We are very happy to bring you the return of DJ Eric Forbes on Club Killers Radio. Another hard hitting mix from Eric featuring over 50 tracks in 60 mins! Yup that’s right 50 tracks. Perfect high energy mix for your next workout. Click “Continue Reading” to check out his full track list. Continue reading →

In case you needed further evidence that Diplo has well and truly entered the major leagues, we present Exhibit A: the Philadelphia selector crushing a Jimmy Fallon performance with the Queen of Pop.

Bitch I’m Madonna is one of seven tracks Diplo wrote with Madonna for her new record Rebel Heart, and it proves you’re never too old for a heavy twerk beat, a Nicki Minaj verse and some party-ready lyrics. Madonna and Diplo performed the track earlier tonight on Jimmy Fallon, and you can watch the clip below. Things kick off backstage with Madonna busting in on Diplo in a dressing room surrounded by flexing dancers (clad in outfits Redfoo would be ashamed to be seen in), before moving out to the studio audience for some serious pelvis-thrusting action. Click play below to see what went down.

Posted by Nick Jarvis (Via inthemix)

Some things should remain untouched. Keep it simple. That’s what makes hits. Too many artist these days come out with an “instrumental” track only to be followed up by adding some unnecessary vocals atop what was already a stellar song. Whether it be a melodic trance track to a trap song that has one more verse added to it; the result sometimes doesn’t come out as desired, especially when most of it has to do with keeping the record fresh in order to sell more copies.

I usually don’t go on rants of this nature and believe that if a song isn’t good in my opinion, it’s easier and more respectful to just leave it be than to waste time trashing the artist and the tune. Today, an exception will be made. Dillon Francis and DJ Snake‘s massive tune from 2014, “Get Low”, received a vocal edit featuring the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd that was released earlier this week.

There are two words that describe this tune: it’s bad. Giving off an almost amateurish vibe; making the track stuffy and seemingly forced atop of what was originally a pretty flawless release in the trap world. Just a word of advice to upcoming and cemented artists alike. Don’t mess with perfection once you’ve reached it. Start on another project. Don’t defile a good thing by getting greedy.

Posted by James Harmon (via EDMTunes)

Reggae trap fire from the homies from T-Dot — Doc Jones and Jester aka Doc and Jes. Now hittin Club Killers.

Posted by Dennis Blaze

Here is one of our favorite remixes we did a couple months ago for Warner Music UK. Enjoy.

Posted by David Miller

Looking through Calvin Harris’ last two albums, you can see that there’s definitely a preference for female vocalists over male. While established artists like John Newman, Exampe and Tinie Tempah make appearances, tracks like “Pray To God,” “Outside,” “We Found Love,” and “Sweet Nothing” perfectly demonstrate how flawlessly female vocals can add to a track.

In a recent talk with NME, a discussion about his studio time with Rihanna on “We Found Love” dug up some interesting perspective from the Scottish producer. While Harris has previously alluded to his preference for female vocals, he goes into just a bit more detail herein.

“They’re always at the perfect frequency to play in a club. A good, soaring, high-mid female vocal bounces off the walls nicely, and it doesn’t interfere with the bass or drumbeat.

“It’s basic science. A man’s voice is likely to interfere with the bassline which is why you don’t hear many classic dance tracks with a male lead.”

I would agree that perhaps a lot of “classic” tracks are lacking male vocalists, but artists like Tiesto who have taken vocalists like Matthew Koma under their wings have begun to realize the potential that males have for vocals. Many male producers are beginning to add their own vocals to tracks, as well, Calvin included. Alvin Risk, Crywolf, and Tristam are notorious for using their own vocals, and Porter Robinson too on his latest album.

We won’t decry Calvin’s love of female vocals, though. They’re absolutely awesome.

In the interview, Calvin Harris also described how it was like working with Rihanna and how she found him “strange”:

“She thought I was kind of funny, this strange guy making cool music, or I guess what she thought was cool. I’d never been around someone who was doing shows so big, such a huge iconic presence. I kept my head down. Then I saw her at the last show and she told me she wanted to do a song like the one I was playing.”

He also had to ask to get credit on his own song. The fact he had to ask, is kind of messed up. When talking about having to ask for credit, Calvin Harris stated:

”I was like, ‘Look, this is my song. I’ve done everything. Would you consider putting my name on it?’ And she did which is very gracious of her. It was just a mad dream come true. It made the sort of impact I hadn’t even thought could be possible. It was crazy.”

