We just had another highly successful trip to the annual Amsterdam Dance Event. Among the usual feverishly paced meetings by day and cutting edge club events by night, The Alchemy Group ran the press area at DJ Magazine’s 3500 capacity Top 100 DJs Awards Party.

This included working to manage the huge online reaction to David Guetta’s win, the popular success of many local Dutch DJs and handling the video and interview requirements of over 40 media teams.

ADE 2011 was bigger than ever but didn’t seem to be any less important or useful as a result. Much fun was made of my irresistable status update that I was ‘updating client social media profiles sandwiched between Frankie Knuckles and Derrick May‘, but if ADE can expand and still remain that personal (which it obviously can) then it’s future looks as exciting as it’s past 16 years.

Read our review of Amsterdam Dance Event 2011 on the Point Blank blog. We’ve been consulting on social media strategy for the award-winning DJ and music school, including maximising the online dialogue between clients via their own sponsorship of DJmag’s Top 100.

While we’re at it, might we suggest you SUBSCRIBE to Point Blank’s YouTube Channel, where video tutorials on the latest EDM production techniques are posted FREE every week.

It reveals the huge growth in popularity of branded content, be this digital, print or TV. It also shows how organisations at all levels are now embracing the statement that opens up our homepage – that ‘we are all publishers now’.

The key quote comes from Keith Grainger, CEO of Redwood who produce both the print and e-zine versions of the M&S magazines.

Regardless of the medium, Grainger argues the key is to create compelling content and not just promotional puff. “It only works for the brand and the reader if it’s authentic, valuable and relevant.” That means employing journalists who understand how to tell stories, he says, rather than copywriters who are used to creating advertising slogans.

As digital devices rapidly become more tactile and geared towards a true reading/viewing experience, we see digital disruption starting to come full circle.

We like to consider the work we do with clients akin to producing a traditional magazine, no mater what form that takes, and albeit one which takes full advantage of rich media content and distribution via Facebook, Twitter et al.

Exciting times for content creatives everywhere and a great opportunity for clients wondering how best to navigate the new communications landscape being carved out all around us.

Here’s a video showing our integration of Facebook Places into the official Eristoff app guide to Volvo Snowbombing. Check out how to check in, so to speak.

Building on Alchemy Content’s content-driven iPhone app from Snowbombing in 2010, this year we’re breaking new ground by being the first festival to unlock the potential of the ‘checkin’ both as a way of locating friends quickly (always one of the most annoying festival problems) and also of entering realtime competitions for prizes and discounts.

Download V2.0 of the Eristoff App (a new update is due this week too).

Volvo Snowbombing takes place April 4-9 in Mayrhofen Austria with an almighty live/DJ line-up. Here’s the deal.

We love the way a 250-year-old institution like The RSA is able to embrace a medium like YouTube so well. The switched on RSA-ers appreciate the cultural benefits of digital media, and have invested in it thoughtfully and originally. This makes a nice change from the more standard institutional practice of rubbishing/fearing/ignoring such platforms, before belatedly jumping on board in a half arsed panic.

The RSA Animate series on YouTube enlists the analogue-meets-digital artwork of Cognitive Media to great effect. Their maker pen scribblings add an engaging visual element to the free on-demand lectures. I’d go as far as to say that the animations focus the mind better on the topic than sitting in the lecture itself. It’s certainly more fun than watching the live stream, welcome as this also is.

Above is their video on the topic of 21st Century Enlightenment, but there are plenty of others to choose from. Not just a great example of innovative use of YouTube but fantastic subject matter too.

If I wasn’t deep in the throes of parenthood I’d regularly go to some of their amazing free lectures. As it is, I just need to find the time to play more of these beautiful videos online.

Tonight their weekly Subliminal Sessions Voodoo Nights at Pacha in Ibiza plays host to hip hop legend P. Diddy.

