Beatport has teamed up with Microsoft Surface, the innovative laptop and 2-in-1 brand, to connect and empower musicians globally with the latest technology products and services.

To celebrate this partnership, Beatport and Surface launched Originals². This groundbreaking campaign includes continent-spanning collaborations and educational events with world-famous DJs and newcomers to fuel the originality of the next generation of musicians. 

The Originals² partnership kicked off on December 2nd with the launch of the new Beatport DJ app feature ‘Party Mode,’ and brought Jamie Jones at Art Basel in Miami and Loco Dice in Berlin together to demonstrate the new feature and perform the world’s first remote back-to-back set on Microsoft Surface.

Miami’s event with Jamie Jones took place at the 1 Hotel Beach Club in Miami Beach while the synchronous Berlin performance with Loco Dice took over the city’s revered Watergate nightclub to highlight the futuristic and underground German scene. The juxtaposing locations were brought together to viewers online through the virtual back and forth between two dance floor titans who embody the ethos of the Surface brand narrative, “Original by design.”

With sunny South Beach’s Art Basel event in full swing and the night coming alive in Berlin, this trans-Atlantic music exchange began with opening sets from Space Miami resident Layla Benitez in Florida and Afro house artist JAMIIE in Germany. While the Berlin event was held in private due to current COVID restrictions, the 1 Hotel Beach Club — complete with beautiful ocean views on the sandy strip and a stunning statue from Daniel Popper on display — was packed with eager dance floor patrons. Following JAMIIE’s set, Loco Dice warmed things up ahead of the b2b in Berlin with a solo Traktor demonstration using Microsoft Surface.

Each performance was simultaneously cast to the other location, allowing those in attendance to put on headphones and instantly transport themselves to Berlin and giving our Watergate performers a chance to enjoy the Miami crowd in real-time as they played their sets.

As the sun began to dip behind the horizon in Miami, the main event blasted off with Jamie Jones and Loco Dice seamlessly using Microsoft Surface and Beatport’s new Party Mode feature to perform a thrilling one hour, b2b split-screen set. After the b2b, the party kept jumping with a solo set from Jamie Jones while Kristian Velvet took to the decks to close out Berlin. You can relive the event below!

The Originals² launch event marks the debut of Beatport’s DJ Party Mode feature. Seamlessly integrated into Beatport’s DJ web app streaming platform, Beatport DJ’s Party Mode enables up to four DJs to collaborate on real-time sets from different locations. Beatport’s Party Mode feature will be available to the public in early 2022.

On December 14th and 15th, the partnership will be bringing both Jamie Jones and Loco Dice back for the launch of its inaugural Originals² Academy, a two-day educational event for select creators — simultaneously hosted in Miami and Berlin’s top recording studios, linked via Microsoft Teams. 

The Originals² Academy is designed to empower the next generation of DJs, and much of the program will be hosted online and streamed for a live audience. The Academy will be powered by the new Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio and Surface Pro 8, enabling Beatport’s select creators to experience the latest technology innovations from both Surface and Beatport. In addition, there will be a second Originals² Academy in 2022, which will center around a remix competition, sourcing the best of the best in emerging talent from around the world.

To find out more about Microsoft Surface, visit the official Microsoft website.