Jon Martin
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Biografía
- A man of many talents… DJ, Label Exec, Digital Strategist and Party HostJon Martin is a respected DJ, event producer and strategic business consultant based in New York City. The child of two sociologists with deep roots in the Civil Rights movement and New York’s bohemian counterculture, Jon Martin grew up at the intersection of art, culture and grassroots political activism. In his mid-teens, he parlayed his passion for music into a street promotion gig, distributing flyers for clubs like Red Zone, Palladium and Tunnel while amassing a vast record collection and making slip-cue mixtapes for his high school friends. A few years later, working in a coat check job at Twilo, he established lifelong friendships with notable nightlife figures including Godfather of House Frankie Knuckles, who introduced him to a cadre of legendary nightlife figures including Nicky Siano, Tedd Patterson and Eric Kupper, and taught him the basics of mixing, controlling a system and working a dancefloor. Knuckles was also a tremendous musical influence, schooling Jon inside the DJ booth of his Sound Factory Bar residency, as well as in the recording studio. Martin quickly established several small weekly DJ residencies at downtown bars and lounges at which he would cut his teeth playing a broad spectrum of genres and styles. Through these gigs, and working as part of the production team behind local cable show GrooveTV and at now-defunct dance label Rampage Music, Jon began producing larger events at Times Square’s flagship arcade Barcode as well as clubs throughout Manhattan, including Ohm, Cheetah, Club New York, Centro-Fly and 667 Bar Gallery Lounge. Leaving Rampage for a coveted Digital Content Director position at King Street Sounds, he continued to produce events, both on his own and in conjunction with the label, and contributed to the success of artists and projects including Ananda Project, Dennis Ferrer, Kerri Chandler, Steal Vybe and Underground Artists United for Life. Jon also provided web development and strategic marketing services for many high-profile DJs, including Knuckles, Kerri Chandler, Eric Kupper, Soundman Shorty and Todd Terry, while consulting with an even wider assortment of well-known labels and artists, from UK heavy hitter Defected and jazz-centric ObliqSound to underground pioneer David Mancuso, with whom Jon had developed a deep friendship after finding his way to one of Mancuso’s legendary Loft parties in the early 2000’s. Jon created the sub:culture brand to provide an opportunity to funnel all of these disparate energies into one direction. Producing weekly events in New York and annually in Miami for the Winter Music Conference and playing several small European tours, as well as a weekly mixshow “Life Will Make You Dance” on CyberJamz internet radio, Jon has made numerous appearances on terrestrial, internet and satellite radio both in the United States and internationally. Today, Jon continues on his mission to deliver “the medicine in the music” with his private House of Love parties and other sub:culture events, his involvement with husband Craig Roseberry’s KID Recordings label.