Free Download: Kanye West – Power (JD Live Bootleg)
JD Live drops a hard hitting mash up of Kanye West’ 2010 smash hit “Power”! JD has been dropping this big room monster weekly @ Surrender Nightclub here in Las Vegas, tried & tested 100% guaranteed to kickstart your party. Click on soundcloud player to grab free download. Let us know how it works for you! Enjoy.
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Posted by David Miller
DJ Mustard Talks Skrillex & Diplo
Life is really good right now for producer DJ Mustard. The 24-year-old from Compton, Calif., who most people got to know as YG’s DJ, is stepping quickly into the limelight on his own with a string of hit singles he’s produced for the likes of 2 Chainz, YG and Kid Ink, among others. And now Mustard’s debut artist album, 10 Summers, earned the title recently of most-downloaded album on Google Play.
“Man, I was f—ing amazed to have the most downloaded album on Google Play. It definitely was a good experience. I can’t release the downloads, but it’s something crazy,” he told Billboard backstage at the Made in America Festival in Los Angeles, where he was the only artist to play both days. “A lot of people downloaded the album, and it’s just really them monitoring how many people came and hit your album.”
While a lot of artists would be stressing about what the number of downloads means to the album’s sales, Mustard is just happy people are listening to his music. “That’s how you know who your fans are and how many fans you have, when it shows you how many people look at your album for free,” he said.
Having built a base already, he is looking to expand that this fall in a huge way by hitting the road with EDM superstar Skrillex. Mustard is excited by the chance to not only play for new fans, but hang with Skrillex. “Me and Skrillex are gonna be doing a whole lot of shows together and some shit like that. I’m ready for that, should be fun,” he said. “Skrillex is dope. He plays everything. It’s amazing what he does.”
While the two have partied together, Mustard said this tour is about work for him. “I’m still in work mode, I’m still going to the studio every night, I’m doing my shows, having fun, rocking crowds, just trying to be the biggest producer in the game,” he said.
One thing Mustard knows about sharing a stage with Skrillex is that the visuals will have to be top-notch. He is working on his stage production as well. “I’ve got my video guy and my light guy, and we’re not like a huge production thing. We run visuals and lights together and shit like that. I haven’t started with pyro and shit like that,” he said, laughing.
The obvious question is: Will there be any collaborations between him and Skrillex? “Hell yeah, there is always a chance,” he said.
Along those lines, he is in talks to collaborate with Skrillex’s Jack U partner Diplo. “Me and Diplo actually gonna go in the studio and work on some shit too,” he said. “I’m doing some beats for Major Lazer. I met Diplo awhile ago. I did some stuff for Jody Highroller [aka Riff Raff], my boy, and he’s signed to Diplo. Me and Diplo kicked it from there.”
Though the two producing powerhouses have yet to figure out what they will be doing together ,Mustard wants it to be a big project. “I told him, ‘Let’s do an album,'” he said. “So we’ll see what happens.”
So he’s opening for Skrillex and collaborating with Diplo — could he be the third member of Jack U? “Hell yeah, put me on there, it’s great,” he said excitedly.
Posted by Steve Baltin (via Billboard)
Mickey Mouse Takes Deadmau5 to Court
Disney is suing the electronic DJ/Producer Deadmau5 over his logo—but the Magic Kingdom might end up being the Old Media loser in this showdown.
In 1998, Joel Thomas Zimmerman was 16 years old, noodling around with vintage DOS music software like Impulse Tracker.
A world away, in Washington D.C., well-heeled lobbyists got Congress to pass the Copyright Term Extension Act, better known as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, adding 20 years to the life of a copyright. Disney was one of the act’s primary backers.
This week, the two collided. Zimmerman is now better known as Deadmau5, electronic music performer, DJ, and Rolling Stone cover boy, who made $21 million in 2013. And as first reported by TMZ, Disney is suing him over his ears.
Here are the two logos, side by side. You be the judge:
I mean, you can see the resemblance. Then again, are all mice with round heads and ears copyrighted by Disney? Also, is there really any way that innocent consumers might mistake a hardcore house/techno DJ whose logo looks like he’s rolling on Molly with Steamboat Willie?
