As the freshly-designed ARIA Awards for 2012 edges closer, including the awards ceremony now being a week-long celebration of events, the launch of Australia’s first Electronic Music Conference has announced its first round of keynote speakers.

Collaborating with Sound Alliance, the ARIA presented EMC 2012 is the first of its kind in Australia and 30 sessions over 2 days will take place in Sydney on the 27 and 28 November, in the days before the 26th ARIA Awards night (which yesterday announced that Taylor Swift would be performing at the ceremony).

Speaking at the event will be none other than the highest earning DJ in the world, Tiësto, along with high profile electronic producer and one-half of Major Lazer, Diplo and Tommy Trash, reported The Music.

Joining them will be a slew of industry names, including Big Day Out boss Ken West (fresh from speaking at Brisbane’s BIGSOUND Conference) and CEO of the festival, Adam Zammit, among them.

The EMC 2012 is claiming to be the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, dedicated solely to the development and celebration of electronic music. ARIA CEO Dan Rosen, who will also be speaking at the conference, said that the Electronic Music Conference is part of shining “a week-long spotlight on our local industry and firmly put the last week in November on the global map as the definitive showcase of the Australian music industry to the rest of the world.”

ARIA Week officially kicks off on the last weekend of November, with events taking place each day in the lead up to the 26th ARIA Awards, which will be held on Thursday 29th November 2012 in Sydney.

No doubt there will be performances announced as part of the EMC and ARIA week, and the full schedule for the week-long celebrations will be released via the ARIA website tomorrow, while early bird tickets for EMC 2012 are available from their website now.

The first round of speakers at the EMC 2012 are:

Tiësto, artist (NL)
Diplo, artist (USA)
Patrick Moxley, Ultra Music (USA)
David Boyle, Senior Vice President of Insights, EMI Worldwide (UK)
Tommy Trash, artist (AUS)
Gary Richards, Hard Events (USA)
Ash Pournori, At Night Management (SWE)
Mike Brown, Director of International Market Development, Twitter (USA)
Steve Levy, BPM/Moonshine (USA)
Richie McNeill, Totem Onelove (AUS)
Neil Ackland, CEO, Sound Alliance/EMC, Founder (AUS)
Seth Combs, Chief Marketing Officer, Sol Republic (USA)
Dan Rosen, CEO, ARIA (AUS)
Dror Erez, Totem Onelove (AUS)
Ken West, Big Day Out (AUS)
Andy Vance, Brand Partnerships Manager – Music and Lifestyle, CUB (AUS)
John Wall, Fuzzy (AUS)
Sudeep Gohill, CEO, Droga5 (AUS)
Hamish Pinkham, Director, Rhythm Group (NZ)
John Curtin, Marketing Director, Totem Onelove (AUS)
Mark Poston, Chairman, EMI (AUS)
Brett Robinson, Future Entertainment (AUS)
Brandon Roque, Marquee Sydney (USA)
Grant Smillie, Neon Records (AUS)
Adam Zammit, CEO, Big Day Out (AUS)
Bev Malcolm, EMI (AUS)
Tim Duggan, Content Director, Sound Alliance (AUS)
Jason Ayoubi, Future Entertainment (AUS)
Rukes, photographer (USA)
Tim Hardaker, Partnerships Director, Sound Alliance (AUS)
Scott Horscroft, Vice President of A&R, EMI (AUS)
John Course, Vicious Recordings (AUS)
Jack Tregoning, Editor, inthemix (AUS)
Ben Suthers, Big Day Out (AUS)
Jane Slingo, Young Strangers (AUS)
Anthony Colombi, Global PR Pool (AUS)
Andrew Jackson, Manager, Milton Archer (AUS)
Dayna Young, Archery Club (AUS)

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine