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Meet AREA15: an entertainment venue bringing festival energy to Las Vegas with a secret bunker-style building that is bursting with psychedelic art installations, games, food, and shopping.

Recent bookings at AREA15 include resident dance acts like Chase & Status and Gareth Emery, and even live bands from beyond the festival circuit like Avenged Sevenfold—all against the backdrop of world-class production in three different live event spaces.

The venue’s hallmark “Massives” are wildly-imaginative, themed parties soundtracked by some of the best in the business.

AREA15’s Head of Entertainment, Noah Kessler, chatted with us about what it takes to curate world-class events and how the venue is moving differently in an era of post-pandemic live music madness.

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EDM Maniac: Take me through your day as Head of Entertainment at AREA15. What is involved in your position?

Kessler: On one hand, I work on running the events and entertainment department internally. And on the other hand, I’m a talent buyer, and I work deals with different artists and agencies and their management, booking the talent for different shows.

When the show plays out, I’ll come check it out, see how the operations are happening, the production, and how the artists perform. From there, we work to settle up the shows financially, make sure everyone gets paid out on time—really important.

EDM Maniac: Was there a moment when you knew you wanted to work in music? How did you find yourself in this role?

Kessler: I grew up in an interesting place in the world, in Zuni, New Mexico. Zuni Pueblo has a really incredible group of people and has incredible music as part of their culture.

I was growing up around that very inspired by the power of music to bring people together. 

I did some work with the incarcerated youth in Albuquerque around music production and event organization. I worked a bit with the college (University of New Mexico) and then went on to intern and get hired with C3 Presents in Austin, where I worked for five years, really cut my teeth, and learned a lot of really valuable lessons.

EDM Maniac: What were some of those lessons from your early days in the industry?

Kessler: Be connected to music that moves us and art that really speaks to our heart; letting our heart guide us in life. 

People can become jaded in the industry, with so much volume, so much business and work, and I think people can lose touch with that. Remember to be in touch with that and just come from the heart in everything that we do, first and foremost.

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EDM Maniac: There is clearly great care that goes into the Massives. What does it take to build an AREA15 Massive?

Kessler: You really rely on the hands of many to pull something together and weave it all in to create a really flawless, mindful, well-thought-out, intentional event.

We start with our headliner and try to lock someone in and then curate the bill around the headliner. We often ask the headliner who they would like to see on the bill and program out a showcase around them for the main stage and A-Lot.

We’ll come back to the team with the lineup; the creative team pulls really awesome assets together. And then meanwhile, Kim Benneville (AREA15’s Head of Experiences) and her team are working on what the experience is going to be in terms of theming, performers, storytelling.

EDM Maniac: AREA15 has only been open for three years, but has been booking some huge names. What is the secret to success there?

Kessler: In a lot of ways, artists are starting to see AREA15 as another artist to work with. They’re almost like “That’s a very creative entity that I’m gonna go plug in with and do something. It’s special, it’s unique, it’s gonna be fun.” And that’s I think a bit of our special sauce.

EDM Maniac: What is one aspect of the work you guys do at AREA15 that is either underappreciated or less well-known?

Kessler: It takes a lot to get a simple, clean event. That’s something that I think is taken for granted by all of us.

If at the end of the day, you have a safe environment, you have good quality sound and audio, people focused on running it, and it’s communicated well, then you’ve got a great experience on your hands. And that’s where it gets fun. 

Once you have this solid foundational element, then you can start to bring in all these different layers that help to take it a little bit further; take people to a transcendent space. That’s what we’re trying to do.

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EDM Maniac: Do you have a favorite AREA15 event that you’ve been a part of so far?

Kessler: Landing the Avenged Sevenfold thing was awesome. To bring in a rock band that had been in hibernation for five or six years and not only blow the tickets out in two hours, the day before the show, but also have this ability to move a fan through a whole immersive experience.

The Massives are a lot of fun—like STS9 rocking for two nights with a super stacked undercard. What I want to focus on is that we go above and beyond in terms of curating a really fire lineup. It’s almost like a festival experience in a venue, so it’s boutique, it’s a Massive.

EDM Maniac: What other exciting events does AREA15 have coming up?

