dance music news: weekend notes

-Karlheinz Brandenburg, co-developer of the MP3 format, is throwing his weight behind European dance music retail site DJ Tunes, which apparently follows Beatport's lead in offering unrestricted files (a.k.a. DRM-free, unlike most iTunes tracks) for the DJ market. The site apparently also got some venture capital-type seed money in 2006. I'm not sure if they're doing anything that would make me switch from Beatport, so take the news for what it's worth.

-Los Angeles DJ Michael Smith (above) talks about how he transitioned from spinning down-tempo tunes at lounges to providing music for some of the top brands and retailers in the world. In the Q&A, he big-ups L.A. as the place to be (and far be it from me to disagree): "Having traveled to perform and work in top cultured cities from New York, London, and Tokyo, I can safely say that LA has the largest gathering of artists and the most productive pool across all media. You are seeing such interesting video art, electronic, and indie music, short films, and so much else now."

-The annual Together As One New Year's Eve rave has announced that its main draw is DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs winner Armin Van Buuren performing a nine-hour set. Deadmau5, Junior Sanchez, M.A.N.D.Y., Reza, Marcus Intalex, Ed Rush & Optical and more also perform.

-DJ Nic Fanciulli is back stateside in December for the following dates:

6th December Mansion, Miami
11th December Beta, Denver
12th December Ruby Skye, San Francisco
13th December Avalon, Los Angeles