WE LIVE FOR LIVE MUSIC by samantha hoffer

t h e

EVOLUTION

o f

ELECTRONIC

dance music why itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finally popular

& what this says about the music industry

WE L I VE for L I VE M US I C

WE LI VE FOR LI VE M U SI C , I SSU E 1 : TH E E V O L U TI ON OF ELECTR ONI C DA NC E M U SI C SAMANTHA HOF F E R

TC 660 H P LAN I I HONORS P R OG R A M T HE U NI VERSI TY OF TE XA S AT A U STI N FALL 2 0 1 2

DAVE GARL OC K SCHOOL OF JO U R NA L I SM SUPERVI SI NG P R OF E SSOR

DENNI S DAR L I NG SCHOOL OF JOU R NA L I SM SECON D RE A DE R

ON THE COVER:

BASSNECTAR

HALLOWEEN 2012 AUSTIN

GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY NOVEMBER 2012

HOUSTON, TEXAS

FEATURES TIMELINE (20) A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE EVOLUTION OF ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC

back to the future (34) A LOOK AT ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC’S EARLY HISTORY

FESTIVAL FEVER (36) EDMS BOOMING SUCCESS IN THE FESTIVAL MARKET HAS HEADS TURNING FROM AROUND THE INDUSTRY TO INVEST IN LIVE MUSIC.

NOCTURNAL WONDERLAND (40) AN INSIDE LOOK AT AN ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC FESTIVAL

LET’S GET DIGITAL (62) HOW THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION AFFECTED THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND PAVED THE WAY FOR EDM’S SUCCESS.

just give me the beat (68) DJ VS. PRODUCER AND UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE

THE FINALE (75) FINAL THOUGHTS

PRETTY LIGHTS

WITH LIVE DRUMMER, COREY EBERHARD

NOVEMBER 2009 AUSTIN, TEXAS 6

we live for live music

small stuff (10)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

(9) GLOSSARY (14)

FROM THE FANS

(16) (18)

ON THE ROAD fall tours new year’s eve shows

(75) SOURCES

live live : issue 1

EDITOR, WRITER, PUBLISHER, PHOTOGRAPHER & ART DIRECTOR SAMANTHA HOFFER

INTERVIEWEES

BOBBY CLAY TYLER GOLDBERG MIKE ABB SCOTT EISEMAN DAN ROSENWALD DOZENS OF UNOFFICIAL INTERVIEWS AND DISCUSSIONS WITH FRIENDS AND PEERS

NOTE: PDF.

THIS

INTERACTIVE

AS YOU READ, LOOK FOR THE

CURSOR SYMBOL

TO AS

INTERACTIVE

CHANGE AN

HAND

INDICATOR

FEATURES.

USE

ADOBE

READER TO ENSURE COMPATIBILIT Y. IF ROTHBURY MUSIC FESTIVAL JULY 2008

ROTHBURY, MICHIGAN 8

YOU ARE READING ON ISSUU.COM INTERACTIVE FEATURES ARE UNAVAIL ABLE.

we live for live music

the Glossary

live live : issue 1

R E T T LE ROM F HE T OR IT D E

For my thesis, I created this magazine—we LIVE

for LIVE music—as an ode to one of the nation’s

favorite pastimes, live music. This premier issue,

the thesis issue, stands as a testimonial to the m usic pheno m enon that has recently swept

across the nation, Electronic Dance Music (EDM).

Although dance music is certainly not new, a new

life was breathed into it in the past couple of years. Through this magazine I hope to display not only a picture of Electronic Dance Music, past

and present, but also explain why, after forty years of existence, dance music is just now find-

ing its place in America, and further, what this says about the music industry on the whole.

For years, doom and gloom stories have sur-

rounded the music industry with woeful tales

abo ut the effects of piracy and copyrig ht infringement on record sales and royalties. While these are certainly valid concerns, statements

about the “death of the music industry” are highly

skewed towards the state of the major record labels and not the music industry on the whole.

This is due to the fact that for the past century, for one to refer to the state of the music industry was more or less the equivalent of referring to just the major record labels.

With the Digital

Age, a quantum shift has occurred in the means by which music is created, distributed, found and

acquired that allow artists to directly connect

with consumers and bypass the traditional gatekeepers of the industry, the record labels.

It is my hope in this magazine to use Electronic

Dance Music’s new-found, booming success in

America, and the underlying reasons behind it, to show the new landscape of the modern music

industry; one in which success is no longer mea-

sured by “going gold” but rather by the number of tickets sold.

Another goal I have for this magazine is that it

serves as a guide to the layman wishing to under-

stand more about Electronic Dance Music. An

umbrella-term for a multitude of genres (Black Widow Music just published this list of 230 sub-

genres and counting) as well as a type of music that changes as rapidly as the technology that drives it, EDM can be difficult for many to grasp.

As EDM has gone the way of pop, it has become

the focus of much ridicule as an uncultured and

un-artistic medium, simply meant for mindless dancing and creatable by anyone who can push a

computer button. I hope that this magazine serve

as a bridge between the average uninformed pop-listener and the anti-EDM music “purists” by

providing insight into the history and artistry of Electronic Dance Music.

I was inspired to create this magazine because I

was lucky enough to be a part of the EDM scene as it busted out from the underground and into

mainstream music and culture. Arriving in Austin in the fall of 2008, I could not have been more

excited to explore what the Live Music Capital of the World had to offer me. Although I enjoyed

concerts of all genres, I quickly found myself

attending electronic shows more than the rest and becoming a part of one of the many tight -knit

communities that makes Austin great: a group of about 300 electronic music loving Austinites. Attending on average one electronic show a week

that first year, I came to love the feeling of being

able to look around the room at any one of these shows and have that sense of community—that I

was surrounded by friends in all directions. I had

a feeling at the time that we were a part of something that was new and going to be big, but I had no idea the extent of it. As my college years

went on, artists that I had seen play in a small bar

overlooking Sixth Street for maybe 300 people

were playing at Austin City Music Hall for 3,000 people. I no longer could turn around at a show

and find my all my friends, instead I was faced with a sea of unfamiliar faces. I realized that my small community was not so small anymore

and had broken out of our underground niche and into the mainstream. Seeing this phenomenon happen in front of me inspired this thesis.

Originally when I began working, my thesis ques-

tion was about whether or not this genre was just a bubble or had truly found its way into the mainstream. Over this summer, movements in the

industry to invest in EDM confirmed that this was not a bubble, and caused me to shift my focus

why EDM was now becoming mainstream. After

nearly forty years of existence why was elec-

tronic music just now finding its place in America and looking at the bigger picture, what does this say about the direction the music industry is headed in on the whole?

In this magazine, I reveal how electronic music

has finally solidified its place in America because

the digital age harbors an envi ron m ent that strays away from the confines of the traditional recorded music industry, allowing EDM to flourish

outside of the control of the major record labels.

