Patryk Tracz

Patryk Tracz (born April 4, 1985) is a Polish-American entrepreneur, businessman, and marketing executive best known as Vice President and Event Director<ref name="Patryk Traczlinkedin"/> of Life in Color, an EDM franchise which produces and promotes electronic dance music events.<ref name="lifencoltora"/> Tracz co-founded Life in Color as Dayglow Productions in 2007, with the company originally organizing large "paint blast" EDM events in Florida. Dayglow/Life in Color shows have since appeared at festivals such as Ultra Music Festival, and in 2014 the company held events in 55 countries.<ref name="fsolanoBRAIN"/>
He is also a co-founder and co-organizer of the Life in Color Festival, which since 2013 has been held in Miami with headliners such as Calvin Harris, Kaskade, R3hab, Steve Aoki. The 2014 festival is expected to host around 60,000 people, and is competing for the Guinness Book of World Records award for "the most people covered in paint at one time."<ref name="csolano"/> Tracz helped produce the halftime show for the Guinness International Champions Cup Final in July 2014, which made Life in Color the "first EDM brand to produce a nationally televised halftime show in North America."<ref name="hsolanoWalkusky"/> Tracz and his twin brother have been named "EDM International Phenomenons" by Boca Magazine.<ref name="bocama"/>
Early life and education
Patryk Tracz was born on April 4, 1985 in Ziebize, Poland to Krystyna Janowski and Dariusz Tracz. His father was a drummer in a local band, and Patryk and his twin brother Lukasz Tracz both grew to love music at an early age. When Tracz was nine years old, he moved with his family from Poland to Boca Raton, Florida in search of financial stability. In Florida Tracz and his brother attended Spanish River High School.<ref name="bocama"/> Starting in 2004, Tracz began studying marketing and business at Florida Atlantic University (FAU).<ref name="Patryk Traczlinkedin"/>
Business career
2006: Committee Entertainment
While still attending FAU, by 2006 Tracz was frequenting the apartment where his brother and several roommates lived on the Florida State University campus.<ref name="bocama"/> That year Tracz and housemates Lukasz Tracz, Paul Campbell and Sebastian Solano<ref name="asolanosolano"/> began throwing "super extravagant house parties" every month.<ref name="fsolanoBRAIN"/> As the parties grew in size and popularity, Tracz and his housemates named themselves Committee Entertainment, planning events as partners.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> They soon began renting "half a nightclub" at a time with bottle and limousine service, then bringing the party back to their house afterwards.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> Clubs then began paying The Committee to bring their parties to their clubs, with the group also at times bringing in DJs.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> All the founders were avid fans of house music, and took different roles: Paul Campbell was relations/social media manager, Sebastian Solano was in charge of event negotiations, while Lukasz Tracz was in charge of media marketing. Patryk Tracz began as a Production and Event Director, and later would become Vice President.<ref name="Patryk Traczlinkedin"/>
2007-12: DayGlow Productions
In 2007 Solano introduced the idea of a "paint party" dance event to the The Committee, which involved hundreds of college students in white shirts all throwing non-toxic paint on one-another.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> Called "dayglow," the parties were an informal fraternity and sorority tradition at FSU. The Committee copyrighted the name and began pitching the events to clubs.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> In 2007 their first "Dayglow" event was held in a Miami nightclub called Allure, with close to 600 attendees.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> The company then contacted other Florida cities such as Orlando, Tampa, and Gainesville to hold events.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> Tracz dropped out of FAU during his final semester to focus on Dayglow, which at that point operated ten shows in ten cities.<ref name="asolanosolano"/>
In January 2008 he began working in the marketing department for a company called MDVIP, where he worked until April 2009.<ref name="Patryk Traczlinkedin"/> He also continued to work with DayGlow, which had expanded to an event tour with thousands of attendees. As the tour increased in popularity, the shows grew more extravagant in nature: booking larger acts and increasing the magnitude of its artistic elements.<ref namephilly-paintrush/> When the Dayglow tour started traveling to cities outside of Florida, they custom-built paint cannons and guns, also hiring someone from Cirque du Soleil to run their entire performance department.<ref name"asolanosolano"/> Billed by its organizers as the "world's largest paint party," Dayglow became the 1st college EDM touring event in the United States.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> In 2009 and 2010, a Dayglow stage was held at Ultra Music Festival,<ref name=morningcall-glow/> and their events have also been featured in National Geographic.
Tracz earned his degree from Florida Atlantic University in 2010, having extending his education to focus on DayGlow.<ref name="Patryk Traczlinkedin"/> Also in 2010 DayGlow held their first arena show at the University of Central Florida, at Orlando.<ref name="bocama"/> The 2011 Dayglow tour was entitled BLU, standing for "Beats, Love, and Unity"; symbolically, the events featured a special paint blast with blue paint.<ref namemorningcall-glow/> Also in 2011 shows were held at locations such as the Philadelphia Navy Yard, with headliners such as Roger Sanchez and Diplo.<ref namephilly-paintrush/>
2012-14: International expansion
In 2012, Dayglow Productions was purchased<ref name="asdffdbillboard"/> by Robert F. X. Sillerman's SFX Entertainment, a EDM-focused media conglomerate.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> After the acquisition by SFX, Tracz remained Vice President of Dayglow.<ref name="asdffdbillboard"/> Shortly after its acquisition, the tour announced in September 2012 that it would re-brand itself as Life in Color, and the company was renamed Life in Color as well.<ref namebillboard-voodoo/><ref namewrp-lic/> The company's late-2012 tour was entitled The E.N.D.: Electronic Never Dies, with headliners including DJs such as Steve Aoki, Tommy Trash, and Adventure Club.<ref nameacw-licnye/><ref namepoac-licnye/> Entitled Life in Color Rebirth,<ref nametcc-rebirth/> the 2013 Life in Color toured in over 25 countries, with a plan to expand the following year.<ref name"esolanoinside"/> At that point, headlining DJs had included Afrojack, Axwell, Alesso, Benny Benassi, Chuckie, R3hab, and many others. Other regular features in shows beyond "paint blasts" included "aerial acts, stilt walkers, contortionists, and fire shows."<ref name="bsolanolifeincolor"/>
In August 2013, it was announced that the Life in Color brand would be expanded into a full music festival, to be held in Miami on December 27, 2013. The first Life in Color Festival included artists such as Calvin Harris, R3hab, and Steve Aoki.<ref name="finalhead"/> The company then outlined goals to plot festivals on every continent in 2014.<ref name="asolanosolano"/> Tracz and his twin-brother were named "EDM International Phenomenons" by Boca Magazine in early 2014.<ref name="bocama"/> The 2014 event tour was entitled Life In Color Unleashed,<ref nametcc-rebirth/> with events that year in 55 countries.<ref name"fsolanoBRAIN"/> Tracz was then involved with producing the halftime show for the Guinness International Champions Cup Final in July 2014, which made Life in Color the "first EDM brand to produce a nationally televised halftime show in North America." With Martin Garrix headlining, instead of paint the performance used lasers, fireworks, and LED video mapping.<ref name="hsolanoWalkusky"/>
The Life in Color Festival was expanded to two days for December 2014. Scheduled to take place at Miami's Sun Life Stadium, the festival is expected to host around 60,000 people, and is competing for the Guinness Book of World Records award for "the most people covered in paint at one time."<ref name="csolano"/>
Personal life
As of 2014 Tracz continues to live in West Palm Beach, Florida.<ref name="Patryk Traczlinkedin"/>
Further reading
*Article on Tracz in Boca Magazine (December 2013) - Page 108

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu