Tiësto’s first-ever foray into developing budding new talent has been a smash success: the world’s biggest DJ and critically acclaimed producer has selected the winner of his first-ever remix contest, held this fall in conjunction with Beatport, the industry leader in electronic music downloads. The winning remix of “Knock You Out” featuring vocalist/keyboardist Emily Haines of electro-influenced indie rock band Metric was created by San Francisco-based DJ and remixer Ken Loi.
This is the first time ever that Tiësto has not only made his original music stems available to the public, but also given aspiring artists a chance for their own big break. As grand prize winner, Loi wins a $250 Beatport gift card, Tiësto merchandise, and prize packs from Ultra and [PIAS], but more importantly also receives the opportunity to have his remix released commercially by Ultra and [PIAS], scheduled for early 2010.
The contest was so successful that four additional remixes have been selected for release along with Loi’s, including remixes from Mexican electro producer/DJ Keemerah, San Jose’s 3BrosElectro, and Queens-based Mysto & Pizzi, and a downtempo remix by composer/producer Owen Westlake of South East England. Mysto & Pizzi are perhaps best known as the production team behind the remake of “Somebody’s Watching Me” as heard in several of Geico’s “Kash” TV commercials.
“We are so happy to have used Beatport as a platform to discover such exciting new talent, and Tiësto was the perfect partner for a remix contest. We can’t wait to give these remixes some broader exposure,” commented Beatport Vice President of Marketing, Shawn Sabo.
The contest launched concurrently with the exclusive release of “Knock You Out” on Beatport earlier this fall, giving remixers one week to download the stems and start working on their contest submissions (and sending the vocal part to #1 on Beatport). For two weeks starting October 6, contestants uploaded their remixes, in many different styles and genres, to www.beatportal.com/remix, where fans and other contestants listened to all the entries. The public voted for their favorite remixes for two weeks through November 3, 2009, narrowing the contestants down to 20 finalists, from which Tiësto, Ultra and [PIAS] selected the winner.
After a run of four top-selling electronic artist albums, Tiësto’s Kaleidoscope is an artist album in the truest sense: a stunning collection of songs written and recorded in collaboration with a variety of music talents from the worlds of dance, pop and rock: Jónsi Birgisson from Sigur Rós, Kele Okereke from Bloc Party, Nelly Furtado, Calvin Harris, and Emily Haines from Metric, to name a few. Having made the DJ performance an artform, Tiësto has now made the dance album an artform. The release of Kaleidoscope earlier this fall has been supported by a worldwide tour in 2009-2010, spanning five continents on over 175 dates.
The winning remixes of “Knock You Out” will be released commercially by Ultra/[PIAS] in early 2010 and will be available at Beatport, the Ultra Store (store.ultrarecords.com), and all other digital music retailers.
