Awesome Article on mnml ssgs about “EDM” and how it’s actually hurting the scene
Very good article on why the popularity of “EDM” could potentially end up being a bad thing for all of us.
He has a pretty good point and I agree with him on his analysis, although I’m not sure if the end result will necessarily be as bad as he makes it out to be.
It’s already like that now with the EDM thing, when I meet people and they say they like electronic music and we strike up a conversation and they start going on about how they want to see Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, and just got back from a Steve Aoki show I quickly realize how little we actually have in common and are talking about two different things.
I’m just hoping the popularization will open the channels for a bigger underground scene to develop and will lead some people to explore some other electronic music. I used to like a lot of garbage too and eventually refined my tastes so there is hope. I even look at some of the stuff I was listening to a year ago and am appalled with myself. 
I’m just curious when did people start using “EDM” to refer exclusively to commercial electro house/dubstep? I always used it to describe the supergenre: Electronic dance music - Wikipedia
Blame the American Media for that one mate
This. I’ve always thought of EDM as pretty much everything from House to Psytrance to Breaks.
Then again, the mainstream hivemind is not an intelligent beast, I think the concept of a “metagenre” is a bit too abstract for it.
As I’ve mentioned before somewhere, the problem with the mainstream interest in EDM is the exponential increase in assholes you get at places that play electronic music, even of the non Aoki/Guetta/Skrillex-variety.
I refuse to take a word the author says seriously if he’s going to make blatant assumptions that the music is bad because its mainstream.
Things that go mainstream can be annoying, but even more annoying are the people who feel a sense of supremacy from not taking part in it.
This is incorrect. He speaks to “EDM” like this term - never mind its connotation - is something new. It’s not. People have always branded the music in this way (not the same name), and will continue to do so during and after the popularity fades (if it fades).
'Fair point. However, the popularity hasn’t risen the figure of the DJ but rather the producer who emulates one. I must admit it is annoying to view set lists anymore to see 12+ tracks which all feature the performer as either the key producer or have their name at the end as an edit or bootleg. At that point it’s no longer a DJ but a performer - it gets boring. To me this is the aspect has gotten out of hand which lends itself to the popularity and the ability to make a very comfortable living if you make it to that level.
At first I thought the author was referring to the idea that because this form of “EDM” was becoming popular that clubs that used to tolerate house music (Dennis Ferrer’s recent fiasco) now only want SHM and therefore, in conjunction with the decreasing real estate available to enjoy a viable establishment, other forms that have not seen the same rise to fame would fade away. Then he curtailed… and I became confused as to whether this was his issue or if it was laws and developers taking space away that would ruin electronic music (never mind any other type of genre) which is a weak argument that doesn’t really correlate at all with the rise of “EDM”.
What does this even mean? Why is the music that David Guetta or _____ any less valid than whatever genre the author likes? It might suck to him but clearly someone must like it. Sorry, but I’ve seen an increase, not decrease, in both production and genre types within the electronic community; for better or for worse.
Has anyone noticed a steep decline in their favoured electronic genre since the rise of “EDM” that wasn’t already quite niche to begin with (honest question)? I mean, I was a trance guy for a long time (still am) and sure the sound has changed and a lot gets stuck in “progatory” but there’s still plenty of enjoyable tracks that are released. Tribal house is still around as well and both genres I can find close by in higher frequency than I used to be able to. In Toronto there seem to be more places now playing electronic music than there were in the past - it appears the case at least..
All-in-all an interesting read but it felt more like hyperbole than a well thought out opinion. I haven’t read much else on the impact of real estate so that was different. Nice find!
My $0.05 cents since our penny is being phased out 
good article
+10000000
I cannot stand that whole “It’s mainstream I don’t like it” nonsense.
Hipsters… 
You said it!
Not liking something because it’s popular is even worse than liking something because it’s popular…
Blame Skrillex…no wait, blame DeadMau5, he’s Canadian 
Seems like I read similar article in 1990.
Lolz!
I think this guy has gone a bit over the top here but you can see in his ramblings a theme which does has some basis.
I genuinely think he is over analysing though, comparing Steve Aoki to say…(insert cutting edge, underground DJ of your choice here) is like comparing Scary Movie to Psycho or The Shinning in the film world. People don’t go for the atmosphere building or the parts of the imagination it triggers, they go because they know it will be a big, bright, colourful show that delivers some laughs and entertainment.
