Lindsay Cabrera @ Dance Music 101

Lindsay Cabrera is a publicist for dance music artists and brands worldwide. She is the founder and director of the Lindsay Cabrera Public Relations company (LCPR) from Toronto, that has among its clients names such as Ellen Allien, John Acquaviva, Bestival Toronto, Sensation, Electric Island, SXM Festival, CODA, The Red Man, among many others.


Life: when was the moment you figured out that Dance Music was meant to you?

Dance music has always been a part of my life. I remember my dad taking me to buy the Dance Mix 93” CD when it came out [I was eight] - and choreographing dance routines to Real 2 Real’s “I Like To Move It” and Snap “Rhythm is A Dancer” with my little sister in front of a large mirror in our living room. I’d say that by 2010, that’s when I realized I wanted to combine my passion for dance music and my public relations skills to eventually launch LCPR and do this for a living! I can also say that I still have all the cassettes for Dance Mix 94”-98” - and there was a time when I wanted ever so badly to be on Much Music’s Electric Circus [You Canadians will know that one ;) ]

Laugh: when was the last time you had real fun?

This past August, about 10 of my closest friends and I went up to a friend’s cottage for a few days in Northern Canada. We danced under the stars, moonlight, laughed and had some really special moments. We watched the sunrise over the lake and really cherished our time together. As we disconnected from the real world, we re-connected with one another.

Love: name the one thing you love more than anything – and why is that?

My younger sister Elaine. She is the funniest person I know. The most real, down-to-earth and loving person. She really doesn’t mean to be funny- so that’s the best part. It’s genuine and raw and I love nothing more than to laugh until I cry with her.

Past: name a significant moment in your career in Dance Music – and why is that?

The last few years have been really special for me, as I continue to grow and connect with the amazing people in our industry. I’ve had the pleasure to work with teams around the world, and festivals alike. I’m grateful for the opportunities to work with Sensation, Bestival Toronto, Electric Island, SXM Festival and more. Each were magical experiences with extraordinary people behind them. Big thank you to all of you! I’m also very lucky to have a solid team by my side.

Present: what do you think that is trending today in music, clubs and festivals?

It seems as though festivals are becoming more interactive with their audiences, by creating more of an immersive experience. It’s more than just a stage and the performing artist - there’s interactive vendors, activities, themes, Fancy Dress aka Costumes, parades, wellness tents, gourmet foods and more! Bestival is certainly a festival you should be checking out both in Toronto and the UK! Destination festivals seem to be a trend at the moment as well. SXM Festival in Saint Martin is a new magical boutique festival in its second year happening this March 2017.

Future: where is industry heading in the years to come?

I think the dance music industry has a bright and interesting future. We don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, as the support and strength within the community is powerful. We have leaders in the industry coming together to create platforms such as The Association For Electronic Music, Nap Girls, She Said So and more. The conferences held around the world such as RMC, allow us to come together to share ideas, technology and to re-connect, leaving us inspired and motivated to do even more. I look forward to what’s next to come for everyone in the industry! I hope you all have a fantastic 2017! xx

António Afonso @ Dance Music 101

António Afonso career in dance music begun in 1988, with only 16 years old, when he became a DJ in Portugal. From that he has been present in each step the genre has evolved in his country. In the past years, Europa Agency, from which he is the founder and CEO, has also became one of the most important agencies in the land and António has also joined Green Valley Group from Brazil as its International Managing Director.

- Life: when was the moment you figured out that Dance Music was meant to you?

I've started very young in the industry, as with only 16 years I was already DJing regularly for a crowded Beach Club in Portugal. But, it was in the late 80´s with the Acid House momentum that definitely my attention was seriously caught to dance music and from there to the eternal "marriage" was a quick move. Electronic music came so strong in my life that till now I've had half a dozen successful businesses related projects and it's my daily source of inspiration. 

- Laugh: when was the last time you had real fun?

Luckily for me that I live in Brazil now I would easily say that every time I go out a have real fun! The south of Brazil where Im based (Balneario Camboriu) it's a kind of Ibiza + Miami + Dubai that mixed with the Brazilian way of life, makes it very hard to "not have real fun"! If I had to choose outside Brazil, I would say she last edition of ADE in Amsterdam was particularly crazy! Every time I go to the events at the Gashouder in that city I get serious goose bumps! What an atmosphere and what a crowd ...and what a production!! 

It's really impressive the energy levels achieved there.

- Love: name the one thing you love more than anything – and why is that?

Music! It NEVER disappoints me and it's my mood selector. I just can't imagine living without it. Of course you have the other basic needs in life: love, peace, etc, etc...but without music, life would seriously...suck!

- Past: name a significant moment in your career in Dance Music – and why is that? 

There are so many moments I could mention here, I would say that producing David Guetta´s Show (n1 DJ brand in the world) in Portugal (with my European Agency) and to represent Green Valley as its International Brand Manager (2015 nº1 club in the world) on the previous ADE edition were two moments to highlight.

