Yung Jon Que had the chance to spend a little quality time talking with the legendary DJ Vice from a nice view at his hotel room inside the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Vice was recently signed to Ultra Records & his list of residences include Marquee (Las Vegas and New York), Liv Miami, and Create in Los Angeles, in addition to performances at Coachella, Nocturnal Wonderland and Electric Daisy Carnival. Very special thanks to Vice for taking a little time away from his busy schedule!

Check out Vice’s latest single “Bright Lights” featuring Estelle HERE.

Posted by John Cha

Jay Z’s got 99 problems, but an unfavorable verdict in the trial over his hit “Big Pimpin’ ” ain’t one.

In court Wednesday, judge Christina Snyder found the nephew of Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi did not have standing to pursue the claim that Jay Z and producer Tim “Timbaland” Mosley illicitly sampled his uncle’s song “Khosara Khosara” in the iconic hook of “Big Pimpin’.”

The verdict ended a weeklong trial in which the plaintiff, Osama Fahmy, argued the Egyptian concept of “moral rights” applied to Jay Z’s license for “Khosara Khosara” and required the rapper, Timbaland and their record label to get Hamdi’s family’s permission to sample “Khosara Khosara.”

Jay Z and Timbaland responded that Fahmy could not invoke Egyptian moral rights over Timbaland’s license for the song from EMI, and when Fahmy signed rights to “Khosara Khosara” to the Middle Eastern record label Sout El Phan over a decade ago, he gave up standing to file the lawsuit.

Snyder told the court yesterday she would decide whether Egyptian law applied and whether Timbaland’s license from EMI was valid. If she decided it did, the question of whether Jay Z and Timbaland infringed would go to the jury. “Fahmy lacked standing to pursue his claim,” said Snyder in court Wednesday. “In light of that decision, it will not be necessary to submit to the jury whether ‘Big Pimpin’ ‘ infringed ‘Khosara Khosara.’ ”

“I had to hear the testimony of Egyptian law experts in order to reach that decision,” she added. She discharged the jury at about 10:30 a.m.

“We disagree strongly with the ruling, and we fully intend to appeal,” Fahmy attorney Keith Wesley told The Hollywood Reporter. “We haven’t fully formulated our appeal strategy, but certainly we believe the court committed legal error in failing to restrict the license under Egyptian law.”

Fahmy’s lawsuit, filed in 2007, developed into one of the most complicated in the country. Represented by Wesley and Peter Ross, Fahmy argued he might have given up “economic rights” of reproduction and adaptation to Sout El Phan — which in turn licensed “Khosara Khosara” to EMI for outside Egypt — but did not (and never could) give up “moral rights” of permission for derivative works.

Jay Z and Timbaland contended Fahmy only could hold moral rights in Egypt, while the 2001 license they received from EMI for $100,000 specifically excluded use in Egypt. Whether Egyptian law applied or not was the question facing judge Snyder on Tuesday. (Read more on the decision here.)

The Los Angeles courtroom heard testimony from Jay Z and Timbaland, musicologists who discussed the importance of the “Khosara” sample in “Big Pimpin’,” Egyptian copyright lawyers and reps for other defendants, who included Paramount (for releasing the Jay Z concert film Fade to Black) and the rock band Linkin Park, who featured “Big Pimpin’ ” on a collaborative album.

“We and our clients obviously are very pleased with this decision. The court correctly ruled that the plaintiff had no right to bring this case and cannot pursue any claim of infringement in connection with ‘Big Pimpin’ ‘ whatsoever,” said the defendants’ attorney Christine Lepera in a statement.

“After a lengthy litigation, Defendants have been vindicated in their position that they have every right to exploit ‘Big Pimpin’ ‘ wherever they choose, including in records, films and concerts,” added her co-counsel David Steinberg, who represented defendants including Universal Music and Warner Music.

“My client is pleased with and feels vindicated by the decision,” added Jay Z’s attorney Andrew Bart.

