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Absolut has been about inclusivity and This report is our attempt to capture nightlife dating back to its roots in New the rich and exciting state of nightlife York City in the Eighties, when clubs like in the U.S.A right now - when Studio 54 and Area attracted an eclectic technological change offers the crowd - uptown/downtown, black/white, chance to take experience to new straight/gay... everyone could be equal heights, when there are more diverse on the dancefloor. voices in the mix than ever before. Today our mission is the same – to We hope it will inspire you as much make nightlife more inclusive and more as it has inspired us. innovative. That’s why we launched Absolut Labs, an idea incubator and Afdhel Aziz think tank to develop cutting-edge products, experiences and technology Brand Director, that help people create and deepen Absolut Labs social connections. www.theabsolutlabs.com audience on their toes - crossing genres and hosting parties in pop-up and non- traditional venues. They are building parties designed to get you out of your phone and into the party; on the dance floor, feeling the music, and making face- ABOUT THIS REPORT to-face connections. The State of Nightlife 2015 is Experience is becoming the new luxury. focused on understanding how In place of watches, cars and other the people shaping nightlife across traditional status symbols, people are the country currently view and beginning to place more value on the experience the culture as well as intangibles: concerts, exploring a new hearing their personal visions for city, getting outdoors, spending time with the not too distant future. friends in a nice coffee shop. These are “The most interesting and the new signs of a life well-lived. memorable events are ones As more of our lives are spent with our heads bent over a small glowing To be clear, this isn’t to discredit the that are open to participation rectangle, the need to unplug and be role of emerging technology in nightlife present is becoming essential. culture. Technology has made it far from its attendees.This always easier to promote, find and amplify leads to something that’s truly Nightlife is no different. In fact, parties, concerts, and experiences. It has nightlife may be more susceptible to allowed DJs to carry around a truck full one of a kind.” being disconnected than other cultural of vinyl on a thumbdrive. It has improved Tim Shilstone, artforms. There has long been an the general quality of PA systems in Founder/Partnerships at Something Different Brooklyn NY element of see and be seen present in venues around the country. Mobile clubs around the country. From the line apps like Shazam allow you to instantly outside, to the tables in the VIP, status identify that underground remix the and appearance have come to govern a DJ just dropped and then buy it on large portion of club culture. Add social iTunes.On the balance of things, media to this environment and what was technological developments have once confined to the inside of a club is greatly improved nightlife. now splashed across your own social channels for all of your friends to see. The trick is to strike a balance between technology that is additive to the After all, if you didn’t instagram it, experience and technology that detaches were you really there? people from the moment. A new generation of promoters, DJs, This is the state of nightlife in 2015. and concept creators are bringing people party concepts that aim to combat the passivity of experiencing life through a phone. They aim to keep the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The following report is intended to open Backed by industry experts and up the the conversation around the interviews with 100 key nightlife possibilities and challenges in nightlife. influencers across the US, each of the In it, we’ve described nine key trends trends point to potential opportunities organized around three macro themes: to help people spark and deepen MUSIC music, experience and venue. relationships in new and richer ways. Each of the three pillars are defined as follows: MUSIC: Music is the fuel that drives the experience, whether it is live music or a DJ. VENUE: The venues range from the traditional (club, bar, house party) to the non-traditional (pop-ups, warehouses) EXPERIENCEVENUE EXPERIENCEVENUE EXPERIENCE: The ‘experience’ is defined as the elements that make up a nightlife experience beyond the music: the theme, the decor, the technology. KEY THEMES DRIVING NIGHTLIFE MUSIC The [Almost] Post EDM Landscape The Rise of the Open-Format Party Visuals: No Longer an Afterthought VENUE Nostalgia and The House Party The Demise of The Club and The Birth of The Alternative Venue The Not Just Music Festival EXPERIENCE Unplugging and Mindfulness Hyper-Local