EDM

ATB was also banging out the EDM anfems back in the day - not much has changed in some ways!

The end is coming. Could be the drugs, could be the bubble.

Under the name Deadmau5 he is one of EDM's biggest stars and has also become one of its staunchest critics, commenting on its inherent beigeness and criticising ticket prices. In his latest manoeuvre, he's pulled a complete about-turn to become one of its most outspoken hypocrites. Zimmerman recently signed a "co-brand license agreement" – facilitated by Live Nation – with Taito, the Japanese video game company responsible for Space Invaders, to create "a lifestyle brand crossing a myriad of categories launching in the high-end and specialty markets."

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arrrgh

Roshman said:

yup.

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seconded.

Surely the double-dropping Pac Man would make for a better 'co-brand license agreement' than those genocidal Space Invaders

Sectionfive said:

arrrgh

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so has this whole thing truly become the early 2010s equivalent of nu metal now

Not sure I agree with this

"EDM, like a video games console, is a fundamentally closed system; there is no house, techno or dubstep, simply the genre of EDM, into which everything is homogenised, and within which nothing can advance."

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Why can't EDM evolve? It's subsumed elements of all of the above mentioned genres, can't it change in the same way they have/do?

I think I agree with that statement only to the extent that EDM, as a voracious pop behemoth, is weakening the genres it exploits. as its shadow looms bigger and bigger over techno, house, dubstep, trap etc., the originality of the individual genres gets lost in the shuffle (and goes underground?). sure, EDM is somewhat adaptable but at some point it may completely suck its hosts dry and then just start chewing on its own tail.

unless I'm wrong, and electronic musicians who are decidedly against EDM are in fact receiving recognition. but if that's not the case, what is the motivation to produce esoteric music that very few people will appreciate? this is the sort of thing I see happening in SF - tasteless catch-all-genre megaclubs dominate the circuit, while folks who want to book more interesting experiences are left with only a couple mediocre venues to choose from and a skittish, jaded audience. some of the city's staunchest supporters of non-contrived music have simply moved away, if not closed up shop.

guess when you're trying to fill these venues/recoup costs you're seeing the same ten or so djs on every flyer, same acts constantly touring while they still can and not producing anything er, fresh. Might be enough cash & will to be produce and promote new talent too I suppose but it's only taken this bit of dubstep and that bit of trap and there is only so many times they can be rearranged (really know fuck all about the whole thing tbh, other then what we've seen before). presume there will have to be some sort of rawk pushback at some stage too but kids getting into dj & drugs is no bad thing in the long run however bad it looks atm.

I went out in sydney the other night and heard the same EDM remix of smells like teen spirit about four times. I wanted to cry.

"unless I'm wrong, and electronic musicians who are decidedly against EDM are in fact receiving recognition. but if that's not the case, what is the motivation to produce esoteric music that very few people will appreciate?"

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It was ever thus... but I take your point, if the money-making sound shrinks smaller and smaller then previously mainstream things become esoteric and previously underground musics are way beyond the pale.

I will admit my thoughts on this are somewhat ethereal, and I appreciate the state of flux this whole discussion is in. but what I'm trying to illustrate is the raw power of a pop sentiment. from what I've seen with brostep/midrange evolving out of classic dubstep anthems like Rusko & Caspa's bangers: people form factions, and the seemingly stronger faction is generally the more pedestrian. this leaves the Blackdowns of the bunch left with a splintered crowd and sound (bless your heart Martin). the underground keeps trucking, but is relegated back to obscurity and introspection.

I'm positing that the trajectory of EDM isn't so different to this sequence. it's just weird seeing it happening on such a massive scale - who'd ever think house or techno would be dwarfed by another 'genre'?

anyhow, the sweet spot in an underground movement's development for me is usually the most fleeting: when innovation really gets traction. think early Skreamizm volumes for dubstep, or RDJ Album / LP5 for IDM (edit: DJ Nate for footwork anyone?). while these moments invariably set the stage for crass copycats to take over, for a while the level of creative discourse is ridiculously high. weirdness and ingenuity are encouraged over the status quo, and that's a beautiful thing. well... that's my case for a little recognition going a long way.

sweetfuck

DJ earnings

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackoma...-cash-kings-2013-the-worlds-highest-paid-djs/



Calvin Harris - $46 million
Tiësto - $32 million
David Guetta - $30 million
Swedish House Mafia - $25 million
Deadmau5 - $21 million
Avicii - $20 million
Afrojack - $18 million
Armin van Buuren - $17 million
Skrillex - $16 million (tie) - Kaskade - $16 million (tie)
Steve Aoki - $14 million
DJ Pauly D - $13 million (tie) - Diplo - $13 million (tie)

Methodology

Our estimates include earnings from live shows, endorsements, merchandise sales, recorded music sales, external business ventures and, in the case of DJ Pauly D, television (we included him on this list because, like his fellow Electronic Cash Kings, he makes at least half his cash from DJ gigs). Sources include Songkick, Pollstar, RIAA, promoters, managers, lawyers and some of the artists themselves. Earnings totals were calculated over a 12-month period from June 1, 2012 to June 1, 2013.

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staypuft said:

I think I agree with that statement only to the extent that EDM, as a voracious pop behemoth, is weakening the genres it exploits. as its shadow looms bigger and bigger over techno, house, dubstep, trap etc., the originality of the individual genres gets lost in the shuffle (and goes underground?).

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Not to put too fine a point on it, the possibility that the people who got famous off making dubstep shit by turning it into boring predictable nu-metal are now losing out to people who are making it even shitter by making it into even more boring even more predictable nu-metal isn't something I lose a lot of sleep over.

Sectionfive said:

sweetfuck

DJ earnings

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackoma...-cash-kings-2013-the-worlds-highest-paid-djs/



Calvin Harris - $46 million
Tiësto - $32 million
David Guetta - $30 million
Swedish House Mafia - $25 million
Deadmau5 - $21 million
Avicii - $20 million
Afrojack - $18 million
Armin van Buuren - $17 million
Skrillex - $16 million (tie) - Kaskade - $16 million (tie)
Steve Aoki - $14 million
DJ Pauly D - $13 million (tie) - Diplo - $13 million (tie)

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Bit in Energy Flash says Oakey was rumoured to have made close to 1m in one year towards his late nineties height.

He's still packing stadiums in Vegas or whatever and still not touching yerman from Jersey Shore above.

The most fascinating revelation in Eells' New Yorker piece is a dry-erase board in the office of Sean Christie, a manager of Wynn's clubs. "The square for each day contained two numbers: the first, in red, was the d.j.'s fee for the night; the second, in black, was the club's expected take. To determine how much Wynn could pay a d.j. and still turn a profit, Christie and Waits used a formula that included everything from the number of a d.j.'s Instagram followers to the weather forecast."

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http://www.spin.com/articles/EDM-las-vegas-kaskade-afrojack-steve-wynn-kaskade-SFX/

Sectionfive said:

guess when you're trying to fill these venues/recoup costs you're seeing the same ten or so djs on every flyer

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I know resident DJ's have spent the last twenty years as pariahs but I think the world could do with more nights which aren't focussed on guest names week in week out- and with the advances in incontinence pad technology that we've seen in recent years maybe longer sets could make a return to the fray- just saying, like.

I know my town's super club turned from a weekly to a monthly event a few years ago, principally because it was too much of a headache booking headline acts from around the world every bloody week when the audience were so wiped out they would buy the tickets regardless of who manned the decks- of course if superstar DJ's insist on playing the same uninspired tracks that all the other superstar DJ's played the week before then I would be one disillusioned promoter as well.

We were quite lucky here with several nights where residents could pack out every weekend but as crowds moved on you could only really get the numbers for guests and then even that became became too much of a risk. Sporadic now at best.

Licensing laws (2:30am closing) have stunted things terribly

Didn't know lost tapes was your account, nice one