New York City is billed as the city that never sleeps, but after a week in Las Vegas I would venture there is a suitable challenger for that title.
It seems that each hotel and casino in Las Vegas competes to have the nicest and most upscale club - the dramatic views from the luxurious Voodoo Lounge (All Suite Hotel Casino), the plush Tryst (Wynn), the ultra-trendy Ghost Bar (The Palms), the decadent Tao Lounge (Venetian), and the immense Studio 54 (MGM Grand). Every club had state of the art sound and light systems with very attentive waitstaff. Not once did we have to wait for a drink or notice a speck of debris on the floor or on a table - each club was that impeccable.
Originally hosted in cities across the US (San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta) and after several years holding court in New York City, moving to Las Vegas has brought new life into the Billboard Dance Music Summit. The Las Vegas move also seemed to breathe new life into the animated daytime panels. The omnipresent battle of dance music on the radio was addressed from both the satellite and terrestrial angles. Skyy (of BPM/XM) shared how he had to relearn everything when he moved to satellite. If the philosophy of terrestrial radio was "Don't educate the audience, they are stupid," then the philosophy of satellite radio is focused on sharing information and marketing to the smart and enthusiastic dance audience. With a 1.4 million cumulative audience through AOL and Direct TV, XM is definitely reaching the audience. The power of niche marketing through radio was also championed by Aurelia vixen Lainie Copicotto, who championed college radio as being pure, noting how it "can't be bought."
Rumors of the impending format change at New York's dance station WKTU were confirmed by program director Jeff Z. WKTU is changing to the "Movin'" format, which is rhythmic adult contemporary focusing on gold rhythmic hits and select current pop hits. Jeff Z described the change as being forced by owner Clear Channel who have to get ratings to earn money through advertising dollars. "The dance market is 18 to 30 who are too cool to diary (for Arbitron)." Jeff asserted that KTU's ratings came because of the older demographic who listened to the heavy recurrent format. Even with the change, mixshows by New York's biggest DJs will still be in place, Jeff guaranteed. "If KTU abandons mixshows, I will abandon KTU."
If not the radio, then where are we to find new dance music? Skyy (XM) discovered Late Nite Alumni from a Myspace page (which was one of the phrases and concepts often mentioned throughout the week, along with YouTube and "Sexyback"). Dance artist Lucas Prata discovered the power of Myspace while organizing his myspace buddies by region and asking them to request his music at local radio stations. "I made MySpace a second career and saw the radio adds across the country trickle in." Geronimo (Sirius) pushes that point further, urging us all to use the "internet as our bitch."
Just as the band Goldfrapp has become omnipresent through music placement in advertising, the topic of branding and marketing was widely discussed. A general consensus was reached that branding was acceptable and it was no longer considered selling out - as long as it was for the right campaign. A long time producer of music for soundtracks, Junkie XL described commercials and video games as "the new radio for dance music."
