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1) How did Dance51.com come about? I co-founded Dance51.com in the summer of 2001, wanting to create musical projects that excited me. I've been a big fan of electronic music since the late 1980's, and wanted to be able to spend my working time on something I am passionate about. 2) What is your background? I grew up in Montreal, and went to University just outside of Toronto. I moved to Vancouver in 1993, and started a multimedia design company called Communicate.com. The company began developing web sites in 1995, and by 2000 I had almost 60 employees and we were really busy. Of course the dot-com economy had a big impact, and I chose to leave the company (the company is still in business) towards the end of 2000. I took a year off before getting really busy with Dance51.com. 3) What exactly is Dance51.com? Dance51.com is a label focused on immersive entertainment. So in many ways, we act like a traditional record label, finding projects and working with musicians and artists, except that we like to use newer technologies such as DVDs and the Internet. We are even pushing the boundaries for audio CD, moving away from the old 10-song format, to more continuous listening experiences. Dance51.com is also quite different from traditional labels because we value the visual creative aspect as highly as the musical creative aspect; in fact, we decided to give our visual artists a portion of royalties the way that musicians always have. The last difference is that we feel the Internet is critical to our success, so we run an electronic music portal on our web site, and also sell directly to customers online. But of course, we also have good partnerships to make sure you can find Dance51.com releases in retail stores as well. 4) Why DVD, CD and the web? I think that very few people understand how revolutionary DVD and the Internet can be, and I want Dance51.com to be the first to produce truly integrated products. DVDs can contain so much information, with great-quality visuals, the 5.1 surround sound is amazing. Once you listen to 5.1 surround sound music, it's hard to listen to stereo again. And with the Internet, there's such an opportunity to create new mixes, and offer more content for fans that may be too difficult or expensive to distribute physically. So we are combining the high quality experience of DVDs, the convenience of CDs, and the bonus of free Internet content. 5) What do you think of the Internet? I love the Internet. I love the fact that through web sites and email, I'm able to build relationships and partnerships with people I have never met in person. For example, I have never met either of my distributors: DVD International in North America, 13 Bis Records in Europe. On top of that, I'm able to find music fans (and with Speed Tribe, racing fans), and work with them to help promote Dance51.com and our releases. I also like the fact that the Internet adds a different sales possibility for us, adding to our physical retail presence. I use the Internet so much, that on the rare day where my connection is down, I get depressed and just hang out waiting to get back online! 6) What do you think of home cinema? This is a great example of where in many ways creativity still has not caught up to technology, especially when it comes to music. DVD and surround sound should be more than just repurposing existing music videos or concert videos; that's what we're trying to do, come up with new ways to express audio/visual ideas. For example, Speed Tribe is in many ways considered a concept album. But in several years, I think many DVD music albums will follow Speed Tribe's lead, taking a strong theme or idea, and presenting it in a really interesting, cohesive way. 7) How did you hook up the team? I've known Rod for almost 14 years, and Sharon for about 4 years. Rod and I had been talking for several years about working on an audio/visual creative project together. When I actually had the chance to seriously look at this last year, Rod and Sharon were immediately on board, and Rod brought his relationship with Daniel and Patrick from Front 242 to the table. Once we all met, things just kept building momentum. 8) What's next for Dance51.com? Well, I have to focus a lot of my time and energy on the marketing and distribution of Speed Tribe, since I think it's a really strong title that will do really well for at least the next 2 years. However, we are also looking at our next release, which will also likely be the DVD/CD/Internet format, but perhaps a different subject matter from endurance racing. Keep an eye on Dance51.com for news of new albums! |