Yes indeed, the Red Bull Music Academy is gearing up and ready to roll out its 2004 edition. You might know someone, be it a producer, musician, dj or a talent bearing all of these traits, who's attended the Red Bull Music Academy since the story began seven years ago. If so, you'll have heard something of the unique experience and offer to music lovers across the world. Believe the hype. The Academy is a place where leftfield knowledge fuses with everyday inspiration, to ignite minds and dance floors. A space where originality beats out sales margins, ideas rule over egos. Each year a location is chosen and transformed into another Academy, mapped out with studios and environments. At the heart of the complex is a lecture room where you gain importance through inspiration, where guests will tell their own story in their own words. The scene is set, and a group of 60 DJs and producers arrive from around the world, representing a diverse range of musical landscapes, cultures and ideologies. Over two fortnight-long terms, all of their unique personalities come into play as thoughts and beats connect, mingle and collide. During each jam-packed session they'll be swapping vital tips, breaking down musical myths and exploring shared history. All the while, finding new directions for their driving passion: music. The story of the Academy began at the first session in Berlin, 1998, and has since visited places like London, Sao Paulo, Cape Town, New York and Dublin. Here, all the people together make it happen, including the participants, lecturers, as well as local and international crew members. All of those present contribute their own ideas and perspectives, giving each Academy its own special flavour. It doesn't stop there. At each Academy, students come across one-of-a-kind opportunities - in the past these have included the chance to practice 2/4 rhythms with Gilberto Gil and go digging for rare breaks with Cut Chemist in Sao Paulo; to dissect a synth with Bob Moog in Cape Town and play back to back with Darshan Jesrani on an Academy radio station. In short, a musical adventure that no one who was there will ever forget. In 2004, the Academy will kick off in Rome, Italy. Italy is both an ancient culture and a young country – a place where history is a living presence on every streetcorner, and where there are more cell phones per capita than in Germany, the U.S, Sweden or Japan. Rome, the Eternal City, is filled with some of the most profound cultural heritage of any city in Western civilization. Amongst towering monuments and Renaissance art, underground clubs and studios offer a full complement of the world's subgenres. Here, Italian music thrives, infused with the legacy of cinema soundscapes by Ennio Morricone and Italo-disco by pioneers such as Claudio Coccoluto. From Roman reggae co-ops to techno napoletano, and all the points in between – Rome is truly a place to find the essence of spirito italiano. Anyone who would like to join the Academy in a Roman adventure can begin the journey with a few simple steps. Prospective applicants must package together an application, consisting of a completed questionnaire, a selection of tunes and a current photograph. They should send it in to the Red Bull Music Academy between May 17th and July 3rd, 2004. When the application period is over, sixty of the most promising applicants will be invited to the workshops in Rome. Flights and accommodation will be covered by the Red Bull Music Academy. If invited, participants will only need to make some space in their schedule, either for Term 1 (October 3 – October 15 2004) or Term II (October 24 – November 5 2004). Everything they need to know, along with the application form, is available at http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com Other. features of the site include video streams, stories and photos from past Academies, a forum connected to music headz worldwide, and a host of resources for musical lives. By mid of August, all applicants will be notified via email, no matter whether they were accepted or not. If last year's experience is anything to go by, second- or third-time applicants have even more chances of getting in. More here ...