Posted by Matthew Meadow (via youredm)

In celebration of WMC Miami 2015, Deville would like to give away a hand selected pack of bootlegs and edits for everyone to enjoy.

Pulled from the exclusive Club Killers MP3 Pool Library, this is a special taste of what the site has to offer to our members. During Winter Music Conference week, Deville performed at The Clevelander Hotel And Deauville Resort. In addition to DJing, he also joined the judging panel for the WMC DJ Competition alongside Serafin and DJ Immortal.

The mixes included in this pack reflect the flavor and energy of the music represented in Miami and beyond. Please click on the following Soundcloud link to get connected with Deville and the WMC Bootleg pack and he thanks you for your continuing support.

CLICK HERE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD LINK

Posted by David Miller

Jay Z’s new streaming service, Tidal, has an advantage in starpower and exclusive content. But even if the service fails against Spotify and Apple, Tidal will end up having a positive impact.

The music business got a jolt Monday when a chorus line of celebrity musicians stood on stage for the launch of Tidal (a re-launch, actually, but its first launch under current ownership). From Kanye West to Daft Punk, the artists have chosen this artists-first platform as the home of their streaming content. They’ve been given equity, too. Nobody can blame Jay Z for not motivating his partners.

Tidal and its all-star cast of shareholders can only be good for the music business. Even if Tidal folds and Jay Z loses his $56-million investment — an entirely plausible scenario given the high attrition rate of streaming services — the new service and its new approach will likely have positive impacts on the market. Here’s why.

1. The U.S. Subscription Market Needs A Swift Kick in the Butt
Last year’s unimpressive growth rate of the paid music subscriptions has received scant attention since the RIAA released 2014 year-end numbers two weeks ago. Consumer spending on paid subscriptions increased 25 percent to $799 million from $639 million. The number of paid subscribers rose 25.6 percent to 7.7 million from 6.2 million. Both figures were lower than the growth rates for SoundExchange revenue (31 percent) and advertising-supported streaming (34 percent). Given the dependence the music business will have on paid subscriptions in the coming years, these numbers from 2014 should be sounding alarm bells from coast to coast.

Why is the U.S. market so important? It’s the world’s largest music market and the leader in streaming revenue. Last year’s 30 percent gain in the trade value of recorded music streaming revenue — across all formats — was $370 million. Other countries had higher rates of streaming growth but far smaller dollar gains. In France, 34 percent growth in streaming revenue amounted to a $24.5-million gain. Australia’s 111 percent improvement in streaming revenue equaled an improvement of $13 million. Gains in subscription strongholds Sweden and Norway were less than $10 million each. No surprise here: big markets matter most.

2. More Competition Is Better Than Less Competition
More players in the subscription market will help the market evolve more rapidly. For one, consumer awareness of the category can increase, thus helping subscription services with the significant problem of educating entire countries about the new, different business model. Not only will Tidal help attract attention to subscription services, the launch of Apple’s subscription service later this year should carry the message even further.

More competition will lead to greater diffusion of innovation. For example, Tidal’s catalog of over 75,000 high-definition videos could end up being a hit with consumers. Other services could then follow Tidal’s lead and delve into video. (YouTube Music Key, currently in a quiet beta mode, is obviously video-heavy.) Less competition would accordingly result in fewer product innovations. Subscription services haven’t come across the right mix of price, content and experience. Having more companies tinkering with their products increases the odds one of them hits a home run.

3. The Industry Will Sort Through Its Issues With Streaming Royalties Faster
Discontent with streaming royalties — both per-stream payouts and the size of the overall pie — needed to be addressed eventually. Feuding between artists and services was turning what should be partnerships into acrimony. Some attempts for cooler conversation failed. Spotify’s artist-only meetings in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville held in October failed to bring the two sides any closer, according to sources that attended.

Labels have become similarly vocal about royalties from ad-supported services. As they distance themselves from the ad-supported subscription model that has attracted most paying customers, labels are adding exclusive content to Vessel, a paid-only video subscription service led by former Hulu CEO Jason Killar, in hopes of attracting consumers to a service with higher per-stream payouts. From all appearances, labels’ U.S. licensing deals with Spotify will be renewed this summer. Regardless of what Tidal does next year, its launch could cause this year’s licensing negotiations.

Tidal has been compared to United Artists, the movie studio created in 1919 by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith. Like the artists behind Tidal, the four Hollywood figures started their own company to have more power over their careers. And although United Artists originally produced movies, a handful of celebrities’ content wasn’t enough. United Artists also became a distributor for other movie producers. Some of the founders launched the United Artists chain of movie theaters.

