United We Stream Australia to launch with Motez live stream

United We Stream is coming online Down Under.

From Thursday (June 11), United We Stream Australia will kick off its nationwide run of live-streamed events, featuring the cream of the electronic music community and raising money for good causes.

First up, Motez will deliver a virtual showcase of his Soulitude EP, due out Friday (June 12) through Sweat It Out.

Expect an eye-opening encounter. The producer and DJ will deliver the goods with South Australia’s glorious Fleurieu Peninsula framed as his backdrop.

United We Stream Australia is powered by Electronic Music Conference (EMC), Sounds Australia and the electronic music community, and it follows the beat of the global United We Stream movement, which launched mid-March and now flows out of 49 cities around the globe.

It’s the dance and electronic community’s response to the COVID-19 shutdown, which has effectively switched off the nightlife, everywhere.

The quarantine campaign originated in Berlin, where the club scene was officially locked down on March 13 to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

As a result, some 9,000 employees and tens of thousands of artists have been without work and wages, and “the existence of many of the places that give Berlin its identity is threatened,” reads a statement from organizers.

Motez

Aside from giving artists an opportunity to shine and providing choice cuts for party-starved music fans, the series generates funds to help rebuild the devastated dance and electronic community.

“Whilst many businesses are able to start trading again as COVID restrictions start to ease, for music venues and clubs in electronic music, it’s not economically viable for many to open their doors at significantly reduced capacity,” explains EMC Director Jane Slingo.

“Especially for clubs and electronic music, sweaty nights dancing together a way off happening again. United We Stream focuses on raising funds to help to protect these businesses.”

Our venues and clubs need protection, Slingo tells TIO. “They are a vital part of the music ecosystem and are cultural treasures which need to be treated as such. It’s crucial that they continue to exist when we come out on the other side of this.”

To date, United We Stream has raised more than €500,000 ($800,000) in Europe and over £400,000 ($727,000) in the U.K.

Jane Slingo

Those donations are then pumped into the network of clubs and venues smashed by the health crisis.

The opportunity to showcase “the very best of Australian electronic talent and shine the light on the scenes, venues, people and places to the rest of the world,” notes Sounds Australia Executive Producer Millie Millgate, “is a COVID silver lining we’re certainly excited and proud to get behind.”

The Australian initiative fosters “solidarity between the various scenes that drive electronic music and club culture nationally,” comments Slingo in a statement.

Australia has “so many amazing scenes that each have their own flavour and it’s exciting to be a part of this global movement to highlight the wonderful diversity of electronic music culture in this country,” she adds.

Motez presents Soulitude x United We Stream Australia 001 will be broadcast on Facebook and YouTube and YouTube at 6pm AEST on Thursday.

Funds raised from the live stream will be donated to Support Act.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.