- Present: what do you think that is trending today in music, clubs and festivals?

Dance Music has this ability to be always in constant mutation. From time to time the "commercial" gets stronger and the underground gets weaker and then they change positions! I´ve seen it happening and will (for sure) see it again! Festivals tend to be mass oriented so naturally the focus will be in pleasing the crowd to the most, so depending in what's "hot" or not in the market at its time of production, there is not much to risk. About clubs, it varies so much from country to country, but I would say that these would probably get smaller and more specific in reaching the niche they want to target. I believe that the club user will want something more service quality oriented if we are talking for the commercial clientele, and will expect a better sound and "decks & FX" experience if underground related. We are in 2016 and many clubs are still in the 80s, and I don't mean with a cool kitsch touch!

 - Future: where is industry heading in the years to come?

It’s all about music and entertainment, that's a fact! But, everything is happening so fast nowadays and social media made a TURBO in our lives in a way that what is cool today may be uncool tomorrow... What used to drive people for 5 years now only works for 2 or 1 or less!

I believe that new businesses will emerge and what is granted for now might not even exist in the future. Spotify for instance is replacing the traditional cherry picking song sale. Events? I would risk saying that is 10/20 years a kind of "second life V2" will make us go to experience them without leaving home... New and challenging business models are to be developed by the industry leaders.  

John Truelove @ Dance Music 101

John Truelove is a British record producer, DJ, performer and music entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Truelove Music Publishing and Tortured Artists, based in Ibiza and London. He currently serves on both the Advisory and on the Executive Boards of the Association of Electronic Music (AFEM) – a not-for-profit trade association created to represent the common interests of those companies and individuals whose business is Electronic Dance Music and to advocate best practice for the genre.

Life: when was the moment you figured out that Dance Music was meant to you?

It was one hazy Monday evening back in the summer of 1988. I’d recently come out of a long-term relationship and was sat at home contemplating the meaning of life when some friends, who had already discovered Acid House a couple of months before (it was of course the so-called Second Summer Of Love), decided to kidnap me and take me out to cheer me up.

We ended up at the Heaven nightclub where Paul Oakenfolds legendary and seminal Spectrum night had already been going for some months.

As we turned out of Charing Cross station and into Villiers St I was amazed to see a line six or eight people wide stretching as far as the eye could see. There were probably six thousand people waiting to get into a club that holds 1800. I was told by my friends what to say to the guy, Steve, who ruled the door ferociously, and after a short hesitation and staring hard into my eyes, he let me in. Once inside someone bought me a bottle of water and stuck something in my mouth and … my life was changed forever!

From that point on and for the next 9 months, I was in a club or a rave or a chill-out, pretty much every night. I fell in love, I learned to mix, I made a record, I started my own music company (I called it Truelove, of course). I had a national hit. I taught myself about publishing and music rights by trial and error. My feet literally didn’t touch the ground for the following three years.

 Laugh: when was the last time you had real fun?

Space Ibiza closing. I have been going to Ibiza for 25 years and now spend much of my time there. The island’s party scene has been an integral part of my life. Space has provided me with countless happy memories over the years and the final ever closing this year was epic. A hint of the bittersweet about the occasion as I’m sad to see us lose such an institution, but what a party!


Love: name the one thing you love more than anything – and why is that?

Music. It’s my life.


Past: name a significant moment in your career in Dance Music – and why is that?

When I am asked this question people normally expect me to say when my own production “You Got The Love” by the Source first got to the top of the (UK) national charts in 1991, or subsequently in 1997, or 2006, or when as a publisher I finally got to represent the catalogues of people I had worshipped for so long, such as Larry Heard, or Gui Boratto, or GusGus. But honestly those times were such a blur it’s difficult to remember what I was feeling…  If I had to choose just one precise moment it would be the incomparable sensation of being in the middle of the dancefloor at Trade, the legendary London afterhours club, sometime back in the late 90s and experiencing the crowd going absolutely wild to a brand new underground techno track that I had just produced. Magic!


Present: what do you think that is trending today in music, clubs and festivals?

It’s great to see a sense of community back on the agenda in dance music. In recent years, the demands of self-promotion have gone hand-in-hand with an egotism that is the antithesis of what dance music is all about and it certainly hasn’t been helped (on a spiritual level at least) by an increasingly competitive and oversaturated mainstream. When Fabric was closed, it looked like another nail in the coffin for the underground but the way the dance community has stood united has been inspiring (and has hopefully contributed to a reversal of the courts’ decision). We’ve seen similar reactions to the shootings in Orlando and other hate crimes in clubs. It’s not that the love ever completely left the dance-floor but great to see it manifesting in a sense of community once more.


Future: where is industry heading in the years to come?

My business, Truelove Music Publishing, has for the last 15 years been focused on music rights and most particularly publishing (composers) and neighbouring rights (artists). We have signed artists and composers from all over the world (including from Brasil, artists such as Gui Boratto, Elekfantz and Anderson Noise) and as a company we have membership of collection societies all over the world. I sit on boards and committees at various of those societies. I am also a board member at trade bodies such as AFEM and the Music Publishers Association.

