekend with camping

Wickham Festival 2012

Thursday 2 August – Sunday 5 August
Wickham, Hampshire
Cost: £120 for the 4 day festival

Playgroup Festival 2012

Friday 3 August – Sunday 5 August
Eridge Park, Eridge Green, Kent
Cost: £95 for the weekend with camping

Hevy Music Festival 2012

Friday 3 August – Monday 6 August
Port Lympne Wildlife Park, Kent
Cost: £96 for the weekend

Fairport’s Cropredy Convention 2012

Thursday 9 August – Saturday 11 August
Cropredy, Banbury, Oxfordshire
Cost: £100 for the weekend

BoomTown Fair 2012

Thursday 9 August – Sunday 12 August
Winchester, Hampshire
Cost: £124

Wilderness 2012

Friday 10 August – Sunday 12 August
Cornbury Park, Charlbury, Oxfordshire
Cost: £129 for the weekend with camping

80′s Rewind Festival 2012

Friday 17 August – Sunday 19 August
Temple Island Meadows, Henley On Thames, Oxfordshire
Cost: £110 for the weekend with camping

Towersey Village Festival 2012

Thursday 23 August – Monday 27 August
Towersey, Thame, Oxon
Cost: £124 for the weekend with camping

Reading Festival 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Reading, Berkshire
Cost: £197.50 the weekend, £85 for the day, Sunday sold out

Pulse Festival 2011

Saturday 1 September
Sunnyfields Farm, Southampton, Hampshire
Cost: £15

The Big Feastival 2012

Saturday 1 September – Sunday 2 September
Kingham, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Cost: £110 for the weekend

Bestival 2012

Thursday 6 September – Sunday 9 September
Robin Hill Country Park, Isle of Wight
Cost: £180 for the 4 day festival

A Day at the Hop Farm 2012

Saturday 8 September – Sunday 9 September
The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Kent
Cost: £90

EAST

Strawberry Fair 2012

Saturday 2 June
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Cost: FREE

Razorlight in the Forest 2012

Thursday 14 June
Thetford Forest, Suffolk
Cost: £29.50

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Knebworth 2012

Saturday 23 June
Knebworth House, Herts
Cost: £50

Sonisphere 2012 – CANCELLED

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
Knebworth House, Hertfordshire
Cost: £170 for the weekend with camping or £145 without camping

Ed Sheeran in the Forest 2012

Thursday 12 July
Thetford Forest, Suffolk
Cost: £24 – SOLD OUT

Latitude 2012

Thursday 12 July – Sunday 15 July
Henham Park Estate, Beccles, Suffolk
Cost: £175 for the weekend

The Darkness in the Forest 2012

Saturday 14 July
Thetford Forest, Suffolk
Cost: £36

Rhythms of the World Music Festival 2012

Saturday 14 July – Sunday 15 July
Hitchin Priory, Hertfordshire
Cost: £10 day tickets

The Secret Garden Party 2012

Thursday 19 July – Sunday 22 July
Mill Hill Field, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
Cost: £195 for the weekend – SOLD OUT

Folk by the Oak 2012

Sunday 22 July
Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
Cost: £34

Cambridge Folk Festival 2012

Thursday 26 July – Sunday 29 July
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Cost: £120 for the weekend

Cambridge Rock Festival 2012

Thursday 2 August – Sunday 5 August
Haggis Farm Polo Club, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Cost: £119 for the 4 day festival with camping

Standon Calling 2012

Friday 3 August – Sunday 5 August
Standon, Ware, Hertfordshire
Cost: £99 for the weekend with camping

V Festival (Chelmsford) 2012

Saturday 18 August – Sunday 19 August
Chelmsford, Essex
Cost: £175 for the weekend with camping

Rhythm Festivals 2012

Friday 24 August – Sunday 26 August
Old Warden Park, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire
Cost: £99 for the weekend

LONDON

I’ll Be Your Mirror 2012

Friday 25 May – Sunday 27 May
Alexandra Palace, London
Cost: £130 for the weekend

Field Day 2012

Saturday 2 June
Victoria Park, London
Cost: £45

GoGo Festival 2012 – CANCELLED

Friday 8 June – Sunday 10 June
Upminster, London
Cost: £110 for the weekend with camping

Lovebox Weekender 2012

Friday 15 June – Sunday 17 June
Victoria Park, London, UK
Cost: £99 for the weekend

BLOC weekend 2012

Friday 6 July – Saturday 7 July
London Pleasure Gardens, Royal Victoria Docks, London
Cost: £99 for the weekend or £55 for day tickets

