After registering and getting some really cool yellow bags filled with all sorts of goodies we hurried to one of the panel rooms where Duncan Stutterheim, co-founder and CEO of ID&T (probably the biggest dance music entertainment company in the world) had the honour of being this year's first ADE speaker.
Stutterheim looked back at the history of the company and concluded that having given birth to superstar DJs like Tiësto and Paul van Dyk, dance had also sacrificed part of its free spirit to the commercial world of pop music; a world dominated by companies like MTV and Clear Channel, who think in terms of money and market share rather than aiming to be a creative force. While such companies don't have much dance music in their roster they do however embrace dance music's superstars.
Stutterheim admitted ID&T had been driven by commercial forces for years (ID&T are the promoters behind “Tiësto in Concert”) and pointed out that right now he finds himself at a two-way crossing. He made it clear that his choices consisted of either taking the road where the artist would be the centre of attention (in a concert atmosphere) or one of entertaining the public in a party that would primarily be about the party (and not about the DJ).
Stutterheim added that smaller acts would still be given a platform by ID&T for dance music to evolve further into the mainstay of 'electronic music'. He seemed to suggest that ID&T is heading towards giving “the establishment” a kick up the arse and going back to their roots; to the days when the public was in charge of what a good party was about i.e. a 'close your eyes, never mind the DJ and enjoy' type mentality.
The first day of the conference included topics such as “Where have all the sponsors gone?” and “The Future Role of Record Companies”. Both were presented in the format of a moderated discussion panel with industry professionals. Though interesting and well moderated by Allan McGowan (VIP News, UK) and Dietmar Schwenger (Musikwoche, Germany) both discussions never really came to a clearly defined conclusion.
It was said that house music was the first underground music genre to really embrace sponsors, in contrast to say, punk, that had rejected commercial involvement. The issue concerning the link between drugs and partying was thought to have made things more difficult but sponsors were still thought to be interested in good ideas.
Big record companies still seem to be struggling in regard to what their future role will be with artists making more money from performing their records than selling them. Mobile phone companies may well be the next majors. It was remarkable that ‘territory’ seemed to be a connection between the two topics. Big sponsors and major record companies are commercially organized in terms of traditional geographical regions while dance music is a global movement. A mutual conclusion seemed to be that decisions about dance related sponsorships and the release of dance records are not always made by the right people.
Thursday evening (sponsored) drinks were served at a trendy art gallery called ‘Home’ located near the conference venue at one of Amsterdam‘s beautiful main canals. This definitely turned out to be a good starting point for the rest of the night as we sipped champagne in a relaxed atmosphere, chatting about whatever seemed to be worth chatting about while the familiar faces of dance celebrities passed by.
Like the day program, with so many things going on, one was forced to make choices. Fortunately the organisation, in addition to the ADE directory book, supplied everyone with a night program that included a smart timetable and city map.
Not keen to go to just the obvious spots and the big names we decided to start with something fresh and chose a venue called Fantasia that hosted "micromusic - low tech music for high tech people", which had caught our eye with its promise of 'Gameboy-electro, pixel Techno and Atari acid'. Stopping off for some great Thai food in the red light district on our way there, this event delivered exactly what it had promised. Different music, different people, different dancing, different atmosphere. Very nice indeed.
After enjoying ourselves with acts called Der Tante Renate and Maniacs of Noise our next stop would be Club 11, named after its location on the 11th floor of a soon-to-be demolished building, from where you can enjoy a fantastic view over Amsterdam.
Having a spectacular entrance best described as industrial styled hospital elevators Club 11 had an immediate, familiar dance vibe with Anthony Rother doing a live set followed by Dave Clarke. After a few drinks and talking to some people it seemed the atmosphere wasn't going in a direction where people could just let go and dance.
When Dave Clarke couldn’t really make the crowd move we left for the Melkweg to end the night dancing till daylight, stumbling into a nice surprise in the main room where Josh Wink and Michel De Hey were spinning their records back to back.
One last note: Watch out for the 16-bit Lolitas. They have some well received records out but these guys also rock when DJing!
Photos: Michel Mees
Special thanks to Pieter van Adrichem.