Electric Zoo pre-sale tickets end Monday

Made Event has once again updated the information page for Labor Day's upcoming Electric Zoo festival, this time with a notification that early bird tickets will no longer be available after Monday. However, the steep $26 in service fees charge still applies to these tickets.

On Monday at midnight, regular priced tickets for each day will be up for sale, and Made Event has hinted on the event's Facebook page that more artists will be announced as well.

Aly & Fila's album set for May 28 release

Armada Music has announced today that Aly & Fila's debut album, Rising Sun, will be out in stores at the end of this month.

Tracklisting:

1. Medellin (vs. Activa)
2. Crowe It Will Be Ok (feat. Katherine)
3. My Mind Is With You (feat. Denise Rivera)
4. Rosaires
5. Listening (feat. Josie)
6. Menes
7. Still (feat. Sue McLaren)
8. Perfect Red (vs. Bjorn Akesson)
9. I Can Hear You (feat. Sue McLaren)
10. Without You (The Never Knowing) (vs. Philippe El Sisi feat. Senadee)
11. Paradise (feat. Tiff Lacey)
12. Khepera
13. Sandgroper
14. Breeze (feat. Jass)
15. Rising Sun

Some users on Trancefix have already compiled a list of YouTube links for some of the tracks on the disc, and things are sounding good.

But I can't get over the ridiculous album art that they decided to go with for Rising Sun. Are they trying to pull off the gangsta rap tough guy look?


[Image credit: ArmadaMusic.com]

Dance music finally making its way onto DJ Hero

When Activision's DJ Hero video game launched last October, its track selection was woefully short in the electronic dance music department.

But on Thursday, Activision released the Domination Pack of downloadable content for the game, which features three mashups with electronic songs from Josh Wink, Wolfgang Gartner, Darude, and Danny Byrd.

Darude's song is "Sandstorm", arguably the most overplayed dance music song in America since its release in 1999, but the inclusion of more electronic music in this game is a good sign of future things to come.

The content costs $8 on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, and $3 per song on Wii, according to Joystiq.

M.I.K.E. to release NYC-themed compilation

M.I.K.E. will be releasing a new compilation album on June 7, entitled New York City Nights.

The track list for the album has not come out yet, but it will be interesting to see if any local producers are featured in the mix.

Five days after New York City Nights comes out, M.I.K.E. will be playing alongside DJ Eco and The Thrillseekers at Webster Hall.


[Image credit: Trance.nu]

Beatport sale (again)

From today until Thursday, April 29, Beatport is lowering the prices of their $1.49 tracks to $.99 each.

If you still have the 25% off coupon that I wrote about earlier this week, you can apply the discount to this sale. I was able to purchase three tracks for $2.25.

This is the first time in recent memory that Beatport has done two discounts in one week.

[Image credit: Beatportal.com]

Beatport coupon offer valid through Saturday

If you shop on Beatport and check your email, chances are you might find a coupon that looks like this, allowing you to earn 25% off your next purchase:

I'm not sure if they are sending this coupon to every user, but I'm certain I received it since I haven't purchased a track from them in over a month.

Normal Beatport downloads cost $1.50 per track. With the coupon applied, you can get a single track for $1.12. If you purchase more tracks, the savings will increase. 

[Image credit: Beatport.com]

The profitability of being a musician in the digital age

Information is Beautiful, a web site specializing in graphics based on data, recently created this interesting chart on how much a musician really makes through sales of their work online.

Click the image above to expand.

Judging by the numbers in the image, it's no surprise that more musicians are going the label-less route and producing and releasing their albums independantly, as that area is more profitable. The chart also reinforces the fact that artists make most of their money from touring rather than through releasing material.

Beatport releases iPhone app

Beatport, one of the largest distributors of dance music on the internet, has recently released an official iPhone and iPod Touch application.

 

The app allows users to purchase and download songs from Beatport's music catalog, listen to song previews from a built-in audio player, and access other content on their web site.