The party is one of the key events of the summer on the island, that has already seen Kylie launch her album at Pacha, and ahead of BBC Radio 1’s annual blow out this weekend featuring Underworld.

Diddy is a Twitter legend, with over 2.7 million followers and daily tweeting habit. Check out his live (and very lively) feed below to keep up with the action if (like us!) you’re not luck enough to be on the island tonight.

Alchemy Content provides a stream of fresh news content for erickmorillo.com and subliminalrecords.com including artist interviews and release/event news, as well as managing all associated social media profiles and campaigns.

With Erick playing 5 gigs a week across Europe throughout August, on top of hosting the likes of Diddy at his weekly home in Ibiza, there is plenty to talk about with his fast growing online community.

Subliminal Records is also back in a big way as a 100% digital concern, releasing monster tracks each and every week. Check out this amazing video for Erick’s ‘Live Your Life’ single for a taste of the output and the Subliminal parties around the world.

FeedWind

The package contains no less than 3 different remixes from X-Press 2 and has already been given full support by the trio in their sets and charts, plus picked up on by a wide range of international DJs since first emerging at Miami WMC back in March. For this key release, content assets include streams of the track, images and a doc containing interviews with Hakan and Rocky for press/bloggers to use for quotations or in their entirity. All supported across Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and beyond.

There’s plenty more to come from SOUNDZ and it’s legendary house music-focused sister label, Slip N Slide, over the coming months. As online streaming, Twitter and mobile all become increasingly central to the promotion of new tracks, the importance of a good content generation and management package becomes ever more obvious.

@buzzin_fly DJ Ben Watt posted what turned out to be the first online news of redundancies at the vitally important London venue. Within an hour there was plenty of RT action of his original post and the usual overexcited Twitter chatter confusing the issue. By the end of the afternoon things were getting fairly heated on the clubbing forums, forcing Ben to make a statement earlier today.

The one voice that everyone wanted/needed to hear remained deafeningly silent. In fact, as opposed to posting a statement on either their homepage news feed or blog, @fabriclondon contacted Ben and asked him to remove his earlier tweets. As anyone using Twitter (and indeed any web media tools) should really be aware, this is an utterly pointless exercise. It also fuels the gossipmongers no end.

There is still no mention of the rumours – which have of course now spread far beyond Twitter and the forums – on any of Fabric’s online profiles. This late reaction will do more damage to their reputation than gossip ever could. We questioned why it took so long for an official statement to go up on the Matter website last week, but with the venue’s closure and staff being given their marching orders, it was understandable that getting online was probably not the most pressing issue. It’s different this time though. The Fabric blog is still being updated with info about this weekend’s parties, so the wall of silence makes the situation seem dire, when clearly every effort will be being put into making sure the club continues to open as usual, if this is possible.

During times of internal turbulence, no company really wants to have to stand up in front of the public and make a statement until the dust at least begins to settle. But it’s an absolute necessity these days. And it can be done quite effectively in 140 characters. A chatty “will clear up all rumours shortly, open as usual” would have been good. Instead there is confusion leading up to one of the most lucrative holiday weekends in the clubbing year, inflicting both short and long-term damage to the club and it’s fantastic international brand.

It serves as a stark example of how even the most apparently slick, youthful media operations – that are fully blogged, Twittered and Facebooked up – are still a long way off having the digital strategy required to react properly to today’s real time web.

It is not enough to simply be using all these tools, our entire approach towards communications needs to be rethought in order to cope with them. Adapting is proving difficult for most people aged over 25 and most companies with managers over 25, but this absolutely needs to be embraced.

Hopefully Fabric and the many observers of this incident will use it to improve their digital strategy in the ways we often advocate here. Long may the club continue.

All this week we’re out in Mayrhofen, Austria, producing a real-time stream of news content for the official Snowbombing festival iPhone app by Eristoff – Vodka from the Land of the Wolf.

