Online Music Festivals: The Future Of EDM? – Forbes

David Moricca, CCO and Founder of Mixify

If you didn’t make it to this weekend’s Ultra Music Festival, don’t worry — you can now rave online. As Electronic Dance Music (EDM), continues to dominate concert lineups and award shows, Mixify is trying to translate the high quality audio and visuals of an EDM event to the Internet, by allowing artists to stream sets live and instant message with fans as they do so.
“The idea is that you’re in a virtual venue,” explained David Moricca, CEO and Founder of Mixify. “The artist can plug in their mixing board and live stream or do prerecorded mixes as well.”
Launched in November, Mixify incorporates the social aspects of sites like Turntable.fm by allowing fans to “hype” favorite parts of the mix and chat to DJs while they perform. Mixify also combats the poor audio quality and less-than-scintillating visual experience of video-streaming a DJ’s laptop set with the kind of personalized graphics one might see at concerts like Electric Zoo Festival.
“The artists love it because in a real, physical event they oftentimes don’t get that analytical experience where they’re hearing what the fans like in real-time,” said Moricca. “They also don’t get that personal connection.”
Moricca, a Harvard Law School grad and former McKinsey consultant, got his start in corporate entrepreneurship with Scholastic before forming BreakoutBand, an online music creation platform aimed at teens in 2011.
“What we found in months of going live with BreakoutBand was that the audience was trending away from hip-hop and pop music towards what has now been coined EDM.”
As well as livestreaming artists’ tour dates and one-off online concerts, Mixify hosts its own digital festivals, the most recent of which drew 70,000 virtual attendees from 143 different countries. RISE festival, held from February 12^th-14^th, boasted EDM hotshots such as Knife Party, R3hab, and Adrian Lux, all of whom saw four figure crowds log in during their sets. The numbers may be small compared to the 320,000-strong crowd at last year’s Electric Daisy Carnival, but Moricca feels Mixify offers something new for fans and artists.
“It’s not just about big DJs,” Moricca said. “The everyday DJ can start their own events whenever they want.”
Mixify functions on a “freemium” model for DJs, where setting up an event costs nothing but upgrading the experience with custom visuals or advertising units tallies in at between $9.99 and $29.99 a month.
“We’re seeing about 3-5% of our current DJs converting to premium,” said Moricca.
Mixify is not in competition with live concerts but rather, Moricca argues, a complement that builds an artist’s fan base. “We see ourselves as being a platform that could actually make money for artists and partners,” explained Moricca.
Soon, Mixify will be offering a “tip jar,” where DJs can sell physical and digital goods through the platform, as well as raise money for charity. Moricca also foresees users plugging their computers into TV screens, and live-streaming events as a party backdrop.

R3HAB’s set during RISE

The site currently hosts about 10,000 unique visitors a day, averaging 300,000 unique visitors a month – up 100,000 from the start of the year. While the U.S. is Mixify’s main market, it has also gained significant traction with EDM’s international audience – the top 10 countries in terms of audience include India, Australia and Brazil.
Mixify has already partnered with Disco Donnie Presents – an event imprint of Robert FX Sillerman, as well as Big Beat Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records whose roster includes six-time Grammy award-winner Skrillex.
With an undisclosed but healthy dose of angel funding in its back pocket, Mixify’s eight person team still has plenty of growing to do. It plans to expand its brand partnerships and invade mobile, with an app set for release this month.
So, is Moricca an EDM fan?
“I’ve got a three year old and a seven month old at home, so I’m listening to a lot of Elmo these days,” Moricca joked. “I do like trap, though.”

source