While the â&#x20AC;&#x153;industryâ&#x20AC;? has spent the past ten years pointing fingers and looking to Washington for

solutions to the piracy issue, electronic artists,

many of whom were born into the generation

which caused the file-sharing problem, embraced

that fact—that piracy is going to happen—and

shifted their focus instead to the format their music was created for—the live experience—to be successful.

The booming success EDM artists and EDM

promoters have found in the live experience has

heads turning from all over the industry as they realize that the recorded m usic industry will

never rise to its former glory, and it is time to focus on a new, more diversified direction for

the music industry that includes licensing, merchandising, and most of all—live music.

FROM THE FANS

PICS FROM THE SHOW

#diplo

@k ykebcn @msjek ka @kandiinspir ations @br adpeter s5 @djdocstone @jhocks @nick yhilton @ravebarbie @ t ylersherrit t

#biggigantic

#tiesto

#bassnectar

#housepar ty

#ravebarbie

#moderngogogirl

#lightshow

#NYCclublife

we live for live music

from the fans

Photos from the fans for an inside look at the world of EDM.

#soundsystem

#barcelonaclublife

#aoki

#bennybenassi

#kandi

live live : issue 1

#prettylights

#edc @beck ygonz @gadget tekele @br kor man @k ykebcn @s teveaoki @crack wood @jeremypmitchell @christinamorgann @oliver t wist y

#modestep

#squarepusher

onthe the road on road

T o u rs Fa l l Coming soon to a city near you....

we live for live music

live live : issue 1

on the road

new yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013

we live for live music

live live : issue 1

timeline

We begin the story here

1949 -

Industry

1949 The term “Electronic Music” is coined by Werner Meyer Eppler. Rock n ’ Roll redefin es mus ic as som ething t o be listened to, not danced to.

1950s genre

Rock n’ Roll music is born.

1960s Motown becomes dance music classics.

pop culture 1955

technology

RCA Mark II, the first programmable sound synthesizer, is invented by Olson and Belar. First time anyone had used the word synthesizer for a piece of equipment

( THE!!! BEAT )

(COLUMBIA UNIVERSIT Y )

we live for live music

- 1970

timeline

1960s Youth start to attend rock concerts instead of going to sock hops.

1962 King Tubby of Jamaica births the dub, which will later give rise to the remix.

1960s

Rock n’ roll becomes the sound of modern life. It continues to grow until splits into factions in the 1970s.

1967

1962

Etta James releases “Something’s Got a Hold of Me,” a sample of which resonates through the EDM explosion of late.

The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations is the first pop hit to feature electronic sounds. (CAPITOL RECORDS)

1964

The Moog Company develops the first modular synthesizer. (MOOG MUSIC) Bob Moog’s synthesizer brought electronic

music out of the realm of academia and into the hands of musicians.

live live : issue 1

timeline “I can envision one person with, like, a lot of machines, tapes and electronic setups, singing or speaking and using machines...” -Jim Morrison

EARLY

1970s

1970

Disco makes streaming music continuously cool and popularizes the club scene.

19721974 Disco is born.

Jim Morrison predicts the future of music.

1978

1973

Synth music and space age pop is starting to impact TV, film and commercials

1970 The Mini Moog is invented, becoming the first portable synthesizer.

(PBS)

Italo Disco becomes the first complete EDM genre.

DJ Herc invents Breakbeat.

1970s

the 1

1972

Hot Butter’s Popcorn becomes the first electronic pop hit.

1978

(RCO RECORDS)

The Technics 1200 Mark II is released and becomes the industry standard.

we live for live music

1970s

timeline

Kraftwerk members are considered to be the “godfathers” of electronic music.

1975

Kraftwerk releases Autobahn.

L AT E

1970s

Disco declines as sentiments such as “Disco Sucks” and “Death to Disco” become popular.

1978

David Bowie and Blondie bring in New Wave.

Brian Eno births ambient music.

1977 Saturday Night Fever These days, many people falsly associate this iconic soundtrack with the beginning of disco.

(UNKNOWN)

1979

Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” brings hip hop into the Top 40.

1979

The first digital sampler, the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument), is released.

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the 19

timeline

1980s

Disco is thought to be dead, but it just went underground where it morphed into house and techno.

1980

Frankie Knuckles invents house music at the Warehouse in Chicago.

1982

The Hacienda Club opens in Manchester.

the

1980s

so u n ds

n ew

host

based

and

co ntri b uted

sa m pl i ng

g en res

Computers, video games and electronic equipment become more affordable, efficient and put to great use.

1981

Video game music is born as a genre.

i nstru m ents

1980s

the

n ew

synthet-

tech nolo-

form atio n

el ectro n i c

m u-

si c a n d the el ectro n i c so u n d o n the

whol e. Whi l e these days the so u n ds of most of these i nstru m ents ca n

be repl i cated o n a co m p uter o utfit-

1987

(UNKOWN)

The rave scene grows from acid house music in the United Kingdom.

1980 Roland TR 808 Rhythm Machine

1981

E-mu Emulator becomes the first affordable digital sampler

ted with the proper a u d io sof twa re,

DJs sti l l seek the retro i nstru m ents for the co m e

u n i q u e cha racteristi cs that

fro m

a n a log

i nstru m ents.

we live for live music

980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

timeline

19891991

1980

Trip Hop and other downtempo genres find success with acts like Massive Attack and Portishead.

Sampling and breakbeat become important features for both hip-hop and EDM.

19831985

Techno rises out of the industrial sounds of Detroit.

(MASSIVE AT TACK )

1987

Acid house is born at the Hacienda Club in Manchester.

1989

Ambient music becomes just as important as the dance floor during EDMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second Summer of Love.

Lo ndo n

1988

beco m es the h u b of EDM.

Electronic Dance Music first Summer of Love begins as the free-party scene takes the sound out of the club and into the open. MIDI is a protocol, not a hardware, which provided a standard for electronic instrument manufacturers.

1982 MIDI invented

live live : issue 1

1983

1984

Roland TB 303 Baseline released.

Roland TR 909 Drum Machine

timeline

the 19

1990s

Rave music sees slight mainstream success with artists such as C & C Music Factory and Snap! and begins to infuence pop music.

EARLY

1990s

Hardcore music begins to dominate the British rave scene.

1990s 1990s Rise of the super club and superstar DJs.

EARLY

1990s Jungle forms out of hardcore.

Responsible for EDC, Nocturnal, and Wonderland Festivals.

1993

Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk and DJ Tiesto bring trance music to the forefront.

Tommy Boy Records releases the first Jock Jams album.

( TOMMY BOY RECORDS)

With the growth of personal computing, electronic artists began to migrate from analog electronic instruments to computer-based production. Computer-based production allows for DJs to recreate the sounds found in traditional analog instruments as well as new sounds that have never been heard before (e.g. the Dubstep wob). It also opened up the realm of EDM creation to anyone with the right software.

