My first rave was when I was 16 years old, when my brother put on the show at a local fire hall. Both my parents and grandparents attended. My parents showed up probably because they had to…you know, legal reasons and all, and my grandparents and I to show our support.
The music was great, with DJ Deadly Buda headlining. As an invincible teen, I wanted to jump in the mosh pit, flail around running into everyone, and let out some of that pent-up teen aggression. As luck would have it, though, I made it around the pit once and then fell, only to look up from the ground, and see a nice, scruffy pair of combat boots heading my way. The next thing I knew, a multitude of arms were there helping me up and saving me from being crushed by those boots. That ended my mosh pit days, but what remained was the knowledge of that feeling of caring from those faceless helpers.
Enter 2017, where I was given the opportunity to attend Electric Daisy Carnival in Orlando, as a VIP. It’s been 28 years since that first rave, and my how things have changed…or have they? EDM has become so popular that whole football fields are necessary to accommodate all the partygoers. Tinker Field was a huge venue with multiple stages (back in 1989, there’d only been one). There were chill out zones, amusement park rides, and vendors of all kinds. Inflatable furniture anyone? How about some organic jewelry? What amazed me was how the good folks at Insomniac had all these stages outside near each other, each with a DJ playing their own music, yet the sound from one never interfered with the other. You heard each clearly without distortion or distraction from the other, yet there were no walls or buffers of any kind. Amazing acoustic planning!
Ferris Wheel at EDC Orlando 2017
The layout and flow of traffic was also planned out well. For the amount of people at the show, one never felt overcrowded, and liquid refreshment and chill areas were always right there, much different from, say, and other famous Kingdom here in Orlando.
I truly enjoyed all the colorful lights everywhere. The Kinetic stage was my favorite, with its fireworks, water fountains, light show, dancers and video screen imagery, which was planned to the music with the goddess’s heart beating and close-ups of the djs. Kudos to the creative team! Partygoers were also creative in their dress, from furries to kandi kids, butt-cheek models to neon-clad gentlemen, marching bands, stilt walkers, and oversized fish. Those last three might have been Insomniac’s doing, but oh what fun and good vibes they made for. Some of my favorites were the lite-up butterfly wing cape, the lite-up faux fur coat and the lite-up tutu. Notice a trend here? What I didn’t notice were any combat boots or mosh pits. Nor did I miss them, to be honest. What I loved seeing was that EDM has become so popular, that people danced peacefully next to each other all over the field and most of all that raves are still multi-generational.
While waiting for a friend to buy refreshments, I started talking to a young girl with glitter and rhinestones on her face and her blonde hair in braided pigtails. She was 26 and a graduate of Flagler College. She and her Dad had come all the way from Jacksonville for the show. Her mom liked more classically played music and had opted to stay home. However, as the marching band passed by, she exclaimed to her dad how “Mom really would have liked that.”
I bet there was more her mom could have appreciated: the goddess-designed stage, the creative outfits, the more chill VIP area, and most of all, the family bonding. Back at my first rave, my grandparents found the music sounded “quite funny”, but they still polka-danced to it anyway. I’d like to believe that had my grandparents been alive and with me at EDC that they’d have been there in the VIP area drinking, eating, and polka dancing into the night. That’s what’s so great about EDM shows, there is something for everyone to enjoy and a feeling of acceptance for whoever you are.
My niece is only 8 years old at the moment, but I hope one day to take her to a rave as well and continue on the tradition.
3MiloE: All right, that’s what I like to hear. Okay, my name is Milo.
(Kenth walks away from the interview for a brief moment)
Marcus: Sorry. Just me, the other guy walked away. We’re done here! All right. sorry, sorry. Yes, your name is Milo.
3MiloE: Yes, Milo. I’m a writer and promoter for the Hard Data magazine, and we’d like to ask you some questions.
Marcus: We are always open.
3MiloE: Where are you from, and what’s the music scene like where you’re from?
Marcus: Okay, we’re both from Norway. Born and raised in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The hardstyle scene in Norway is pretty non-existent. There’s one promoter, and he does his best. He makes a party called Hardstyle DNA and we made the anthem in 2010. I think that was the first anthem we ever did. It’s small, but it’s super dedicated, is all I can say.
Kenth: Everybody is super excited, every time we come over. They even talk English to us because they don’t even know we’re from Norway. Every time we’re there, everybody is very humble and they know all the songs. Not that many people, but it’s still growing. Kind of like here, except you’ve got more bands over here.
DeadlyBuda: Wait, how’d you get discovered in Norway? How’d you end up in Holland? What the hell happened?
