News August 23, 2016

Honey Dijon, Leftfield among first speaker lineup for EMC 2016

PRESS RELEASE:

Every year the global electronic music community descends on the Electronic Music Conference (EMC) in Sydney, for five days of music discovery, learning, networking and celebrating electronic music culture. Having already announced keynote speaker Amsterdam’s Night Mayor Mirik Milan, EMC is excited to announce the first lineup of speakers scheduled to talk on a series of panels, roundtables, workshops and masterclasses at the fifth edition of EMC, taking place Monday November 28 – Friday December 2, 2016.

EMC will be presenting innovative and on-trend conference programming relying on the business acumen of notable industry insiders who have successfully navigated the music world for many years as well as up-and-coming industry professionals. Some of the highlighted sessions taking place at the world-class Ivy venue in Sydney include Nightlife: The Future Of Australia’s Night Time Culture; Lights + Music: Exploring Live Show Creation; Express Yourself: How LGBTI Culture is Pioneering the Club Experience;Pressing Matters: Why Vinyl Is On The Rise; Coming To You Live: Connecting With AudiencesThroughLive Streaming; Music and Brands: Partnerships Done Right; and The Art of Rave: The Connection Between Art and Music.

With keynote speaker Mirik Milan anticipated to deliver a timely and relevant keynote as the Night Mayor and champion for nightlife in Amsterdam, EMC will also be welcoming Music Victoria’s Patrick Donovan to draw on his expertise on policy to talk about how Australian cities can implement solutions and policies that cultivate a sophisticated and flourishing night-life.

EMC will also bring together some of the biggest names behind the visual and light displays from shows and festivals around the world on the panel Lights + Music: Exploring Live Show Creation. Bionic League founder Martin Phillips, the man behind Daft Punk’s famous Alive Tour pyramid design, will share his experience working not only with Daft Punk, but also Deadmau5 and The Presets. Joining him will be Toby Pike from the talented duo Toby & Pete who will provide a rare insight into the art and light design behind some of Australia’s most well known videos and live shows including mega-starFlume’s Infinity Prism tour, Rüfüs, Flight Facilities and more. Rounding off the panel will be one of the most influential electronic music artists of all time, Leftfield.

Seducing club-goers with her unique sound, mixing classic house and disco, techno and tech house all over the world, Chicago-born DJ and producer Honey Dijon will be drawing on her status as a trans-icon and musical figure in Express Yourself: How LGBTI Culture is Pioneering the Club Experience. Emerging on the Chicago scene with Derrick Carter and later relocating to New York, meeting Danny Tenaglia – Honey Dijon is respected by the music and fashion industry alike. Orbiting between New York and Berlin, Dijon has collaborated with the likes of Giorgio Moroder and Anohni, produced the soundtracks for Louis Vuitton’s runway shows, as well as released her own music and remixes on Classic Recordsand Leftroom.

Providing an insight into how old has become new, founder and resident of UK label Rhythm Section,Bradley Zero will be discussing the rise in popularity of vinyl in recent years in Pressing Matters: Why Vinyl Is On The Rise. Since 2009, Rhythm Section has thrown record-only dance parties in London twice a month, known for its unique vinyl-only vibe and no headliners-or-photos allowed attitude.

With live streaming becoming increasingly important for connecting music and audiences, EMC is proud to present Coming To You Live: Connecting With AudiencesThroughLive Streamingwhich will see speakers including Head of Music at Boiler Room, the self-proclaimed home for underground music fans, Raj Chaudhuri, Ben Marshall (Head of Contemporary Music, Sydney Opera House) and Erica Valenti (Culture Marketing Manager, Red Bull Australia) come together to discuss how to best make use of this technology in the music space.

Now in its third year, EMC will again run it’s Incoming Visitors Program (IVP) which focuses on connecting leading talent buyers from international markets to Australian artists and their managers for the purpose of generating economic outcomes and opportunities in key export markets. Leading the announcement of the 2016 IVP is Lesley Olenik, Senior Vice President of Talent Buying forGoldenvoice. Besides Goldenvoice being the producer of one of the world’s leading festivals Coachella, Lesley curates the talent and oversees the marketing strategies and production expenses for leading concert tours from Odd Future to Fool’s Gold to Yo Gabba Gabba. EMC is proud to host Lesley in Sydney for her first visit to Australia.

Finally, EMC are excited to announce triple j Unearthed music director Dave Ruby Howe as 2016 Programmer of EMCPlay – a one-of-a-kind series of parties showcasing the most exciting Australian electronic music artists and the future stars of tomorrow. Applications for artists to showcase at EMCPlay are open now and close at midnight this Sunday. To apply, head tohttps://electronicmusicconference.com/emc-play

With over 150 speakers anticipated to contribute to EMC, there are many more speakers are to be announced. EMC and inthemix Awards will take place at ivy; EMCPlay showcasing parties will take over various venues in Sydney inner city, and Musica Copa will take place at the KIKOFF Soccer Centre in Marrickville.

Speaker lineup (in alphabetical order):

Anna Burns, Future Classic
Ant Celestino, ONELOVE Music Group
Ben Marshall, Sydney Opera House
Bradley Zero, Rhythm Section (UK)
Emily Collins, Music NSW
Erica Valenti, Red Bull Australia
Generik, Artist
Honey Dijon, Artist (USA)
James McInnes, Plastic World
Leftfield, Artist (UK)
Lesley Olenik, Goldenvoice (USA)
Linda Marigliano, triple J
Lorna Clarkson, 2SER / RBMA Radio
Martin Phillips, Bionic League (USA)
Mirik Milan, Night Mayor Amsterdam (NETHERLANDS)
Patrick Donovan, Music Victoria
Raj Chaudhuri, Boiler Room (UK)
Scott Robertson, Division Agency
Sophie Hirst, Google Australia
Toby Pike, Toby & Pete
Wade Cawood, Pulse Global