WMC 2003

February 17, 2003 9:38 PM

The 2003 Winter Music Conference is now one month away. During the conference you will be able to attend the main conference, the 2003 DanceStar USA awards show, the huge ULTRA 5 Music Festival, and countless other parties during the week. Everyone influential having anything to do with dance music will be there for 5 days of endless pool parties, late night clubbing, networking, and general debauchery. If you need to know what will be going on, you should already be on the Miami Master List, the definitive guide.
posted by cmicali (12 comments total)

I get the impression that most MeFiers have little interest in dance music, but I know I will be there... anyone else going?
posted by cmicali at 9:40 PM on February 17, 2003

I have wanted to go to WMC ever since I got into dance music in the mid 1990s. I've never been, but have heard from those that go that it is either played out, too crowded, or too hard to get into the events one wants to. It's sort of like Comdex or CES- you go because you have to (for work) and often never get to the show floor. That said, I have dreamed about hearing Hybrid live at WMC, and would love to hear a DJ set from Tom Middleton or Omid "16b" Nourizadeh.

I think you'd be surprised at how many dance music aficionados are members/lurkers of MeFi.

I'll take this moment to plug Discogs.com, a very cool resource/DB for those of us who love electronic dance music. Here are my discogs.
posted by gen at 10:27 PM on February 17, 2003

Bah.. did WMC a couple times, press pass once.. got to meet a lot of nice people- and a lot of complete idiots.

The key thing about WMC is the parties that go on @ south beach and downtown because all the big djs are in town. but be prepared to spend a LOT of money to get in to these shows. be a big spender, mikey!

ULTRA is the Lollapalooza of techno. At least drug-addled Perry Ferrell stopped it for 5 or 6 years. These ULTRA guys should take a cue from that and the Zen festival (another, older yearly Florida party) that stopped years after it went to shit.

I'm not jaded, i swear....

if you're out and about in the Florida club scene a good resource is www.8up.com which right now is a webboard, but with club/party lists and current updates & discussions. it's been there since the mid-90s in one form or another.

Anyone ever see Rabbit in the Moon live? :)
posted by shadow45 at 10:37 PM on February 17, 2003

Never seen RitM live but I do have Delusions of Grandeur on both CD and vinyl and a vinyl copy of Out of Body Experience.
posted by gen at 11:02 PM on February 17, 2003

Wait, I'm confused. The site says March 18. Isn't tomorrow February 18th?

I'm probably misreading something with drastic effects, so please be patient.
posted by betheon at 11:27 PM on February 17, 2003

Wait, nevermind. I misread the post.
posted by betheon at 11:28 PM on February 17, 2003

Ahh.. can't wait!

I'm in Orlando so it's just a hop-skip-and-a-jump to this years Winter Music Conference.

See you all there!
posted by ZupanGOD at 1:49 AM on February 18, 2003

These days, WMC is about as relevant to dance music as the Ministry of Sound. You can draw your own conclusions from that...
posted by i_cola at 1:56 AM on February 18, 2003

I still thank my lucky stars that, during my four years of editing an electronic music magazine, I managed to avoid WMC. I think it would have made me loath the industry even more than I already do.
posted by arielmeadow at 9:34 AM on February 18, 2003

NAMM is much cooler.

Not that I've been to either, but given a choice... definitely NAMM. :)
posted by Foosnark at 9:49 AM on February 18, 2003

My alter ego Maxx Klaxon was actually invited to participate in an electro show at this year's WMC, but I am too busy working on new material to swing it. I'd love to go sometime, tho... I grew up in Miami and spent many nights on South Beach in the early to middle years of its revival.

I hear the WMC is often given to wretched excess, which is not so much my speed. But the concentration of talent makes for some good performances and DJ sets.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:49 AM on February 18, 2003

i_cola, the ministry of sound is the home of all things cheesy, dull and tired in dance music. the WMC covers the cheese, but there are always great things happening on the fringes. the deep house and broken beat jazz/2step garage scenes are quite well represented.

here's a good comprehensive event list accessible by wap-enabled cell phone.

and i'll go on record as a dance music obsessive MeFi member.
posted by erebora at 2:20 PM on February 18, 2003