The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is an annual international music event where up and coming producers, singers, arrangers, DJs and musicians get the opportunity to learn from top industry professionals.
Contrary to popular belief, the RBMA is not a 'DJ event’, despite having originated as such. It has since expanded to accommodate all genres and aspects of the musical spectrum.
Initiated in 1998 in Berlin and taking place in a different city every year since then, the Academy works as follows: applicants must prepare a demo CD of their work, be it original productions, songs, DJ sets and whatnot, along with completing an application questionnaire, and mail it to central RBMA offices in Cologne, Germany. From there, each application is taken in consideration, with no quota on country or musical genre. From these applications, 60 are selected and broken down into two groups of 30, which are then flown in to the location of the respective year's event for two fortnightly “terms” each.
For two weeks, the participants get to work in up to twelve studios specially set up for every edition of the RBMA, and equipped with the latest gear for music production and performance. Furthermore, they are tutored by the Academy’s "Studio Team", all experienced music producers in various fields, and take part in lectures executed by guest speakers which range from composers, sound engineers and technological pioneers, to rappers, to industry executives.
The RBMA also publishes a yearly double-CD compilation of music produced at the respective last edition entitled 'Various Assets – Not For Sale'. Since 2004, those compilations have featured original music from more than 300 artists, including Flying Lotus, Lusine, Theo Parrish, Aloe Blacc, Mark Pritchard, XXXchange, Om’Mas Keith of Sa-Ra, Tony Allen, Mr Hudson, Dennis Coffey, Hudson Mohawke, DJ Zinc, Wally Badarou, Benga, Phonte, Jake One, Steve Spacek of Spacek, and Natalia Lafourcade.
During its application phase, the RBMA hosts local workshop session in about 50 countries every year. These events resemble the actual Academy in consisting of couch conversations, hands-on production workshops, studio sessions, art exhibitions, and night time activities such as concerts and club events, but are usually open to the general public and have a strong focus on local topics as well as an international perspective.
The next edition is set to take place in Madrid in fall 2011. Initially the location was set to be Tokyo, but after the earthquake and tsunami hits in early 2011, the move was inevitable.
Also, the RBMA hosts stages and workshops at some of the most prominent music festivals, such as Sónar, Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, Melt!, St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Notting Hill Carnival, Oxegen, Meltdown, Monegros Desert Festival and the Winter Music Conference.
In 2005, the RBMA launched the Internet radio station Red Bull Music Academy Radio that broadcasts interviews, live recordings and DJ mixes from more than 50 countries, via a 24/7 live stream and on-demand. Red Bull Music Academy Radio is syndicated to terrestrial radio stations in over 30 countries.
| Year | No. | Host city |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 1 | Berlin, Germany |
| 1999 | 2 | Berlin, Germany |
| 2000 | 3 | Dublin, Ireland |
| 2001 | 4 | London, UK/ New York, USA |
| 2002 | 5 | São Paulo, Brazil |
| 2003 | 6 | Cape Town, South Africa |
| 2004 | 7 | Rome, Italy |
| 2005 | 8 | Seattle, USA |
| 2006 | 9 | Melbourne, Australia |
| 2007 | 10 | Toronto, Canada |
| 2008 | 11 | Barcelona, Spain |
| 2009 | 12 | Berlin, Germany |
| 2010 | 13 | London, UK |
| 2011 | 14 | Madrid, Spain |
The RBMA was co-founded by Many Ameri, Christopher Romberg and Torsten Schmidt, who run a consultancy company called Yadastar. In 1997, energy boosting beverage manufacturer Red Bull approached Yadastar about implementing some method of fostering discourse about underground dance culture.[1]