Wireless Music Festival 2012

Friday 6 July – Sunday 8 July
Hyde Park, London
Cost: £50

Somerset House Series 2012

Saturday 7 July – Thursday 19 July
Somerset House, London
Cost: Varies

Hard Rock Calling 2012

Friday 13 July – Sunday 15 July
Hyde Park, London
Cost: £60 for Saturday – sold out, £55 for Sunday, £50 for Friday

Meltdown 2012

Wednesday 1 August – Sunday 12 August
Southbank Centre, London
Cost: Varies

SW4 2012

Saturday 25 August – Sunday 26 August
Clapham Common, London
Cost: £85 for the weekend or £45 day tickets

Underage Festival 2012 must be 13-17 years old

Friday 31 August
Shoreditch Park, Hackney, London
Cost: £19.50

The 1234 Shoreditch Festival 2012

Saturday 1 September
Shoreditch Park, London
Cost: £15

Freeze Festival 2012

Friday 26 October – Saturday 27 October
Battersea Power Station, London, UK
Cost: £65 for the weekend

London Jazz Music Festival 2012

Friday 9 November – Sunday 18 November
London
Cost: Varies

So there you have it, our comprehensive guide of music festivals that are sure to be hot this Summer and beyond. There are LOADS more festivals taking place up and down the country – in fact, these are only about 1/8 of the overall number of music festivals in the UK this year – however we thought we’d save you the time and energy by filtering out the ones that aren’t worth the travelling time and brought to you the biggest and best events in the UK this Summer.

Get out your camping gear and stock up your cool boxes… this year’s gonna be a scorcher!

Peace.

Adam.

An interview with Trel Mack – “Inspired by Greatness”

Anthony — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:04:05 +0000

Our latest talented client, Trel Mack, has kindly took the time out to answer a selection of questions chosen by us here at Brandshank HQ. Trel is one of the hottest talents in American Hip Hop right now and with his collaborations with well established R ‘n’ B artists Sean Chris John and Kenji Morris, we believe that Trel is on a one-track path to urban stardom!

Brandshank: You must be really excited about the launch of your new websites; which look fantastic by the way What else have you got planned for 2012?

Trel: First off, I would like to thank you for having me today I appreciate the opportunity and I do agree the websites look fantastic. It’s going to be a great year this year. I have a lot of things planned everything from music to music videos to business engagements, Plenty of good Collaborations with great talent. Me and My Partner Quinton Hatfield are looking to do numbers this year with SKE.

Brandshank: I see from you bio that you have a new project in store, untitled as of now. Care to shed any light on this?

Trel: Well, We finally confirmed the name for the project. It will be titled Inspired By Greatness. It is a motto that I have been saying for years and I thought it would be a great fit on what I am trying to accomplish musically for the ears of the listeners. This project will have more of the real me, What is really going on in Trel Macks life on a constant basis. This is something that my music was missing in the past so I am looking to show the people my ups and down and hopefully get them inspired.

Brandshank: Describe your style in 3 words?

Trel: Smooth, Inspiring, and transformable. In other words, I am very easy to listen too, when I say transformable I mean I am able to morph into any genre of music and make it my own. I try not to limit myself in anything that I do, with that being said I am experimental.

Brandshank: Who was your musical inspiration as a kid and who inspires you on the current scene today?

Trel: Musical Inspirations as a kid will definitely be 2pac, He has always been my favorite rapper since a kid. There are many Major artist I like, such as Drake, B.O.B, T.I , Jay-z . I mean the list can go on and on. But lately, I have been more inspired by artist and musicians that are on the come up. Just to name a few, Shaun ChrisJohn which is an dope RnB artist I teamed up with for some future projects, Erin Barra and Kenji Morris are my Favorite female musicians at the moment. Elle Maxwell is another one of my favorite female rappers. MarVo from Chi-Town, Maj Toure from Philadelphia. I am finding myself listening to great artist that are still on the Journey to success. Other people who inspire me is my family, and my team. SKE. Shout out to Brandon , Quinton Hatfield, TrellShells, Young Nydy. We in the building.

Brandshank: What piece of music production kit couldn’t you live without and what is it that you love about it so much?

Trel: Plain and Simple, The Mic. The mic is where I am most talented at. In the future I will learn an actual instrument because I want to be known as not only a great Hip-hop recording artist, but a musician as well.

Brandshank: I need to stir my cup of tea the number of times my current age (26). Do you have any strange habits/traits?

Trel: I do have a minor habit and I hate it. That habit is biting my nails at times, I know, I know it’s disgusting and I am working on it. Other than that I am good.