Tidal needs far more than exclusive content to succeed. Success in music streaming requires a top-notch user experience, top-tier employees and telecom partnerships, among other things. And Tidal needs to recognize that few consumers care to bother with the model’s underlying economics. But there’s a chance Tidal will have made an impact whether or not it succeeds. Power has shifted back to the artist.

Posted by Glenn Peoples (via Billboard)

The fact that Nicki Minaj’s latest single, “Truffle Butter” with Drake and Lil Wayne, reached the top spot on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart last week was no surprise: few MC’s can match Minaj’s ability to create a smash. But the rapper’s latest No. 1 is more than just another entry in an endless parade of her hits — the track demonstrates the continued crossover value of mixing hip-hop with house music.

The current iteration of this genre combination may have started with Kid Ink’s “Show Me,” released towards the end of 2013. That song, written by the R&B singer Jeremih, DJ Mustard, and others, is based on the stern, ping-ponging synth riff that turned Robin S.’s Show Me Love” into a vocal house classic in the early ’90s. The new version of “Show Me” went on to set a record on the rap airplay chart. Since taking a dance hit from two decades ago and transposing it into the contemporary era worked so well, Jeremih and Mustard did it again for “Don’t Tell ‘Em.” This time they borrowed the template from next-wave euro-disco (the 1992 Snap! hit “Rhythm Is A Dancer”), resulting in another Hot 100 success.

“Truffle Butter” is not simply another attempt at recycling the Jeremih-Mustard house/hip-hop hybrid. Instead, Minaj’s song samples a 2010 dance track, the English dance producer Maya Jane Coles’ “What They Say.” This suggests an increasing acceptance of the house template in the rap world: it’s no longer necessary to spruce up the skeleton of a hit that has already crossed over.

The end product adheres more to the rules of house than hip-hop. A lot of that has to do with the drums. Almost every hit on rap radio — and plenty of pop hits as well — relies on the machine-gun hi-hats of trap or a syncopated combination of shouts and snaps. If you watch the video below, you see DJ Mustard take the skeleton of “Show Me Love” and add snaps, claps, and 808s. These serve to code the track as hip-hop, even though it’s lifted straight from house. “Truffle Butter,” by contrast, ignores trap percussion and rhythmic barks, preserving much of the itchy, nervous momentum of the sample source.

“Truffle Butter” was produced by Nineteen85 (real name Paul Jefferies), who is affiliated with Drake’s label, OVO Sound — which has displayed an interest in house music on several occasions. The title track off the Toronto MC’s 2011 album Take Care features the sort of keyboard riff that powered plenty of post-disco club music. (Like “Truffle Butter,” that track was buoyed by a sample from a contemporary English dance producer — a Jamie XX remix.) The solo work of Majid Jordan, the OVO duo best-known for helping Drake and N85 put together “Hold On We’re Going Home,” also shows a flair for vocal house.

Posted by Elias Leight (via Billboard)

Rumors of a top-secret confab involving more than a dozen of music’s biggest stars appears to be true judging by the latest buzz-generating teaser for Jay Z’s TIDAL streaming service.

A 30-second clip posted on Twitter shows Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Calvin Harris, Jack White, Kanye West, Jason Aldean, Daft Punk and Coldplay’s Chris Martin seated for a meeting that is believed to have taken place in Pasadena, Calif., just before the Grammy Awards. Other acts like Arcade Fire, Usher and Alicia Keys are also present via Skype.

The high-fidelity premium streaming service purchased by S. Carter Enterprises on March 10 holds its official launch today (March 30) in New York City.

Watch the clip here and below:

Posted by David Miller (via Billboard)

Ultra Music Festival 2015 has officially come to a close and all we can say is wow.

To wrap up the festival, Skrillex had the time slot to close the night. Earlier this week Your EDM reported that Justin Bieber was going to join Skrillex for a surprise set and to everyone’s joy, both Justin and Diplo joined Skrillex for a memorable set.

Performing their new song together, “Where Are U Now”, the trio had the crowd going nuts. This was Justin Bieber’s first Ultra Music Festival performance and with the success of his new EDM track, we are sure it won’t be his last.

Skrillex’s performance, including all his special guests, was the best set of Ultra Music Festival 2015. Ya, we said it.

Posted by Nick Ward (via YOUREDM)

PART 2 of Big Boy’s explosive interview with Dr. Dre! Topics up for discussion include the making of The Chronic, meeting Kendrick Lamar, working with Tupac, and more!

Posted by David Miller