The Commodification of Rave Culture
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Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2018 Selling the modern day tribe: The commodification of ar ve culture Duncan Martin Barnes Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Music Commons, Photography Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Barnes, D. M. (2018). Selling the modern day tribe: The commodification of ar ve culture. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2107 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2107 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. 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Selling the modern day tribe: The commodification of rave culture This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Duncan Martin Barnes Edith Cowan University School of Arts and Humanities 2018 Abstract This thesis examines youth and rave culture from the late 1980s to the present. It considers the history as well as the global and local impact of rave. I provide a visual ethnographic study from 1999-2014, based on my work as a commercial photographer of the Perth, Western Australian scene. While critically reflecting on existing subcultural research this thesis adds another dimension – the effect that global corporations have had in reshaping subcultural practices, specifically the commodification of rave culture in the form of the contemporary electronic dance festival. The research incorporates both qualitative and quantitative data to interrogate media coverage on rave culture as well as interviews and first hand experience within the rave scene. I analyse mainstream print and electronic media reporting of rave as a deviant youth subcultural practice linked to the use of the drug ecstasy. I consider the effect this had on rave and it’s rebranding to become known in contemporary times as EDM (electronic dance music). As a result I examine how rave has shifted from a youth subcultural activity to being not only mainstream and commercial, but also owned and controlled by global corporations. My discussion of the conventions of festival/music scenes will demonstrate how rave, which once operated outside ‘acceptable’ boundaries, has become a part of the conventional norm. A unique aspect of this thesis is the inclusion and analysis of my photographs taken over a 15 year period that document the changes that occurred as rave transitioned from a subversive underground scene to corporate run multimillion dollar events. The photographs are also compiled into an accompanying monograph. The monograph allows for an immersive visual experience of non-staged event images and predetermined studio and location photographs. The book offers what words alone cannot fully engage with – a representation of what was and remains a highly visual scene, based on fashion, performance and settings. ii Declaration I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief: i. incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher education; ii. contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of this thesis; or iii. contain any defamatory material; 18/6/2018 Duncan Barnes iii Acknowledgements Without the unwavering support of my supervisor Panizza Allmark this thesis would never have reached completion. At the times that I had low energy or lacked motivation her continued encouragement kept me going. I really cannot thank her enough for believing in my research topic and in my photographic practice. I would also like to give special thanks to my immediate family, particularly Janelle, who has endured what is a long process over many years. My parents Marion and Stephen Barnes have also been encouraging throughout the whole process and thankfully stopped asking when it would be finished when they noticed the stress that such questions can cause. I would also like to give a special thanks to Edith Cowan University for supporting staff while completing further research. I acknowledge the strain on resources such an undertaking can be in what are hard economic times for the education sector. Lastly I would like to thank Jeremy Junk who ran Delirium Events. Without his belief and trust in me as a photographer none of these opportunities would have presented themselves. Rest in peace. iv Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 Background 10 Methodology 11 Structure 15 Photographic monograph 19 CHAPTER 1: RAVE CULTURE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS 24 History 24 Demography 31 Ritual/Music 38 Modern day tribe: Notions of politics, carnival and excess 41 CHAPTER 2: RAVE CULTURE AND ‘THE MEDIA’ (MORAL PANIC) 49 Media reporting and deviance 49 Moral panic 55 What’s in a name? 79 Assimilation 85 CHAPTER 3: THE RAVE ECONOMY: COMMODIFICATION AND COMMERCIALISATION 89 Objects 89 This is the future? Brand and brand sponsorship in EDM 97 God is a DJ 115 This is not a rave 127 Doof! Living outside of the brand? 130 CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDY: EVERYBODY’S A PHOTOGRAPHER 141 The publishable image 141 I am a photographer 146 Insider/outsider/performer 162 Everybody’s a photographer 164 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 172 In conclusion 172 Future research 178 REFERENCES 180 v Research Outputs from PhD Barnes, D., (2015), Modern Day Tribe - Part 1: Performance. Modern Day Tribe. Part 1: Performance, (Solo exhibition) Spectrum Project Space, Perth Australia. The exhibit had national coverage from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) digital division and radio and had a total audience viewing of 262,066 over a 44-day period. vi Selling the modern day tribe: The commodification of rave culture Introduction The crowd at Metro City that night packed the floor and filled the rafters of the multilevel club. I watched the scene unfold before me from the privileged position of the stage, hidden in the wings, out of the bright lights. I waited for the DJ to turn his back so I could take the stage and photograph the crowd. Finally the DJ turned to change the vinyl and I discreetly moved to the middle of the stage. The response to my appearance was far from discreet. The front rows of the crowd in particular raised their arms and screamed like their favourite song had just begun, but that adulation was for me. They knew my name and some shouted it, they knew my brand and website and they wanted to be a part of the performance, to be immortalised on film… (Barnes, 2000) The study of music and subculture, youth and deviance has a long tradition within cultural studies (Cohen, 1972; Hall, 1976; Hebdige, 1979; McRobbie, Thornton, 1995 et al.). Rave culture and its derivatives have also undergone a great deal of cultural critique (Bainbridge, 2012; Collin, 1998; 2013; Gibson, 2001; Redhead, 1997 Reynolds, 1999; St John, 2001 et al.). In deconstructing the commodification of rave culture, this thesis aims to explore the interplay of music, dance, media and drugs: elements that are not only central to understanding the rave experience but also how it transitioned to become the socially sanctioned, highly capitalistic and corporatised Electronic Dance Music (EDM). While adding to and critiquing existing theory within the field, my thesis provides significant original content –an analysis of rave/dance culture that corresponds to my photographic documentation in Perth, Western Australia, over a fifteen-year period, from 1999. Lee (2005) recognises the lack of attention paid to dance culture in Perth. “What is needed is a negotiation of private memory with accessible forms of history that allow alternative narratives of people, places and moments to exist” (p. 52). My photographs convey the cultural shifts in the rave/dance music scene and its transition to the festival format of EDM. As such, I am interested in how rave changed from an underground subcultural practice to a commercialised and controlled part of the mainstream youth cultural experience. I will convey a localised perspective of rave “within a global network of linked cultural practices” (Luckman, 2003, p. 315) and in particular illustrate -1- how raves “have gone from small subcultural beginnings with events organised by “word- of-mouth via friendship networks to grander commercial heights.” My research, personal observation, and visual documentation from the mid-nineties to 2015, articulate the transformation of rave culture in Perth, Western Australia, during which dance events became larger and more commercial and moved to legitimate venues as opposed to underground non-sanctioned spaces. Rave — within the context of electronic music — refers to the (often illegal) appropriation of space for the purpose of listening and dancing to repetitive beats often under the influence of the drug Ecstasy. Raves are renowned for taking place in warehouses or other ‘open air’ remote locations, often eschewing traditional commercial venues such as club spaces and bars.