Electronic Dance Music Past, Present, and Future

Brett Painter

CIS3003 3/9/13

Abstract

This report examines many of the important aspects of the new culture closely associated with Electronic Dance Music. It is meant to explore and inform about the practices and realities happening within our youth culture.

Table of Contents

List of Images 1

Introduction 3

Understanding the Culture of Electronic Dance Music 3 A Little Insight 3 History of Electronic Dance Music 4 Climb to the Top 4

1 Current Status of Electronic Dance Music 5 An Explorative Look 5 What to Expect 6

Drug Use and EDM Controversy 7 Dangers and Drug Use 7 Celebrity Controversy 7 Progression of EDM 7 Business of EDM 7

Appendix 8

List of Images 1. Swedish House Mafia Performing Live 5 2. Tomorrowland 2012 6 Electronic Dance Music Past, Present, and Future

Introduction

To those who have ever felt lost, alone, or even bored, there is a deeper intrinsic yearn to alleviate the skewed equilibrium found in their every day life. For some, it seems as if they have found the solution. For many, they have now seen the light, in a literal and metaphorical sense. When one stares in awe at the blood pumping, top notch production stage and lighting found on most festival stages, all else melts away. Worries, hopes, fears, all washed away in the moment. For most, this is a way of life.

This report is intended to enlighten the reader on the culture of Electronic Dance Music, as it is rapidly becoming a prominent part of youth culture. This report is not intended to put

2 any bias on any specific part, and does not tolerate anything mentioned. It is purely and informational perspective.

Understanding the Culture of Electronic Dance Music

A Little Insight

Anyone who has ever attended an Electronic Dance Music festival, such as Ultra, or some parts of Bonnaroo, they know that there is really nothing else like it. The air is filled with frequencies ranging from the deep, body shaking sub-bass sound waves, to the mids, and heavenly sounding high frequencies. Some, but not all, attendants of these festivals like to enhance their experience with various legal and illegal substances. This is a part of EDM culture that most have mixed feelings about. It is a positive experience, and there is research that shows psychedelics can have a profound effect on subjective outlook. Giffiths’ study involved 18 healthy adults, average age 46, who participated in five eight- hour drug sessions with either psilocybin — at varying doses — or placebo. Nearly all the volunteers were college graduates and 78% participated regularly in religious activities; all were interested in spiritual experience. Fourteen months after participating in the study, 94% of those who received the drug said the experiment was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives; 39% said it was the single most meaningful experience.

Critically, however, the participants themselves were not the only ones who saw the benefit from the insights they gained: their friends, family member and colleagues also reported that the psilocybin experience had made the participants calmer, happier and kinder1. However any unregulated substance put into your body could quite possibly have some unexpected and dangerous negative effects.

3 History of Electronic Dance Music

What was originated in the early 90's in underground warehouse raves, is now making a full scale dent in the entertainment industry. EDM has taken a slow, crawling climb to the top, finally making a splash in early 2011, with acts such as Pretty Lights taking the scene by storm. Before this, club scenes were playing techno and trance in the late 90's and early 00's, with artists such as The Prodigy, paving the way for the future of this kind of music. A generation of music fans are shifting their musical gaze from the hip-hop driven popular music that dominated the 2000s, to the polished sounds of house, trance, dubstep, glitch, breaks, and the dozens of other sub-genres that fall under the umbrella of EDM.6 Trance music took rave scenes by storm in the early 00's, often correlating this music with drugs, causing a heightened state of ecstasy, being experimented with by the few and many. Note that I am not tolerating the use of drugs in this report, I am merely outlining their outstanding impact on the formation and perpetuation of this kind of music.

For some artists, this rise in popularity had been a long awaited appreciation of an art form, that had previously been misunderstood. Perhaps too early for its time, nevertheless, any artist producing music during this time was getting attention like never before. The slow rise, aided by groups such as Evol Intent, which contained three members2, two now known as Kill the Noise and Bro Safari, now putting on large scale shows all around the world. The climb to popularity of this kind of music has been swift and dramatic, and is waiting for no one.

Climb to the Top

A large influence on this type of music, and really music in general, has been the internet. From Soundcloud to Instagram, technology and the internet has let this music spread and

4 flourish into what it is today. Tech-savvy producers and DJs unsurprisingly flourish in the online space. Danny Whittle, brand director of dance club Pacha notes, "Our musical genre embraced the Internet, all other genres fought it." As the digital music space continues to expand, EDM arguably harnesses the Internet's potential more effectively than other genres.6 From India to Russia, Asia to Panama City, there is one thing we all have in common. A love of music. What one DJ might experience on a tour, would be stops in U.S.A., the U.K., Africa, and even Malaysia. We are all children of music, no matter where you come from and no matter what genre you like. It just so happens that EDM has led to a huge unity of spirit and mind among people of different races, skin color, and background. When you're in that crowd, none of that matters. You are surrounded my like minded people who are unknowingly emitting positive vibes. Humans can perceive energy levels of other humans in close proximity. This feeling of unity and togetherness fuels the message behind this movement. Love and happiness. One could call those who follow Electronic Dance Music culture “Modern Day Hippies”. The ease of data transmission on the internet, and our youth generation already having easy accessibility to online services, combined with music made almost entirely on laptops, was an explosion waiting to happen.

