Timotheus "Timo" Romme (born 23 March 1987), better known by his stage name Moti (stylized as MOTi), is a Dutch

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aok ...

DJ and

music producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. MOTi's first release was "Circuits" in 2012, which was published on

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the Worl ...

's Wall Recordings. By the end 2012, MOTi had been commissioned for official remixes of Flo Rida,

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...

and

Far East Movement Far East Movement (abbreviated FM) is an American hip hop and electronic music group based in Los Angeles. The group formed in 2003 and as of August 2018 consists of Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), DJ Virman (Virman Coquia), ...

. MOTi frequently releases singles on

Spinnin Records Spinnin' Records is a Dutch electronic music record label founded in 1999 by Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf. In September 2017, Warner Music Group acquired Spinnin' Records for over $100 million. Background Van Kooten is the son of former ...

and Tiësto's Musical Freedom label; he has collaborated with artists such as Tiësto,

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It originates from Kingston, Jamaica, and was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after ...

and

Dzeko & Torres Dzeko & Torres was a Canadian production and DJ duo based in Toronto, Ontario. Their style was a combination of progressive house and electro, with influences from Avicii, Lazy Rich, Umek, and Alesso. History 2007 - 2010 Luis Torres and Ju ...

. His 2014 collaboration with

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...

, "

Virus (How About Now) "Virus (How About Now)" is a song by Dutch DJs and record producers Martin Garrix and MOTi. It was released as a digital download on 13 October 2014 on Beatport and on 27 October 2014 on iTunes. The song was written by Martin Garrix, Niclas Lund ...

", reached No. 27 on the Dutch Single Top 100. Frequently on tour, MOTi has performed at major festivals such as the

Amsterdam Dance Event The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is a five-day electronic music conference and festival held annually in mid-October. The event, organised by The Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation, offers a full programme of daytime conferences at ADE Pro, ADE Tech ...

, Creamfields UK,

Nocturnal Wonderland Nocturnal Wonderland, formerly known as Nocturnal Festival, is an electronic dance music festival in San Bernardino, California, United States, founded in 1995. History Nocturnal Wonderland is a two-day event (a three-day festival from 2011 to ...

and

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

Early life

Timotheus "Timo" Romme was born on 23 March 1987 in

, Netherlands, where he spent his childhood. He started learning mixing for fun after a friend sold him some

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, and by the age of 18 he was deejaying. Romme studied to be a fashion designer at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

in the Netherlands. In 2015, he explained that "after a few years t university I noticed I liked music more than fashion. I don't really follow the trends." MOTi started producing music in 2005, stating "the guys at the record store told me I couldn’t cut breaks out of records, so I decided to make my own music." He started his music career performing

Dutch house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aoki ...

with his cousin as a duo called Groovenatics.

Music career

2007-12: "Circuits" and remixes

MOTi's first official release was the track "Circuits," a collaboration with Dutch DJ Quintino. Released through

's Wall Recordings on April 16, 2012, the track gained significant radio play on

Radio 538 Radio 538 () is a Dutch commercial radio station that was founded in Hilversum, Netherlands in 1992. It is the second-most listened to radio station in the Netherlands. Radio 538 refers to the wavelength on which Radio Veronica used to broadcas ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, among other stations. In September 2012, MOTi released "Kinky Denise," another Quintino collaboration published through Wall Recordings. By the end 2012, MOTi had been commissioned for official remixes of Flo Rida,

, and

. Tiësto also added "Circuits" to his 2012 ''Dance RED Save Lives'' compilation, which resulted in Tiësto and MOTi connecting through

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and starting to collaborate.

2013: Musical Freedom and Spinnin' Records

He released "Krack!", his first single through

, on March 8, 2013. The

track entered the Beatport Top 100. Afterwards, MOTi released an official remix for "Next To Me," a single by Emili Sande. MOTi's single "NaNaNa" with Alvaro was released through Hysteria Recs on June 3, 2013. On June 25, 2013, he collaborated with

on "Back To The Acid," which would be his first release through Musical Freedom. Stated MOTi about the track's effect on his career, "Tiësto has a really good feel of what he likes and there’s a lot of studio tricks on that track that people who don’t produce won’t even understand or hear. It was an important project to show my technical skills and, of course, a big audience got to see my name next to his.” MOTi remixed " Hello (MOTi Remix)" by the

Stafford Brothers Stafford Brothers are Australian DJs and producers from the Gold Coast, Queensland known for blending the genres of house, electro, and progressive house music. Currently based in Los Angeles, California, the brothers were the first electron ...

in 2013, which stayed at No. 1 on Beatport’s Hip Hop chart for around two months. MOTi ended 2013 with several singles released on Spinnin, including "Dynamite" with Quintino in September, and "Heat It Up" in November. "Dynamite" peaked at #10 on the Beatport Top 100. He signed with Tiësto's Red Light Management at the end of 2013. Shortly afterwards, he performed at an

Heineken showcase. Stated MOTi about the performance, "that gig was the big turning point where it got serious. It felt natural. It felt like I’m meant to do this.”