That’s not to say you can’t enjoy the people not doing this but stuff like that appeals to a wider market. It’s a fact of life.
Plus having a market budget and agent to power a small country doesn’t hurt!
I think the question about whether something is mainstream in a positive way is boiled down to…
-
do you listen to this music because you want to mosh, flex your muscles, get messy on too many drugs, and bang sluts…
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or do you listen to it because you love hearing it and it gives you a freedom while listening to it that nothing else can give you, you can meet cool relaxed people that you could have a conversation with (not a drug fueled d&m)
if you fall into the first catagory you are a douchebag, you like aggressive adhd music… it doesn’t have to be commercial as in you hear it on the radio, but it must have commercial elements to attract girls… the sounds may change but the formula never will, so it’s fair to say that popular music sucks for some people, you don’t have to hear the new flavor to know that…
He has some valid points, but most of those points have been brought up before on insert something popular here. My point was there is a cycle of popularity. The rave scene and EDM grew to be popular from the 80’s, peaked in the 90’s and then went away. Towards the end of the 00’s it started to grow again and I believe it’s in its peak right now. That should last, at most, another couple of years and then it will fade away…again.
Even after it fades away to memory I’ll still be listening to good techno and house I’ll still want whatever new piece of equipment just came out and in 2025, when it’s all popular again, I’ll be this guy.
In homage to the sound of the hoover.
(An old Roland Juno preset rinsed out on a huge number of hard house tracks)
Why thank you.
Dude, that’s not fair or true either. If one falls into the first category, one has different priorities and preferences to someone who falls into the second category. This is not the same thing as being a douchebag.
As a personal opinion, it’s pretty douchy to consider someone a douchebag just because they like moshing, flexing, drugging and banging. As a further personal opinion, I think someone who likes those things is more likely to be way younger than me - but being young doesn’t make someone a douche. It just makes them young.
wrt the original article, a few people have alread raised the points I’d like to cover:
EDM has always been a catch-all term for the kinds of electronic music that gets played at raves/clubs/bush-doofs. It’s a way to give people a term other than “techno” to refer to the overall style. It lessens the nerd-rage that people like me (and I’d expect a few other on this forum) get when someone says “I don’t like techno” - and means they prefer guitar-based rock to electronic music.
(No, we can’t call it all “Dance Music”. Most of the relatively modern forms of music that have become popular are for dancing. Some of the non-electronic forms even have styles of Dance named after them)
The arguments in the piece aren’t new. In fact, they’re so “not new” that it refers to another piece that raised the same issue (the cartoons) something like 10 years ago. People then were concerned that Tiesto / Oakenfold / Tong were destroying the rave, because it was becoming popular.
Did the rave die then? No. And just in case you were wondering, home taping didn’t kill music either.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Deadmau5, Skrillex, SHM. These people are utterly irrelevant to what I do. It isn’t important to me whether they tear the roof off playing dubplates they’ve just cut in the green room on their portable lathe, or Milli Vanilli the fsck out of it with a pre-recorded CD that someone else cut for them in ProTools. It has no impact on me whether they play to 100,000 people, or 10. They don’t play what I play, they don’t play what I like - and I’m pretty sure they’d feel the same way about me.
This is all easy for me to say because I like (and play) a genre that doesn’t even feature on the radar of most people who are into underground EDM. And I’ll keep liking (and playing) it until they bury me. Hopefully with my 1200’s …
I’ve not read the full article as I got bored especially after seeing him using that David guetta video for his argument. Now I don’t like David guettas music, but that video isn’t real is it? Is he really using it as a basis for his argument or is it some form of joke?
MMM.
I pretty much felt the same way as altf4 while reading this… His points are that clubs are being shut down somehow as a result of EDM’s growth, which probably isn’t true, and that underground music is somehow inherently more valuable and acceptable to public officials than mainstream music and the associated antics, which also probably isn’t true. If anything, all this growth has just made the whole “scene” more acceptable - anyone remember “Deadly illegal techno parties might claim your children!” kind of headlines going on 15 years ago? This article is just one more person getting upset because they have to watch something they love get dragged through the mud.