5 Figure 1: Swedish House Mafia performing live. Source: http://whiteraverrafting.com/wp- content/uploads/2012/11/Swedish+House+Mafia+EDC+10-640x426.jpg

Current Status of Electronic Dance Music

An Explorative Look

As the popularity of the idea and genres of the music rise, EDM will continue to be a prominent part of entertainment, and music as we know it. It seems as if the Electronic Dance Music scene has taken a running start and never looked back. With artists such as Skrillex, Nervo, and Afrojack making the music more mainstream, it appeals to a larger

6 audience, who soon see what all of the fuss is about. High quality production, sound, and lighting makes any show an unforgettable experience.

What to Expect

From the moment you step into the festival grounds, at a place like Tomorrowland, you instantly can see you are not in the world you once were in five minutes ago. You have stepped into a realm of music and unity, unlike any other environment on earth. Towering showcases of fictional characters dominate the stages and scenery surrounding Tomorrowland. As the DJ's perform, the stage begins to shift and morph, changing from one state to another. From the farthest stretch of the back, all the way to the bass pumping front, most festivals are packed with attendants. If you can survive in the sweat and heat filled crowd in front of the stage, you can survive anything. But soon you will see the fruit of your labor. Seven to ten attractive dancers in costumes come out on stage, followed by a man controlling a 15 foot robot suit that strobes to the beat of the music. Behind this spectacle is and HD LED display that stretches across the whole stage. What is displayed on these monitors is up to the DJ, and can range from visualizers to custom videos that are in tune with the beat.

7 Figure 2: Tomorrowland 2012 Source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1gkqyowCx1rpjj98o1_500.jpg

Drug use and EDM Controversy

Dangers and Drug Use

A huge concern in the culture of Dance Music is the use of drugs such as “Mollie” and LSD, not to mention a variety of research chemicals that are easily accessible by most youth in this day and age. Having this creates a large dynamic of danger when consuming unregulated chemicals. “Mollie” otherwise knows as MDMA, is essentially ecstasy. Even though studies have shown a moderate dose of MDMA produces no negative results in adults3, there is no telling what kind of chemicals the MDMA is cut with. Essentially the dealer could be mixing other harmful drugs into the MDMA to make you “roll” harder, and to cut down on the cost, increasing profit. These, among other less than honest practices, creates danger for our youth generation.

8 Celebrity Controversy

Celebrities, the likes of which include Madonna, are aware of the drug use in the music scene. At Ultra Music Festival, before an artist named “Avicii”, Madonna came on stage and asked “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?”5 She was alluding to the fact that a majority of the people in the crowd are rolling on MDMA. Other artists in the music scene, such as “DeadMau5”, have retaliated, posting on his twitter, "Very classy there madonna. "HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???" such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra,"5 . Drug use should not be tolerated or accepted, but it is undeniably a part of the culture.

Future of EDM

Progression of EDM

With the way Electronic Dance music has been progressing, it seems the only way to go is up. Companies and businesses based on superior production are investing in lighting and speakers, to ensure that every festival is a top quality experience. With one weekend at Ultra Music Festival costing an average of $400, it better be an incredible experience. In the future, projections of festivals will increase with population and time, topping the previous experience every time.4 New genres such as Trap and Moombahton are being created, and more genres in the future are sure to form. As long as people have laptops and be creative, the culture of Electronic Dance Music will never die.

Business of EDM

9 The flurry of attention surrounding the business of EDM demonstrates the current power of the genre and the direction in which key voices are betting it will go. The trend has attracted the attention of entertainment moguls and entrepreneurs across the world. One company to jump aboard is the ticketing agency, Eventbrite. Filling a gap in the market, Eventbrite services much of the live EDM scene. Grossing more than $1 billion since its inception in 2006, the company provides an alternative to giants like Ticketmaster. "EDM is really an international movement, so we've got a localized site, localized payments that expand throughout the globe, and we're seeing great traction", says Kevin Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite. 6

For producers and club owners alike, it's all about business. A producer creates music, building his or her own human capital. Labels invest in producers, who should be able to make songs rather quickly, then market them on websites such as Beatport to make money. In the end, the entertainment industry revolves around cash. The more people catch on to the new trend that is quickly unfolding, the more people can invest and potentially make money off of something great. The movement does not look like its taking any stops, it's full speed ahead and only time will tell how things will play out. This music culture is relatively new, and the mainstreaming of it is certainly new. Most kids in college listen to this kind of music on a regular basis and going to these events is becoming a part of having fun with music. Live entertainment has been around for as long as humans have been civilized and will never die. This is what is popular now and it has a lot of room to expand.

Appendix

Magic-mushrooms-can-improve-psychological-health-long-term [internet][cited 2013 3/9/13] http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/16/magic-mushrooms-can-improve- psychological- health-long-term/#ixzz2NCFMyhKy

Evol Intent Wikipedia [internet][cited 2013 3/9/13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evol_Intent

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