Darude

Ville Virtanen (born 17 July 1975), better known by his stage name Darude /dəˈruːd/, is a Finnish electronic music producer and DJ from Eura, Hinnerjoki. He started making music in 1995 and released the platinum sellinghit single "Sandstorm" in late 1999. His debut studio album Before the Storm came out on September 5, 2000 and sold 800,000 copies worldwide, earning Darude three Finnish Grammy awards. It peaked at No. 1 on Finland's Official List and No. 6 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the United States. Darude's second album, Rush, reached No. 11 on the Billboard dance chart in 2003 and No. 4 on weekly album chart in Finland.

His third album Label This! came out in 2007. Though it didn't chart as high as his previous albums, Gawker praised the album's single "In the Darkness" as "a floating, gossamer piece of trance music...it's tightly composed, easy to dance to, and has a soaring, undeniable hook." In 2011 he co-founded the record label EnMass Music, through which he has released a number of mix compilations related to his radio show Salmiakki Sessions. After performing at festivals such as tenth anniversary of Tomorrowland in 2014 and Future Music Festival in 2015, he released his most recent album, Moments, on August 18, 2015, followed by a tour of the United States and Canada in September 2015. His music is characterised by its progressive/uplifting style.

Sandstorm (Darude composition)

"Sandstorm" is a musical composition by Finnish DJ Darude. It was released as the lead single from his debut studio album Before the Storm. It was initially released in Finland on 26 October 1999 by 16 Inch Records and it was eventually re-released in many other countries in 2000. The song was uploaded to MP3.com where it gained global recognition. It has also gained recognition for its usage in sports and popularity in internet meme culture. The song currently has over 33.7 million views on YouTube as of 24 January 2016. On 1 March 2010, over ten years after its original release, "Sandstorm" was certified Gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 500,000 copies.

Background

Darude first started making happy hardcore with a music tracker program on his computer, playing gigs as "Rudeboy". He then performed with Wille "Weirdness" Heikkilä as "Position 1", making light Eurodance tunes, and he paired with other DJs on other projects. In September–October 1999 as Darude he began collaborating with Jaakko "JS16" Salovaara, known as the producer of the Bomfunk MC's. "Sandstorm" was the first product of the collaboration, ready after about a week of work. JS16 signed Darude as the first artist on JS16's new label 16 Inch Records.

Dust storm

A dust storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, a process that moves soil from one place and deposits it in another.

Drylands around North Africa and the Arabian peninsula are the main terrestrial sources of airborne dust. Also with some contributions from Iran, Pakistan and India into the Arabian Sea, and China's significant storms deposit dust in the Pacific. It has been argued that recently, poor management of the Earth's drylands, such as neglecting the fallow system, are increasing dust storms size and frequency from desert margins and changing both the local and global climate, and also impacting local economies.

The term sandstorm is used most often in the context of desert sandstorms, especially in the Sahara Desert, or places where sand is a more prevalent soil type than dirt or rock, when, in addition to fine particles obscuring visibility, a considerable amount of larger sand particles are blown closer to the surface. The term dust storm is more likely to be used when finer particles are blown long distances, especially when the dust storm affects urban areas.

React (media franchise)

React (sometimes stylized in all caps as REACT) is a media franchise created by the Fine Brothers consisting of several online series centering on a group of individuals reacting to viral videos, trends, video games, film trailers, or music videos. The franchise was launched with the YouTube debut of Kids React in October 2010, and then grew to encompass four more series uploaded on the Fine Brothers' primary YouTube channel, a separate YouTube channel with various reaction-related content, as well as a television series titled React to That. In 2016, the duo announced React World, a program and channel in which they would license the format of their React shows to creators, which led to widespread negative reception from viewers and fellow content creators, as well as confusion about what their format is.

YouTube series

Episode counts are taken from the Fine Brothers' aggregate playlist of 419 videos, which includes special episodes such as their April Fool's "Cats React" special.

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group (WMG), also known as Warner Music, is an American major global record company headquartered in New York City. The largest American-owned music conglomerate worldwide, it is one of the 'big three' recording companies (the third largest in the global music industry). The company operates some of the largest and most successful recording labels in the world, including its flagship labels Warner Bros. Records, Parlophone Records and Atlantic Records. WMG also owns Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's largest music-publishing companies.

Formerly owned by Time Warner, the company was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange until May 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries, which was completed in July 2011. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs in excess of 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

History

1950s and 1960s

WMG's roots date back to the founding of Warner Bros. Records in 1958 as a division of Warner Bros. Pictures. The film company had no record label division at the time and one of its contracted actors, Tab Hunter, scored a hit song for Dot Records, which was a division of rival Paramount Pictures. In order to prevent any repetition of its actors recording for rival companies, and to also capitalize on the music business, Warner Bros. Records was created. In 1963, Warner purchased Reprise Records, which had been founded by Frank Sinatra three years earlier so that he could have more creative control over his recordings. With the Reprise acquisition, Warner gained the services of Mo Ostin, who would be mainly responsible for the success of Warner/Reprise.