Late December 2015 - As our annual flight of party-goers yet again glided in for a landing at Cancun International Airport, we could already sense that the 2016 edition of The BPM Festival was going to be different and exciting. Gazing out of the window and over the tarmac to the airport control tower, we caught our first sights of the Bud Light logo, the festival’s newest corporate sponsor. The new sponsor signaled an anxious anticipation of change, and a hope for continuation of the excellent festival execution for which The BPM Festival is deservedly famous. As attendees of BPM for almost every year running, we were eager to see what revelry the new beer partnership would help spawn.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

As we have noted in one of our in previous pieces, we believe that The BPM Festival is at the forefront of delivering and organically growing a festival model that is economically sustainable in the long haul. Year in and year out at BPM, smart decisions, precise planning and forward thinking lead to a consistently unforgettable festival experience, and we expected this year to be no different. As we would later ascertain, we vastly underestimated 2016’s additions.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

At TT, we feel obliged to pay appropriate homage to the unique urban layout of the festival. Couple this with the sizzling hedonism of Playa del Carmen, global reputation of BPM’s stellar musical programming, careful line-up arrangement and vast array of exotic venues, you behold some of the most valuable assets of the festival. As BPM ages and grows, the various attributes of the festival continue to seamlessly adapt to the needs of the ever expanding and diversifying customer base.

This diverse customer base and ever evolving partnership selection is a direct result of what some consider the corporatization of electronic music. Most notable over the past decade, the phenomenon has sparked controversial debates across every aspect of the industry. The purists will tell you that real DJs only spin vinyl, the “progressives” will tell you that a SL-1200 is the newest luxury car model and then there’s everyone in-between. Regardless of which camp you’re in, everyone does share the common love for a great party, and every January many of us gather together in the sunny beach town of Playa del Carmen, Mexico for The BPM Festival. Though it may seem as if we’re mentioning “corporatization” as an unfavorable extension of the world that we know and love, our conclusion is that it doesn’t have to be. The BPM Festival is a perfect illustration of mindful growth, and careful direction of the way the influences of corporatization are felt on the dance floor.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

Evolution excitingly ensures diversity, variation and subsequent adaptation. The slow and entrenched will die out, as the agile and adaptable will survive and flourish. These principles work no differently in the electronic music world. Main stage artists who were compensated unfathomable amounts two years ago are long gone, and events that seemed revolutionary at the time of their inception have faded. As Techno Tourists, we have had the privilege of experiencing some of the world’s most fascinating events, but will only continuously return to those that tickle our neurons in just the right way. BPM gives us this particular satisfaction, for 10 straight days, every single year. In the past, we have explored the incredible parties of BPM (1) (2) (3), the pristine location and the remarkable festival experience. This year’s edition of BPM brought Techno Tourist’s experience to the next level, as they exhibited their propensity to dominate the festival kingdom.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

Mamita’s, a popular BPM venue, was not on the menu for 2016. Martina and WahWah were more than adequate replacements, and a change of scenery from previous years was both refreshing and reviving. Our usual favorite venues Canibal Royal, La Santanera and Blue Parrot maintained their status as such, and the Apollonia party on the Thompson hotel rooftop was nothing short of ridiculous.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

Shortly after the 10 days of debauchery began, buzz began to spread throughout Playa of the annual, unique treat, which BPM had prepared. This year, it was The Jungle. A short 250-peso cab ride (if you had an honest cab driver) from the town center, this expansive complex hosted a massive “typical” festival tent, with preposterous lighting/visuals and absolutely absurd sound. Excellent selection of food trucks, check. Side stage with mainstage vibe, check. Highly organized cab system for safe return voyage to the center of Playa, check. The Jungle was full of party animals, and party they did.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

Why mention corporatization earlier? We will rarely, if ever, mention a non-TT partner by name, but BPM and their sponsors deserve a shout-out. The Jungle exhibited a prime example of corporatization done right, as each alcohol sponsor provided a unique lounge for partiers to relax when taking intermittent breaks from wild dancing and general revelry. Rather than generating the blatant, in your face adverting spam that festivalgoers are used to, each brand created an enticing oasis you couldn’t even stop yourself from desiring to explore.

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

In our hearts, BPM is and always will be the most prominent underground festival globally. As any event grows though, it is understandable that they must take on larger corporate sponsors in order to sustain that growth. Kudos to The BPM Festival for doing this artfully, in a way that could tingle tastes across the spectrum, while remaining in its essence, one magical journey for all.

We look forward to next year’s BPM, when we celebrate the festival’s 10^th anniversary.

