On the eve of their 20th Anniversary, Ultra Music Festival has officially acquired the Winter Music Conference and International Dance Music Awards.
In a move to expand their reach beyond festivals and events that already span the globe, Ultra Music Festival has announced today that they have now brought the longstanding Winter Music Conference and International Dance Music Awards into their family.
The Winter Music Conference has been a fixture of Miami for over three decades, running for ten years prior to the birth of Ultra Music Festival, and has been renowned for its panels and networking over the years. While the conference’s future seemed uncertain this year, the longstanding meeting of the minds has gone off without a hitch as industry members converged in Miami for another edition.
“For over thirty years, WMC has been integral to Miami’s storied relationship with dance music. The conference was where some of the biggest deals in dance music history were made and we look forward to working with Bill to pair WMC and Ultra into one extravagant Miami Music Week.”
– Russell Faibisch, Ultra Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO
The acquisition of WMC by Ultra will effectively reboot the brand with an expansion and change to the format, while still remaining true to its original spirit by keeping Bill Kelly, WMC’s Co-Founder, involved in the decision making process.
“I’ve been astounded to watch Ultra grow from a small, local festival on Miami Beach into the largest festival brand in the world. Russell and I are lifelong dance music fans who both call Miami home and we thought it made a lot of sense to finally combine efforts.”
– Bill Kelly, Co-Founder Winter Music Conference
Along with the acquisition comes the well known IDMAs, which feature voters from over 200 countries and territories who look to give their favorite artists and brands the recognition they deserve. The awards show runs concurrently with the Winter Music Conference, further boosting Miami Music Week into a behemoth that goes beyond just the music.
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Part of the problem is the local bars, hotels, and restaurants triple their prices during WMC week. As soon as the dates are announced, hotels immediately change their prices to 200-500% more. While the EDM crowd usually has the funds to buy a villa at the Delano, most of the more underground music industry can’t afford to pay $2000 for 4 days in Miami. Any “reboot” should include packages at hotels, and an agreement that they won’t jack prices up so much. Even with only 30% occupancy, the hotels don’t learn their lesson. No matter how good the music, people don’t want to get gouged every year.
Unfortunately, we can’t say that this practice is a unique to Ultra problem. The same thing takes place all around the world, and sadly, the trend isn’t going away.
Personally, I don’t see WMC being at all like it was in the past. I see it still having a conference, but with Ultra’s money push behind it, it wont cater to the artist as much as the patron who wants more experiences — ala as a pass to events more so. I’m sure they’ll have some speakers, but will it really be the old-school gathering of the industry to spin up the machine and grow the talent base? If I look at Ultra as a brand, I don’t think they do that well, so I don’t see a big reason to have faith in the situation. Time will tell though.
It wont surprise me if they lump in some “festival event” to give out IDMAs at by any means.