EDMTCC 2014 F# The EDM Guide: Technology, Culture, Curation Written by Robby Towns EDMTCC.COM [email protected] /EDMTCC NESTAMUSIC.COM [email protected] @NESTAMUSIC ROBBY TOWNS AUTHOR/FOUNDER/ENTHUSIAST HANNAH LOVELL DESIGNER LIV BULI EDITOR JUSTINE AVILA RESEARCH ASSISTANT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SIMON MORRISON GOOGLE VINCENT REINDERS 22TRACKS GILLES DE SMIT 22TRACKS LUKE HOOD UKF DANA SHAYEGAN THE COLLECTIVE BRIAN LONG KNITTING FACTORY RECORDS ERIC GARLAND LIVE NATION LABS BOB BARBIERE DUBSET MEDIA HOLDINGS GLENN PEOPLES BILLBOARD MEGAN BUERGER BILLBOARD THE RISE OF EDM 4 1.1 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 6 1.2 DISCO TO THE DROP 10 1.3 A REAL LIFE VIDEO GAME 11 1.4 $6.2 BILLION GLOBAL INDUSTRY 11 1.5 GOING PUBLIC 13 1.6 USB 14 TECHNOLOGY: 303, 808, 909 15 2.1 ABLETON LIVE 18 2.2 SERATO 19 2.3 BEATPORT 21 2.4 SOUNDCLOUD 22 2.5 DUBSET MEDIA HOLDINGS 23 CULTURE: BIG BEAT TO MAIN STREET 24 3.1 DUTCH DOMINANCE 26 3.2 RINSE FM 28 3.3 ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL 29 3.4 EDM FANS = HYPERSOCIAL 30 CURATION: DJ = CURATOR 31 4.1 BOOMRAT 33 4.2 UKF 34 4.3 22TRACKS 38 BONUS TRACK 41 THE RISE OF EDM “THE MUSIC HAS SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH THE CURRENT ENGLISH- SYNTHESIZER LED ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC...” –LIAM LACEY, CANADIAN GLOBE & MAIL 1982 EDMTCC.COM What is “EDM”? The answer from top brands, and virtually to this question is not the every segment of the entertain- purpose of this paper, but is ment industry is looking to cap- a relevant topic all the same. italize on the “DJ”, but this rise The earliest recorded use of to fame is one that did not hap- the term is from a 1982 band pen overnight. EDM has long review. since been an early adopter of technology; Beatport launched “THE MUSIC HAS SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH THE in 2004, less than one year after CURRENT ENGLISH SYNTHESIZER- LED ELECTRONIC the launch of the iTunes store DANCE MUSIC, RANGING AT TIMES FROM THE MOODY in 2003. The strength of the SWEEPING ELECTRONIC EFFECTS OF THE NEW ORDER culture in this space of music TO THE BRIGHT, SWEET POP OF DEPECHE MODE.” is staggering, with events like Electric Daisy Carnival drawing –LIAM LACEY, CANADIAN GLOBE & MAIL 1982 400k+ in attendance. Major There are instances of marquis services perpetually struggle DJs like Paul van Dyk referring with the future of curation in to “electronic dance music” as a virtual space. The ability to early as 2003. Today EDM is masterfully curate has been a primarily a way for the recent mainstay of DJ and EDM cul- phenomenon to be packaged ture since the beginning. This up for public media, where art- skill has been reinvented in the ists like Skrillex, Pretty Lights digital age with streaming ser- and Armin Van Buren are vices like 22tracks and brands thrown together despite the like UKF building businesses fact that the music they play is around their ability to provide very different. For the purpos- the right music to the right es of this research EDM refers people in the right way. to culture and community, as The goal of this paper is to well as the related music, both provide a resource for the mu- genres, and sub-genres. sic industry, DJ’s, producers Even though this movement and super fans that will offer in- in music appears relatively new sights on the evolution, depth to much of the public, it is root- and sustainability of EDM. Ad- ed in a much deeper story. This ditionally, it is hoped that this story of EDM is best told look- research will encourage others ing through the lenses of Tech- to continue the dialogue on nology, Culture and Curation these topics and explore them with the following overarching in new and interesting ways. themes: It is important to note that the ADOPTION OF overall focus pertains primarily TECHNOLOGY to EDM in the US, the discus- STRENGTH OF CULTURE sion of EDM in other countries POWER OF CURATION is limited to only when relevant The multi-billion dollar glob- to a particular theme. al industry is drawing interest 5 1.1 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST Dance Darwinism There can hardly be any bet- culture, music and professionals ter motivation for listening to a have flourished outside the more school of music than the age-old conventional models of the mu- my-parents-just-don’t-get-it man- sic business. tra. Factors like this, coupled with Several key events contributed the level of widespread accep- to the decline of recorded music. tance the culture offers create a These events also provided an very unique social atmosphere. opportunity for early adopters In addition to the social phenom- of the internet and digital mu- enon surrounding EDM, there is sic to excel. Unlike other genres a Darwinian element behind the (e.g., Pop) bound to a major label success of the genre. The current structure, EDM had the flexibility state of EDM is the result of its ear- and technical prowess to make ly adoption of digital distribution their music more accessible to as well as its resilience during the the masses via download and decline of recorded music. The streaming. 