Posted by David Miller (via Hollywood Reporter)

Things were looking up for Apple Music back in August. With tastemakers and A-list artists flocking towards the tech giant’s venture into optimizing iTunes for the streaming generation, its opening quarter saw more than 11 million people subscribe. It was a strong start, but the digital honeymoon appears to be over. W

ith its free trial now out of the window, that number is looking more like 6.5 million paying subscribers, a figure that indicates the budding streaming platform has lost 40% of its free trial users since moving to paid services in September. With an ongoing run of trial periods in later adopted territories, Apple Music’s total user base hits around the 15 million mark. Hold that against Spotify‘s 75 million active users reported back in June and speculation of an incoming announcement that the Swedish streaming giant has since hit the 100 million, and there appears to be a clear leader where the music streaming market is concerned.

It’s not time to write off Apple Music just yet, but the A-list name drops and competitively priced subscription models have yet to serve Apple a tangible victory in the streaming world.

Posted by Tim Ingham (via Music Biz Worldwide)

Working For It – Zhu x Skrillex x THEY. from Frisson Fuel on Vimeo.

Two of LA’s most buzzworthy producers, ZHU and Skrillex, have finally brought their collaboration out of the shadows. For months, both producers have been the focal point of numerous rumors, including the laughable assumption that ZHU = Skrillex. The first official play through of the pair’s collaboration made waves at CRSSD Festival during ZHU’s crowd-pleasing performance and a high quality snippet has emerged as part of the forthcoming Genesis Series — a project that many fans assume will be a full length album.

The result is “Working For It,” a three way collaboration between ZHU, Skrillex and fellow Mind of a Genius labelmates THEY. Each artists’ representative styles jostle for position in the mix and end up crafting a cut designed for windows down, volume up, night drives and dirty dancefloors. ZHU’s unique musicianship paired with the grungy sound design that Skrillex built his career on work in tandem to bolster THEY’s attention grabbing versework. Each artist’s impact is obvious in the mix; delicate plucks, sensual harmonies and explosive bass lines all fire at once, cementing “Working For It” as another surefire fan favorite in ZHU’s ever-expanding catalog.

Posted by Andrew Spada (via Dancing Astronaut)

Hilarious parody vid from @1DAFUL! Pure comedy. We’re sure a lot of you DJs can relate, might be the best thing we’ve seen on the internet this week. Perfect way to start of the week! Have a happy Monday fam. Enjoy!

Posted by David Miller

Last week, the EDM community was collectively brought to nausea when Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike were named the #1 DJs in the world. The DJ Mag Top 100 had been steadily faltering in quality, consistency, and credibility for years now, but this year’s list is the icing on the already-shit cake.

Hardwell, last year’s #1 DJ was ousted and dropped to #2. And while his on-stage persona seemed to present a happy and appreciative façade, his real feelings lay bubbling just beneath the surface.

In a since deleted tweet, Hardwell responded to a tweet by 3LAU calling out the duo for their use of iPads in collecting votes. Hardwell, and most other top-tier producers/DJs, are guilty of putting ad money and marketing behind their own campaigns, but none are so dastardly and brazen as this Belgian duo.

In the coming days or weeks, expect DJ Mag to put out an official press release concerning the obvious voting fraud, but don’t expect them to apologize.

Posted by Matthew Meadow (via YourEDM)

Gaming tech and accessory brand Razer recently unveiled a brand new content platform geared towards music producers called Razer Music. To assist in the launch, Razer teamed up with artists like Feed Me, Dyro, Deadmau5, and Carnage to provide tutorials for the site.

All was well and fine until Carnage’s video went public causing fans everywhere to scratch their heads in disbelief. How can a producer this successful be so clueless as to what he’s doing?

The tutorial offers a detailed view of how Carnage creates his 808s. The first thing to notice — aside from the semi-ridiculous slow motion intro of him opening his laptop and inserting his USB — is Carnage’s cracked version of LennarDigital’s popular soft synth, Sylenth1. You would think by this point in his career he would have gotten around to acquiring a legitimate version rather than this one licensed to “DONTKNOWWHO.”

Next, he showcases his knowledge of gain staging by turning up the volume at every point in the chain. As his signal begins to clip, he remarks: “I don’t know what it does it just makes everything super louder…”

In many ways, this becomes the ethos of the tutorial. Through a series of radical EQ boosting and more volume adjustment, he continues to distort the signal. When his melody comes in, it’s a sore sight. Aside from being out of key with his 808, it follows a sort of confusing, off-kilter thread. The resulting combination with his drums is awkward and a tad unsettling – even by his standards.

It’s a bit baffling to think he could have gotten this far in his career with these techniques, but then again, the music industry doesn’t always quite make sense. Perhaps, hidden within Carnage’s extreme gain staging and teetering melodic combinations, there’s a method to his madness. Or perhaps he excels in other areas of his career, such as being a public persona.

Either way, one shouldn’t let this tutorial deter them from music production, or Razer Music’s new site, which recently featured this awesome video from Feed Me on how to create a bass patch in Serum.

Posted by David Miller (via Dancing Astronaut)

The hip-hop mogul and producer Timbaland are defending the use of an Egyptian song in the 1999 hit. To hear Jay Z tell it, there was one big misunderstanding in the production of his 1999 hit “Big Pimpin’.” In testimony Wednesday in the trial over the song’s iconic sample, his opponent’s attorney inquired why he and producer Tim “Timbaland” Mosley didn’t ensure they had the rights to the song, the Egyptian tune “Khosara Khosara,” before they released the single.

“I didn’t think there was a sample in it,” said Jay Z (real name Shawn Carter). “Timbaland presented me with a track. I didn’t even think about there being a sample,” he continued, noting Timbaland is known for rarely sampling. The rap mogul finished testimony in one afternoon in a Los Angeles courtroom on the second day of the trial, which opened eight years after Osama Fahmy, a nephew of “Khosara” composer Baligh Hamdi, filed one of the longest running (and most complicated) current lawsuits in the country.

Fahmy claims Jay Z and Timbaland produced and continue to distribute the song, which Rolling Stone rated in the 500 greatest songs of all time, without the rights to “Khosara Khosara.” The trial is set to cover unusual subjects including how to interpret a licensing deal with respect to understanding under Egyptian law of an author’s “moral rights” and whether one Arabian record company’s license on the song included the right to “sublicense.”

In testimony, Jay Z described how the song first took form when he visited Timbaland (riffing about their relationship, to laughter: “He tells me his beats are better than my raps, I tell him my raps are better than his beats, and I keep winning”). He listened to some of Timbaland’s beats that he considered “just OK,” he said, and got his coat to leave. Then the producer played him a beat featuring the “Khosara Khosara” sample. He promptly set his coat down, and they finished a rough version of “Big Pimpin’ ” right there, he continued. Questioned by Fahmy attorney Peter Ross on why he didn’t check out the “Khosara Khosara” rights, he replied, “That’s not what I do. I make music.”

Listen to original track used for in “Big Pimpin” below

Jay Z’s attorney Andrew Bart had him elaborate. “I make music, I’m a rapper, I’ve got a clothing line, I run a label, a media label called Roc Nation, with a sports agency, music publishing and management. Restaurants and nightclubs … I think that about covers it,” said Jay Z.

“I’m not so sure. You have a music streaming service [Tidal], don’t you?” inquired Bart.”Yeah, yeah. Forgot about that,” quipped Jay Z.

Pressed by Ross on why he continued to sell the song on his greatest hits collection released after the lawsuit brought in 2007, he sounded vague. “There’s a number of things that occurred. At some point there was a claim brought and then it was cleared up, and the rights were granted,” he said, likely referring to a deal music publisher EMI made with an Egyptian outfit that had its own deal with Hamdi’s heirs. “I was under the understanding we had a license.” He often doesn’t personally clear samples, he continued, noting he reached out to The Doors to use one of their songs on his 2001 hit “Takeover.”

“There’s a team of hundreds of people, [clearing samples] is their job,” he continued. “That’s not my job.” Continue reading →

Amsterdam, as usual, is ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to sensible drug policies. That common sense will be showcased this week when Amsterdam Dance Event, which draws well over 300,000 music fans craving everything from minimal techno to outrageous EDM, takes over the city for five nights of awesome Amsterdam clubbing and, let’s just say it, fantastic Dutch pillZ.

