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| Ted energizin' crowds at A&F Challenge 2013, September 9, 2013 Image, @abercrombie on Instagram |
The man with the hookup, Ted took on the role of music supervision for the Company back in May 2008 and has been responsible in overseeing all operating aspects of the music facet of the business. This has entailed global digital delivery and strategy, promotions, strategic licensing, talent and label relations, sequencing, and mixing and mastering as detailed in his 2013 Brand Innovators profile. And, oh, the iconic playlists in our community he's overseen since. Who could furthermore forget the absolutely jubilant Christmas playlists of 2010 and 2011 and, signature of the holiday season at A&F in particular since his start, the loved "Rosie Christmas" by Donna Summer: "It's really hard to find great, great Christmas music that fits our style unless we find something really amazing that we think is iconic," he told to The Columbus Dispatch (which discussed the use of holiday tracks and rather more early for the season in retail). The most profitable time of the year for A&F, the holidays got a track-sleighride that gained high fun in the start-years of the 2010s before a sudden halt for Christmas 2012 – a markedly new feel of music for Abercrombie & Fitch was introduced that season that incorporated heavy use of house music elements – which many found very "Ruehl" – for the first time. Since then, the A&F Playlist (and those of the rest of the family) has been subject to a higher degree of scrutiny and intrigue with every succeeding release, in the community, for a very distinct evolution, from the precedent established structure, though in progressive continuum of codes essential to the brand (i.e. energy, sensuality, etc.) and, too, maintaining ties with featured artists with a long trackrecord with A&F and establishing new ones. What is to be highly appreciated from this evolution, now into the mid-2010s, is the admirable modernity which Ted has brought forth, in his pursuit of keeping the playlists in step and of relevance to the times, in organic form of what is happening in electronica and EDM hitherto. He is pure undisputed epic greatness!
Apart from his work at Abercrombie, crowds totally go mad in witness of his killer skills at live events...
"[Ted does] not disappoint. TK incorporated numerous genres of [EDM] and popular vocals into his set and the crowd was digging it! We were trying to find a word to describe his set while we were packing up and we decided that Ted Keyes played a very appropriate set, which is a huge compliment in the DJ community." - Trance Tuesday blog
His working career prior to Abercrombie & Fitch was at Sony Entertainment, in New York City, as a recording engineer where he spent nearly 2.5 years in role. Can't resist the sweet call of the Moose, and o'er to Columbus he went!
Ted's Twitter and IG are @teddyzep and @tedkeyes, respectively, and, though set private, may give you the friendly okay or nah. (The Sitch on Fitch Editor-in-Chief is a follower since last year and has had cool interaction with him and even Peyton; he is also followed by celebrities including Jesse Decker, wife of New York Jets' wide receiver Eric Decker, and by the Human Rights Campaign). His privacy is understandable, though his social media presence is only noted here for how widespread awareness of him came to be by 2013 through it in our community. Furthermore, he uses it as a connection tool for his work.
Loving the current playlists? Blast and dance on!
Stay FIERCE!
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