As Mouse-watchers know, none of these questions really matter to Disney, which has gained a reputation as the world’s largest copyright enforcer (some would say copyright troll). Ranked #66 on the Fortune 500, Disney has plenty of lawyers to keep busy. They’ve sued Etsy stores, Stan Lee, Megaupload.com, YouTube, and hundreds of unauthorized merchandisers, dealers, and artists.
And in addition to passing the Mickey Mouse Protection Act just before the Mouse himself was to enter the public domain, Disney lobbied hard for SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would have authorized court orders barring search engines and advertisers from even linking to infringing websites.
And Disney doesn’t just sue—they get nasty. In 2008, Disney sued a family that bought unauthorized Tigger and Eeyore costumes on Ebay for $1 million plus legal costs. Really? A million bucks for a Halloween costume?
And now, Deadmau5.
There are three reasons why this case may be different, though.
First, some pundits have noticed that Disney has begun to back away from its hard line on copyright violations. The reason? Frozen. The zillions of parodies and tributes to Frozen on YouTube are widely credited with boosting that film’s popularity and helping it become the highest-grossing animated feature of all time.
Disney also recently purchased Maker Studios, which focuses on exactly the kind of YouTube shenanigans that Disney itself used to prosecute. With the success of Frozen and the acquisition of Maker, perhaps Disney is beginning to see the
Second, there’s Deadmau5 himself, who recently tweeted “lawyer up mickey” in response to the threat. Behind that bravado, though, is a serious legal arsenal. Zimmerman owns trademarks to his mouse logo in 30 countries (so much for the underground artist versus the big corporation) and has been using the image for over a decade. One of the core principles of copyright law is that you can’t sit on your rights. If Disney had time to go after the Tigger costume, couldn’t they have gone after Deadmau5? Why did they wait for EDM to become huge, and Deadmau5 to be rich?
Finally, this case is actually about whether Deadmau5 can trademark his image in the United States—not whether he can use it at all. Disney hasn’t issued a Cease & Desist letter; they’re opposing Zimmerman’s application for the mark. Probably this is all about the money. If Deadmau5 and Disney can work on some kind of a payment arrangement, this suit might just go away.
I, for one, hope it doesn’t. I’d rather it become a smackdown between Old Media and New, between the Disney of Fantasia and the Disney of Frozen. Right now, Disney is walking a fine line, embracing social media and fan-created content on the one hand, while maintaining its hard line on copyright on the other. Does anyone think Disney won’t fight to keep Mickey Mouse out of the public domain again in 2019? Of course they will—just as they pushed so hard for SOPA only two years ago.
So I say, let’s have it out. Let’s see if Disney can copyright all mice everywhere, the way that Spike Lee tried to copyright “Spike” (he settled) and NBC tried to copyright the Top Ten List (they gave up). Let’s see if they can oppose Deadmau5 while still going after his legion of Kandi-wearing fans. Let’s see who’s really the dead mouse.
Posted by Jay Michelson (via The Daily Beast)
Dillon Francis hit with RC Cola Can during performance
This weekend, the mega Mad Decent Block Party tour rolled into New Orleans. With Flosstradamus, RL Grime, A$AP Ferg and more on the bill, the Louisiana leg of Diplo’s 22-stop tour promised to be a big one. But things didn’t go quite to plan for headliner Dillon Francis, who ended his night in a local hospital.
Not long after kicking off his set, an audience member lobbed a can of soft drink straight at Dillon’s head. It left him with a nasty cut, forcing him off stage and into the emergency ward to get stitches. “Thanks to whoever threw the RC cola can at my head in New Orleans omw to get stitches thx for ruining everyones night,” he tweeted en route to the hospital. ”’WHO THROWS A CAN AT AN ARTIST THEY PAID TO SEE?!”
But it didn’t take long for dance music’s favourite prankster to turn his mood around, using the opportunity to deliver another one of his trademark Instagram videos (watch below). He also posted a selfie from his “new fav after party” venue, the Tulane Emergency Ward. Even Deadmau5 joined in on the fun:
Luckily for the rest of the Dillon’s Stateside fans, the show must be go on. This weekend, Francis ticked off two new Block Party shows, with another MDBP date in Calgary next week. Lucky for Dillon, his Texan fans really went the extra mile to keep the hitmaker out of harm’s way.
Posted by David Miller (via InTheMix)
Electric Zoo Evacuated Due to Storm Threat, Final Day Canceled
The Electric Zoo festival on Randall’s Island in New York has been cut short on its final day and fans are being evacuated due to extreme weather conditions.
With severe thunder storms rolling into the area, organizers apologized to its EDM fans, saying in a press release, “In collaboration with New York City officials, Electric Zoo has made the decision to shut down the festival for the remainder of the day. We apologize to our fans, but ultimately our main concern is for the safety and security of all attendees, artists and staff.”
Kaskade, Alesso, Dash Berlin and Skrillex and Diplo’s Jack U team-up were all scheduled to headline the three-day event’s final night.
Posted by David Miller
L.A. Mayor Defends Plans for Jay Z’s Made in America
The Made in America festival is coming to downtown Los Angeles, not as an inconvenience, but as a way to boost the local economy and create jobs for crew specializing in construction, lighting and sound, among dozens of additional professional tasks. So boasted L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti in a press conference held on Thursday, after which he participated in a tour of the Grand Park grounds and its two stages, which will welcome such acts as Imagine Dragons, John Mayer, Iggy Azalea, Kendrick Lamar, Weezer, Kanye West and curator Jay Z on Aug. 30 and 31.
Indeed, it was Mayor Garcetti’s chummy relationship with the superstar rapper that seemingly allowed for significant cutting of red tape, some, as The Hollywood Reporter reported early on Thursday, at the expense of local residents and businesses who will no doubt be impacted by street closures and a flood of concertgoers in the typically sleepy (on the weekend) downtown neighborhood.
According to THR’s story, emails between Made in America lawyer Andrew Kupinse and Deputy City Attorney Daniel Kreinbring detailed a plan to circumvent the typical approval process, which dictates that when staging an event of such magnitude, a petition of approval “from 51% of the neighbors” is required. “It has us all confused,” read the email. “We assume this is not needed since it is a city sponsored event?” Later in the day, Patricia Whelan, of the mayor’s neighborhood services division, responded to Kupinse, assuring “we have this handled. The neighbors consist of five entities, most of which are government. No worries on your end — I’ll let Street Services know.”
Garcetti didn’t directly address claims of impropriety, but he did admit to having “cut red tape” and explained to gathered journalists that even he was surprised by Jay Z’s speed of action. The two first met at City Hall, he revealed, then reconvened at Staples Center on Dec. 9, when Garcetti said to the rapper, “If you’re serious, L.A. wants to make this work. We’ve got a reputation of getting things done … ” He added, “I thought we might be talking about a year or two; we got this done in two months.”
Key to the mayor’s plan was having promoter Live Nation involved, not just because of the company’s experience in producing large events, but also because it’s based in L.A. The company plans to shell out $12 million to cover act fees and production, some $7 million of which “will be spent here on workers’ wages and construction companies, many who don’t get this kind of work in the city.”
Garcetti further explained that they looked closely at Made In America’s three previous bows in Philadelphia: “We did our homework,” he added. “I [talked] to the mayor of Philadelphia who said, ‘This was a great thing for my city.'”
Further describing the plans for Saturday and Sunday, both local police and officers from the sheriff’s office will be on hand to keep the peace, and any damage done to the just rehabbed Grand Park will be covered and fixed at the expense of Live Nation. As for his own participation, the Mayor said he plans to attend on Sunday and looks forward to seeing Steve Aoki, The National, Kanye West and Iggy Azalea.
“We’re at the crossroads of the world here in L.A.,” he boasted, adding that, “What’s important is that Los Angeles figure out a way to get to ‘Yes.’ There’s a million ways to say no, there will always be a million things to consider — that’s not a reason to not celebrate.”
Posted by Shirley Halperin (via The Hollywood Reporter)
Jay-Z Needs Some Mustard on his Beats
In the last year, DJ Mustard has become an ubiquitous force in the hip-hop world; his trademark “Mustard on the beat” can be heard at the beginning of many of 2014′s biggest tracks. The talented producer served as the house DJ at this weekend’s MTV Video Music Awards, but let loose some exciting news while walking the red carpet before the event. Mustard told MTV News that Jay Z emailed him asking him for some of his highly sought after beats.