Kenth: When we started off, we had no connections to Holland, for example, where hardstyle was booming back in 2008. We started off just listening to stuff on YouTube and we were like, “Wow, this is really cool… definitely something that we want to do.” So, we started making music, and we got signed to an Italian label at the beginning of 2007 or 2008…probably in 2008. Then, in the end of 2009, we got contacted from a promoter from Belgium through a website called Party Flock. You guys heard of it?
3MiloE: Yes.
DeadlyBuda: Yeah.
Kenth: It’s a big Dutch website where you can check up on where you can go party, pretty much… a big forum. We got contacted through a promoter from Belgium and he said, “Hey guys, I’ve heard about you already and I want to put you on my label called Dirty Workz, and want to book you for Bassleader, like all the Belgium parties.”
( Coone shows up. and comes in on the interview.)
Coone: Are you doing an interview?
Marcus: Yeah.
Marcus: This is Coone, by the way.
(Marcus graciously interviews the DJ known as Coone)
Coone: No. I did the interview already.
(Coone referring to the interview we had done earlier that night)
Deadly Buda: Is this a new collaboration here?
Kenth: He wants to do it, but we’ll see if…
Marcus: We’ll see if he’s good enough for us.
(Everyone laughs.)
Kenth: Anyway, so we got contacted by this Belgium promoter, and we ended up having a little talk and he came to Norway and we partied for a weekend. Pretty much at the end of the weekend, he told us, “Welcome to Dirty Workz.” And that’s where the whole journey started.
Marcus: I got to say, because Dirty Workz is family. They don’t sign just anybody, they sign people who they think will fit.
Deadly Buda: So, you have to get drunk with them?
Marcus: Not necessarily. (laughs) I think we’re an exclusive for that. But, Dirty Works is a gimmick, it’s a brand. And we all represent the same thing; happiness, family, love, unity… the same as here. Here in America it’s PLUR . In Belgium, Holland we present unity, family, real friends. When we do Dirty Workz nights in Belgium and Holland, we’re all on stage having fun, showing respect and love for each other. That’s what it’s all about.
3MiloE: That is awesome. What animal best personifies your music and why?
Marcus: What animal best personas our music? I would say a bunny. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, but it fornicates like a motherfucker, meaning it spreads like wildfire. And it’s jumping up around like crazy!
Kenth: That’s pretty accurate.
Marcus: Yeah, it is. Yeah, bunny.
Deadly Buda: So, you’re mutual on this? You both said “bunny.”
Kenth: Yeah, I’m pretty cool with that.
3MiloE: That’s great. What are you trying to convey with your music?
Kenth: When we go on stage, all we want to see is happy faces. We want everyone to have a good time. When we sit in the studio, we pretty much brainstorm. How can we make the crowd have a good time? We want to bring as much energy, as much party feeling, as much joy, and fun as we do making the music into the vibe of the party. That’s the best we can describe it.
Deadly Buda: What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you when you were mingling in the crowd?
Kenth: I signed a potato.
Marcus: But, we brought the potato. We brought this bag of potatoes.
Joel: In other words, you were signing your own potato.
Kenth: No. I signed an onion too.
Marcus: You didn’t bring the onion.
Kenth: No. I know I signed an onion. Got a lot of those weird penis grabs. (laughs)
Marcus: Penis grabs. I’ve signed a moon. We’re talking like, you know, because I’m balding as well. I admit it. I’ve signed a moon, I’ve signed butts. Weirdest things.
Kenth: Potatoes and the onions.
Marcus: Potatoes and onions. Signing potatoes and onions is not a normal thing.
DeadlyBuda: No, it’s not.
Marcus: But we do it.
DeadlyBuda: What country was that?
Marcus: Australia.
Kenth: And Sydney.
Marcus: The next year, we brought bananas. We ate bananas on stage. It’s actually potassium. We need potassium to stay awake. It’s good.
3MiloE: What moments do you cherish the most in your careers so far as DJs?
Marcus: To be honest, going on stage and playing our songs, and to see people smile happy singing along. We’ve had people cry when they meet us. We’re just some regular guys having fun. We go in the crowd, we get drunk… we party just like the crowd. But, to see the mutual respect, the happiness that we bring. There was a terrorist attack in Norway in 2010? … ’11?
Kenth: ’11.
Marcus: ’11. We wanted to dedicate out set to them. We made a song called “Become”. The whole track is about how the world is evolving and what we’ve become in the world. We play this track in Norway, and a lot of the victims’ friends were in the crowd. They were crying, and I was crying on stage. I will never ever forget that. I had sunglasses on, and they couldn’t see I was crying, but tears were just running down. I couldn’t stop. I’m getting emotional talking about it.
