The schedule for this year's HDE features themes such as entrepreneurship, whether or not to work with agents, and the 'hard' view of the world.
The "Agency, Why?" panel will feature speakers from four leading agencies; Most Wanted DJ Agency, Make You Dance Bookings, Platinum Agency and Limitless, answering the biggest question of them all for any artist: "Why should I be represented by an agency and what are the pros and cons of somebody else negotiating and deciding what performances I'm going to do?” At the root such relationships are all about trust and connections, but if you can't trust people, and you don't have any insider connections, what should you do?
Entrepreneurship
HDE will be taking an in-depth look at entrepreneurs, asking what drives somebody to put so much effort into the (hard) dance industry, and offering advice as to how you should choose what to spend your time on and what opportunities are better left for others.
Hard Reports & Beatport insights
Hard Reports features the most prominent writers from the hard scene expressing their views and opinions of today's headline stories in words and images, with contributions from Cassi Catsaros (Alive at Night), Laurens van Beers (Hardnews.nl), Maziar Tarandakzadeh (Hardstyle Mag) and Bart Elzendoorn (DJ Mag NL). Beatport's Terry Weerasinghe will be explaining how Beatport is rapidly becoming the online platform for the worldwide electronic music community, what you can expect from its new features, and more importantly, how to connect with your target group through Beatport.
About HDE
HDE is the ADE conference that connects professionals involved in the harder styles of dance music and takes place at the Melkweg on Thursday October 15. HDE provides opportunities to make sense of the current state of hard dance and implement collective visions for the future. HDE is a collaboration of ADE, Art of Dance, b2s, Bass Events, Headliner Entertainment, Make You Dance Bookings, Most Wanted DJ Agency, Q-dance and XXlerator.
Tickets for HDE are available here (also accessible for 1- & 5-day conference ticket holders).
Photo credits: Willeke Machiels
Additional info: