W and burn studios Unveil Week-Long DJ Boot Camp at W Retreat & Spa Bali – Seminyak and Announce First Ever DJ Lab Participant Selected through Global Online Talent Search
BALI, Indonesia, July 19, 2012/PRNewswire-Asia/ --W Hotels Worldwide, in collaboration with burn studios, an innovative music platform developed by burn®, a globally leading energy drink from The Coca-Cola Company, today unveiled the second annual W Hotels & burn studios DJ Lab. Taking place at W Retreat & Spa Bali – Seminyak, the week-long DJ ‘boot camp’ brings together the most exciting emerging DJ talent from around the globe and provides them with unprecedented mentorship and valuable tools in preparation for a global tour to select W Hotels.
“Now in its second year, we are proud to bring this year’s W Hotels & burn studios DJ Lab to W Bali, in the heart of Seminyak, one of the world’s leading electronic music destinations,” said Vincent Gillet, Global Brand Leader, W Hotels Worldwide and Le Meridien. “Music is intrinsic to the W brand, and together with our partner burn studios, we can provide emerging talent with a platform for global exposure while showcasing what’s new and next in music to our guests.”
"Through our burn studios partnership with W Hotels, we're continuing to develop exciting programming that connects up and coming artists with some of the industry's leading voices," said Prinz Pinakatt, Global Director, burn, The Coca-Cola Company. "With this year's DJ Lab heading to Bali, we're nurturing and supporting aspiring DJs looking to break onto an international stage."
First Ever DJ Lab Participant Selected through Global Online Talent Search
W Hotels and burn have also announced the eighth and final emerging DJ, representing Asia, to participate in this year’s DJ Lab.The winning DJ wasselected through an online talent search held by W Hotels Worldwide, in partnership with MIX.dj, which launched earlier this summer. More than 125 DJs from Asia uploaded their exclusive mixes, which were automatically entered into the Mix.DJ platform, receiving more than 150,000 plays and 6,000 votes and comments by the public. DJs with the highest number of votes were then selected by the DJ Lab Mentors to perform at various W Hotels in Asia throughout the month of June, showcasing their unique, cutting-edge sounds.
The Korean-born winner, Gio Vanhoutte, honed his DJ skills in Belgium and now joins the seven other promising DJs, curated by W Hotels Global Music Director Michaelangelo L’Acqua, in Bali for the week-long DJ Lab. Hailing from key global cities, the final list of 2012 DJs are:
Dogus Cabakcor, Istanbul
Posso (aka Marylouise Pels and Vanessa Giovacchini), Los Angeles
Vitor Kurc, Sao Paulo
Klaus Rosa De Macedo and Ameet Jugnauth,London
Aline Magnier, Berlin
Gio Vanhoutte, Seoul
“Gio Vanhoutte was the final part of this year's DJ lab equation, and his sound broke through the competition,” said L’Acqua. “Each of the participating DJs brings a different musical point of view, and I’m so excited to work with them in Bali as they further hone their craft.”
The curriculum for the 2012 W Hotels & burn studios DJ Lab was exclusively designed by this year’s mentors and includes: Sonic Identity Brand Building, Music and Artist Curation, Record Compilations and Expanding Industry Relationships led by L’Acqua;Essential Audio Theory for Musical Production and Mixing and Mastering taught by Paul Nolan; the Art of DJ’ing, the Business of DJ’ing, Radio Host and Film/TV with Jason Bentley (Music Director, KCRW), and Music Production by Rob Garza (Thievery Corporation). In addition, throughout the week, the DJs will participate in skill-building master classes, providing them with essential tools needed to take their acts on the road and spin at W Happenings and other sought-after W Hotels events throughout the year.
Following completion of the W Hotels & burn studios DJ Lab, the 2012 class will jet off to perform alongside established DJs at select iconic W destinations around the world, including: Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok and Koh Samui, Thailand in Asia; Istanbul, Barcelona, London, St Petersburg and Paris in Europe; Mexico City, Santiago, New York and South Beach in the Americas; and Doha in the Middle East. At each performance, the DJs will create exclusive mixes available only on the W Hotels iPhone application, in addition to chronicling their world travels via the W brand’s social media channels, including @WHotels on Twitter and www.facebook.com/whotels.
To learn more about the W Hotels & burn studios DJ Lab, please visit www.whotels.com/music.
About W Hotels Worldwide
W Hotels is a contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and the industry innovator with 42 hotels and retreats, including 14 W-branded residences, in the most vibrant cities and exotic destinations around the world. Inspiring, iconic, innovative and influential, W Hotels provides the ultimate in insider access, offering a unique mix of cutting-edge design and passions around fashion, music and entertainment. W Hotels offers a holistic lifestyle experience that is integrated into the brand’s sensibility through contemporary restaurant concepts, glamorous entertainment experiences, stylish retail concepts, signature spas and inspiring residences. With more than 13 years of proven success, W Hotels is on track to reach more than 60 hotels by the end of 2015. W Hotels have been announced for Guangzhou, Milan, Shanghai, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Athens – Astir Palace, Muscat, Mumbai, and Santa Fe, Mexico, while upcoming W Retreats include Verbier and Mexico’s Riviera Maya. For more information, visitwww.whotels.com. To live the W Hotels lifestyle 24/7/365, visit www.wresidences.com.
About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1051 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. The company boasts one of the industry’s leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
About burn
burn is a category leader in the global energy drink explosion. The red formula is a symbol of active fire that provides drinkers the energy needed to leave their original vision on the world. Dismantling category norms, burn consumers embody a live-out-loud mentality, without fear of boundaries created by society. burn is a brand of The Coca-Cola Company. www.burn-studios.com
About MIX.dj
MIX.dj is the world’s largest web and mobile-based DJ mix community. MIX.dj offers DJ promotional tools, fan discovery and recommendation tools, advertising platforms, mobile application development, and streaming radio services for web and mobile devices. MIX.dj has nearly 3 million mobile users (iOS and Android) and over 220,000 registered users on the web. The community includes over 55,000 DJ mixes from 12,000 DJs in 100 countries. New DJ party mixes are added 24/7/365. MIX.dj also develops customized mobile applications for artists, record labels and lifestyle/hospitality brands. MIX.dj has developed over 100 different mobile applications in the Appstore and Android Market. The MIX.dj global network also offers a powerful mobile advertising platform with a growing network that reaches millions of mobile devices around the world. For more information, visit www.mix.dj on a web or mobile device.
(Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. These risks and uncertainties are presented in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained or that results and events will not materially differ. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.)