1992

1995

Insomniac Events is established in Southern California.

1990s

The media dubs of all electronic music â&#x20AC;&#x153;techno.â&#x20AC;?

1991

MP3 digital audio format is introduced

990’s 1994

In the UK, raves are forced back underground with the passing of the Criminal Justice Act.

timeline This new law defined gatherings of more than 20 people listening to “repetitive beats” as illegal.

1997

Record companies try to market techno under a new name— “electronica”— but fail.

1999 Moby licenses every track on his Play album.

EDM’S no n-d escri pt beats a re perfect for m a rketi ng .

1995

Drum and bass evolves out of jungle.

1997 EDC begins as a one day event.

L AT E

1990s

L AT E

1990s

As artists begin to use Although electronica failed to go maincomputers in production, stream its loops and textures find their way into pop and hip hop. glitch hop evolves.

1998

Fatboy Slim makes $0 off of Rockafeller Skank after giving 25% of the royalties to each of the four artists he used samples from. (SKINT RECORDS)

1991

1999

ProTools released at a price of $6,000.

Ableton is founded.

Napster launches

They are the developers of Ableton

Live, one of the premiere loop-based

sequencers used in modern production.

timeline “You’d better be prepared for

a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left.”

2000-

2002

In an interview with the New York Times, David Bowie claims copyright and intellectual property will cease to exist in the next ten years.

2003

Congress passes a law holding club owners responsible for their patrons’ actions and affecting the whole industry. Rusko’s “Cockney Thug”

illustrates the wob sound.

2001

2006

Dubstep nights begin to pop up in the underground music scene around the U.S.

Dubstep begins to grow out of South London. (COURTESY OF RUSK0)

2004

Tiesto DJs the Athens Olympic Opening Ceremonies. (DTSIABAI/FLICKR CC)

2000

2001

CD sales peak

Limewire introduced

2005

The GRAMMYs add a Best Dance/Electronica Album category.

2001

2003

The iPod brings digital music players to the masses.

iTunes launched

we live for live music

-2009 20072009

Long-established one-day raves such as EDC and Ultra transform into two-day festivals.

timeline

2009

Guetta’s “When Love Take Over” becomes an international pop hit and the Euro-house sound starts to creep its way into popular music. Guetta co-wrote “Boom Boom Pow.”

2008

2009

Kanye West spawns electro-rap with 808’s & Heartbreak, prominently featuring the TR 808 drum machine.

Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas bring the Euro-house sound to the Top 40. (INTERSCOPE RECORDS)

2006

2007

Daft Punk’s pyramid setup at Coachella sets a new bar for visuals.

2004 Youtube launched

live live : issue 1

Gaga’s Bad Romance has nearly 0.5 billion YouTube views.

Gary Richards starts Hard Events.

2004

(K ARL WALTER/GET T Y IMAGES)

Beatport launched

2007 iPhone released

2010-

timeline

EDM finally has a home in America.

2010

2011

When an underage girl dies at EDC in LA, EDM gets a lot backlash but this also gives it a lot of exposure.

EDC is forced out of LA and moves to Vegas, which becomes the home of EDM in the United States.

2010

2011

Moombahton, a fusion of house music and reggae, is born at a house party in DC.

2010

Black Eyed Peas’ house-based “The Time/Dirty Bit” tops the charts in over 15 countries.

Skrillex explodes onto the mainstream music scene, bringing the “drop” and heavy bass with him. (COURTESY OF SKRILLEX )

2011

Bassnectar plays Red Rocks where he Skrillex is nominated for incurs $100,000 in noise violations five Grammy Awards; he after bringing his own speakers. wins three.

Hip hop and EDM production styles have always mirrored one another; now they are morphing.

2010

Technics SL-1200 turntable, the industry standard for thirty years, is discontinued. DJAY app

2011

2010

Limewire, the top P2P file-sharing client, is shut down.

2011 Spotify launches in the US.

-2011 2011

timeline According to Billboard, this is

considered a watershed moment brands adopting EDM.

2011

Tiesto plays the biggest single Nielsen Soundscan reports digital Absoulte Vodka sponsors music sales in the U.S. are larger than Swedish House Mafiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headliner DJ show in U.S. physical sales for the first time. sold out MSG show. history to 26,000 in Carson, CA.

2011

Britneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hold it Against Me acts as the catalyst for replacing the pop bridge with the dubstep drop.

2011

(JIVE RECORDS)

Wi t h the l a p to i n st p a ru m s p ro ent duc , E e rs DM blen co n d a of nd s t an diff mix el em tly e re i ng n to t ent t ge s he n re p ro s mic lead life ro g ra t enr ion es, a re o f whi diff ch icul d i st t to i ng u ish.

The Victoria Secret Fashion Show features rave-inspired outfits for the final walk.

EDC Vegas has over 230,000 attendees in three days. ED M rg ete ch no lo gy is la o u nd ly ba se d no w ar ra m s a nd so ft w ar e prog ng ha rd th ei r co ordi na ti , rs fo r Ab le to n w ar e- -c o nt ro lle fo r Se ra to , Sc ra tc h de ck s e is a n en ti re a nd m or e. Th er od er n DJ te ch sp ectr u m of m a nd th e pa th no lo gy av ai la bl e nd s o n w ha t o ne ta ke s de pe tr yi ng to so u nd th ey ar e ac hi ev e.

2011

The n eo n colors associ ated with EDM ca n be fo u n d a l l over the fashio n worl d . (ZUMA PRESS)

(SAMANTHA HOFFER)

timeline

JAN.

2012

Night Culture, Inc. becomes the first EDM-oriented publicly traded company.

JULY

A system of alerts are set up to notify users when they infringe on copyright law.

MAR.

Universal closes on EMI, becoming the largest of the remaining three major record labels.

Ultra Music Festival in Miami has 40,000 viewers watching its online stream over YouTube.

AUG.

SEPT.

JUNE EDC Vegas sees 300,000+ people over 3 days.

Feature-length EDM documentary, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Drop: The EDM Culture Explosion,â&#x20AC;? enters production.

(DANNY MOLOSHOK / REUTERS)

OCT.

Charts shift when Billboard begins to include data from streaming services.

JUNE

Family-friendly animated film, Wreck It Ralph, uses dance music in trailer.

SEPT.

Queen Latifah sings the National Anthem at the opening game of the NFL season...over a beat.

we live for live music

timeline

After explodi ng onto the mai nstrea m m usic

scene and pop culture i n the past year, the

i nd ustry has set its sig nts on EDM ventures proved the genre has fi nally conq uered the fi nal frontier—America.

FEB.

JUNE

EDM artists get the spotlight at the Grammys for the 1st time with addi- Live Nation purchases Hard Events. tion of a dance music performance.

OCT.