We’ve got two more Massives for the year. September 16 we’re doing Galactic Zoo. For Halloween, we’re doing an event called Odyssium and that will be our final Massive of the year.

LSDREAM is rolling through on the tour; CloZee; we’re stoked on the Dusky show in The Wall. Yves Tumor is coming in; George Clanton; all kinds of different stuff.

We have a couple good local collectives that we’re doing monthly programming with as well. We want to continue to work with our local artists network and encourage Vegas musicians, promoters, artists, event lovers, festival goers to all get involved. It’s really important to us.

We’ll keep it mysterious, but we’ve got an incredible partner coming in to promote a festival for New Year’s. It’s going to be a really good one, big time for the EDM world. 

All images from AREA15.

The post Interview: Head Of Entertainment At AREA15 Talks Industry Experience And The Venue’s “Special Sauce” appeared first on EDM Maniac.

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By: Peter Volpe
Title: Interview: Head Of Entertainment At AREA15 Talks Industry Experience And The Venue’s “Special Sauce”
Sourced From: edmmaniac.com/interview-head-of-entertainment-at-area15-talks-industry-experience-and-the-venues-special-sauce/
Published Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2023 20:23:45 +0000

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John Summit Teases New Track In The Studio With Hayla

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Great news for feral John Summit fans. He just recently posted on his Instagram that he is cooking up a new track with singer Hayla. The post shows them both in the studio recording the track. In addition, the Miami based DJ teased us with an excerpt of the song. The track holds a powerful Trance/Progressive sound including Hayla’s imperial vocals. As of now, the song will be called ‘Shiver’, unless they change the title before it’s official release.

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A post shared by John Summit (@johnsummit)

Where You Are

This will be the second collaboration between the two artists, just after their hit ‘Where You Are’ which became one of the most played songs this summer. It has remixes of some of the industry’s biggest names like Zedd, Griz, and my personal favorite remix by Gorgon city. We can’t wait to hear their upcoming collaboration so we can dance til we drop into the abyss.

Hayla’s Climb

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The Liverpool native has had a beautiful rise in the EDM scene . Kx5’s ‘Escape’ is a statement of her talent and is now part of a Grammy nominated album. This has elevated her status and has inspired her for more and more. Her latest single ‘Fall Again’, is a statement of her ability as a songwriter and the fact she does not need only to collaborate with the biggest names in the industry to be a big name herself.

John’s Summit

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The Chicago native keeps getting better and better. Just recently, he became the only DJ to be a part of Forbes 30 under 30 list. This is a claim to his power as a producer and the amount of love he has garnered in the most recent years. He has been headlining some of the biggest festivals in the World and he now runs his own record label Experts Only. Currently he is beginning a new residency in the new Las Vegas LIV nightclub, in the new Fountainbleu Hotel. What can’t he do?

The post John Summit Teases New Track In The Studio With Hayla appeared first on EDMTunes.

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By: Jay Seabrook
Title: John Summit Teases New Track In The Studio With Hayla
Sourced From: www.edmtunes.com/2023/12/john-summit-teases-new-track-in-the-studio-with-hayla/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=john-summit-teases-new-track-in-the-studio-with-hayla
Published Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2023 21:55:06 +0000

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Did you miss our previous article…
https://mansbrand.com/interview-pozzi-and-zander-from-mojave-grey-introduce-ride-the-fire/

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[INTERVIEW] Pozzi And Zander From Mojave Grey Introduce ‘Ride the Fire’

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Step into the world of Mojave Grey, Zander Bleck, and Pozzi as they take us on a mesmerizing journey through the creation of their latest masterpiece, ‘Ride the Fire‘. In this exclusive interview, we delve deep into the spiritual background of the song, uncovering the hidden layers of meaning and inspiration that make it a true musical gem. But that’s not all – we also get a sneak peek into their exciting new projects for 2024, leaving us eagerly anticipating what this talented duo has in store for us next. Listen to ‘Ride the Fire’ at the end of this interview.

EDMTunes: Hello Everyone! This is Oscar Yerushalmi from EDMTunes. Today we are with Zander and Pozzi. Better known as Mojave Gray. Guys, how are you today?

Mojave Grey: We are great Oscar. – Thanks for having us. – Thanks for having us, yeah.

