Coordinates: 51°29′52″N 0°5′57″W / 51.49778°N 0.09917°W / 51.49778; -0.09917

Ministry of Sound lights

Bar in Ministry of Sound

"Box" in Ministry of Sound

"Box" in Ministry of Sound

Ministry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, England and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010.^[1] The Ministry of Sound brand also includes various other products such as dance music compilations and clothing.

Ownership[link]

Ministry of Sound is owned by MSHK Group Limited, which has offices in London, Sydney and Berlin. The Chairman is James Palumbo, who is also the majority shareholder – a small minority share-holding having been sold to private equity house 3i in 2001 – the Chief Executive Officer is Lohan Presencer. MSHK Group has global sales of £80 million and employs up to 500 personnel worldwide. Its mission statement is: "to create the moments that people live for".^[2] The company also owns the Hed Kandi, Euphoria, and Hard2Beat brands, and co-owns Ministry of Sound Australia's Hussle Recordings, along with MoSA and Hussle's founder and MoSA's Managing Director/Founder DJ Tim McGee. MSHK Group though Ministry of Sound Australia also own Downright Records, etcetc and Astrx.

Ministry of Sound London[link]

Inspired by New York’s Paradise Garage, Ministry of Sound’s London nightclub was the brainchild of DJ Justin Berkmann, who set out to create London’s first club devoted to the American house music scenes of New York, Chicago and Detroit, with a room purely dedicated to sound. Berkmann stated: "My concept for Ministry was purely this: 100% sound system first, lights second, design third (in that order); the reverse of everyone else’s idea."^[3] Berkmann partnered with James Palumbo and Humphrey Waterhouse to bring the concept to life and a site, a disused bus garage, was located in Elephant & Castle in Southwark, London. The club opened on 21 September 1991.

With opening sets from American house DJs such as Larry Levan, David Morales, C+C Music Factory, Roger Sanchez and Tony Humphries, the UK’s first 24-hour dance license, and a 150dB(A) sound-system built by Austen Derek, Ministry of Sound London quickly grew in popularity as a clubbing venue, despite the lack of an alcohol license for the first three years and notoriously strict door policies.

Today, the club remains at the forefront of the global dance music scene, with DJs playing mix sets every Friday and Saturday night. Since April 2008,^[4] Fridays have been hosted by The Gallery, with sets from leading hard house and trance DJs. Saturdays are Ministry of Sound’s long-standing Saturday Sessions with house, electro and techno sets from popular DJs including Tiësto, Sasha, Erick Morillo, Pete Tong and David Guetta. Ministry of Sound London also hosts a range of other parties and events during the week and is available for private hire.^[5]

The club comprises five main areas; the Bar, the Baby Box, the VIP and the Loft and the Box, the latter housing the club’s primary sound-system, with a specially-built roof to contain sound and a sprung floor intended to enable clubbers to dance for many hours without tiring, inspired by the dancefloor at the Paradise Garage.

Southwark Council has a policy for the regeneration of the Elephant and Castle area. Ministry of Sound has run a campaign to prevent the residential development of sites near to it, citing concerns that noise complaints would endanger the club's future. In October 2011 Southwark council refused permission for a 41-storey tower designed by Allies and Morrison, but the following month the council approved a nearby proposal for a 22-storey tower by Panter Hudspith Architects which the club had also opposed. ^[6][7][8]. In 2012 the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, Overwhelming support for the preservation of the venue has come in from former London mayor Ken Livingstone^[9], liberal democrat mayoral candidate Brian Paddick^[10]and top DJ's around the globe including Armin Van Buuren, Example (Musician), Dave Seaman, Pete Tong, Wretch 32 and Calvin Harris^[11]. On the 12th of March 2012 current London mayor Boris Johnson will be holding a public hearing into his proposed plan to overturn the Southwark council's decision.^[12]

Record label[link]

Ministry of Sound has a global network of international labels including dedicated offices in Australia, Germany and the United States. Its record label was first established in 1995 with the release of The Annual, a compilation album of various dance music tracks mixed by UK DJs Boy George and Pete Tong. The Annual went on to sell over 160,000 copies and paved the way for a now-global label with over 50 million dance albums and singles sold to date, award winning music videos from artists like Eric Prydz and Benny Benassi and continuing sales of over 4 million copies per annum. Ministry of Sound remains an independent label, and continues to deliver albums and singles via its compilation brands including The Annual, Sessions, Clubber's Guide and Anthems. In January 2006, the company purchased record label Hed Kandi from The Guardian Media Group and plans to continue maintaining the brand.