For apartments, hotels and villas, e-mail us: info@thetechnotourist.net

#tripwithus

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com

The holidays have passed, New Years is just a (pretty blurry) memory and everyone is FOMOing about BPM. Just another January in the life of The Techno Tourist. As BPM connoisseurs, our experience shows that arriving in Mexico a bit before our customers to evaluate any changes from the previous year is a must. So, after a few beers at Club De La Cerveca (well, maybe more than a few), a stroll down 5^th and some foraging into the lesser known parts of Playa, we can confidently conclude that this year’s BPM is going to be the first “do not miss” event of 2016.

With the advent of EDM and corporatization of electronic music, the scene that all of us lifers know and love has undergone dramatic change, on a macro level, over the course of the preceding years. Mergers, acquisitions and corporate takeovers have all been foreign terms to the club scene until of late. Subsequent pieces, which we will be publishing in the coming months, will further explore this phenomenon and the impact that it has had on our clubland, but for the time being, the focus is on BPM.

Our goal at The Techno Tourist is to work with, and partner with, festivals and events, which we deem to be sustainable for the long term, and which introduce new elements of intrigue and mystique along the way. An ongoing strategic analysis of the festival environment during our tenure, has constantly resulted in The BPM Festival topping our list of prime candidates which have created a sustainable business model which will last for years to come. At the same time, the festival has established the perfect balance of returning substantial value to their festivalgoers, while managing to keep prices in check for the experience provided. To someone who hasn’t graduated with a degree in finance or economics, this may make your head spin, but in layman’s terms: BPM rocks in every single way.

We touched on these general concepts in BPM: Every Techno Tourist’s January Sanctuary, but the formalization of BPM 2016 has further cemented the idea that BPM is here for the long haul. As exhibited by their incursion on the areas surrounding Playa in 2016, BPM means business, and their goal is to provide the best festivalgoer experience up and down the Yucatan Peninsula, not just within the confines of the original urban festival grounds. The exclusion of Mamita’s this year already seems to be a positive from our on the ground intelligence gathering. Word on the street (the literal streets of Playa) is that their “festival” aka: DJ Fest was a more like DJ Flop, and partygoers are eager to experience a professionally engineered festival atmosphere, better known as The BPM Festival. We look forward to seeing all of you Techno Tourists in Playa any day now, and are confident that BPM 2016 will be your most memorable BPM ever.

The BPM Festival 2016
Phase 2 Artist Lineup, Showcases & Venues

January 8-17, 2016
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
#BPM2016

3, 7 and 10-day festival passes, and single event tickets are currently on sale at:  www.TheBPMFestival.com

The BPM Festival is excited to announce the Phase 2 artist lineup, with 247 artists added, plus new showcases and venues for its 2016 edition taking place January 8-17, 2016 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The BPM Festival is excited to host parties at select new venues for 2016. The BPM Festival’s incredible new venue The Jungle will provide extended afternoon till dawn parties where fans can expect a festival within a festival; complete with multiple stages, palapa, intimate lounges, an adjacent cenote and a food court featuring local food concession partners.

For the first time, Day parties will be hosted at the open-air Wah Wah Beach Bar and brand new Martina Beach Club, with Day parties returning to the scenic Canibal Royal — all located right along beautiful stretches of white sandy beaches and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Parties will also take place at the new Coralina Daylight Club in the Grand Hyatt hotel.

New for 2016, Night parties will take place Salsanera, a brand new two-room venue built for dancing all night long, and also return to two floors at La Santanera, in its open-air terrace and main room Club. Both clubs will each host two parties for the price of one. Intimate local favorite La Mezcalina will also feature a number of events. Night and select day parties will be returning to Blue Parrot, with its spacious design featuring a pool overlooking the Mayan Riviera, along with an open air restaurant, and top notch sound system. Meanwhile, Tribeca will continue to host a series of free parties showcasing up and coming talent.

Sonic Lab Audio is returning to The BPM Festival with two tractor trailers full of sound equipment heading south from the U.S. to sound engineer all the events, including a permanent installation at Blue Parrot featuring a full D&B sound system. The team led by industry veteran George Stavro, is a globally recognized, professional audio company that specializes in large scale audio production, system design, installation, and design consulting.  For more info, please go to soniclabaudio.com.

Check out The BPM Festival’s new website featuring breaking BPM news, exclusive artist podcasts, single event announcements, and more.

Follow The BPM Festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for announcements on pop-up parties, special guest performances, set-times and more.