According to Mustard, the hip-hop mogul’s message said: “Send me some beats, you ready for the big leagues now.” Mustard says he sent over some stuff he thinks Jay might like, not knowing where the beats would end up. He also divulged some of the artists on his dean collaborations list, like Calvin Harris and Sam Smith. In the meantime, be sure to check out Mustard’s solo album, 10 Summers and catch his MTV News interview below.
Get More:
2014 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Jay Z
Posted by Austin Goldman (via EDMTunes)
Universal Music Sues Over VH1 DJ Competition Series
Universal Music describes a new lawsuit over VH1’s Masters of the Mix as a “cut-and-dry copyright infringement case,” but modest trappings aside, there’s a few reasons to pay attention to this one.
The complaint was filed in California on Friday against Je T’Aime Media Group, the show’s producer. Interestingly, VH1 and its corporate parent Viacom are not named as defendants.
Although live DJ music has somewhat been overlooked on the copyright front for many years, the lawsuit takes issue with a reality television program where disc jockeys compete for $250,000 in prize money and the title of vodka company Smirnoff’s official DJ for a year.
Universal Music says the producer of Masters of the Mix properly licensed sound recordings and musical compositions for the first two seasons of the show, but failed to do so for the third season. That season, which aired in 2013, is said to have used at least 93 of Universal’s compositions including songs from Daft Punk, Kanye West and The Roots and 115 of its sound recordings including works by Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani and Nirvana.
“Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works are fundamental to the production and success of the Show,” says the complaint.
Besides seeking up to $150,000 for each copyright infringed, Universal is making common law misappropriation and conversion claims over pre-1972 recordings by artists such as James Brown, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations.
In the past year, the record industry has gone after Sirius XM and Pandora over pre-1972 music, and one of the responses has been that rights-holders have long given television broadcasters (as well as other music users) a pass on royalty collection on the older music. No longer, it seems. Until the issue is settled, pre-1972 music is a legally hot one, as the latest lawsuit evidences.
Posted by Eriq Gardner (via Billaboard)
DJ Snake & Zedd take home VMAs
While most of the world is still talking about Beyonce’s insane 16-minute performance, the eighth wonder of the world that is Nicki Minaj’s butt or Miley Cyrus’s homeless pal Jesse, we would like to pay homage to the electronic music winners from last night’s MTV Video Music Awards. Both Zedd and DJ Snake walked away with some hardware last night, which marks yet another impressive feat in their young careers.
Zedd went up against industry heavyweights Calvin Harris, Disclosure, Martin Garrix and fellow award winner DJ Snake in the MTV Clubland category and won for his chart-topping tune “Stay The Night“ with Hayley Williams. DJ Snake did not leave the VMAs empty handed though, as his outrageously ratchet video for “Turn Down For What“ took home the award for Best Direction thanks to the talented filming duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. To see the full list of winners as well as highlights from the show, head on over to MTV.com.
MTV CLUBLAND AWARD
DJ Snake & Lil Jon – “Turn Down For What”
Zedd ft. Hayley Williams – “Stay the Night” *WINNER
Calvin Harris – “Summer”
Martin Garrix – “Animal”
Disclosure – “Grab Her!”
BEST DIRECTION
DJ Snake & Lil Jon – “Turn Down For What” WINNER
OK Go – “The Writing’s On the Wall”
Miley Cyrus – “Wrecking Ball”
Beyoncé – “Pretty Hurts”
Eminemft. Rihanna – “The Monster”
Posted by David Miller (Via EDMTunes)
SoundCloud Debuts Monetization Play With ‘On SoundCloud,’ Announces $100 Million In Funding
It’s a new era for SoundCloud.
The audio platform has long been a home to unsigned, independent and even established artists to debut new material — from Lorde’s The Love Club EP (which ultimately earned her a record deal with Lava/Republic) to Drake’s OVO page, which is often the first place the Toronto rapper debuts new material from himself as well as his OVO-affiliated artists. Heretofore, SoundCloud’s revenue was derived primarily from its Pro accounts and private funding. But beginning today (Aug. 21), the company has announced a three-tiered monetization strategy that will introduce advertising to the platform for the first time, as well the news that SoundCloud has received more than $100 million in funding since its 2007 launch.