6 DAFT PUNK ALBUM CERT RIAA PLATINUM BILLBOARD TOP ARTISTS 10% EDM BILLBOARD HOT 100 20% EDM TRACKS DIGITAL OVERTAKES 2014 PHYSICAL IN RECORDED RECORDED SPOTIFY 2013 MUSIC (US) MUSIC LAUNCH (US) TIMELINE 2012 EDMTCC.COM 2011 US RECORDED 2011 MUSIC SALES DROP 15% (IFPI) SPOTIFY 1 0 LAUNCH 982 990 999 (SE) 20 2001 1 1 1 2003 2005 2008 2008 YOUTUBE LAUNCH ITUNES US LAUNCH STEVE JOBS INTRODUCES iPOD NAPSTER SHUTS DOWN (80M USERS) NAPSTER DEBUTS BIRTH OF MP3 ALLOWS AUDIO COMPACT SHARING DISC SET AS INDUSTRY STANDARD 7 DIGITAL VS PHYSICAL ALBUM SALES Source: SoundScan EDM RAP ROCK YEAR DGTL PHYS DGTL PHYS DGTL PHYS 2013 62% 38% 51% 49% 44% 56% 2012 56% 44% 44% 56% 42% 58% 2011 49% 51% 35% 65% 37% 63% 2010 40% 60% 26% 74% 32% 68% 2009 32% 68% 19% 81% 25% 75% 2008 28% 72% 12% 88% 19% 81% 2007 20% 80% 7% 93% 13% 87% 2006 10% 90% 4% 96% 8% 92% Following the adoption of the declines in recorded music artists like Fatboy Slim and The CD as the principle format revenue that have lasted until Prodigy in the late 90’s and for music consumption, the present day. most recently with Daft Punk’s recorded music industry ex- Given the ongoing challeng- Random Access Memories*. perienced a time of massive es in recorded music sales, the As a result, the genre as a whole growth. In addition to custom- industry continues to pursue never garnered significant ers purchasing new music, they effective ways to supplement major label support similar to were also replacing their exist- with ancillary revenue streams that of other genres. This has ing collection of vinyl, 8 track like brand partnerships and changed in recent years, with tapes and cassettes with CDs. enhanced focus on direct to major labels eyeing the genre However, the vast majority of fan. However, in the midst of with more interest. However, these CDs were unprotected these events is a genre of mu- according to SoundScan, most from anyone with a CD drive sic that never relied on record major EDM artists will top out and the know-how to rip the sales as the primary revenue around 500k albums or less. audio content to their comput- stream. In a sense it was al- Avicii’s True only sold 178k in ers. Hardware, software, and ready positioned to foster in an 2013 and Skrillex’s widely suc- format (mp3) eventually con- environment when the days of cessful Bangarang stalled at verged to create the perfect $18 CD sales ceased to exist. 426k in 2012 (Source: Sound- storm at the turn of the cen- There have been a few exam- Scan). There are some stand- tury, leading to the significant ples of platinum albums from out examples with platinum *870k units in 2013, certified platinum in Feb 2014 8 singles coming from artists like David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Skrillex. In 2013 Avicii’s “Wake Me Up!” was Universal’s #3 highest grossing track at 8M copies sold. Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” was the top streamed track of 2013 at 489,674,000 streams*. Although EDM is primarily a digital singles market in terms of volume, its album sales are very telling of the genre’s adoption of technology. According to Sound- Scan, EDM has been the number one music genre in digital album sales relative to other genres since they started tracking digital album sales by genre in 2006 (see table on pg. 8). Another area of notable suc- cess for EDM in recorded music is compilation sales from labels like Ultra Music, since the early 2000’s. “PEOPLE JUST WANT IT HANDED TO THEM RATHER THAN THINK OR FIND ANYTHING NEW THEMSELVES. THEY JUST WANT AN INSTANT COLLECTION OF A CERTAIN STYLE.” – Patrick Moxey, Founder of Ultra Music (Billboard March 2003) The point Moxey, now Presi- dent of Dance/Electronic Music (Sony), makes was true then with early series like Ultra.Dance and Ultra.Trance and has remained a constant with current series like Ultra Deep House and Ultra Hits. The success of compilations is not limited to legacy EDM labels like Ultra Music. It is also a part of current trends with compilations like UKF Bass Culture and All Trap Music consistently topping the Dance album chart on iTunes.