Brandshank: If you could pick a dinner guest, anyone from history, who would it be and why?

Trel: Wow, This is a great question. There are many, but there is one particular person who I would love to have a conversation with and that is Confucious a Chinese philosopher and politician. I have been studying the Chinese culture a little and came across Confucious in the process. I am interested in learning his way of thinking. I can learn a lot from this guy.

Brandshank: Finally, make us all laugh by telling a joke?

Trel: I am a comedian at times, you will have to catch me in my element. I don t have a Joke off hand. If we ever get a chance to hang out you will see the joker side of me. Hahaha

A big “thankyou” goes out to Trel for taking the time out to answer our questions. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Trel; a real down to earth talented guy with one big passion in life: music – “inspired by greatness”. From all of us here at Brandshank, good luck for the future!

To find out more about Trel Mack and his record label SKE Records you can visit his websites below:

Trel Mack Artist
SKE Records

50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music

Anthony — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:58:57 +0000

So here we are at the top 10 of the 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music series. With only 2 more episodes to go, prepare yourself to be (hopefully) blown away with some of the best unknown facts about electronic music ever. We continue…

#10 – SPILLER – GROOVEJET

In 2001, Spiller’s summer anthem ‘Groovejet’ was also the anthem to Apple’s prototype testing lab. It was the first ever track to be played on an apple iPod to test if it actually worked. Funnily enough it worked and now over 300 million have been sold worldwide!

#9 – ACID HOUSE CHARITY

In the early 90′s, Blackburn born Gary Aspden, now a successful brand consultant working with Adidas, used to host warehouse parties on a Saturday night after the Hacienda shut. “Parties for the people by the people,” he says now. After one warehouse party, there was money left over from the door so he sent a cheque to pay for 20 kids from Blackamoor special school in Blackburn to get riding lessons. It was in response to criticism from the local newspaper about people profiteering from acid house parties. Incidentally, the headmaster of the school tore the cheque up and went to the local press saying, ‘We don’t want their money.’ The community attitude towards the Manchester acid house scene was clearly misunderstood.

#8 – SETH, TROXLER, STONES

During Seth Troxlers set at a gig in Bristol, a girl climbed on to her friends shoulders and wrote ‘take me to London’ across her chest in lipstick. Seth made the effort of finding the girl after his set and offered to take her to london for his gig at Mulletover later that night. Realising that turning up to a gig with a random girl would probably not go down too well with his missus, Seth invited her two mates along aswell, only to be told there were two free spaces in the car. He made them play ‘paper, scissors, stones’ for the one space. The initially gutted loser satyed in Bristol but managed to hang out with Just Jack promoter Rag. The friend impressed Rag so much with his knowledge of dance music that Rag even offered him a job! ha.

#7 – THE DEMISE OF THE HACIENDA

In the early 90’s, thugs and gangstars were a regular occurance at the famous Manchester club, Hacienda. Ex-resident Dave Haslam was once dj’ing there when a guy knocked on the DJ box door to which Dave opened up the top half (the door was split in two) to a thug with a gun pointing at him asking for his records. Brave Dave simply slammed the door shut in the thugs face and carried on dj’ing. In January 91, another thug pulled a gun on the girl at the paydesk and that triggered the management to close the club for the first time. It reopened later that year but was never the same again as the gangsters moved in, Madchester became “Gunchester” and the “one love” vibe died.

#6 – BACK TO BASICS

In 1991, Dave Beer & Alistair Cooke set up Back to Basics in Leeds. As part of their plans, they invited house music doyen Ralph Lawson to be a resident and he got the honour of playing the first ever record at Back to Basics on November 23rd 1991. Back to Basics is now the longest running weekly club night in the world – 21 years old this year!

Bonus Fact: Before his residency at Back to Basics, Ralph Lawson ran his own night in Leeds called Clear. He once had Carl Cox playing on a Wednesday night to just 25 people and they only paid him £80!

You can catch last weeks episode here – 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music #15 – #11.

See you all next week for the final 5

Personal Branding… It Continues With Good Looks

Adam — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:28:42 +0000

Personal branding is one of the most important factors that influence successful careers within the music industry these days.

As the new singing talent show ‘The Voice’ has shown, looks matter. They have shown with their unique style that other popular talent shows are often biased and will regularly see the better singers/artists go out in earlier rounds simply because they don’t have the stereotypical ‘looks’ of today’s modern musicians.

Obviously there are exceptions to the rule as Michelle McManus – and more recently Susan Boyle – have shown that in order to avoid being disadvantaged by their looks, they need to be at the other end of the spectrum.

Today’s modern acts tend to be either Susan Boyle-esque or Justin Beiber-esque. But what do you do if you aren’t blessed with natural good/bad looks? The average Joe needs to stand out from the crowd in this competitive industry and the best way to do this is by making the most of your personal branding and stand out from the rest in your own unique way.

Take Jessie J for example… average looking I’m sure we’ll all agree. However, she stands out from the crowd and has turned herself into a star by using personal branding techniques in the form of unique looks to stand out from the norm with her spiky lipstick and pale skin underneath jet black, fringed hair. Not to mention her half-nakedness!

Now, we’re not saying that you need to go all Gothic in order to succeed – unless you wanted to of course – but we’re merely saying that you need to be fresh and unique from the word ‘go’.

This doesn’t necessarily need to be in the form of looks; there are lots of other ways to promote your personal brand i.e. catchphrases and slogans etc. (think Jason Derulo) however in this post we’re solely focussing on the image of the artist.

A brand image is the vision you portray of yourself that you want others to see, and the first step in the creation of vision is through your looks.

There are a number of ways to change the stale image you currently have and some are simpler than others. Here we explain the material things you can change with your image in order to reinvent the look and feel you want to give off in order to offer a fresh, unique style that’s likely to get you noticed.

Take care of these few things and you’ll be well on your way to reinventing your image:

Create an alias

Changing your name is the easiest way to change the way you look. Granted, it isn’t a physical look, your name is the first thing your fans will see when they look at flyers. It is the first thing they type into the search engines in order to find your music and it is the first words they say to their friends when they’re spreading the love so it’s essential to choose a great band name.

Having a name that can express your image with words is an added way in which to wow your followers. Names that provoke thought like Duran Duran – taken from the cult film Barbarella in which the villain was named Dr. Durand-Durand.

Or maybe names with meanings that can show the brand image in what the word means. One such name could be the band Evanescence. They have a dark, mysterious brand image and is evident in their name: The word “evanescence” means “a disappearance or dissipation, like vapor.”

Change your wardrobe

One of the most powerful ways to change your appearance is via the wardrobe. You need to present yourself in the image you want your fans to see. As well as being heard, the music industry is all about fashion and styling. If you’re lazy in your approach to your image, your branding will seem sloppy, however if you’re on the ball in this department, your fans will see the smart appearance expected of a top musician/artist and appreciate the effort.

Changing the way you look can often be expensive, especially to those who want to be viewed as a fashion guru. Their wardrobes need to be regularly maintained and updated to the newest trends and the impression you get from these types of artists is that they hate being caught wearing the same thing twice. It’s almost as bad as wearing nothing at all to some!

Styling can, and often is, a full time job. So, if you’re serious about your image and want to make a great impression without drawing your attention away from your music, it is often advised to hire a stylist who can take care of your wardrobe while you concentrate on doing the thing you’re best at… creating your music!

Stylists will take care of everything from clothing to accessories and will have you looking cool in scarves, glasses, hats, shoes, bags and the latest gadgets as well as the usual apparel. If it’s bling you’re going for, your stylist will have it covered or if it’s a shy/retired look that you’re after then your stylist will bring it so you won’t have to worry about having anything to wear again!

Change your appearance

The easiest way to change your appearance is to change the way you look physically. This can often be very difficult for artists who have been around for a while and are looking to refresh their image. It’s easiest for new artists as they have the freedom to create an image of whatever they want. There are no boundaries with this and it often pays to be creative.

A hair cut or professional hair styling is the first thing you should consider. It’s surprising how rejuvenating it can be for artists to drop the usual, boring look and step out with the latest hair trend but with their own individual twist! It can improve confidence immediately and often shows in the work-rate and dedication of the individual following their new trim.

Even if you’re not looking to totally reinvent yourself, a good trim/style from a pro twinned with a new look from a clothes stylist can often provide the mental boost needed to conquer such a competitive industry.

Also, as the physical body is all the rage these days, it’s advisable to look after yourself by eating well and keeping yourself fit at the gym or through exercise.

A healthy individual can be spotted a mile away; especially if they’re standing next to a load of slobs! Make sure you’re not the slob that’s stood next to the guy that’s oozing swagger!

If all else fails, grab a gimmick!

In order to be unique, artists are coming up with newer more innovative ways to stand out from the crowd. Fans favourites such as Deadmau5 and T.E.E.D. are renowned for their over-sized mouse head and dinosaur suit respectively. They are essentially DJ’s (like hundreds of thousands of others), however they went the extra mile and created a gimmick in the form of a costume which made them unique.