Goes Global Diversity of Voices RESEARCH TRIBES & INSIGHT STRUCTURE GATHERING How is the research structured? The research questions are structured Nightlife Fuelers Nightlife Makers to explore: The form of the research was Mental models: personal ideas Beat makers — Emerging music Party Fixers — Party fixers are the foundational, which provides a deep of how things work in the world producers and DJs that are up and concept creators and promoters who understanding of the target group Motivations: why people behave coming but not yet recognized producers both make the experience with their through one-to-one interviews and open the way they do and performers with a passion for music. own personal touch and get the crowd format questions. Goals: objectives driven by to come have a good time. You can find motivations Visual Stage Acts — Acts within various them in most cities around the world. fields, from immersive environments, The target group was identified interaction design, live branding Nightclub Owners — Owners of according to four ‘Tribes’ - beatmakers, and live audio-visual performances. nightclubs and global hot spots. Very party fixers, visual stage acts and Consists of multimedia designers, artists, well connected individuals within the nightclub owners - in order to get a programmers and performers. music and nightlife scene. They enable holistic understanding of the landscape social connections through their club and discover new products, services nights and events. and/or experience opportunities. BEATMAKERS PARTY FIXERS VISUAL NIGHTCLUB STAGE ACTS OWNERS Today, music is trending towards a post-genre environment, meaning that the strict categories of the past are quickly blurring. The pervasiveness of readily available streaming services like Spotify, Rdio and Soundcloud, music discovery platforms like Shazam, digital retailers like iTunes and Beatport, and the subsequent portability of music is creating opportunities for sounds and styles to be fused, borrowed and played with, by anyone, more easily than ever before. Those who grew up on hip-hop, rock, pop, and electronic can borrow at will from the diverse array of sounds at their disposal. Musicians who effortlessly blend influences from Electronic to Rock to Hip Hop, like FKA Twigs or Jamie XX, or groups like Bob Moses that combine live vocals and instrumentation with electronic-leaning production methods are coming to the fore. The impact of this portable sound and mixing of genres on the nightlife landscape at large is also seen in the diversity of locations in which artists are comfortable playing. Performers who are equally at home on a small rooftop MUSIC party in Brooklyn as they are on a stage at Mysteryland Festival in front of tens of thousands of people. We see this mash-up of locations and music to be reflective of a wider experimentation with technology and the way it is being used to enhance our environment. “Yes, yes. Every club here offers an EDM THE [ALMOST] POST night, every single one. There was one club that was a really strong Hip-Hop club, the Compound, they have Drake EDM LANDSCAPE and Future and all those guys every week. They were notorious for having all kind of celebrities. And the owners just “I find it very exciting because Dissatisfied with the formulaic nature of said that they were going to attract a I get to play the music I grew up an EDM top-40 crossover, a new wave of different demographic on Friday nights. artists, promoters, and concept-founders So Friday nights they started doing an loving which is everything from are moving beyond EDM and basic club EDM night. It was huge.” classic R&B to Reggae to some nights in 2015. In fact, the growth of EDM Andrew Parkin, Atlanta, GA old school Hip Hop to House to slowed from 2013 to 2014. Hip-Hop in particular is undergoing a resurgence as Atlanta is a traditionally hip-hop driven African dance music.” a return to classic DJ techniques gains market, long known for artists from traction with smaller independent parties. across the Hip Hop and rap spectrum DJ MOMA, Co-Founder Everyday PPL, NYC like Outkast, Ludacris, and Wacka We are witnessing a resurgence of Flacka Flame. The penetration of EDM The EDM wave really took off in the daring and musicality in the US. into Hip Hop’s stronghold shows the United States in 2012. David Guetta and pervasiveness of EDM in nightlife today. Calvin Harris each had 3 tracks chart At the musical forefront of this But it also highlights a saturation point, in Billboard’s year end top 100 songs. groundswell is classic Hip-Hop and where the bubble is about to burst. Dance music, long a staple in European R&B. There is an innocence and light- cities like Berlin and Amsterdam, blended heartedness present in hip-hop and R&B with pop music resulting in a Festival that makes it great party music.