AUSTIN, Texas — Catering to the growing urban music scene, Open Labs will be hosting a two-day music event titled “Beats ‘N Treats Music Festival” at the Mohawk venue on October 24-25, 2008. The two day event will feature live bands and a beat competition called the “Gold Rush Beat Competition,” in which the winner will receive an Open Labs NeKo LUX encased in a 24-karat gold chassis. The instrument is worth over $24,000, and is Open Labs’ most expensive instrument to date. The competition will be held on the outside stage of the Mohawk for both days, with running times of 5 pm to 2 am on Friday, and 2 pm to 2 am on Saturday. Local Austin MCs will be the masters of ceremonies. The inside stage will feature live bands and DJs throughout the event.

The entire event will be filmed with multiple hi-definition cameras, and broadcast live from www.openlabs.com. Open Labs is currently marketing and advertising worldwide for the Beats ‘N Treats Music Festival, and over 2,000 attendees are expected, not including on-line viewers.

The gold NeKo is personally owned by Open Labs co-founder and chairman, Victor Wong, and only 24 of the gold NeKo’s will ever be made by Open Labs. Wong claims that he is giving away his personal gold NeKo as a token of appreciation to the musician community for Open Labs’ success, and as a celebration for Open Labs’ five year anniversary.

“We know that there is a huge urban music scene here in Austin, and we’d like to give it some more recognition, as well as help foster its growth,” said Wong. “Everyone at Open Labs is very pleased with the amount of success our company has received in the last five years, this is our way of giving back to the community, who have been the fuel to Open Labs’ fire.”

The Beats ‘N Treats Music Festival will have two stages during both days: an outside stage to host the beat competition, and an inside stage that will feature live music. The band list for the inside stage tentatively includes Recorder, DJ Veedub, Rattletree Marimba, CTRL, Fiction, The Beautiful Supermachines, CockVanDyke, Academicos Da Opera, Aciable, the Ginsu Wives, The Mercers, Androids of Ex-Lovers, Salero, Shriner Threat, El Paso Heist, Hot Pentacostals, Blackolicus, Salesman and more. The rooftop of the Mohawk will feature product demonstrations of Open Labs gear, Q&A’s with certified Open Labs employees, artist demonstrations, and the gold NeKo itself will be on display.

There is a $10 registration fee for beat makers wanting to compete during the Gold Rush Beat Competition, please visit the Open Labs website for details on registration payment. All proceeds from the registration fee will be donated to charity. The registration period will start on September 15, 2008 at noon, and will end on October 15, 2008 at midnight. The registrant number is limited to 200, and is on a first come, first serve basis. Open Labs will cut off the registration period if it reaches 200 before October 15, 2008 and will announce the preemptive cut-off date at www.openlabs.com.

“We’ve also had a lot of public interest in the gold NeKo since we’ve had it on our website and Youtube videos,” said Wong. “I know there are some stellar beat makers out there who deserve this machine, but can’t afford it. Now is their chance to own a 24-karat gold NeKo, our best and most expensive machine, using nothing but their talent.”

Headquartered in the heart of “the live music capital of the world,” Open Labsâ„¢ develops customized, computer music keyboards suited to fit every studio and stage need imaginable. With a single piece of Open Labs gear, musicians can play any organ, piano, synthesizer or virtual instrument on the planet, create any sound imaginable, manipulate every parameter, record it in a multi-track system and burn it to a CD/DVD. That’s just the beginning of what Open Labs products can do.

With the advent of their innovative products, the NeKo and MiKo, and the A-list artists that use them, Open Labs has become the industry standard for producers, composers and musicians of every genre. Open Labs invites you to participate in the first annual Beats ‘N Treats Music Festival and supporting beat-makers world-wide.

More information: http://openlabs.com/beats-n-treats-pr.html .

[tags]Open Labs Neko Lux 24k gold, Victor Wong, Beats N Treats Music Festival[/tags]