In 2010 INTHEMIX.COM.AU celebrates a milestone of epic proportions; their 10th anniversary. From auspicious beginnings tucked away in enigmatic founder djdrey’s bedroom to their current position as Australia’s leading resource and community destination for dance music, festivals and clubbing, inthemix has continued to grow in leaps and bounds.

This June WE LOVE SOUNDS and WINTER SOUND SYSTEM will help in marking the landmark occasion, with INTHEMIX 10 YEARS proudly presenting the main arena at all festival dates nationwide. “Considering some of dance music’s most exciting names are onboard inthemix’s partnership with We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System perfectly encapsulates the story of our decade in the scene, with past, present and future stars all represented,” said Tim Hardaker, General Manager of inthemix. “We’re really looking forward to working with two of Australia’s favorite winter festivals for such an important milestone.”

inthemix 10 Years at We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System also coincides with the relaunch of the inthemix website. “We’ve got a brand new site that we can’t wait for everyone to see,” Tim continued. “It features a range of fresh social networking functions and tools in addition to the tried and tested areas of the site that everyone already knows and loves. We’ve also updated the site design, look and feel, and given our ‘headphone man’ logo a facelift for 2010. It’s a really exciting time for inthemix!”

Topping the bill in the inthemix 10 Years main arena; certified dance titans UNDERWORLD (excl. Brisbane). Having clocked up more than two decades in existence, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith are veterans of live electronica performance, and they serve up a perfectly synced audio-visual show like no other. Underworld live is the closest thing to a religious experience for hardened dance fans, with a litany of seminal classics in their arsenal, including ‘Born Slippy’, ‘Cowgirl’ and ‘Two Months Off’, while newer cuts ‘Holding The Moth’ and ‘Downpipe’ prove their finger remains firmly on the pulse.

There could be no better personification of the ‘sound of now’ than Italian upstarts CROOKERS, who have set the dance world alight with their inimitable approach to production in recent times. Armed with a swag of new music thanks to their appropriately titled debut album ‘Tons Of Friends’ – it features Soulwax, Kelis, will.i.am, Roisin Murphy, Miike Snow, Spank Rock, Major Lazer, Kid Cudi and more – their main arena performance will see the dancefloor heaving!

Unquestionably one of house music’s most essential artists, the inthemix 10 Years main arena will also play host to frequently flying Dutchman LAIDBACK LUKE. Regarded as the unofficial fourth member of the Swedish House Mafia, his collaboration with the Swedes – ‘Leave The World Behind’ – was one of 2009’s biggest sellers on Beatport. Luke toured with rapturous applause for We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System in 2009, so it’s little surprise he has been invited back for a second time.

Many more international and local stars are still to be announced for the inthemix 10 Years main arena at We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System festival shows nationwide, so be sure to check INTHEMIX.COM.AU/10YEARS for updates over the coming weeks.

INTHEMIX MEDIA REQUESTS – tim@team.inthemix.com.au

WE LOVE SOUNDS MEDIA REQUESTS – clareb@splendidcomms.com

WINTER SOUND SYSTEM MEDIA REQUESTS – ed@futureentertainment.com.au

TICKETS FOR ALL WE LOVE SOUNDS AND WINTER SOUND SYSTEM SHOWS ARE ONSALE NOW FROM INTHEMIX, TICKETMASTER, TICKETEK AND LOCAL OUTLETS. FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT INTHEMIX.COM.AU/10YEARS, WELOVESOUNDS.COM.AU AND WINTERSOUNDSYSTEM.COM.AU.

Ben Shepherd has been appointed as Commercial Director, effective 1^st March 2010; and Tim Duggan has been promoted to Group Marketing Director – responsible for the marketing efforts across the Sound Alliance media portfolio including inthemix.com.au, FasterLouder.com.au, SameSame.com.au, MessandNoise.com & Qjump.com.au effective immediately.

Shepherd, current National Digital Director for Maxus and a former Associate Director at Mindshare, as well the award winning author of industry blog Talking Digital (http://talkingdigital.wordpress.com), joins Sound Alliance on the eve of the group’s tenth anniversary. With solid strategic experience across clients within the FMCG, Auto, Technology and Tourism segments, Shepherd brings a unique perspective and skillset to the Sound Alliance business.

“Constantly evolving, diversifying and improving our commercial model has been at the core of our success, so adding Ben to our team will undoubtedly take our commercial offering to the next level, said Neil Ackland, Sound Alliance Managing Director.

“In an ultra competitive media market, investment in our team and their depth of knowledge and passion for the industry will ensure we continue to stand out from the competition. I’ve known Ben for six years and we have always shared a similar view of where the Australian digital media landscape should be heading.  Ben is undoubtedly one of Australian digital media’s thought leaders.  Having the opportunity to work with him and lead the way with Sound Alliance is very exciting,” continued Neil Ackland.

Ben Shepherd went onto add “Sound Alliance is an independent, credible and market-leading group of digital businesses that are truly unique. The combination of leading music, youth and lifestyle websites, a sophisticated ticketing platform and killer creative capabilities offers great potential for growth” said Shepherd. “I am really excited to be working within a group with such a strong creative and commercial platform and can’t wait to get started.

“Sound Alliance brings together two mandatories for a successful digital business – engaging, differentiated content and interesting, integrated and well executed communications ideas for advertisers. I really believe this is something Sound Alliance does better than anyone else and the opportunity to contribute to this is a compelling one,” said Ben Shepherd.

Queensland’s golden boy of trance Tydi has taken home the coveted #1 prize in the 2009 Sony inthemix50 awards for the second year in a row, with the overall results full of unexpected and exciting surprises from right around the country. Voting was up Australia-wide in the poll’s biggest year on record, with the inthemix50 embraced more than ever before by punters and the industry alike. 33,000 votes were cast, an increase of more than 50% on 2008’s final tally.

Tydi’s second consecutive win comes at the end of what has been a massive 12 months for the young DJ and producer. Touring relentlessly and playing some of our biggest events and festivals in Australia and beyond, Tydi proved simply too alluring for Australia’s dance fans. Melbourne’s Andy Murphy was the other big winner in this year’s poll, rocketing up 20 places to take the #2 spot overall, as well as the #1 place for Victoria. It was a reflection of Victoria having tallied more votes than New South Wales for the first time ever.

ACT high-rollers The Aston Shuffle increased their standing, moving up to third place on the national list, the highest ranking ever for a Canberra act. The national top 5 is rounded out by NSW top performer Ajax as well as Queensland’s Stafford Brothers. Sydney’s Bass Kleph had the biggest increase overall in the poll, moving up a hefty 26 spots. South Australia cracked the national top 10 for the first time ever, with electro upstarts Loot & Plunder shooting into #7, while Micah returned as the state favourite for Western Australia.

On the event side of things, the Future Entertainment were the clear winner, taking the prize in NSW (Future Music Festival), QLD (Summafieldayze), SA (Future Music Festival) and WA (Summadayze), while Melbourne’s NYE spectacular Sensation took the Victorian award in its first ever year on the scene. Canberra’s Foreshore was again the favourite event for the ACT. The Presets, no doubt Australia’s biggest dance outfit, won in the newly named Favourite Live Act/Producer category, while world #1 DJ Armin Van Buuren was voted Australia’s Favourite International Act.

FOR THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS HEAD TO WWW.INTHEMIX.COM.AU/50

For media enquiries please contact Tim Hardaker on 02 9282 4023 / 0403 257 437 / tim@team.inthemix.com.au

Qjump Exchange was developed following feedback from Splendour in the Grass organisers and fans on the need to offer flexibility for ticket holders unable to attend the event.    All Splendour in the Grass tickets issued by Qjump are subject to a range of measures to prevent scalping.  These measures include listing the ticket holder’s name and birth date on the ticket which is then matched against photo ID prior to entry.

Splendour in the Grass Event Producers Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco said: “Protecting genuine fans from scalpers is very important to us.  Given our strict security measures, we recognised there was a need to offer purchasers a way to resell their tickets if their plans changed.  Qjump has worked hard to develop QJump Exchange which is already proving be the perfect solution.”

According to Qjump Managing Director Stephanie Sulway, Qjump’s innovative ticket resale service makes for happy fans.

“We are thrilled to launch Qjump Exchange for Splendour in the Grass fans.  It’s great to be able to match ticket holders with buyers and give fans a second chance to secure tickets for an event that sold out in just over one hour.  With the ticket resale technology in place we can’t wait to offer this service to other event organisers and hopefully see the end of ticket scalping.”

Qjump Exchange allows purchasers of Qjump eTickets to securely offer their tickets for resale at face value.  People looking to purchase tickets for the event simply need to visit Qjump Exchange and purchase tickets as they are listed.

Once a ticket is re-purchased, the original ticket is cancelled and a new ticket is issued by Qjump with a new barcode and the new purchaser’s name and date of birth detailed.  The ticket seller then receives a refund, less administration and booking fees.

Qjump Exchange will be open for Splendour in the Grass ticket resales until Friday 17 July 2009.

Mess+Noise has increased its overall content budget and the amount it pays per article with the aim of attracting more of Australia’s leading music journalists, bloggers and photographers to contribute its online content.

According to Sound Alliance co-founder and Managing Director, Neil Ackland, the recruitment drive is part of Mess+Noise’s strategy to deliver content with a broader range of views and voices for the site’s rapidly growing community. The site is well-known for its probing think-pieces, long- and short-form reviews, insightful features, track-by-track album guides and ‘Icons’ profiles featuring interviews with underground luminaries.

“At a time when many music publishers are cutting back, Sound Alliance is bucking the trend and actively recruiting new contributors for Mess+Noise,” Ackland said. “The site is fast becoming the barometer of the alternative music community in Australia and we are focused on ensuring we offer content which is of the highest quality and the greatest influence.

“We hope the opportunity to write for Australia’s alternative music community, without the word count and style constraints of print media, will attract writers and photographers who might be traditional journalists by day but avid music bloggers by night.”

Mess+Noise’s stable of music contributors already includes leading Australian writers, performers and photographers such as: Chris Johnston, Andrew Ramadge, Dave Graney, Dom Alessio, Guy Blackman, Daniel Boud, Craig Mathieson, Shaun Prescott and Peter Ottery.

Acquired by Sound Alliance in October 2008, Mess+Noise has experienced a 68 percent increase in unique browsers in the seven months between November 2008 and May 2009* as a result of new content offerings.

*Source: Netratings, Market Intelligence

Digital Ministry June 22nd 2009

“Splendour in the Grass is one of the hottest festival tickets for Australian music fans.  The success of this year’s ticket sales is a terrific endorsement for the robustness of our technology and Qjump’s ability to ticket large-scale events,” said Stephanie Sulway, Managing Director of Qjump.

“This year we have made a significant investment in new technologies including upgrades to our customised ticketing system and the introduction of a number of measures to enhance the experience for ticket holders.  These include barcode scanning for faster entry, technology enabling the legal resale of tickets, and a virtual box office for ticket collection.

“Qjump is thrilled to continue our strong relationship with Splendour in the Grass and provide a superior ticketing experience for their customers, both during ticket sales and at the event,” Stephanie commented.

Splendour in the Grass 2009 will be held on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July.