Imprint label Data Records, created to house Ministry of Sound’s more commercial dance music single releases, has enjoyed a string of number 1, Top 5 and Top 10 hits across the globe since its inception in 1999. Recent releases include Eric Prydz's "Pjanoo" and Kid Cudi vs Crookers' "Day 'n' Nite", both of which hit the #2 spot in the UK Singles Chart.

Ministry of Sound Australia[link]

See Ministry of Sound Australia

Ministry of Sound America[link]

In 2008 Ministry of Sound launched its American operations after ending its relationship with Ultra Records. Its first release under the Ministry of Sound America imprint was Clubber's Guide America. In the same year, the company launched HARD2BEAT records with Basshunter's "Now You're Gone" as its first single and Bigtunes 2008 as its first compilation. Ministry of Sound won the Music Week Award for "Independent Record Company Label of the Year".^[13]

International activities[link]

In 2005 Ministry of Sound expanded its network of own-brand venues with nightclub franchises starting with the Ministry of Sound Egypt. The venue was opened by Marc Hughes, one of the leading London club's resident DJs, where he was joined by up to 2500 revelers all celebrating the New Year.^[14] Refurbishing the former Papas Beach Club venue, the Ministry of Sound Beach Club remains the only beach-side MoS outlet in the world to date, capable of hosting events for a capacity of 3000. The site is also open for day-time private beach use and offers an onsite restaurant as well. Within six months of the big opening night in Hurghada, Ministry took over Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at the huge open-air venue of Pacha Sharm El Sheikh.

Aside from this, Ministry of Sound run 600 international events per year which span across The UK, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe. Events range in size from intimate 500 capacity spaces to a yearly European Festival in Malta, which is 5000 capacity. Annually these events are attended by up to 600,000 clubbers.

Ministry of Sound runs a number of different touring sub-brands which comprise of main touring property MoS World Tour, and compilation branded tours: Addicted to Bass, Clubbers Guide, Dubstep, Housexy, R&B Anthems, Anthems II, Dance Nation. They also have residencies in many major European cities including Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Essen, Manheim, Tallinn and The Hague, as well as regular events in Brazil, Panama, Pakistan, Colombia, Dubai, Singapore, Japan, India, and Thailand.

Digital media[link]

Internet[link]

Ministry of Sound's official website is the main web portal for Ministry of Sound containing club listings and product information, as well as Ministry of Sound Radio. The Ministry of Sound online shop retails physical and digital music,^[15] Ministry own brand headphones, club artwork, clothing and a range of accessories. Local websites also exist for Ministry of Sound Australia, Germany and USA.

Ministry of Sound also has official pages on social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

Ministry of Sound Radio[link]

The Ministry of Sound Radio started as a syndicated programme in 1996, then graduated to an audio stream on the Ministry of Sound website in 1999. It was also broadcast as a DAB station via the Switch Digital consortium in 2000 and ran on FM via a Restricted Service License in October 2001.

In 2002, Ministry of Sound Radio reverted to an online audio stream and stopped broadcasting on DAB. It launched a new schedule in January 2009, featuring a mix of programming linked in to Ministry of Sound’s leading album brands such as Anthems, to specialist shows with DJ’s such as Mark Knight. It also produces several syndicated radio shows from its London studios that are broadcast on radio stations all over the world. There will be new syndicated programmes available for broadcast later in the year.

Mobile[link]

Ministry of Sound is the UK’s biggest independent label on mobile, selling content to many of the major operators and direct-to-consumer stores. There are Ministry of Sound branded channels on Vodafone, 3, O2 and T-Mobile and a Ministry of Sound direct-to-consumer WAP website.

Ministry of Sound also recently launched their first applications for the iPhone via Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store. The first of the applications, "iDrum", allows the user to create their own electronic drum patterns.

Branded products[link]

The Ministry of Sound name has been licensed for use on a range of lifestyle products including electronic goods sold by Alba (including MP3 players, home audio systems, DVD players, DAB radio players and in-car entertainment systems), mobile handsets, festival camping gear, vodka, clothing, luggage products and fragrance products.

Subsidiaries[link]

• Ministry of Sound Australia Pty Ltd
• Hussle Recordings
• Etcetc Records
• Downright Records
• Astrx (formerly known as Asterix)
• Hed Kandi
• Housexy
• Euphoria
• Hard2Beat
• Data Records

References[link]

Notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

External links[link]

• Ministry of Sound
• Interview With Ministry Of Sound 25/02/10- Hit The Floor Magazine
• Ministry of Sound Egypt
• Ministry of Sound tickets: Official outlet

Jonathan Mendelsohn is the director of general election resources for the British Labour Party.^[1] He had previously been a spokesman and lobbyist for the gambling company PartyGaming.^[2] He is the former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel.^[1]

With Neal Lawson and Ben Lucas, he founded LLM Communications in 1997, a lobbying firm with notable access to the new Labour Government.^[3][4]

He had written to controversial Labour donor David Abrahams claiming he was one of Labour's "strongest supporters".^[5] In 1998 he was caught on tape along with Derek Draper boasting to Greg Palast, an undercover reporter posing as a businessman, about how they could sell access to government ministers and create tax breaks for their clients^[6] in a scandal that was dubbed "Lobbygate".^[7] Draper denied the allegations.^[8] In the same incident Mendelsohn was approached by an undercover journalist posing as a representative of American energy companies who were seeking to ignore environmental laws. Despite LLM's claim that "we believe that there will be a new breed of 'ethical winners' who will demonstrate that businesses no longer operate in a moral vacuum",^[9] Mendelsohn went on to advise the reporter to rephrase their plans into language that sounded "Earth-Friendly" going on to say "Tony [Blair] is very anxious to be seen as green. Everything has to be couched in environmental language - even if it's slightly Orwellian."^[10]

He donated money to the Peter Hain Labour Party deputy leadership campaign.^[11]

According to the Daily Telegraph, "Mr Mendelsohn is steeped in the north London Jewish community. He is a close friend of Lord Levy, who was at the heart of Labour’s cash for peerages affair."^[1]

He is married with four children. His wife, Nicola, was formerly deputy chairman of the advertising agency Grey London, he is also known to be well respected within his community and is generally a very liked man .^[1]

References[link]

Porter Robinson
Performing in January 2012.
Background information
Birth name	Porter Robinson
Born	(1992-07-15) July 15, 1992 (age 19)
Origin	Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Genres	Complextro, Electro House, dubstep, Moombahton, trance, progressive house
Occupations	Producer, DJ, Musician
Years active	2010–present
Labels	OWSLA, Big Fish Recordings, Ministry Of Sound
Website	Porter Robinson Facebook Porter Robinson Twitter

Porter Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American electronic dance music producer and DJ from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He primarily produces in the electro house genre. He also named the genre complextro when he created the portmanteau to describe his own sound.^[1]

Biography[link]

Porter Robinson began producing at the age of 13 using Sony ACID Pro emulating sounds he heard from video games. He later began producing hands-up under the alias Ekowraith^[2] using FL Studio. It was at this time that Robinson became friends with a young Madeon, who was also producing hands-up under the name Deamon, and also using FL Studio.

Robinson primarily uses Lennard Digital Sylenth1, Native Instruments Massive, 3xOsc, Sytrus and several other commercial and free audio plugins.

He is currently 19 years old and recently graduated high school in his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.^[3][4]

Music career[link]

He has released a variety of original singles on Glamara Records and Big Fish Recordings. His first single, "Say My Name", was an enormous success, landing at #1 on Beatport's Electro House chart.^[5][6] In the summer of 2011 he signed with OWSLA, a new label operated by Skrillex, to release his first EP entitled Spitfire. Spitfire reached the number one spot on the iTunes Dance chart as well as the number one spot on Beatport's overall release chart.

Porter has been commissioned for official remixes by Lady Gaga (Interscope Records), Avicii (Ministry of Sound),^[7] Spencer & Hill (Bazooka Records)^[8] and Innerpartysystem (Red Bull Records).^[9]

Touring[link]

As a DJ, he has toured internationally^[10] and performed alongside artists including Deadmau5, Tiesto, David Guetta, Skrillex, Diplo, Madeon, Moby, Afrojack, Above & Beyond, Dada Life, A-Trak, Gareth Emery and many more.