Be sure to also follow us,  The Techno Tourist for continuous live updates from the festival: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

If you haven’t booked you hotel or apartment, contact us immediately: info@thetechnotourist.net

The BPM Festival 2016
Phase 1 Artist Lineup & Showcases

January 8-17, 2016
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
#BPM2016

Announcing phase one of its artist and showcase lineup, The BPM Festival is excited to reveal the first names for its 2016 edition. Taking place January 8-17, 2016 along Mexico’s colorful Yucatán Peninsula, The BPM Festival creates an unmatched festival experience for underground dance music enthusiasts in the tropical paradise of Playa Del Carmen.

Presenting an all-encompassing roster of today’s leading artists together with the brightest emerging stars of tomorrow, The BPM Festival plays host to showcases from top record labels and underground party brands. With more than 375 artists performing at last year’s edition, The BPM Festival continues to demonstrate its prominence amidst the global festival circuit with its endless musical programming across ten days of day and night events across multiple venues.

If you haven’t booked you apartment or hotel yet (villas are gone), please contact us today: info@thetechnotourist.net

Sometimes, our market research is quite the pleasure. Other times, it is outright amazing. In 2011, the year we started The Techno Tourist, we made our virgin journey to Detroit after years of ranting and raving on the part of our friends. Rumor had it that here was a festival somewhere in the mid-west that held that golden combination of vibe and production quality firmly in its grasp. Like any good Techno Tourist, we immediately began making plans for our first trip to the D. Fast forward through sunrise ruckus at Old Miami, spacewalks on the plaza and general debauchery on various boats and we suddenly find ourselves in 2015, marking TT’s fifth consecutive year at Movement.

Much has transpired in the D since our first visit, but to our boundless pleasure much remains the same: The official declaration of Detroit Techno Week by the Mayor immediately rockets the vibe straight to stratospheric status; the transformation of all Detroit vehicles to mobile electronic music broadcasting units, permeating the city space with sexy grooves at obscene decibels; and the annual metamorphoses of Hart Plaza into a temple of music, drawing in pilgrims from the entire world for a week-long congregation of worship, movement and transcendence. If you think this already sounds outrageous, you’re right, and it’s great.

Photo: Douglas Wojciechowski

Like every year, one is filled with awe when roaming around the birthplace of techno, where its roots grip the earth. From whence great branches stretch all across the globe, dropping bombshell tracks like luscious fruits on eager listeners. And where each Memorial Day Weekend, you’re invited to see where it was conceived, birthed, grew up, how it became itself, and where it likes to hang. Whenever you’re in Detroit for Movement, it’s as if you’re techno’s house guest for the weekend.

The Detroit aesthetic is rare and raw. A glorious mix of new and old that draws aesthetic parallels to Berlin, and in turn causes a very interesting development of cross-continental music industry projects. The electronic music scene feeds on city development flux, and it is no accident that its global strongholds are all previous bastions of industry and manufacture. No one can accuse Detroit of being short of a party friendly landscape and demeanor.

Being an urban festival, Movement also offers the excellent luxury of access to the full cityscape with all its metropolitan delights. Since our first visit to the Motor City, it has been a pleasure to observe the flow of investment capital into local industry, with venues and restaurants in particular continuing to surprise us year after year. The spirit of reinvention and entrepreneurship pulses through the city, constantly changing the manifestation of what is Detroit; it generates new possibilities for artistic expression and popular amusement, enriches countless lives both inside and outside its boundaries, and broadens the experiential possibilities for Techno Tourists.

Photo: Douglas Wojciechowski

In contrast to most other urban set-ups (which are de-centralized), Movement uses the vast concrete expanse of Hart Plaza to execute a massive, multi-stage carnival of delights, all in one place. Set on prime waterfront property, with the GM Center and Detroit skyline as a backdrop, the festival remains one of the global leaders in innovation and implementation of event design, relentlessly delivering spectacular layouts and productions year after year.

At the end of the (very) long weekend, we headed home repeating the same thing we do every year – “that was the most fun we have had at Movement yet”. Like all first-class festivals, Movement is able to constantly integrate new elements with old, keeping the experience fresh for everyone. The compact design affords festivalgoers unrivaled hospitality access with all major Detroit hotels within close proximity. Interestingly, this design also causes a frequently comical concentration of festivalgoers in otherwise vanilla social situations. This year it was the turn of the USA Volleyball Open National Championship attendants and spectators to be introduced to our electronically oriented family, with ensuing hilarity reported regularly from elevators and hotel breakfasts across the general downtown area. Also, we had the opportunity to see many of our favorite artists in one of our favorite festival settings and party in a masonic temple. This was our biggest year in Detroit to date, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our customers, Movement Festival and our partners. We look forward to seeing you all next Memorial Day Weekend in the D, for Movement 2016.

E-mail us for Movement 2016 details: info@thetechnotourist.net

#tripwithus