The first professional media outlet for EDM is announced.

NYU introduces a course on the Business of Electronic & Dance Music.

JUNE

Bieber drops his first dubstep-influenced track, “As Long as You Love Me.”

JULY

Media mogul, Robert FX Sillerman, says he will spend $1B on EDM enterprises.

NOV.

Billboard hosts the 2nd Annual FutureSound conference to address the future of the industry.

NOVEMBER

Dance-based songs can be found all across the radio.

OCT.

Taylor Swift adopts the dubstep drop with her single “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

BL ACK WIDOW MUSIC PUBLISHES A LIST OF 230+ EDM SUB-GENRES...AND COUNTING

NOV.

Deadmau5 says to “burn it down, burn all electronic music down” in an interview at the Billboard FutureSound Conference.

(BIG MACHINE)

live live : issue 1

BACK

TO THE

FUTURE Thirty years after the â&#x20AC;&#x153;deathâ&#x20AC;? of disco, dance music is back in America and bigger than ever. To understand where it is going, we must take a look at the past.

we live for live music

he most recent mains tream movement to hit the United States, Elec tronic Dance Music (EDM), did so as an explosion of lights, neon and pulsating beat s. But, dance music is nothing new. Although EDM seems entirely novel to many of A mer ic a’s yout h, dance music has a long and storied histor y. I n t h e b e g i n n i n g, m u s i c created via electronic instruments was focused o n a c a d e mic p ur s ui t s a n d hig h ar t . T he u s e of ele c tronic s in popular music creation began with the commercialization of the synthesizer in the 1960s. As technology evolved, so did experimentation with electronic instruments. In the 1970 s, the days of d i s co l e d to t h e d evel o p ment of elec tronic dance m u s i c w h e n D J s i nve n t e d the traditional two-turntable setup to continuously stream together music so that the dancing never had to stop. Unfor tunately for dance music, just as quickly as disco w a s e m b r a c e d, a n t i - d i s c o sentiments fueled by racism and fear of change, pushed it into the underground. It was in this underground space during the ‘80s that modern dance music evolved. Strides made in elec tronic ins tr ument ation develop e d t he s y nt hesizer mac hine s t hat wo ul d for m the backbones of house and techno music, the Roland TB 303 baseline and Roland TR 909 drum machine. According to The G u a r d i a n ’s r e c e n t l y p u b lished timeline, A Histor y of Mo der n Music, DJ Fr ank ie Knuckles is responsible for the development of house music, char ac terized by it s

live live : issue 1

4/4 beat s, Techno rose out of Detroit a few years later, i n s p ir e d by t h e i n d u s t r ial sounds of the city. While wildly popular in the underground music scene, techno and hous e did not find commercial success in America. It was not until the lat ter par t of the ‘80s, when the sounds of house and techno found their way to the UK and morphed into a new sub - genre, acid house, that the commercial club culture was born, albeit exclusively in Europe. W hil e d a n c e m u s ic to o k of f running on the other side of the pond, in America a dif ferent s tor y began to unfold. As rap and hip-hop took a stronghold of the music ind us t r y in t he late eighties and nineties, dance music remained confined to the peripheries. As dance-music DJs wor ked to evolve their s o u n d a n d ke e p u p w i t h t e c h n o l o g y, hi p - h o p DJ s , who adopted the traditional turntable setup from the DJs of disco as well as their produc tion techniques, began to work in the recording s t u dio s a n d i nf lue nce t he indus tr y, es p ecially in t he realm of pop music. I n t h e 19 9 0 s , i n s i d e r s thought EDM had finally hit t he jac k p ot and found mains tream succes s. In an i nte r v i e w w i t h Pa p e r M a g, industr y vet, Gar y Richards, explains “the fir s t farewell to the underground”: “By 1993, it felt like t he music wasn’t underground anymore so I threw a par t y called Rave America at K n ot t s B e r r y Far m, w hic h is an amusement park in O r a n g e C o u n t y. I t s o l d o u t wi t h like 20, 0 0 0 p e o ple. Rick Rubin c ame wit h

A nthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Pepper s and a couple guys from Z Z Top and he asked me if I wanted to work in the record business and help them sign some EDM ar tis t s. I said sure, the Prodigy were super hot and it seemed like it was blowing up. But we star ted signing all these techno ar tists thinking they’d catch on, too, but nobody was buying it. Nobody.” J u s t l i ke R i c h a r d s s a y s , nobody was buying it. Dance music was not catching on in the way the indus tr y would have liked, so in 1997 the entire music industr y and press put their full force behind “elec tronica,” the new catch-all name they had given to the genre in an attempt to successfully market it. D e s pi te t he gli m p s e s of success seen froma handful of ar tists the genre failed to succeed, and the indus tr y distanced itself from dance music far ther than it had when disco “died”. This failure can be accounted to EDM not fitting into the mar keting machiner y of the indus tr y. T he t r a d i t io nal s e t u p w as f i xe d for four- minute ro c k and pop singles and album tours, not the extended club mixes and residencies that were the basis of the EDM world. Not only was the industr y ill- equipped to market elec tronic music, b u t ma ny c o n s u m e r s al s o felt it abrasive and awkward at tempting to listen to this machine-made, glitch-based music that was so unfamiliar to their ears. It was not until the digital revolution of the new millennium t hat elect ro nic d ance mu s ic f inally found its place. �

Festival

MAJOR L A ZER AT SUMMERFEST IN HOUSTON, JUNE 2012.

we live for live music

Fe v e r EDMS BOOMING SUCCESS IN THE FESTIVAL MARKET HAS HEADS TURNING FROM AROUND THE INDUSTRY TO INVEST IN LIVE MUSIC. If music in 2012 could talk, it would sound a lot like the Bill O’ Reilly’s blooper: “Let’s do it live!” While attending concer ts has been popular since rock and roll shows in the 1950s, the recent elec tronic music boom has made it exponentially more so. O n e r e a s o n, a c c o r d i n g t o F o r b e s , i s t h a t a s res ource cons t r aint s have tightene d, p eople are spending their money more on experiences as opposed to manufac tured produc ts. But it is more t h a n t h a t . ED M h a s m a n a g e d t o e n t i r e l y t r a n s form the concept of a concer t by blurring the lines bet ween going out dancing and going out to see music. These days one would pay the same amount to see superstar- DJ David Guet ta in an arena that they would if they were simply dancing to him spinning in a club. But this popularit y was not always the case. As a genre born in the world of nightclubs, EDM’s par ties were lambasted for years as depraved raves. Now, many kids will go to a rave before they attend a rock concer t. Why the sudden change? A major fac tor is rebranding. Raves became festivals. Elec tronic became EDM. Once shed of the negative associations with raves and the bad memories of the elec tronica’s failure, EDM shows and festivals began to proliferate across the countr y. No longer hiding in remote fields or e m p t y w a r e h o u s e, e l e c t r o n i c m u s i c p r o m o t e r s looked to book DJs in public arenas and concer t halls. Ele c t r ic Dais y C ar niv al (ED C ) 2010, a r ave p u t on by one of the major EDM promoters, Insomniac

