DJ For The World: Defected launch virtual festival competition 23 Apr 2020
Global dance music institution Defected is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to budding DJs in its worldwide community, by launching a competition for the chance to win a slot at an upcoming Defected Virtual Festival. The Virtual Festivals, streamed across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch TV, have clocked up over 8.5 million views over four events to date with an organic reach of over 600 million, uniting people from 142 countries on its virtual dancefloor. Gathering media attention from the likes of BBC News, Channel 4, Le Monde, Financial Times, The Guardian, Billboard and many more, the weekly festivals continue to provide a much-needed uplift to music lovers in isolation, described as “the virtual rave that connected the world…” and “Uniting the masses through dance culture at home”.
Appealing to the hundreds of thousands of aspiring DJs in its 5 million-strong online fanbase, Defected’s aim for its DJ For The World competition is to encourage undiscovered DJs to step up to the Virtual Festivals’ global platform, appearing alongside huge international headliners that have so far included Calvin Harris, Gorgon City, Bob Sinclar, Roger Sanchez and Sam Divine. One winner will be chosen for a 30min slot, to appear in a Defected Virtual Festival.
The competition opens on Thursday 23rd April, and will be closed at 12am BST on Monday 27th April. To be considered, Defected are asking competition entrants to record a 15min video of themselves mixing and upload it as an unlisted video to YouTube. They should then send a link to their video to virtual@defected.com, a dedicated email inbox set up for the competition. Entrants must be aged 16 or over.
Four shortlisted artists will be chosen from the entries based on their ability to mix, their track selections and their musical affinity to Defected. After the shortlist is revealed on Wednesday 29th April, members of Defected’s YouTube Community page will then vote to select two finalists, with the ultimate winner to be decided by the Defected team on Friday 1st May.
Defected will return on Friday 24th April for the fourth instalment of its Virtual Festival, this time with Catz ‘n Dogz, Dennis Ferrer, Dom Dolla, DJ Spen, Ferreck Dawn, Gorgon City, Simon Dunmore B2B Dunmore Brothers and Themba. Defected continue to unite house music fans in isolation, streaming world-class DJ’s direct from their own homes and studios. Defected will also continue to fundraise for the World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Response Fund, with their previous virtual event raising over $43,000, matched by Google to make a total of $86,000.
Tune into Defected Virtual Festival 4.0 this Friday from 2pm-11pm on the Defected YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch.
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THE HEADLINES
Music discovery is not dead, just evolving (see Comment)
The business fundamentals behind DSP's and what this means for music (see Comment)
Artists urge Prime Minister to rethink AI copyright plans (see News)
Tariffs, tours, and trade wars: Why music investment won’t slow down (see Comment)
Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming (see Comment)
Spotify’s latest update gives users more control over their listening experience (see Digital)
Has music reached peak fragmentation? (see Analysis)
How LA is rebuilding the music industry after the fires (see Features)
Ministers reconsider changes to UK copyright law ahead of vote (see News)
How Ticketmaster swallowed the live entertainment scene (see Features)
Spotify executive on why 'per-stream rate' is one of the most misleading metrics in music (see Opinion)
BPI responds to government’s proposed amendments to the Data Bill related to AI and copyright (see News)
‘AI and intellectual property — a pivotal moment for the UK’s creative industries’ (see Opinion)
BPI's new Yearbook reveals Country music's surging popularity (see News)
How Live Nation calls the tune for the live music industry (see Features)