EDMTunes: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us about the release of your new song ‘Ride the Fire’. You guys describe this song as a sonic odyssey, this already sounds fascinating to me. But would you mind explaining to our audience what you guys mean when you say so, and what is the spiritual background behind this song?

Mojave Grey: Yeah, so this song has a lot of meaning for us and it kind of, it’s a little bit more like we approach the song as a soundscape more than normal, a typical song per se. It evolved a lot live. So we had kind of written the initial aspects of the song and we just kept adjusting and evolving the song as time went on in response to how the audience was reacting. We wanted to create, sort of like a mood more than ever before. The song, we wrote it based on a pretty powerful experience that we went through, and yeah, we just wanted it to be sonically aligned with that, and I think we accomplished that.

EDMTunes: Okay Pozzi, do you have some words about these?

Mojave Grey: Yeah. just talking to you now touching on the spiritual element of it. Zander and I have been sort of exploring our spirituality this year and trying to implement those experiences into the music, more and more each time. This song I would say we went a little bit further down the rabbit hole more than what we normally do. And so I think that’s a pairing. I think we tried to capture, as Zander said, an energy and overall feeling. I think we got it there eventually.

EDMTunes: While reading about the song, I noticed there is a Shaman involved in it, and it seems it’s been an experience that led you guys speechless. How relevant or how much did this Shaman influence the creative process of this track?

Mojave Grey: Tremendously. More or less she just said the phrase “ride the fire” and almost as soon as she said it we both looked at each other and were like, “well that’s the name“. It was truly a beautiful moment. We were almost in a very anxious state. We were both so far out of our comfort zones. And basically what she was describing was that anxiety and that fear that was creeping up on us. And like, she created, almost this imagery that we were in a room with a locked door with some kind of energy, this fire, this woman, this goddess, behind that door, and she was pounding at it while we were so nervously holding the door shut. And she’s like, she just wants to come in. She just wants to play with you. She wants to invite the fire in, ride the fire. As soon as she said that, I was taking it back, we both were in awe of how powerful that message was. We were one with that thought of allowing that fear in and facing it head-on, and that just was such a vivid metaphor and point that just, I mean, the song almost wrote itself.

EDMTunes: And besides the name and this experience you describe, what else do you think that the Shaman added to the song?

Mojave Grey: I mean, it was definitely something we had never experienced before, going through such an intentional, psychedelic journey. I think, we just wouldn’t have had the name, nor the vibe of the track. I think it really affected us as a group. And I think this song represents a little bit of a pivot in how we want our music to be perceived, that is, a little bit more on the experiential level. On top of just writing really great Dance and Pop songs, we want to create a mood. You know, we’re based in the desert here. I feel like we wanted to incorporate these types of experiences, this nature that we’re immersed in when we write these songs and just all of those elements into our music. And this song in particular feels like we kind of brought all three of those together. It features guitar in a really organic way and it has a little hypnotizing nature to it which is really what we were going for.

EDMTunes: I can see ‘Ride the Fire’ is a mix of a lot of different types of elements. From Zander’s vocals, Pozzi’s instruments, live music, Rock and Roll… How could you guys put all these pieces together that are so different at the same time, and deliver such a great song? Is this challenging at some point?

Mojave Grey: Yeah, it’s definitely challenging, but it’s also something that comes naturally to us because we’re both, you know, kind of in the classic sense, we’re songwriters and we’re real musicians and we play a lot of instruments. So we actually approach most of our songwriting from, like Zander or I will write something on piano or guitar. It happens that these lines themselves are really solid and then we start building something from them, and making them into what you hear. So we like to keep those organic elements as strong and prominent as possible, because they really represent who we are and what we’re bringing to the space that’s sort of different than most other people around. We also want all our songs to be able to be performed, you know, if it’s just posing on a piano or an acoustic guitar that we still can, you know, soak and translate the feel, whether it’s on the decks or just very intimate. We usually take that approach with a lot of those organic elements, and, as you were saying, it really shines through in this song.

EDMTunes: Okay guys so far, today we have the release of ‘Ride the Fire’. What else are we missing for the rest of 2023? What can we expect from Mojave Gray in 2024?