So I feel we have a really good grasp of where things are currently on both a local and a global level. And I can tell you, it’s going to be tough. Corporations and broadcasters, brands and music services, they all expect to get more and more for free. Many musicians, increasingly desperate to get a foot on the ladder, feel they have no choice but to perform for free, to license their work to advertisers and brands for free, to give away downloads of their tracks for free.

Too often do I find myself stepping in at the last moment on behalf of an artist or composer who has been bullied into (nearly) accepting a terrible deal, or giving their rights away for nothing.  And I can only see that situation getting worse in the years to come

To survive, and to provide a living for more than the top 1%, the industry has to find more and more solidarity to defend the value of music. Strong collective action through trade bodies such as AFEM, and individual action by managers, labels, agents, and by publishers such as myself, is required with ever increasing perseverance in order to push back these forces of ‘free’, and to demand, and receive, fair rewards on behalf of the talent we represent.

We have the technology and we have the infrastructure and we certainly have the talent and the will.

I am convinced that we can, and we will, prevail!

Thanks!

Ritty van Straalen @ Dance Music 101

Ritty van Straalen was one of the partners and CEO of ID&T before the company was sold to SFX in 2013 and he has more than 17 years of experience in international management and executive leadership in entertainment, having overseen multiple international live entertainment companies that produced and created high quality massive festivals such as Tomorrowland, Sensation and Mysteryland.

Ritty recently relocated to Amsterdam from NYC where he served as the COO and later as CEO of SFX Live, responsible for the global event & festival portfolio. He is currently he serves on the executive board of the AFEM  (the Association of Electronic Music) as representative for the live sector and he is starting a new company in live entertainment.

Life: when was the moment you figured out that Dance Music was meant to you? 

The funny thing is that when I started at ID&T I did know anything about electronic music. I was a project manager at a large event company where I did a lot of things with and on electronic music events & festivals but until then I never actually actively listened to the music.

That changed when ID&T approached me in 2004 and asked me to join them. I started there as F&B and project manager of different brands like Sensation and Innercity. I had all kinds of jobs. Later on I became a partner and ended up being responsible for the company as the group CEO.

The good thing was that I worked at almost every department and therefore had the chance to literally learn and appreciate the whole culture and music.

Laugh: when was the last time you had real fun?

The moment I decided that I was going to start my own business, Fourmation Entertainment, with a couple of great partners.

Love: name the one thing you love more than anything – and why is that?

My 3 kids, Jolie, Sam and Liz. First of all because they are great. They are very open minded, relaxed and enjoy life.

Next to that: There is nothing that becomes more pure than your own kids.

The past year I went thru a very difficult and hectic period on different levels but they always gave me the right perspective.

The good thing about this period was that I also had much more time to spend with them.  Watching one of their soccer matches or going to a parent teacher night without a phone in my hand was nice for a change.

Past: name a significant moment in your career in Dance Music – and why is that?

I am a festival guy.

Really special to me has been introducing Mysteryland New York USA as the first festival on the exact same grounds as where Woodstock 1969 took place.

I was always a dream of me to do something there.  In January 2013, 2 weeks after I moved from the Netherlands to New York my business partner Jeroen (Jansen), creative director of ID&T and I drove up there on a snowy day. We literally rang the doorbell and asked if the owner was open for a talk. From that moment on we felt like it was our home. After a difficult permitting process of almost 16 months we finally achieved our dream in May 2014.

Another one on my list is Tomorrowland Brasil in 2015. After TomorrowWorld USA that one was definitely the one with the biggest impact.  Together with the Belgian team (the creators of Tomorrowland) and the local Brazilian team (Plus Talent) we worked very hard to bring this amazing festival to a mind blowing venue just outside of Sao Paulo, a place called Itu, Brazil.  The first year we had almost 180.000 visitors.

Present: what do you think that is trending today in music, clubs and festivals?

There are too many politics between the different (electronic) music promoters around the world. The biggest clubs, festivals and promoters are fighting too much about talent and they are not talking enough about that.

The result is that the price of talent goes up way to fast and that the promoter / club owner is taking too much risk. The balance is gone.

We are in the business of delivering the best experience and with soaring artist and production costs in the end there are more losers than winners and eventually the fan is paying for that.

Another one is that there is a real need, globally, of shifting the negative perception and association that (electronic) music events have with drug use. Together with the AFEM we are setting up a harm reduction campaign. We will start with that in the USA first but soon after that, when we have the funds available, we will also start a global campaign.

It is needed that promoters unite and use their power of speech.

Future: where is industry heading in the years to come?

China is opening up. 1.3 Billion people are screaming for new music, content and experiences. The demand for content and talent will be bigger because of that, a massive opportunity for the whole industry and the one with the best plan.

Next to that: Data, data, data. Data will be the key driver for the success for festivals in years to come, even more then the passed experience.