Beatport has also posted a tutorial on how to use the app, and so far, it's been getting good reviews from users on TranceAddict. 

[Image credit: Apple.com]

Final ASOT 450 show in Poland postponed

The fifth and final installment of A State of Trance 450, which was scheduled to begin now in Wrocraw, Poland, has been postponed in respect to a horrific plane crash this morning that left the country's president and 95 others dead.

Beatsmedia is reporting that the show is going to be rescheduled for April 24, but with a different lineup.

Although there has been no official announcement on whether or not the aforementioned changes are true, I can see them being valid. With the schedule that most DJ's tour with, which requires them to be in several countries across the world on any given week, it would be difficult to have the same group of artists in Poland on a future date.

The show will still be broadcasted in audio and video formats on A State of Trance's web site.

First acts for Electric Zoo 2010 announced

After months of Made Event keeping the 2010 Electric Zoo festival's lineup under wraps, they have finally leaked the first wave of artists appearing onstage at the two day event.

Saturday:

The Chemical Brothers
Paul van Dyk
Benny Benassi
ATB

Sunday:

Armin Van Buuren
Above & Beyond
John Digweed
Fedde Le Grand

So far, Sunday's lineup this year is leaning towards a trance sound, while Saturday's lineup has a nice variety of genres. England's The Chemical Brothers will be headlining Saturday in support of their new album, with the festival being only one of two United States dates on their summer schedule.

Click here to order early-bird tickets.

[Image credit: MadeEvent.com]

YouTube launches new artist development network

MySpace has been decreasing in popularity ever since Facebook was launched, and the site's once highly-trafficked music section also appears to be on the downfall as well.

YouTube is making an effort to grab some of the deserters by launching a new artist development network, Musicians Wanted.

The program is based mainly off of music videos, but due to the diversity of music, I'm sure they'll accept a few electronically-focused artists.

Live broadcast tomorrow from the WMC

Dip In, one of the opening parties at this year's Winter Music Conference, will be broadcasting live on Afterhours.fm tomorrow from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. EST.

Click here for the event thread, and if you're in Miami or planning to head down there this week, click here for tickets.

[Image credit: Afterhours.fm]

Pushing the clock back a few decades

I normally don't talk about podcasts on here, but this one was so cool I had to give it a mention.

Brad Miller, who I had the chance to interview a couple weeks ago, recently released his latest Push The Night podcast. He's covered many genres of music in his previous shows, including trance, house, techno, electro, and their various crossovers and subgenres.

But for his 25th show he's tried something completely new for himself: nu-disco, and the result is a load of upbeat, lively, and retro-inspired fun. This mix is something completely out of left field and a great surprise to start the week.

Download at iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

Glistening waves on a sunset horizon

Uplifting trance is my favorite sub-genre of electronic dance music, but sometimes people poke fun of it online because of its connection to nature and the elements.

I don't see what music made on computers has to do with beaches, rolling waves, and aurora borealis, but I enjoy the whole nature aspect anyway.

So once again today I had some time to kill at a local mall, and I snapped this photo outside of a Gamestop. It's actually an ad for a Nintendo Wii game, but someone could use the title and artwork for an uplifting trance single and I bet few would know the difference:

From the DJ booth to your desktop

Podcasts and live sets are always fun to listen to, but you can never get closer to the full experience of a show without seeing it or being there.

A new live, weekly webcast on UStream.tv- Bars n' Beats, has been bringing the feel of a live show to a computer every Thursday from 9-11 p.m. with the help of local DJ's. The show is broadcasted out of a private, professional-quality studio in Hillsborough, NJ.

Last week I watched Zack Roth play with resident DJ Ralphie Smooth, and they do a nice job of setting up a few different camera angles of the DJ booth to keep you entertained while listening to some great music.

Tonight they will have Billy Mantani playing.

[Image credit: Barsnbeatsrecording.com]