Jeff Toig, SoundCloud’s chief business officer since September 2013, tells Billboard that the company’s growth has come in three phases — first was the creation of tools that have allowed users to upload new content and track its engagement, the second was scaling the audience (175 million unique users globally per month, the company has announced), and the new third phase. “This is where we start to figure out how to generate revenue and help our creators make money in order to enable them to build careers with us,” Toig says. “When Alex [Ljung, SoundCloud’s CEO] and Eric [Wahlforss, SoundCloud’s CTO] founded the company, they really saw an opportunity to build a business with a global, open platform that would kind of evolve over time.”
At the center of the new strategy is a partner program called On SoundCloud, which includes a new Premier tier (which is invite-only) for subscribers that will allow them to monetize content of their choosing via select advertising. The new offering reflects SoundCloud’s positioning as a promotional tool for creatives, rather than an all-you-can-eat service for consumers. Until Thursday, advertising had not been part of SoundCloud’s business model. Instead, SoundCloud had offered a “freemium” pricing scheme that charges users for file hosting. Three hours of audio time can be uploaded for free (the Partner tier).
Premier-tiered content will include advertising from five different ad products — native, audio, display, channel sponsorship and contests. Red Bull, Jaguar, Sonos, Squarespace and Comedy Central are the first five ad partners at launch. An example of the sponsorship model can be found on Squarespace’s sponsor page. Dan Gerber, SoundCloud’s head of sales (and a veteran of Pandora), notes that audio ads will be similar to YouTube, running at a minimum of 15 seconds, with 30-second ads offering the option to opt out after the first 15 seconds. Additionally, display ads will be offered solely on the mobile platform, which Toig reports has seen audience growth increase by a multiple of six in the first eight months of 2014 alone.
Unlike most other music services, On SoundCloud will not launch with agreements from the three major labels. While major-label artists like Beyonce, Diplo, Kendrick Lamar and Drake frequently use the platform to debut new material, sources tell Billboard that 80% of SoundCloud’s current uploads are from user-generated content, while 20% is derived from labels.
Toig says the company is in “active and ongoing, advanced discussions” with Sony, Universal and Warner Music, but that this week’s launch was meant to illustrate how SoundCloud can be for anyone. “SoundCloud is not just a service that depends on the majors only — although we do work with them and hundreds of their artists all the time, and we’d obviously love to have them onboard,” Toig says. “But there is a much broader creative ecosystem here and we’re really keen to represent that in a full and complete way.”
Instead, initial partners with signed deals include labels finetunes, Red Bull Sound Select, Spinnin and SEED; comedy networks Funny Or Die, Jash and AST Records; podcasts Earwolf and StarTalk Radio; publishers BMG and Sony ATV/EMI; independent artists Little Simz, Big Gigantic, GoldLink, Blackbear, Romiti, Jakubi, Cyra Morgan, Oliver Sadie and audio-based deals with multi-channel networks primarily built on YouTube, including Maker Studios, Fullscreen, INDmusic and EDM Network.
Additionally, Toig says, a paid subscription service is expected to be launched in the coming months, which is where agreements with the majors and other labels will likely come into play. While key executives at the major labels and top indie executives say they fully expect to reach a deal with the music service, they say it could be a couple more months until such agreements are worked out and signed. Sources at the major labels and members of Merlin, the independent label rights management group, says that none of them have yet to sign a contract, even though the basic framework to a deal structure has been agreed upon. Some complex deal points have to still be worked out, they say.
“If they are going to get full industry support, there is still some pretty complicated stuff they will have to deal with,” says one industry executive. “It’s not that I don’t think they will get there, but I think they are still a few months away.”