Some have feared that last year’s fatalities during ADE, along with recent reports of super-strong ecstasy pills (branded ADE, no less), might have forced authorities to take a tougher stance against drugs at this year’s event. In fact, the opposite seems to have occurred, with the city maintaining it’s recent policy of not punishing users caught with five or fewer pills, despite protests from the country’s conservative politicians.

Amsterdam authorities hope that this lenient stance will encourage partiers to behave responsibly, and seek help should troubles arise. Drug-testing and information center Jellinek will keep longer hours throughout ADE and establish pop-up stations throughout the city.

The Amsterdam Dance Event is a five-day electronic music conference and festival held annually in mid-October

Posted by David Miller (via Thump)

This was our most downloaded track of the September 2015! Make sure you make room for it in your crates. The ladies love it. Also, our “Club Killers Freebies” soundcloud page has been frozen & will most likely be deleted by Soundcloud soon, so if you’re not a subscribed DJ to our members area we suggest you head over to that page & downloaded the goods while you can!

Posted by Alex Dreamz

Despite the popularity of electronic music in recent years, the major labels’ track record with the genre has been hit and miss — the chart success of a Daft Punk is a rare exception to the reality that dance music moves tickets but relatively few albums.

“The label does what’s good for the label. Always,” says Deadmau5, aka Joel Zimmerman, who has sold 1.2 million albums and 4.2 million tracks in the United States, according to Nielsen Music. “It’s instilled in the industry that that’s the only way to do it. Well, not anymore.”

The masked Canadian producer, who rode the EDM boom up to the ranks of its top earners — reportedly commanding upward of $500,000 per show and raking in an estimated $15 million in 2014 — is bringing his recordings, publishing and Mau5trap label to Kobalt, the upstart ­independent publishing and music-rights platform that counts Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney and Skrillex among its clients.

Deadmau5, an outspoken 34-year-old who has long trumpeted his independence, previously had been signed to leading dance label Ultra Records (alongside Kaskade, Steve Aoki and Calvin Harris) for North America and Universal for the rest of the world. After an acrimonious split with Ultra in 2013, he joined Universal’s North American system through Capitol’s Astralwerks imprint, which released the 2014 double-album while(1<2).

However, the major soon drew the musician’s ire for what he describes as a lack of transparency, and for including his music on compilations with overtly commercial titles like Now That’s What I Call EDM.

“I am very strict on what products I want to associate myself with, and I felt that some things were just to make a buck,” says Deadmau5. “Then, we’d only get a little trickle, and I’d be like, ‘Wait, I look this stupid for only that much? Why am I looking stupid in the first place?’ ” (Capitol reps did not respond to requests for comment.)

Enter: Kobalt — introduced to Zimmerman by his manager, Three Six Zero Group’s Dean Wilson — which promises a near-real-time review of publishing income and claims to collect 20 to 30 percent more revenue than the majors.

“I’m not saying I’m never gonna get f—ed again,” says Zimmerman. “But I do like the freedom that, if I do f— up, it’s my fault rather than the fault of someone who bought that responsibility from me.” Continue reading →

This year’s #3Style World Finals were full of countless memories but this one was the business. So many DJS, from so many backgrounds, from all over the world, with the essentially one thing in common THE LOVE OF DJING. Since they had full access to a world class studio Red Bull Studios Tokyo, some of the best to ever do it, and with the help of friends at Serato and Pioneer DJ and the launch of the new S9 mixer, they figured let’s try something completely off the wall.

They split 40 of them up randomly into 10 teams of 4 and assigned each team a studio session to make a beat and come up with a group routine. We gave them one simple creative constraint, lock in at 80 bpm. The teams all then had an hour to knock out a beat and discuss their individual parts. They brought them all into what was one of the craziest productions most any of us had ever seen. So mech gear! Each team was given a mini rehearsal/soundcheck and then it was time to take a run at this #iScratchTokyo mayhem.

This is the first and only take of the totality of the work. The feeling in that room at the end will forever be indescribable.

Postedy by Red Bull Thre3Style Facebook