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E ve n t s , s e r ve d a s a t u r ni n g p o i n t f o r t h e g e n r e when an under age gir l died at the event, c ausing severe backlash against Insomniac, but also giving the genre lots of exposure. EDC was run out of Los A ngeles but found refuge in the always-accepting cit y of L as Vegas. It was here in Vegas that EDM finally found a home — now playing the same role to America as Ibiza did to Europe when the rave scene s t ar ted there in the 198 0 s. Super s t ar DJs c an be found any week as a resident DJ to Tao, XS or one of the many other posh clubs and the landmark event of the year, EDC Vegas is now one of the largest raves in the world, with over 300,000 attendees last year. EDC is not the only big festival on the market now though. Festivals are becoming trendy—an indicator of direc tion the music industr y is headed in: towards the live, and away from the recorded. According to Metrowize.com, an online nightlife guide, in 2012 al o n e, at l ea s t t hir t y -t wo n ew f e s t i v al s b e g a n i n America—fif teen of them dedicated solely to EDM. Long-standing traditions in the music industr y, festivals typically only attrac ted people who spent a lot of time at live music and concer ts…until recently. A s EDM c r o s s e d ove r i nto p o p mu s ic t he li ne s b ec ame blur re d b et ween a night of going out to dance at a club and night of going out to see your favorite ar tist at a concer t. People who a few years ago never attended a concer t beyond the major pop ar tist s are now concer t-fiends, as the “pop” ar tist s they love today are world-renowned DJs. O f co ur s e as a ny g e nr e c r o s s e s i nto t he mai n s tream it is going to become increasingly popular

with the mas ses, but EDM’s explosion is unpar alleled. Hundreds of thousands of people at tended EDC Vegas, and that was just one of dozens of electronic dance festivals and all-night events this year. Because the live experience is EDM’s native format, the genre is par ticularly nuanced to success on the road. Mat t Adell of Beatpor t, the online mecca of the DJ communit y explains one of the reasons why: “Per for mer s such as Skrillex are incredibly ef ficient touring operations compared to rock bands. It’s less expensive than a rock group because there’s jus t one per for mer. There’s much les s gear, and it ’s easier to set up because there’s no live micro phones. So the suppor t team required is so much smaller.” Bobby Clay, head of the elec tronic division at C3 Present s, touches on another aspec t of EDM that primes the genre for the road: “It ’s like you don’t need to have a full studio on your tour bus to create the next banger or the next huge club track or the next Rihanna remix. You can do it from the comfor t of a tour bus or the green room of whatever arena some of these big people are playing in now.” EDM ar tists have the luxur y of not having to break from tour to create new songs. A lt hough EDM is pr ime d for tour ing, it is only in the past couple of years that the genre took on this rock and roll mentality. As shows star ted to be booked in rock and roll venues and DJ/producer s took to the road, stopping in ever y middle town and college campus in America like a rock band would, DJs became rock stars in their own right. One ar tist in par ticular is noted for condensing the drawn out peaks and falls of dance music into four and a half minute radio-ready tracks: the half-shaved, goof yglasses wearing kid known as Skrillex. Love him or hate him, his genre-fusing, in your face style helped to launch EDM to the place it is at today. With mega-DJs such as Skrillex earning up to $1 million per festival appearance and groups such as Swedish House Mafia selling out Madison Square Garden in nine minutes, it is no surprise that corporate heads have turned to this once-ignored market. Over the summer Live Nation bought Hard Events, one of the original promoters of the genre whose brands of Hardfes t, Holy Ship! and Haunted Hard Mansion have gone on to great s ucces s. Shor tly af ter, media mogul Rober t FX Sillerman pledged to invest $1 billion dollars in EDM ventures. As the money pours in, 2013 is looking to be the biggest year yet for EDM. Having finally solidified it s place in t he music ind us t r y (and at t he fore front, never theless) Elec tronic Dance Music is ready to guide the music indus tr y in a new direc tion — a direc tion towards the future; towards a more diversified music industr y; towards a music industr y that lives for live music. �

PARADISIO THE

IVA

MASSV

I LOVE THIS C ITY!

ELSYIUM

DESER

T DAZ E

we live for live music

AT LEAST NEW FESTIVALS BEGAN IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2012. OF THESE FESTIVALS, FIFTEEN OF THEM ARE DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC.

CI R SET

RIDE

STAR

R UR F O Y WITH

BUN

BURY

RY NI GHTS

S IEND

H20

COUNTERPOINT

BUKU

= DANCE FESTIVAL

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SPRING AW AKENING

FR VE

LIFT FESTIVAL

SUMME

GE RIVER’S ED

A AT

C EDC OR ION F SW IRE EE FLY TL IF E

FESTIVAL OF GNARN IA UL IMP

S SHIP! HOLY U R 1

NOCTURN WONDERL Downtown, Texas April 27-28, 2012

An inside look into the modern electronic music festival.

we live for live music

NAL LAND

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A new generation: neo-age hippies. 43

Welcome to Wonderland 44

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NOCTU 46

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URNAL Dillon Francis plays The Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ground. live live : issue 1

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Visual explosions to coordinate with the audio attack of a drop.

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NOCTU 50

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URNAL EDM shows are known for their high-impact visuals. live live : issue 1

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Modern gogo dancers add to the theatrics.

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NOCTU 54

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Fans contribute to the spectacle, treating EDM festivals as an extra Halloween.

URNAL live live : issue 1

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A less boisterous (and older) crowd gathers to watch jamtronica greats, Lotus, perform.

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we live for live music

STS9, once at the top of the electronic scene, performs to a quaint crowd at the main stage while the majority of the festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendees are dancing to house DJs (Morgan Page and Steve Aoki) at the Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ground.