Kenth: I just want to add one thing: what makes this job so precious is when you get messages or you meet fans that they’re in a really rough patch in their life, and they’ve considered ending everything. They say that our music has helped them get through some of their toughest times, and that is so touching. Because we’re just sitting in the studio having fun, making music, and we don’t really realize how big of an impact our music has on certain individuals. And it’s …
Marcus: It’s unreal.
Kenth: It’s unreal, and it’s so heartwarming to hear people like that.
Marcus: To hear that we save lives, we save souls with having fun, and spreading the joyness, the happiness… it’s unreal.
Kenth: Yes.
Marcus: It’s incredible.
3MiloE: Wow. That answer was amazing. So, where do you see yourselves in a year from now?
Kenth: In a year from now, we’re hopefully going to have a little break. We’re going to be chilling on the beaches of Hawaii.
Marcus: But, we won’t because it’s 10 years of Tweekaz. So, we’re actually aiming for a big year next year. I’ll probably be bald because of all the stress. I’ll be bald in Hawaii, okay? Let’s just say that.
Kenth: I guess they want us to be sipping on Mai Thais in Hawaii, hopefully, but that’s not going to be story in the end.
Marcus: Wer’e going to have a luau.
3MiloE: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Marcus: To the U.S. fans?
Kenth: Sure. Well, the thing is… like Marcus just said. We’re going to be celebrating 10 years of our career next year. So, you better be on the fucking look out for Da Tweekaz because we’re bringing shows, and we’re not talking ordinary shows, we’re talking specific special shows to every single country that we love playing in. So, we’re going to be bringing Tweekacore, and we’re going to be bringing one hell of a fun show, right?
Marcus: And some Jäger.
Kenth: And some Jägermeister. So, be on the look out because Da Tweekaz are not one, we’re not retiring, and we’re not going anywhere.
Marcus: Sometimes I wish we did, but…
Kenth: No, we’re still here, and we’re going to keep on rocking til’ we hit the grave.
Marcus: Yeah. And we’ll do some special contest next year as well. Some special meet and greet, some special giveaways, so be aware.
Musicon Ambassador Joel “DJ Deadly Buda” Bevacqua addressed the Intellectual Property and Blockchain discussion panel: “Creating Globally Applicable Best Practices in Blockchain Technology in Russia for IP Management: from Patents and Inventions to Books, Paintings, Photos, Music and Films” held at the VI St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. Below is the video of the address, the text of the speech, displayed slides, and the hand-out text mentioned in the address.
Here is the text from the speech:
“Hello, my name is Joel Bevacqua. Some know me as DJ Deadly Buda. I am the Musician Ambassador for Musicoin. We are honored to be invited to the Cultural Forum and especially by IPChain, which we believe could not only benefit Russia, but might shine as an example worldwide about the possibilities of blockchain and its utilization to aid human creativity.
We sincerely hope that one day, younger people in the audience will look back to this panel as a day that the world took a step in a good direction.
So, what is Musicoin?
Musicoin is a digital currency for the listening and compensation of music. On February 11, 2017, artists could upload their songs to Musicoin.org . When listeners played a song, they paid the artist 1 Musicoin. This payment happened in seconds. 1 Musicoin was worth at the time between 1 and 4 cents in US dollars. The artist could save that Musicoin in hopes it would rise in value, or sell it on and exchange for the currency of his or her choice. This was all achieved with the Musicoin blockchain.
Musicoin Presentation Slide 1
This was a success, but we noticed a problem. As Musicoins rose in value, people played less music. So, we made a change to the Musicoin blockchain which we code-named “U.B.I.” for “Universal Basic Income.”
In this change, the artist still receives 100% of the income, but now 1 play is equivalent to an amount of Musicoin equal to about 2 cents in US dollars.
Musicoin Presentation Slide 2
Also, listening for the public is now free. It is paid for by Musicoin miners. Miners are people with computers that process Musicoin transactions and mint the coins. A part of their mining reward creates the fund for free listening. The miners hope this leads to greater adoption and the Musicoins they retain becoming more valuable.
Through UBI, free listening become the human intelligence of the system and makes many traditional concerns about music piracy irrelevant.
Some might call what we’ve done, “disruptive”, but we feel it is constructive and ultimately an aid to the human imagination. In that spirit, a forthcoming update will allow consent-based location data to be entered in the Musicoin blockchain. This way, an artist might indicate where their payments may go.