SBE to breathe new “Life” into the Las Vegas club scene
Nightlife power players SBE are responsible for some of the hottest venues in the United States. The operating group responsible for Create Nightclub and HYDE, are now looking to breathe new Life into the Las Vegas market. Life, scheduled to open August 23, takes the place of the old Sahara’s theater. Eschewing some of the opulence and over-the-top aesthetics of most Vegas venues, Life looks a bit grittier, a bit more industrial. That’s not to say Life won’t knock your socks off with decor and tech. Between the giant “LIFE” marquee at the center of the club and state-of-the-art projection mapping, Life can definitely play in the Las Vegas big leagues. Three bars and 70 VIPS tables are scattered throughout the venue, not to be upstaged by the rooftop pool (a Vegas mainstay).
But as the most fervent club-goers know, pretty lights and fancy tables hardly make a worthwhile club. SBE is fully aware of this, and are breaking out the A-List talent. Erick Morillo will be christening the newest club on the strip on August 23, with Laidback Luke following suit on August 29th and Dirty South taking the decks on August 30th. Future acts include Pete Tong and Fatboy Slim. For those craving a more underground vibe, Life plans on holding a weekly Industry Night. Mio Danilovic, SBE’s vice president of nightlife claims that Life’s goal is “to educate the Vegas scene that this is the new sound and this is the future.” By the looks of things it seems SBE and Life are poised to do just that starting August 23rd.
Posted by Austin Goldman (Via EDMTunes)
Beatport unveils a decade of statistics, reveals Deadmau5 and Mark Knight as top earning artists of all time.
Beatport unveils a decade of statistics, reveals Deadmau5 and Mark Knight as top earning artists of all time.
Over the past decade Beatport has become far more than a digital music market. It’s the chart everyone wants to break and the banner every label wants to make, but naturally its ascent has come with some bumps and head scratching along the way. The SFX-owned digital retailer has opened its databases to Mixmag this month, letting loose some fascinating and rarely acquired data surrounding artist performance on the influential platform.
Deadmua5 triumphed significantly on the list, taking the spot as its top selling artist of all time, its top selling track of all time (a remix of ‘Community Funk’) and further garnering the most number one singles to his name. Though Joel Zimmerman had celebrated four consecutive years as top-selling performer between, 2014’s came in the form of Martin Garrix, who most likely benefitted from ‘Animals’ not only becoming the top DJ charted track of all time, but a chart-raking 27 days at number one on the overall charts.
British producer Mark Knight broke an otherwise relatively predictable run as Beatport’s second highest selling artist of all time and a fifth place spot in terms of overall number ones. His remix of “You’ve Got The Love” ranks the longest running number one at 38 days, with two Toolroom Records representing 20% of Beatport’s ten top selling tracks of all time. Its findings identify house and tech hosue as two of the most consistent sellers across their ten-year timeline, with the sounds dominating it’s top selling tracks of all time considerably. The big room sound remains otherwise front of house other than Umek’s fourth place standing, with 50% of its recurring number one artists garnering an average of eight number ones each.
Though falling short of the overall top-sellers list compared to his pole position for 2013, Hardwell’s ten number one offerings saw him verge close to poll position as the artist with the second highest amount of Beatport number ones to his name (10). Only four of Forbes highest earners made the cut for the overall top-sellers list, signifying a definite discrepancy between the industry’s highest earners .
Top Selling Performers of All Time:
Deadmau5
Mark Knight
David Guetta
Umek
Avicii
Tiësto
Laidback Luke
Axwell
Afrojack
Nicky Romero
Top Selling Tracks of All Time:
Borufunk & Carbon Community – Comminity Funk (Deadmau5 Remix)
Josh Butler – Got A Feelin (Bontan Remix, Pleasurekraft Edit)
Martin Garrix – Animals
Coldplay – Paradise (Fedde Le Grand Remix)
Lana Del Ray – Summertime Sadness (Cedric Gervais Remix)
Florence & The Machine – You Got The Love (Mark Knight Remix)
Asaf Avidan – One Day / Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Remix)
Purple Disco Machine – My House
Tube & Berger – Imprint of Pleasure
Green Velvet – Bigger Than prince (Hot Since 82 Remix)
Artist With The Most Number Ones:
Deadmau5 (13)
Hardwell (10)
Axwell (9)
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike (9)
Mark Knight (8)
Dirty South (8)
Alesso (8)
Tiesto (8)
David Guetta (8)
Avicii (7)
Posted by David Miller (Via Dancing Astronaut)