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we live for live music

Power trio, Nero, concludes the night with their mixed set of drum nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bass, dubstep and house music. The live vocalist, Alana Watson, adds a new dimension to the DJ duo. live live : issue 1

The two-day festival comes to a close around 4:00 am on Sunday. After an entire weekend of living the Nocturnal life, everybody is ready for some sleep.

we live for live music

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LET’S GET DIGITAL

he new millennium opened up a world of change and the beginning of a new direction for the music industry—one that EDM could s u c c e e d i n — w i t h t h e d igi t iz at io n of m u s ic . Although this digitization began in the early ‘90s when the MPEG lossy digital compression (MP3) for mat was invented, digital music did not truly make its mark until the proliferation of the Internet in the new millennium. Up until this point, the industr y never faced any is sues wit h for mat c hanges t ak ing away from revenue. When MP3s star ted to negatively af fec t album s ales, the indus tr y blamed the Internet and the consumers for the problems of file-sharing and copyright infringement instead of finding ways to adapt to the new realities of the Internet Age. The Internet, as stated by Techdir t founder, Mike Masnick, in a recent repor t on the state of the enter tainment industr y, The Sk y is Rising, p r ov i d e s a ma z i n g “o p p o r t u ni t y f o r c o nte nt creator s” and ex tr aordinar y “abundance for consumers.” For content creators, the Internet is an equalizing power that provides them with an oppor tunit y to direc tly connec t to their consumers, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of the music industr y: the record labels. Up until the past decade, the distribution of music occurred through the traditional model in which the record labels worked in unison with the radio s tations to play an ar tis t ’s new single on the air waves in order to spark interest leading up to the album release. This model is limiting to the popular ar tis t s and genres to w hic h t he la b el s s u p p o r te d. B efo r e t he Internet, if an ar tist wanted to become successful, they had to hope to get signed by a label in order to have the proper connections to market their music. This is no longer the c ase as technologic al advances now allow for ar tists to create, record, dis t r ib u te an d p ro mote mu s ic o n t heir ow n via their computer s and the Inter net. By circumventing the middlemen, significantly more ar tists are able get their music to consumers. For consumers, there is more music available to them and more ways to acquire it than ever before. Fif teen years ago, if someone wanted

new music it meant going to the record store and b uying a new alb um. If t hey w ante d to play music it meant sor ting through mas sive CD cases until they found the right one, and hopefully the songs were written on the CD or they had the CD cover with the tracks because other wise how was one to k now which tr ack number corresponded to the preferred song. In 2012, the options for finding, acquiring and accessing music are endless, and are a significant fac tor in the new landscape of the music indus tr y. Fir s t of f, there is the now obvious distinc tion of physical versus digital copies of music. Then within the realm of digital music, there is the newly profound distinction of ownership versus access. With the proliferation of smar tphone and tablet devices, there is a greater desire to have all music available across all platforms. According to the IFPI, the past year has seen a sixt y-five percent increase in users subscribed to music ser vices such as Spotif y, iTunes Match, Google Play, Deezer and many more. Ser vices such as iTunes Match and Google Play are for those that prefer to own their own librar y of music. These ser vices host the owner ’s librar y in the cloud so that he or she can access their music from any device. The real stars of subscription music ser vices are those which provide access over ownership, such as Spotif y and Deezer. These ser vices allow users to search for and stream any song, album or ar tist they desire (that is licensed by the ser vice) without having to take up space on their device with a download or sync multiple devices. Beyond the plethor a of options consumer s now have for acces sing and acquiring music, the amount of music available to them has also greatly increased. Gracenote, a global media d a t a b a s e f o r m u s i c ha s i n c r ea s e d te n - f o l d, expanding it s database from 11 million songs in 2001 to 100 million songs in 2011. The abundance of music consumers are surrounded by and the multitude of ways they have to access it shif ts the landscape of the industr y yet again away f rom t he tr aditional mid dle men, the record labels. As consumers can now pull the t ypes of music they want to listen to

we live for live music

How the digital revolution affected the music industry and paved the way for EDM’s success. instead of having the labels’ preferred ar tist s and sounds pushed onto them they have significantly more influence in determining what is “pop” music. The Internet Age provides an amazing equali z i n g p owe r f o r a r t i s t s a n d c o n s u m e r s, b u t where does this leave the traditional gatekeeper s —the record labels? For them, it is a time for adaptation, which it seems they are just now beginning to grasp Having spent the pas t decade pointing fingers at the public and looking to Washington for answers to pirac y, the record labels failed to evolve when “they had the money and could have built the competence by buying concer t agencies and merchandise companies,” says for mer Univer sal Music Group executive, Tim Renner in The Sky is Rising. While the record industr y was searching for ans wer s to the problems of file - s har ing and copyright infringement inflicted by the Internet, young ar tists— especially electronic music producer s whose creations are already on their laptop in an upload-ready file-format— unders tood these realities and used them to their advantage. Many ar tists have found that addressing the pirac y problem head- on by giving away their music for free when they are star ting out is a great way to gain a following. For many, the mentality is, “Piracy is going to happen, so why not give my music away to get my name out there?” The social media generation’s tendency to share ever y thing can lead to an over night viral sensation, e.g. Psy’s “Gangnam St yle” or Carly Rae Jaspen’s “Call Me Maybe.” A n ar t is t w ho fo u n d g r eat s u c ce s s i n t hi s “giveaway” model, Pretty Lights (Derek Vincent S m i t h ), e x p l a i n s i n a 2 010 i n t e r v i e w w i t h Jambands.com his rationale for put ting up his music for free. “I jus t knew that the people I know, a lot of the people I know, were going to get music for free anyway. That was just how it worked. And I figured people were going to get it anyway but mainly at the time, it was just me wanting to get it into as many people’s stereos as pos sible and have people hear it, so they could see what I was doing, and hopefully be down with it.” For Pretty Lights his plan worked

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per fectly as his sound spread by like wildfire. “A couple things happened from that that I didn’t really foresee I suppose, which was the word of mouth spread like really big, so when I put my second album out, it jumped from probably like 200 downloads a month, to 10,000 in that one month, and it was a one month jump.” Pret t y Light s ser ves as a model for moder n musicians to star t their following by giving away their music, because it allowed him not only to gain fans, but fans who were happy to spread the word since his music could be accessed for free and you weren’t telling a friend to buy an album. I was one of those fans. Af ter seeing him for the first time in the fall of 2008, I told anyone who had a slight interest in elec tronic music at the time to go check him out. Af ter that inaugural Pretty Lights show I went to with one disco ball and one light in a lit tle room above Sixth Street, ever y show I went to of his grew exponentially. Eventually, he was selling out the Austin City Music Hall, one of the larges t venues in the cit y, and his intric ate light setup came to match his name of Pretty Lights. If it were not for the Inter net, who knows if Pretty Lights would have been able to become the international sensation he is now. For the first time in the histor y of music, musicians and fans can directly connect with one another and are not beholden to the press and the industr y to tell them what music to listen to. The abilit y to direc tly release your music to your fans is an oppor tunity EDM ar tists jumped upon. As a genre that had always remained on the peripheries of the mainstream music industr y, EDM ar tists were not beholden to releasing music in the traditional manner. This allowed them in par ticular, over ar tists of other genres that had a place in the recorded music industr y, to seek alternative means of music distribution. The oppor tunities provided by the global digitization and the Internet Age are major factors in the recent rise of EDM. The abilit y for content creators to create and distribute their own music and for consumers to have the entire spec trum of music available to them instantaneously and without need for purchase has led to a changed landscape in the music industr y— away from the recorded and towards the live. �

THE STATE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY THE TRUTH IS IN THE NUMBERS.

