Electronic Music and its Top Conference in Miami

The Miami Winter Music Conference (WMC) is a fascinating window into the U.S. dance and electronic music culture, and perhaps the leading indicator for that market. 45,000 attend from WMC’s mailing list of about 150,000—a huge audience whose hope is to rub shoulders with the worlds leading DJs, producers, and industry executives in Miami’s sunny South beach.

This annual weeklong event in March has been running strong since the mid-eighties. Given the audience of WMC, every year hundreds of artists get a chance to showcase their skills, collaborate with other acts, and debut their newest releases while playing at various parties and events around the city. Interestingly, the conference appeals to established as well as lesser-known acts. WMC secures a major international draw, with about one out of every three attendees flying in from outside the U.S.

The event is considered a Mecca for clubbers. Most of the festivities are held around South Beach and downtown Miami allowing the cities leading venues such as Cameo, Mansion, Mynt, and Space to host a plethora of parties, special events, and live appearances. In recent years, many hotels have begun to take advantage of an increased demand for parties and showcases, and have made themselves available for bookings. More than 80 venues are used for various events and affairs.

Around 35 seminars and workshops are geared towards covering all aspects of electronic music development and its surrounding sub-culture. Industry professionals discuss everything from new business models, marketing strategies, and artist development to the most innovative equipment and contemporary production practices.

Due to the magnitude of the conference, over 700 journalists from leading international publications are invited to cover the event. Furthermore, the conference boasts over 400 happenings to choose from, culminating with the Ultra Music Festival.

The Ultra Music Festival is outdoors. This two-day event (although it was a 1-day event until 2007) takes place across 12 different stages featuring over 200 artists, DJs, producers, and promoters. It began in the late nineties at local beach properties. The number of attendees soon exceeded permissible limits, and it was subsequently moved to Bayfront Park. In 2005 the festival sold out for the first time in its history and was then moved to the adjacent Bicentenial Park in order to provide more room for attendees.

This years WMC proved to be somewhat of a paradox. Despite the fact that 2007 was possibly the most significant year for dance and electronic music in terms of mainstream international recognition, the streets of South Beach were not swarmed with loads of ravers as was expected. For every venue that was full there was one that was empty. Also, in previous years the city of Miami had been seemingly caught off guard by the influx of tourism that the conference would draw. This year, however, according to the Miami Herald many hotels and leading businesses reported little impact from the conference. Many of the conference’s best-selling events and parties seemed less like raves and more like casual social gatherings. At a seminar on the opportunities of digital music as a leading sales format, somebody from the audience asked a spokesperson for the WMC why he thought the conference had such a low attendance. He blamed the economy.

The Ultra Music Festival was another story. It set a record for the city of Miami in number of tickets sold for a single event. The festival, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, managed to bring today’s most on-demand acts and artists. It featured an impressive line-up with the likes of Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Justice, Eric Prydz, Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Underworld, Justice, MSTRKRFT, Digitalism and more. Ultra’s ability to acquire the most sought after talent and to promote their festival aggressively have certainly contributed to the festival’s current success and has led Ultra Music Festival to be the biggest and most attended outdoor concert of its kind.

The importance of the WMC within the electronic and dance music culture is undisputed. It is the world’s largest convention dedicated exclusively to the electronic music market and its popularity has grown to an international level since its conception. Nevertheless, during this year’s conference the city of Miami did not seem to have the attitude of a world-renowned weeklong celebration, but more so the one of a host left baffled with the low turnout of its party.

Yet, it is unlikely that the Winter Music Conference will dissipate or slip off the radar any time soon. Maybe it is time the convention takes on a new approach in the way it seeks out attendees. More than the state of the economy may be in question for the conference organizers, who have to explain the difference between the success of their numbers and the all time high figures of the Ultra Music Festival.