He performed at many major music festivals during 2011 including Ultra Music Festival,^[11] Electric Daisy Carnival (3 cities),^[12] Electric Zoo,^[13] South by Southwest,^[14] Global Dance Festival, Virgin Mobile FreeFest, Beyond Wonderland,^[15] Electric Forest and Nocturnal Festival.^[16]

Throughout February 2011, he appeared on the Project Blue Book Tour with Skrillex and Tommy Lee & DJ Aero.^[17]

In June and July 2011, he performed as direct support to Skrillex on the OWSLA tour.^[18]

In August 2011 he toured throughout Australia and New Zealand.^{[citation needed]}

In September and October 2011, he performed as direct support to Tiesto on his College Invasion tour of the United States and Canada.^[19] Following this, Porter began a run of headline dates across clubs in North America as part of "The Spitfire Tour".^[20]

In 2012 he is announced to play festivals including Festival Imperial, Coachella, Future Music Festival, Ultra Music Festival, and Lollapalooza, and performed a live Essential Mix that was broadcasted from Hull City Hall, January 28 on BBC Radio 1 during his first trip to the UK. During the set, he played a new, unreleased track called "Language" which was later released on April 10.

Discography[link]

EPs[link]

• Spitfire (2011)

Singles[link]

• "Leaving" (2010)
• "Get Brain" (2010)
• "Say My Name" (2010)
• "I'm On Fire" (2010)
• "Hello" (with Lazy Rich and Sue Cho) (2010)
• "The Wildcat" (2010)
• "Language" (2012)

Remixes[link]

• Picco , "Venga" (2010)
• Heiko & Maiko, "Wer Ist Sie?" (2010)
• Spencer & Hill, "Less Go" (2010)
• Tim Berg, "Seek Bromance" (2010)
• Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup, "We No Speak Americano" (2010)
• Innerpartysystem, "American Trash" (2011)
• Lady Gaga, "The Edge of Glory" (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Porter Robinson Beatport
• Porter Robinson Soundcloud
• Porter Robinson Twitter
• Porter Robinson Facebook
• Porter Robinson OWSLA
• Interview with Porter Robinson Immediately following his first show ever
• Porter Robinson FL Studio Power User page

Brett Domino is the alter-ego of Youtube musician Rob J. Madin. As Brett Domino, he is a musician, internet celebrity and TV presenter from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his YouTube videos, in which he plays mostly covers and medleys of popular songs on the Stylophone and keytar - sometimes with his band, 'The Brett Domino Trio'. The band is notable in that its members (Brett Domino, Steven Peavis (Ste Anderson) and Mitch Hutchinson (Michael Denny)) all play exclusively keyboard instruments. In a number of recent videos, however, Brett and Steven have diversified to incorporate other instruments, such as ukulele, theremin, recorder, accordion, kalimba and Skoog. Brett and the band have been featured a number of times as part of BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show,^[1] and in 2009 the band appeared on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, performing live as the house band on two episodes of ITV2's sister show, Britain's Got More Talent, in the final week.^[2]

Brett's Youtube videos have received over 11,000,000 views. The Justin Timberlake Medley featuring Trabasacks was posted by Justin Timberlake on his Twitter page and official website.

Brett has also been featured on the websites of Lady Gaga and Ellie Goulding. Another musical alter-ego of Rob J Madin has recently surfaced on YouTube with the name 'Rocco La Bête'. The visual style and editing techniques are very similar to those of the Brett Domino videos.

On November 22, 2010, Brett Domino released a song called "Gillian McKeith", a humorous take on the celebrity during her time in the 10th series of the ITV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. The YouTube video has had over 1,000,000 views. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 29 on November 28, 2010.

On February 18, 2011, Brett played a specially written song on The Chris Moyles Show for Chris Moyles' Birthday

On June 10, 2011, Rob J Madin has recently surfaced on Youtube with the name 'C-Bomb', a 'cousin' of Brett Domino's. Here, playing in a style of Dubstep, unlike other Madin videos, 'C-Bomb' is not seen playing any instruments, but does dance, in a similar style to Brett Domino's Lady Gaga - Bad Romance. It also appears that 'C-Bomb' writes his own compositions, as seen with his Youtube video 'Irresistible'

He appeared on Blue Peter, the BBC children's programme on March 1st 2012, performing a humorous song detailing a short list for the best children's book of the last ten years.

Singles[link]

Albums[link]

Songs Off Youtube[link]

Release date: 1 March 2011

Track listing:

• Beat It (2011 Version)
• Justin Timberlake Medley
• I Feel for You
• We Speak No Americano
• 1980s Stylophone Medley
• Bad Romance
• Jurassic Park Theme
• Ellie Goulding Medley
• Hip-Hop Medley
• Nelly Furtado Medley
• Michael Jackson Medley
• Korn / 50 Cent / Tenna Marie Medley
• Now 75 Medley
• Party In the Park (Radio Aire) Medley
• William Tell Overture (Live)
• Track By Track Commentary

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website