Musicoin Presentation Slide 3
If their song is played in Russia, RAO may process some funds, if played in Canada, SOCAN could process certain payments. Theoretically, public domain works could pay its citizen in near real-time.
The possibilities are many and are being realized now. Mobile and software players are expected soon, and even dedicated hardware players are expected within the next year.
I am having a fact sheet about Musicoin passed out. Please contact me after the panel if you are interested in interfacing with the Musicoin blockchain and I will help facilitate it.”
Below is the text from the hand-out mentioned in the speech.
Important Facts:
February 11, 2017, Musicoin becomes the first blockchain-enabled streaming music system in which artists can upload music, the global public can listen, and when they do, the artists are paid in seconds.
You can listen to streaming music at http://musicoin.org . The rights-holder is rewarded with Musicoin.
Musicoin has over 19,000 registered users. 1,500+ are musicians who have uploaded over 7000 tracks.
The price of a Musicoin has gone as high as 4.6 cents USD each. Musicoin’s exchange symbol is: MUSIC.
How it Works:
Every time a song is played the copyright holder is paid an amount of Musicoin equivalent to about $0.02 USD. This amount can fluctuate based on market demand and can be raised or lowered to compete with other online streaming services. The copyright holder receives Musicoin seconds after a listener presses “play” anywhere in the Musicoin system. Once the copyright holder receives the Musicoin, he, she, or it can elect to split the payment with others if needed.
Musicoins are created by people all over the world with personal computers. The process is called “mining.” The computers validate and process Musicoin transactions and are rewarded with Musicoins. 15% of Musicoins mined are allocated to fund the playing of music by the public. Musicians, miners and the public can sell their Musicoin on exchanges for the currency of their choice or use them to transact with one another.
Future Plans:
Easy purchase of Musicoins for the public (a cryptocurrency exchange will no longer be necessary).
Consent-based location data will be available from the Musicoin blockchain.
Mobile apps will be available soon. Embedded hardware platform expected late 2018.
FAQ
What kind of blockchain is Musicoin? Musicoin is its own blockchain, based on Ethereum code. By using its own blockchain, Musicoin can better scale with the increasing demands of music consumption.
How would my blockchain system communicate with Musicoin? Like Ethereum, ERC-20 tokens can be utilized to easily communicate with other blockchains.
После часового обсуждения соглашение было объявлено платформой IPChain («Национальный координационный центр обработки транзакций с правами и объектами интеллектуальной собственности»), чьи амбициозные цели заключаются в формировании основанной на блокчейн-технологии национальной сети Российских объектов интеллектуальной собственности, их прав, записи сделок с ними и облегчении проведения подобных сделок.
“Создание децентрализованной сети IPChain является необходимым и обязательным этапом разработок в сфере интеллектуальной собственности,” – сказал президент IPChain Андрей Кричевский(здесь и далее цитата не точная, прим. пер.). “Тем не менее, говоря о конкретных этапах важно помнить, что, несмотря на плодотворные шаги предпринимаемые сегодня, мы не должны останавливаться. В конце концов, сегодняшний тренд на блокчейн вероятно рано или поздно будет заменяться всё новыми и новыми технологиями и решениями. Наша задача в том, чтобы следить за направлением глобальных разработок и предвидеть будущие технологические перемены.”
Посол Musicoin Джоэль Беваква выступает на Международном Культурном Форуме в Санкт-Перербурге.
Cвои решения и точки зрения предложили следующие участники: Единая Государственная система учета научных исследований, разработок и технологических работ гражданского назначения (эта служба уже является ключевым компонентом инфраструктуры IPChain), Национальный координационный центр обработки транзакций с правами и объектами интеллектуальной собственности, участвующий в проекте Министерства образования и науки Российской Федерации по созданию системы хранения и сопоставления трёхмерных моделей, и FormMax, бизнес-решение по доставке фоновой музыки.
В число участников также вошли несколько сервисов, которые потенциально могут использовать инфраструктуру IPChain, такие, как IP EXCHANGE (IPEX), онлайн платформа регулирующая функционирование рынка объектов интеллектуальной собственности и объединяющая мировые сообщества художников, и первый в мире основанный на блокчейн-технологии стриминговый музыкальный сервис Musicoin.
Выступающие слева-направо: Эрик Батист (SOCAN), Андрей Кричевский (IPChain), Сергей Матвеев (Директор Департамента науки и технологий, Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации)
И хотя форумы об интеллектуальной собственности обычно проходят спокойно, этот был похож на пороховую бочку. Иван Засурский, Заведующий кафедрой новых медиа и теории коммуникации МГУ, назвал адвокатов в этой области паразитами, юрист Павел Катков был сильно заинтересован блокчейн смарт-контрактами, которые могут оставить адвокатов на вторых ролях в деле управления правами на объекты интеллектуальной собственности, а Джоэль Беваква, посол Musicoin, отметил для всей аудитории то, что этот форум, свидетелями которого они стали, однажды может оказаться переломным моментом в их жизни.