If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch, download it for free while the event is taking place and let us know what you think. You’ll find news, gossip and interviews direct from the week-long festival, which sees artists like The Enemy, Editors, 2ManyDJs, De La Soul, Fatboy Slim, Vitalic, Doves and Friendly Fires playing to 6000 fancy dressed loons high up the Tyrolean alps.

Live Feeds

The app makes use of Alchemy Content’s specialist experience of developing and running mobile applications that go beyond the gimmicks; providing a useful, always up-to-date information service that’s constantly available in a user’s pocket.

Live feeds of high-quality custom content give people a reason to refer to the branded application repeatedly throughout their time at the event. For Snowbombing, we’ve devised an additional Eristoff Secrets feed, offering exclusive calls to action on things like VIP party access, ticket competitions and insider tips for getting the most from the resort.

Intense Usage

Mobile apps based around intense periods of usage, like major events or holiday locations work particularly well, so the Eristoff Snowbombing app is an ideal use of the technology and Alchemy Content’s editorial and project management services. See our Clubber’s Guide to Ibiza app for more.

GPS maps pinpointing and recommending local businesses, a fully searchable events schedule including artist profiles, plus user generated community feeds from YouTube, Flickr and Twitter all add to the application being an essential download for anyone – whether out at Snowbombing or not – with an interest in the artists or wanting an interactive guide to the best of Mayrhofen’s après ski.

Download the Eristoff Snowbombing app for iPhone or iPod Touch.

Electronic music’s most legendary mix CD series and its associated record label, Global Underground, has just completely relaunched its online presence, with Alchemy Content now providing regular editorial feeds and social media management for the brand.

GU was way ahead of the game in terms of building a passionate fan community on its site over a decade ago, but little much had changed about the basic site design over the years.
The brand new Globalunderground.co.uk has a completely fresh visual identity, a strong new Heritage section telling its history via those infamous City Series mix CDs, less intrusive but more comprehensive e-commerce for buying music and merchandise, plus new Tours, News and Forum sections to make the most of the strong community, rather than hiding it away as before.

The famously acerbic regulars on the GU forums have been quick to make their opinions felt, but the 2-way conversational approach of the new site is already paying dividends, opening up a real dialogue with the loyal fanbase to help provide the facilities they actually want. It’s a really exciting project that should see the label fully take advantage of today’s digital media tools to build upon its amazing international following.

Alchemy Content will be producing short regular magazine-style content and social media activity for GU, with the next big milestones being the return of the club residency at London’s Ministry of Sound on March 6th and the annual WMC party at Mynt in Miami on March 24th.

A key aim of all this ecleticism is to bring classical music to a younger audience by breaking away from some of the more stuffy conventions of such events. Therefore performers will join the audience for informal chats at the bar, everyone can bring drinks in to the main space and the music will be accompanied by striking visuals.

Having spent recent weeks working on the social media campaign for the series, and in the process interviewing many of the key artists, we’ve been inspired by the wide variety of creativity and enthusiasm there is towards removing these historical barriers.

From the passionate conductor Charles Hazelwood enthusing “saying someone who likes Drum & Bass won’t like Wagner or a fan opera of can’t appreciate R&B is bollocks” to Madonna’s favourite pianists the Labeque sisters speaking about creating their foundation to connect young people to classical piano music via graphics and videos, and composer Rolf Hind discussing his plans for balancing experiments in audience participation with the need not to appear patronising or gimmicky.

SUNNATA excerpt – Rolf Hind by AlchemyContent

These stars of the classical world are very keen to engage their music with a thoroughly contemporary audience, and judging by their approach, there is no reason why the crossover need be awkward or contrived. They are more in tune with today’s young audiences than many pop or obscure underground artists of the moment. And you’ll find them Twittering about it too…

Join the Reverb @ The Roundhouse Facebook Group for daily updates and links to some amazing examples of what’s in store. There’s also a group ticket discount and some events are free for under 26′s. For full program details plus info on the workshops and talks around the concerts, check the Roundhouse website.