DIGITAL MUSIC FOR A DIGI 14% 4% 3.2% Overall music sales

REDUCED, BUT STILL AN ISSUE.

1/4

INTERNET USERS ACCESS UNAUTHORIZED SERVICES ON A MONTHLY BASIS The number of people using P2P ямБle-sharing services in the United States drops by almost half after Limewire shuts down.

Total Album sales*

Digital Albums

D Tr

DIGITAL MUSIC REVENUES TO RECORD COMPANIES GREW B

FILE-SHARING.

16%

In the United Stat more than half of mu revenue is now deriv from digital channe

57%

3.6

BILLION

DOWNLOADS IN 2 we forLP/Vinyl, live Digital music * Includes CD,live Cassette, Albums

ITAL WORLD

5.6%

Digital racks

14%

LP sales

BY 8% GLOBALLY IN 2011

tes, usic ved els.

INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PAYING SUBSCRIBERS FOR MUSIC SERVICES GLOBALLY

64%

From

through

TOP 10 STREAMED SONGS OF 2012 ARE ALL DANCE-BASED.

1999

US concert

ticket sales tripled from $1.5 billion

011

65%

OF TEENS CITE YOUTUBE AS THEIR PRIMARY SOURCE FOR LISTENING TO MUSIC

2009

BEYOND SALES: STREAMING AND SUBSCRIPTION

to $4.6 billion.

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65%

INCREASE IN EDM GENRE TRACK SALES 67 DATA STATISTICS VIA IFPI DIGITAL MUSIC REPORT 2012 AND NIELSEN SOUNDSCAN

WHO’S A DJ AND WHO’S A PRODUCER: UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE

DJ/PRODUCER MIKE ABB USING HIS CUSTOM CONTROLLER, 2012.

The concept of a DJ as an ar tist or a musician is one that seems to be dif ficult for many people to understand and leads to a lot of the criticism directed towards EDM. One of the main reasons for this confusion is that the word “DJ” is an overly broad term for anyone who plays recorded music to an audience. Due to moder n technology, the skill set and technical knowledge needed to accomplish that bare minimum is fairly basic. Nowadays a simple iPhone app with digital turntables and an auto-sync beat matching feature can do what used to take two turn68

tables, a mixer, and hours of commitment and practice, so the opinion many have that DJs do not have the skill they once possessed is not totally unfounded. The issue is that the word no longer carries the sense of ar tistr y it once did because it now describes a much larger group of people than in the past. The term DJ was coined to describe DJing in t he simple s t of for ms, t he r adio dis c jockey, to describe someone who selec t s one track at a time with breaks in between each song. As disco grew in the 1970s, a new style of we live for live music

DJ was born—the club DJ —whose purpose the beats and compiling their sound datawas to also mix the records on top of select- bases in the “studio.” ( The concept of the ing them. This t ype of DJ, marked by his studio is a loose term as for the modern DJ presence behind two turntables connected this can be as little as a laptop and a pair of through a mixer, focuses on streaming tracks headphones.) together to make songs longer to dance to He went on to say, “I think given about for extended “club play.” one hour of instruc tion, anyone with miniHip - hop pioneer s such as Gr andmas ter mal knowledge of Ableton and music tech Flash borrowed from the produc tion tech- in gener al could DO what I’m doing at a niques of disco DJs to develop the beat s Deadmau5 concer t,” implying that the live that are the basis of hip-hop music. per for mance of DJing is not what it once Both hip -hop and dance music, and the was, at least not the way he “per forms” it. DJs that created them, were developed in A s laptops took over from analog electhe live set ting, hip hop on the street s of t r o ni c i n s t r u m e nt s, t h e p o s s i b ili t i e s f o r New Yor k and dance music in the under- music creation became increasingly comground clubs of Chicago and Detroit. But plex due to the endless variet y of sound t he concept of a DJ evolve d into a new input s available requiring the produc tion realm when hip-hop became embraced by process to become more intricate. And for the recorded music indus tr y. It was then some DJs, like Deadmau5, it is now more that that the techniques shared by hip-hop impor tant than the actual per formance. and dance music creators found their way He recently made this point in an interinto t he s t udio and t he view during the Billboard DJ trans for med into the I think I speak for a lot of people FutureSound Conference, producer. when I ask this, but what exactly “It ’s ver y p ro d ucer or i W i t h t h e d aw n of t h e do you do on stage when you’re ented now. As in where digital age and the a popular EDM ac t today advancement of technol- performing live? A lot of people would be more discussed ogy, these t wo t ypes of argue that electronic music is and heralded for his prom u s i c c r e a t o r, t h e l i v e nothing more than a DJ pushing duction as opposed to his DJ a n d t he s t u dio p ro - buttons and that it takes “no skill.” selection...back in the day ducer, gradually morphed we k now he did n’t pro -kidonwheels into one. A DJ has also duce it but it was about assumed the role of a producer who works the song selec tion and reading the crowd on remixing, s ampling, s y nthesizing and and about finding records and having the creating music on their own outside of the tracks to become pur veyors of the sound.” live medium. These producers then trans A few days later, fellow DJ/producer, form into the role of DJ, the live role, the Bas s ne c t ar, help e d to clear up s o me of moment they step in front of a crowd. t he wid es p read co nf usio n ab ou t w hat a Unfor t unately, t his conce pt of DJ/p ro - DJ is and what they do with his blog post, ducer is not one that is easily understood “Pushing but tons or pushing boundaries.” ,and even among DJs there is a confron- In the post, Bassnec tar (Lorin) responds to tation about where the ar tistr y lies: on the this fan question: stage or in the studio. “Hey Lorin – I’ve always wondered, and I Some DJs think of themselves exclusively think I speak for a lot of people when I ask as producers and do not care as much about this, but what exac tly do you do on stage how “live” their DJ set is. Others have the when you’re per forming live? A lot of peoopinion that DJing is a complex activity that ple argue that elec tronic music is nothing can be performed in many ways and at many more than a DJ pushing but tons and that different skill levels it takes “no skill.” I always tell them it is O v e r t h e s u m m e r, D e a d m a u 5, w h o i s much more than that – obviously it takes notorious for his outspoken remarks against skill to produce ever y thing that you have, mainstream EDM (he calls it “event-driven and I feel like your shows do in fact involve marketing”), was caught with his foot in his much more than just pressing play and premouth yet again when he denounced fellow tending to mess with knobs, but could you DJs in a Rolling Stone cover stor y for “just please elabor ate on how you ac tually do pushing play.” per form? I think that a lot of people are also He wrote a post on his Tumblr a few days curious. Keep spreading the word brotha!!! after the story was released in an attempt to – kidonwheels” clear up his statement by saying that “true” Bassnectar begins his response by explainDJs’ skill shines while they are composing ing that the verb “to DJ” is like the verb “to live live : issue 1