2014: "Virus" and touring

MOTi's track "Don't Go Lose It", released on February 10, 2014 through Musical Freedom, reached the Beatport Top 100. The track was followed by the DVBBS collaboration "This Is Dirty" in April, which peaked at #2 on the Electro House Chart. The single was followed by the MOTi track "Crash" with Quintino in July, and "Zeus" with

Kenneth G Kenneth Geoffrey Oudejans (born Amsterdam, Netherlands ), better known by his stage name Kenneth G, is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He became known in 2013 with his releases on the Dutch label Hysteria Records before joining Revealed Record ...

in September. After first befriending

in 2011, the two began collaborating on a new project in 2014. Explained MOTi, "I think we were on Skype and I was working on 'Virus,' and Martin really liked the first idea I had made and the melody of the drop. He added his sick breakdown to it, and we finished the track together." October 2014 saw the release of "

" through Spinnin, which reached #1 on the Beatport 100. The track also did well on international song charts, reaching No. 27 on the Dutch Single Top 100 chart, No. 34 on

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, No. 50 on the

Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique The National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (french: Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique; SNEP) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym ...

chart in France, No. 94 on the GfK Entertainment in German, and No. 24 on the '' Billboard'' Top Dance Songs chart. MOTi played at a number of electronic dance music festivals in the summer of 2014. starting with Ultra Music Festival Miami. In July 2014, he played at the

Hakkasan Hakkasan is a Chinese restaurant first opened in Fitzrovia in London, England but has since expanded to many cities worldwide. The restaurant was founded in 2001 by Alan Yau, who was also behind the Wagamama Japanese restaurants and later the ...

club in Las Vegas, while other gigs included Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, Creamfields UK,

, and

. MOTi embarked on his #LION tour in November 2014, with plans to hit various North American cities such as

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It was his first tour as sole headliner. MOTi's track "Lion" came out on November 17, 2014, and was his last release for the year.

2015–2018: Recent projects

MOTi continued to release singles on both Spinnin and Musical Freedom into 2015. His first single of the year, "Ganja," was a collaboration with

. In February, MOTi and Tiësto released the collaborative single "Blow Your Mind", which reached No. 1 on the Electro House Charts. After the May release of "Valencia" on Musical Freedom, singles he released that summer included "Spack Jarrow" with W&W and "Ghost in the Machine" with Jonathan Mendelsohn. He collaborated with

on the song "Boom" later that year. Released through

Mad Decent Mad Decent is an American record label founded by Diplo. The label has helped introduce Brazilian baile funk and Angolan kuduro to clubs around the world. Recently, it has popularized moombahton, a genre of electronic dance music created by D ...

on November 20, 2015, the track included features by

Ty Dolla Sign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...

, Kranium & Wizkid. According to ''

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...

'', the track incorporates " dancehall, future bass and hip hop." Also on November 20, 2015, MOTi released "Lost," a collaboration with

Sander van Doorn Sander Ketelaars (; born 28 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sander van Doorn () or the initials SvD, is a Dutch electro house DJ and record producer from Eindhoven. Background Sander van Doorn began his recording career in 200 ...

on Spinnin Records. MOTi premiered the track at EDC Las Vegas 2015. In 2015, he was named to the

Top 101-150 DJs 2015 list at No. 117. MOTi was featured in the

Bassjackers Bassjackers is a Dutch electronic music production and DJ duo consisting of Marlon Flohr & Ralph van Hilst. Flohr is the more outspoken member of the duo whereas Van Hilst takes care of "behind-the-scenes" production.

2018–present: Zero Cool records

In November 2018, MOTi founded his own independent record label: Zero Cool. He wanted to create a more inclusive label, where popularity didn't come in the way of music: ''"At some point it felt like I wasn’t producing the records I wanted to produce, but instead what the A&Rs wanted me to create. I think everyone has a moment in their career where you just want to create whatever you feel like creating, and for me this was it. On my label Zero Cool it doesn’t matter what the new trend or hype is, how big your Instagram or Spotify profile is… if it’s good, I’ll release it. That’s why it’s called Zero Cool, it’s for everyone!''" One year after its creation, Zero Cool reached a 100 million streams on Spotif

Musical style

Incorporating diverse genres such as

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...

, hip hop, and others, MOTi has cited artists such as

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, Alter Ego and Derrick May as musical inspirations. About his musical intent, he stated in 2016 that "for the club tracks I just want people to have a good time and party to the music. For the slower tracks or less clubby tracks I hope people get carried away by it when they play it at home."

Awards and nominations

Discography

References

External links

MOTiOfficial.com
{{authority control 1987 births Dutch dance musicians DJs from Amsterdam Dutch record producers Living people Remixers Progressive house musicians Electronic dance music DJs