Gimmicks make people stop and listen. For some reason a guy DJing in a dinosaur suit is way cooler than just a guy DJing. It’s the fickle mind of human beings these days but the good thing is, this will never change.

In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to offer something that your competitors don’t. Whether this is a certain unique style or costume or whether you have crafted yourself a brand new genre of music that nobody has ever heard, there will always be a place within the industry for new, fresh and unique characters.

Prove yourself as one of these characters by sorting out your personal branding!

Reach for the stars.

Adam.

50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music

Anthony — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:13:54 +0000

Before we enter the eagerly anticipated top 10 of the 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music series, we only have 2 words left for you. Let’s continue…

#15 – ANDY CATO₂

Andy Cato (one half of Groove Armada), once Dj’d at a cross dressing party held in a cave. To fit in with the 300 cross dressing clubbers, Andy wore a fitting miniskirt. A couple of hours into his set, he went to light a cigarette with matches but they wouldn’t ignite. Totally bamboozled, it wasn’t until people started to feel faint that they realised the most important clubbing chemical was running low – O₂. The bus wasn’t due to pick them up till 8am and it was only 3am so they all had to exit the cave and huddle together next to the main road waiting…cross dressed!

#14 – MASTERS AT WORK – LITERALLY

At their height in the late 90s, garage/house pioneers Masters At Work travelled to gigs around the world regularly with not 1, not, 2 or not even 3 crates of vinyl but 16 crates of vinyl! The tab for excessive baggage was picked up by the promoters, natch!

#13 – M.A.N.D.Y./VILLALOBOS

In 1994, Philipp Jung and Patrick Bodmer who make up M.A.N.D.Y. threw parties in Patrick’s relatively small studio. Eager to have their music heard they would run around the streets inviting anyone who looked nice to the studio for a party. On one occassion they managed to get DC10 legend Ricardo Villalobos play for 300 studio-crammed people. They paid him just fifty Deutschmarks – £15; a far cry from his wage slips these days.

#12 – TIJS VERWEST – WHO?

For some electronic music fans, Tijs Verwest’s (aka Tiesto) music productions can seem somewhat cheesy or the equivalent of nails on a blackboard. However, we have a few facts here from his hard working youth that may ameliorate those opinions. Tiesto’s first job at 12 was delivering newspapers just like we all did. After that he picked strawberries from 6am to 9pm and Saturday mornings 6am to 12pm. That’s 81 hours a week! His first residency at Spock Club in Breda, he DJ’d 6 hour sets, 3 times a week and even cleaned the floor at the end of every night!

#11 – MARSHALL JEFFERSON&ON&ON&ON&ON&ON

Chicago house legend Marshall Jefferson was inspired to buy his first keyboard when he heard local DJ Jesse Saunders first record. It was so bad he figured he could make one better. He went to a music store and bought a sequencer to which the shop assistant advised “you will need a keyboard to go with it in order to make music”, so he bought a keyboard. “you don’t want all this without a drum machine?”, so he bought a drum machine. “you will also need speakers to listen to it all”, so he bought some speakers. In the end Marshall ended up also buying a mixer, recorder, monitors and a Roland TB-303. He was $9,000 lighter when he left the store and he’d never played a note in his life. The following year he had a huge hit with ‘Move Your Body’

Accidentally missed last weeks episode? Don’t fret, you can catch that here – 50 Things you Didn’t Know About Electronic Music #20 – #16.

See you all next as we enter the top 10

Annie Mac to Leave Radio 1?

Anthony — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:33:00 +0000

What do you think, really? The popular Irish female DJ who currently cements the most sought after Radio 1 slot on Fridays between 19:00 and 21:00, has been retweeting some of her fans comments about her leaving Radio 1. However, we can’t see anything official on the BBC Radio 1 website or on Annie Mac’s official website.

Only a handful of her fans have tweeted about this which makes us wonder whether this is just another Twitter rumour. But, with Annie retweeting these comments herself makes us think that it could be true! Take a look and see what you think:

It seems that Twitter rumours are all the rage at the minute. Adele recently denied claims that Rihanna sent her a boob-shaped cake on her 24th birthday and has also insisted that she is not engaged to her boyfriend Simon Konecki – both rumours started on Twitter.

Around eleven hours after these rumours were published on Twitter, Annie revealed that she is not leaving Radio 1 and that it was just a practical joke. See below:

Through social media you can see how easily a rumour/practical joke can escalate, especially when it comes to celebrities. For now though, all of you hardcore Annie Mac fans can relax