run”—“there are a million ways to do it.” You can DJ a house par t y; you can DJ on the radio; you can DJ a mix of your favorite songs; but, what really matters is the interaction with the audience and playing songs according to the mood of the crowd. H e g o e s o n to ex p l ai n t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t we e n s el e c t i ng s o ng s ve r s u s mi x i ng songs. Selecting songs involves picking the per fect song to play at that moment. Mi x ing s ong s encompas s es ever y t hing else that goes into a DJ per formance: how the songs transition into one another, how the songs are matched up (by melody or by the bass line), adding one element of a song to another song, and essentially all of the components that allow a DJ to transform a pre-recorded song that is not their own into an entirely unique and original piece. As technology advanced, DJs gained the oppor tunity to create their own songs from

scratch using synthetic chords to reproduce any thing they wish, from traditional bass lines and guit ar rif f s to the glitch noises often associated with electronic music. For some DJs, they feel they have worked in the studio per fec ting their song so they would not want to add in any components while “per forming” in a live setting. These DJs s hould really only consider themselves producers. They are the t ypes of DJs who lead to sentiments such as “all DJs do is push play” because they do not hold up the expec tations that come with being a traditional DJ —mainly that there is a connection between the DJ and the dance floor, and not one that is pre-determined. “Play pushers” in the electronic music world are the equivalent of pop-music “lip-syncers,” . They taint the concept of a DJ on the whole. If an electronic ar tist wants to be consid-

we live for live music

ered a true DJ, he or she will use their time in produc tion to organize all of the component s that go into making a song, but not create the song in its entirety. It is not until the DJ steps into the live setting that the components are mixed together into a song. This is the mark of the modern DJ. The technical skill of the DJ of ten determines the level of or iginalit y in a piece, which can range from entirely original to 100% copied, with maybe one or two slight changes. But par t of the beauty of digital ar t is that it allows a wide range of people to become an “ar tist” by giving them the oppor tunity to transform and create something new out of an existing piece. Digital ar t is much like Dada, with its collage and assemblage, and even ready-mades. You do not have to be entirely original to be a true DJ, and realistically ver y few DJs compose an entire set without borrowing

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something along the way; but you do have to actually be working to compose music in the live setting as opposed to having it premixed in the studio and just pushing play. Bassnectar was right, and so was Deadmau5. There are producers and there are DJs. And there are DJs who are also producer s. All of these people are electronic ar tis t s. The ter m DJ is misused as an umbrella term to encompass any musician who creates music with the production techniques of a DJ. As elec tronic music progresses and becomes more prevalent, the industr y should s tr ive to make the dis tinc tion bet ween who simply produces elec tronic music and who per forms elec tronic music. This may not prevent producers who pre tend to DJ from continuing to “play” live shows, but at least the fans will know exactly what they are paying to see. �

sources Ashton, Lorin. Pushing Buttons or Pushing Boundaries. 2012. Beer, David and Bar y Sandywell. “Stylistic Morphing: Notes on the Digitsation of Contemporay Music.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 2005: 106-121. Bogar t, Jonathan. “Buy the Hype: Why Electronic Dance Music Really Could Be the New Rock.” The Atlantic. 2012. Zimmerman, Joel. We All Push Play. 2012. IFPI, Digital Music Repor t, 2012 Lee, Timothy B. “Why We Shouldn’t Worr y About the Alleged Decline of the Music Industr y.” Forbes. 2012. Masnick, Mike. The Sky is Rising. 2012. Mason, Kerri. “The Beat Generation: Electronic Dance Music Emerges as the Sound of Young America.” Billboard. 2011.

Montano, Ed. “Festival Fever and International DJs.” Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture, 2009: 81-93. Nielsen Online. The Nielsen Company & Billboard 2012 Mid-Year U.S. Music Industry Repor t. 2012. Pareles, Jon. “David Bowie, 21st-Centur y Entrepreneur.” The New York Times. 2002. Plagenhoef, Scott. “Drop the Bass: How the ‘90s Won Again.” GQ. 2012. Reynolds, Simon. “How Rave Music Conquered America.” The Guardian. 2012. Suisman, David. “Sound Recordings and Popular Music Histories: The Remix.” Journal of Popular Music Studies. 2011: 1533-1598. Vanhanen, Janne. “Vir tual Sound: Examining Glitch and Production.” Contemporary Music Review, 2003: 4552.

McLeod, Kembrew. “Genres, Subgenres, Sub-Subgenres and More: Musical and Social Differentiation Within Electronic/Dance Music Communities.” Journal of Popular Music Studies, 2001: 59-75. 72

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sources

INTERVIEWS Bobby Clay, inter view by Samantha Hoffer. 2012. Dan Rosenwald, inter view by Samantha Hoffer. 2012. Deadmau5, inter view by Bill Werde. Billboard FutureSound Keynote. 2011. Gar y Best, inter view by Megan Buerger. Papermag. 2012. Mike Abb, inter view by Samantha Hoffer. 2012. Pretty Lights, inter view by Jonathan Juliano. Jambands.com. 2010. Scott Eiseman, inter view by Samantha Hoffer. 2012. Tyler Goldberg, inter view by Samantha Hoffer. 2012.

live live : issue 1

the finalE

“I don’t even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years, because I don’t think it’s going to work by labels and by distribution systems in the same way. The absolute transformation of everything that we have ever thought about music will take place within ten years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it’s not going to happen. I’m fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in ten years and authorship and intellectual property ARE in for such a bashing. Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it’s like, just take advantage of the last few years because none if this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand, it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.’ -david bowie, 2002 74

we live for live music

the finalE

PRET T Y LIGHTS AT L A ZONA ROSA | AUSTIN, TX | 2009

A genre

born of the electronic age, Electronic Dance Music has finally evolved to be in the time and place it needed to find success, and in doing so exemplifies the new direction of the music industr y, beyond the major labels. After for ty years of struggles to become accepted by the mainstream music industr y, EDM’s recent booming success (while the traditional industr y, the record labels, struggled) signifies that a new direction is needed to drive the industr y into the future. For years, tales of doom and gloom surrounded the music industr y; but it’s not dying, it’s just different. The onset of the digital age created a new landscape for the music industr y that essentially flipped the traditional dynamic on its head. Instead of going on tours to promote an album and increase record sales, ar tists are now giving away their music to increase their fan-base in order to have larger, more profitable tours. While the record labels were busy tr ying to figure out how to address the issues the digital age wrecked on their traditional business model of selling recorded music, EDM ar tists and promoters, many of whom were a par t of the generation that star ted the piracy problem, used their place outside of the traditional recorded music industr y to achieve lift off in the live experience that is dance music’s native format. The great success of EDM ar tists and promoters has heads turning from all around the industr y to embrace this new direction for the music industr y: one that is diversified beyond the shadow of the major labels, and where the live experience takes precedent.

live live : issue 1

THE END

OR IS IT THE BEGINNING?

we live for live music