Greetings all,

Well it’s about that time again, Mother Nature isn’t sure if she should end Old Man Winters reign of the past few months, people are getting tired of being cooped up in their houses and I actually saw some flowers starting to push through the dirt this morning. That can only mean one thing, it’s time for the annual migration to South Beach and the Winter Music Conference.

This is the 25^th Anniversary of the Dance Music Industries relocation for one week to the South Florida region.  I was trying to remember how many of these things that I’ve personally been to and I’ve lost count. I know that I’ve only missed the conference twice since the last 2 in Ft. Lauderdale before they moved it to Miami Beach. The first time was when I left Profile Records back in 1994 right before the conference and the other time was when I suffered from an insane condition known as airplane ear and was ordered not to fly by the specialists.

During the years that I’ve attended I have a lot of fond memories of the conference and met so many great people.  From the almost family reunion atmosphere of the first years to the crazy poolside days at the old Fountainbleu the memories are fantastic ones.  I’ve seen the conference grow from a handful of American labels and DJ’s that would all go out en mass at night to a Billboard reporters club because it was the only place in town that night  to the International spectacle that it has become where the amount of clubs almost outnumber the amount of people.  But the one thing that has remained a constant throughout it all is that it is a time to get together to remember where we’ve been and try and see where we are going.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to speak on a panel almost every year that I’ve attended.  I’ve done panels on everything from “How to Get Signed To A Record Deal" to last years Marketing panel, where I was a last minute replacement with Cary Vance. It was in that room last year that I found the first artist for my label, Alex Sayz. The crazy thing is that I’ve done so many of the A&R listening sessions and never came across a record that I wanted to sign even though I’ve run across a lot of talented people there. And then last year, Lainie Copicotto asks Cary and I to be a replacement on the panel and in a stroke of luck I find Alex. In the last year has gone on to chart 2 singles on the Billboard Dance Airplay Chart and remix artists like Nadia Ali and Kate Ryan. 

In the 25 years of the WMC there have been some great moments and I’m hoping that they are going to highlight them during this years event.  But the actual panels aren’t the only highlights, How about some of these award show ones like Peaches decision to go for a swim after her performance at the International Dance Music Awards.  Or our own Cary Vance coming out on stage dressed as Tina Turner.  All just reminders that we are in the entertainment business and that it’s ok to have some fun.

This year should be a banner year for the WMC. The Promo Only Promotions crew will be there and having some fun while dishing out some knowledge about what we have planned for the rest of the year. We have so many things packed into the conference that my head is spinning just thinking about it. Here are some of the events that I am looking forward to during my 3 days there.

On Wednesday, we plan on checking out the Sirius XM Lounge and the artist and djs that will be playing. From there, Ultra Records is throwing a party that is a yearly staple. And then it’s a special night of cocktails with Sea To Sun/Loverush Digital and co-host, 4 time Grammy Award winning engineer, Tom Lord-Alge.

Thursday it’s lunch with Rocknations latestest superstar, Alexis Jordan. Afterwards we’ll head over to the Island Def Jam Music Groups/Thrive party at the Raleigh. DJ’s there include Stonebridge, Jump Smokers, Chew Fu, DJ Suraci (Smash Mode), Cato K and Mixin’ Marc. Also a very special guest will be doing a set that you won’t want to miss. Those events will get us ready for the International Dance Music Awards which will take place that night at the Fillmore Miami Beach (Jackie Gleason Theatre) which starts a 8pm. To end the night, Promo Only Promotions is lending the WMC a hand as we team up to throw the official after party to the awards.  Our party will be at Bar 721 from 10:30pm to 5am. 

Friday finds Cary Vance and myself on the WMC radio panel at 12:30pm. If you are registered we’d love to see you here. Then Carrillo Music is throwing a lunch that we’ll be attending and to bring the day to a close it’s the Capitol Music Group party. Rest assured that we will have lots to talk about and plenty of pictures to run in next week’s column!

Until then…

Do you have any dance news? Send it to us at The Spin via e-mail: john.parker@promoonly.com