Российская платформа IPChain завершила обсуждение ещё одним знаковым моментом того, что Российская Федерация намерена стать лидером в области технологии блокчейн – подписанием стратегических соглашений о сотрудничестве. IPChain заключила договор о сотрудничестве и взаимодействии с крупнейшим на рынке издательством электронных книг – «ЛитРес», а следом – договор с сервисом BankPrav.ru компании «АйПиБи» о партнёрстве и долгосрочной совместной разработке в сфере регистрации и монетизации интеллектуальной собственности и увеличении прозрачности сделок для всех участников рынка.
Джоэль Беваква, посол Musicoin (и главный редактор The Hard Data), на деловой площаадке “IP и Блокчейн” VI Международного Культурного Форума
В завершении, глава IPChain, Андрей Кричевский, преподнёс сюрприз, озвучив возможность сотрудничества платформы IPChain с SOCAN и Musicoin. Чем это обернётся, мы ещё увидим, но такое заявление может означать для музыкантов и их фанатов ещё один важный шаг вперёд, не только в России, но и во всём мире.
The hour-long panel was held by IPChain (the National Coordination Center for Processing Transactions with Rights and Objects of Intellectual Property), whose ambitious task is the formation of a national blockchain-based network of Russian intellectual property objects, their associated rights, transaction records, and the facilitation of such transactions.
“The creation of a decentralized IPChain network is a necessary and indispensable stage in the development of the national intellectual property sphere,” said Andrey Krichevsky, president of IPChain. “However, when speaking about practical steps, it is important to remember that, despite the seminal nature of today’s steps to reform the sphere, we must constantly be on the move. After all, the trend of the current day – blockchain – will be replaced by newer and newer technologies and solutions. Our task is to monitor the strategic vector of global development, to foresee and anticipate technological shifts. ”
Musicoin Ambassador Joel Bevacqua addresses the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum
In that context, panelists who contributed their solutions and viewpoints were: The Unified State System for Accounting for Research, Development and Technological Works of Civil Purpose (the state service is already one of the key components of the IPChain infrastructure), The National Register of Intellectual Property, which participates in a project initiated by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation to create a system for storing and comparing three-dimensional models, and FormMax, a business to business solution for delivering background music,
The participants also included a number of services that could potentially use the IPChain infrastructure such as IP EXCHANGE (IPEX), an online platform that ensures the regular functioning of the organized market of intellectual property, artists societies worldwide, and the world’s first music streaming blockchain service, Musicoin.
Panelists from left, Eric Baptiste (SOCAN), Andrey Krichevsky (IPChain), Sergey Matveyev (Director of the Department of Science and Technologies of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation)
Though intellectual property forums tend to be sedate, this panel had its share of barely suppressed fireworks. Ivan Zasurskiy, Head of the Department of New Media and Communication Theory, Journalism Faculty of Moscow State University, referred to lawyers in the field as leeches, attorney Pavel Katkov wondered aloud if blockchain smart contracts might relegate lawyers to a secondary role in intellectual property management, and Joel Bevacqua, the ambassador for the Musicoin blockchain pointed out to the younger members of the audience that the panel they were witnessing might one day be a watershed moment in their lives.
The Russian Federation’s IPChain ended the panel with another sign that Russia intends to be a world leader in blockchain technology, as official signing agreements on strategic cooperation took place. IPChain and the largest company in the market of licensed electronic books in Russia, LitRes, signed an agreement on cooperation and interaction, and then IPChain and BankPrav.ru service – “AyBi” LLC, signed an agreement on establishing partnership relations and developing long-term mutually beneficial cooperation for the registration and monetization of intellectual property and increasing the transparency of intellectual property transactions for all market participants.
Joel Bevacqua, Musicoin Ambassador (and The Hard Data Editor) arrives at the VI St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum’s IP & Blockchain Panel
At the very end came the surprise, as IPChain’s head Andrey Krichevsky, announced IPChain’s intention to open discussions with SOCAN and Musicoin on possible cooperation pacts. Musicoin’s ambassador, Joel Bevacqua, was seen giving a “thumbs up” to the audience. How this plays out, the world will have to see, but the announcement could signify another significant step for music fans and artists not just in Russia, but the world.
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