Mojave Grey: Yeah we’re just getting started, Oscar. We’re excited, we’re ambitious. We have our debut album coming out in the spring.
But regardless, we’re probably going to be releasing, I’d say, a song every five weeks up to the album and then after the album. But we have a pretty large body of work that we’re actually working on as we speak. You caught us kind of right in the middle of working on all these new songs and ideas and concepts. So I think we’ll have a very aggressive live schedule. Next week we’re in Miami for our Boswell, and the following week we’re in Mexico City. I think we’re going to start kind of accelerating that and getting this message of our desert Dance spirit, and we’re going to just keep getting that word out.

EDMTunes: Thank you for your time and answers. To close the interview, do you guys have any messages for our EDMTunes family?

Mojave Grey: Just to say hello, and we’re Mojave Grey. We’re so excited for you guys to take a step into our little desert world. To enjoy each other’s company very soon. Yeah, and thanks for welcoming into us and your community.

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About ‘Ride the Fire’

As the journey begins, the soundscape of ‘Ride The Fire’ unfolds gradually, drawing listeners into a realm of tranquility and anticipation. Zander’s magnetic vocals take center stage, their melodic allure beckoning the audience to delve further into the depths of the composition. As Pozzi’s electric guitar enters the fray, as the tempo reaches its peak, a hauntingly beautiful recording of shamanic chants emerges, infusing the track with a ceremonial essence. These ancient chants, which, as you would know by now from reading the interview, served as the inspiration for ‘Ride The Fire’. Listen HERE!

The post [INTERVIEW] Pozzi And Zander From Mojave Grey Introduce ‘Ride the Fire’ appeared first on EDMTunes.

—————————–

By: Oscar Yerushalmi
Title: [INTERVIEW] Pozzi And Zander From Mojave Grey Introduce ‘Ride the Fire’
Sourced From: www.edmtunes.com/2023/12/interview-mojave-grey-ride-the-fire/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-mojave-grey-ride-the-fire
Published Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2023 12:38:37 +0000

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Did you miss our previous article…
https://mansbrand.com/producer-discusses-what-one-million-spotify-streams-earned-him-this-year/

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Producer Discusses What One Million Spotify Streams Earned Him This Year

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Among many Spotify success stories and the debate on their royalties system going forward, German electronic musician Hainbach adds to the situation. Amidst the echoes of Taylor Swift’s staggering royalties, Hainbach steps forward, revealing the harsh truth of his one million Spotify streams in 2023. This revelation comes in a somber tone, as the composer discloses that his milestone translates to a mere £2,160 in royalties – $2,742.65 in today’s money. This is a sum that, while helpful, barely covers his utility bills. The chasm between Spotify’s glamorous facade and the financial struggles of experimental artists becomes starkly evident.

For Hainbach, the journey to the six-figure year comes primarily from just a few of his tracks. ‘The Guide‘, a 2020 release, hit over half of the sum with 560,000 plays, while ‘The Wooden‘, from his latest album Voice Magnetic, notched up 116,000 plays in only six months. Despite these accomplishments, the financial yield remains meager, echoing the struggle many artists face in the digital music landscape.

The Looming Silence

As Hainbach grapples with the modest returns from Spotify, a looming threat adds to the discord. Reports suggest that tracks accumulating less than 1,000 plays annually will face demonetization starting next year. This prospect raises concerns for lesser-known artists, hinting at a future where their creative output on Spotify may yield nothing in return. In this silence, the producer advocates for alternative avenues to sustain their craft.

“Bandcamp or coming to a live show is still the best way to support me and other artists.”

-Hainbach

Final Thoughts

While the debate continues as to which is the best way to directly support artists for them to make a living out of what they love and are most passionate about, unless you’re already on top of the world and amassing an exorbitant cult of followers, audio streaming giant Spotify is certainly out of the question for the best lifeline for those who we value for their contribution to music.

[H/T] – Music Radar

The post Producer Discusses What One Million Spotify Streams Earned Him This Year appeared first on EDMTunes.

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By: Matt Sierra
Title: Producer Discusses What One Million Spotify Streams Earned Him This Year
Sourced From: www.edmtunes.com/2023/12/producer-one-million-spotify-streams/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=producer-one-million-spotify-streams
Published Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:25:46 +0000

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