2015

2015 (MMXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2015th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 15th year of the 3rd millennium, the 15th year of the 21st century, and the 6th year of the 2010s decade.

2015 was designated as:

Events

January

Ultra Music

Ultra Music is an electronic music record label in North America, comprising Ultra Records, Ultra Music Publishing, and Empire Artist Management. The label was formed in New York City in 1995 by former Polygram and Virgin Records executive Patrick Moxey, who is the owner. As of January 23, 2013, Ultra merged its operations with Sony Music in a deal that brought all of Ultra's artists, music catalogs and licensing rights into the Sony fold in exchange for Sony's investment in Ultra and promoting Moxey (who will retain ownership) to the newly established role as president of Sony's Dance/Electronic Music division under CEO Doug Morris. As of January 2013, the label's physical releases are distributed by RED Distribution in the United States.

Ultra's roster includes, among others, Rosette, Axwell, Steve Aoki, David Guetta, Kaskade, Pitbull, Calvin Harris, The Bloody Beetroots, Wolfgang Gartner, Benny Benassi, Edward Maya, Headhunterz, Congorock, Rebecca & Fiona, TOKiMONSTA, Mt Eden, Adrian Lux, Mysto & Pizzi, Mayra Verónica, Inna, Fedde le Grand, Basshunter, Kerli, Margaret Berger, Alexandra Stan, Brass Knuckles, John de Sohn, Bynon, and Project 46. Ultra has featured releases from the aforementioned artists and many others such as The Crystal Method, Timo Maas, Sasha & John Digweed, 4 Strings, Panjabi MC, Despina Vandi, and Junkie XL. Ultra Music is No. 11 on YouTube for Most Viewed Channels of all time.

Ultra Music Festival

Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that occurs in March in the city of Miami, Florida, United States. The festival, which was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes, is named after the 1997 Depeche Mode album, Ultra. Ultra Music Festival coincides with the annual Winter Music Conference, which is also held in Miami.

Ultra is held in Downtown Miami in Bayfront Park. It was a one-day festival from 1999 to 2006, a two-day festival from 2007 to 2010, and was a three-day festival in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, a record 155,000 people attended the festival. In 2013, for the first time in festival history, UMF took place across two consecutive weekends. In 2014, the festival returned to a one-weekend format, taking place on Friday, March 28 through Sunday March 30th. Presale Tickets went on sale online May 21, 2013 selling out in a matter of seconds; standard priced tickets sold out on the last day before the event.

Other Ultra festivals are held in Ibiza, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina; São Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Seoul, South Korea; Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa; Split and Hvar, Croatia; Bangkok, Thailand and Tokyo, Japan. In December, 2013 Ultra Worldwide announced to first edition of the festival in Bogotá, Colombia to be held on February 20 & 21 2014. Most recently Ultra announced Road to Ultra Thailand and will be Held at Bitec Bangna convention center on September 26, 2014.

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending, performance art, and social activities. Many festivals are annual, or repeat at some other interval. Some, including many rock festivals, are held only once. Some festivals are organized as for-profit concerts and others are benefits for a specific cause. Another type of music festival is the educative type, organized annually in local communities, regionally or nationally, for the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and grades of achievement.

History

The Pythian Games at Delphi included musical performances, and may be one of the earliest festivals known. During the Middle Ages festivals were often held as competitions.

Another type of music festival is the educative type, organized annually in local communities, regionally or nationally, for the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and grades of achievement. While entrants perform prepared pieces in the presence of an audience which includes competitors, the essential feature of this type of festival is that each participant receives verbal and written feedback, there and then, from a highly qualified, professional adjudicator—someone whom they might never meet in any other way. They also usually receive a certificate, classified according to merit, and some may win trophies. The competitive element is often played down, however, as the important aspect is that participants can learn from one another. Such festivals aim to provide a friendly and supportive platform for musicians to share in the excitement of making music. For many they provide a bridge between lessons & examinations and performing confidently in public.

Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike

Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike are a Belgian DJ duo composed of brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios. They currently hold the #1 spot on DJ Magazine's annual Top 100 DJs poll.

Musical career

Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike began to make their first steps as DJ's at the ages of 14/15. In their early years they made several appearances in small clubs and was the resident BeatFM radio DJ. Dimitri then left Flanders in 1999 and began touring Europe. He lived in Mallorca and then in Halkidiki, Greece before moving to Ibiza in 2003, where he was a resident in major clubs such as Privilege and Space.

After living in Mallorca and on the Canary Islands, he settled in Zante, Greece where he was a resident of Amnesia and The End in 2006. In autumn 2006, Dimitri returned to Belgium to work with his brother, Like Mike, and produced their first release "La Cocaina (Eivissa 2007)". His remix of "Work That Body", 2008 caught the attention of Axwell, who entrusted them with a remix of "Rotterdam City of Love" by Abel Ramos for his label Axtone.