N.J. basks in the glow of the brave new rave:
Electronic dance festivals go mainstream
Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 10:15 AM Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 12:18 PM
Welcome to the brave new world of electronic dance music, or EDM, a fringe subculture that's gone pop, changing the nature of live entertainment in the process. Rock star DJs are headlining arenas, spinning futuristic sounds on fantastical stages. More than 16,000 young Jersey techno fans got soaked in paint when a touring dance party called Dayglow stopped at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton last winter.
"This is the new rock 'n' roll," says Rawley Bornstein, an MTV music and talent programmer. "Just as parents might be going to see Bruce Springsteen as a working man's hero who sings about factories, a new generation of fans are going to EDM shows where a similar sentiment is expressed in a different way.
"The music embraces this spirit of energy and inclusiveness. I think it’s reflective of the times in that you’re seeing young people gathering together," Bornstein says.
Glowstick devotees will be gathering throughout the summer in fields and arenas to revel in techno through September, spending between $100 and $2,500 for day passes and VIP packages.
Some 100,000 people are expected to take over MetLife Stadium all weekend, as the touring techno mega-fest, Electric Daisy Carnival makes its Jersey debut. Summer ends with the Electric Zoo, a Labor Day event on Randall’s Island that draws thousands of hipsters in fake fur, fluorescent wigs and blinking sunglasses. From Atlantic City to Asbury Park to East Rutherford, DJ’s will be serving up remixes at giant rock fests and in secluded clubs.
Parents might find the trend concerning — EDM concerts have been linked to drug arrests and underage drinking — but music biz executives are embracing the genre. It’s an area of growth in a flat market, they say, creating jobs and establishing a new consumer base.
Like it or not, house music, trance and dubstep are set to dominate the 2012 summer concert landscape.
Bornstein says electronic music has the same rebellious spirit as other genres like punk and hip-hop. The idea of young people rallying around music is a tradition that dates back to Woodstock, she says.
"To say that there’s no drug use is completely ignorant," Bornstein says. "Of course it’s present but it’s also present in the suburbs. There have been unfortunate situations at Bonnaroo, which is a hippie festival. Look at Woodstock in the nineties, where people were burning things. I think people are looking out for each other. EDM is definitely escapist in the sense that everyone’s there to have fun but I don’t think it’s delusional."
Inspired by the underground "rave" parties of the 1990s, festivals like Electric Daisy are proving themselves recession proof. Overall tour revenue slipped 15 percent in 2010, even as ticket prices soared. EDM, however, is flourishing amid the gloom.
Fans hoping to hear rock at MetLife Stadium will have to wait until September when Springsteen swings through. The only other musical events on the calendar are a marching band competition, the annual Hot 97 Summer Jam and a twang package tour starring Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw.
Rock isn’t dead, says Jersey promoter John Scher, but there’s a dwindling number of bands on the scene that can fill a venue as large as MetLife.
"There’s not a lot of superstars out there," says Scher, who is planning to organize an EDM show with his company, Metropolitan Talent Presents. "There’s more music around than ever but we’re not seeing that many acts blowing up for lasting careers. Record companies have stopped investing in artist development and now just chase the next big thing. There’s very little music discovery out there because the foundation that was supported by record companies and radio stations, it’s all gone."
Electric Daisy tickets were sold out before the promoter announced the lineup. Even more unusual, the event has an 18-plus age limit, an unprecedented restriction at state’s largest concert venue. Festival promoter, Insomniac Events implemented the policy after a 15-year-old girl died of a drug overdose at a show in Los Angeles two years ago.
Meat and potatoes rock lovers might think it’s odd to purchase a ticket to a show without knowing who is going to play. In the EDM world, however, the brand name of the festival is the allure rather than the star power of the individual performers.
Over the past 10 years, Insomniac has evolved into a monolithic franchise replete with corporate investors. The company, which promoted local club nights in Los Angeles before going national, is powering through a scandal involving the arrest of its founder, Pasquale Rotella on corruption charges in March.
"Electric Daisy has done an excellent job of selling their brand," says Ray Waddell, touring editor at Billboard Magazine. "You know you’re not going to get a string quartet when you go to Electric Daisy. The festival thing works because this new generation of concertgoers are very interactive. It fits well into the way social networking has caught on, particularly with young folks. An act can have a good performance at a festival and word of mouth spreads instantly. Music has always grown through word-of-mouth and social media is like word-of-mouth on steroids."
The industry is undergoing a full tilt paradigm shift as the Internet has all but erased the value of album and singles. These days, musicians rely on ticket sales and merchandising profits to sustain themselves.
"In the past, artists toured to try and sell records," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, a trade publication. "They would go out to try to stimulate record sales. Today, they tour to make money and if they sell a few more records along the way, that’s a nice bonus. They’re not seeing that much money from the record sales. They make a lot more off of T-shirt sales at shows."
Because EDM is built around computer bleeps, fuzzy bass and song samples, live performances are usually a multimedia hybrid with monster light shows and surreal performance art.
The appeal is the fantastical atmosphere, says Neil Moffitt, a Las Vegas nightlife guru who is developing the dance club and concert hall at Revel in Atlantic City. One of the first shows in the casino’s 5,000-seat venue will be a June 16 performance by Swedish remix maestro, Avicii, who is also headlining Electric Daisy
"It used to be hard for someone under the age of 21 to experience electronic music because the only place they could experience it live was in a club," says Moffitt. "Now, kids are listening to it on their iPod and on YouTube and hence, you’ve got DJ’s touring colleges, servicing an audience too young for clubs. You’ve not got youthful artists like Avicii rocking it out in large scale venues and making hits on the radio. He’s someone a 15-year-old kid can identify with."
Purists might say that EDM is losing its edge as it crosses over from warehouses to arenas. Festivals like Electric Daisy commercialize rebellion, much in the same way that Lollapalooza and Ozzfest mass marketed alternative sounds. The original ravers of the 1990’s avoided mainstream entertainment, opting instead to attend secret parties in desolate settings.
"The traditionalists who might resent electronic music going into concert venues have to accept the fact that for the genre to develop, it has to be accepted by the mainstream," says Moffitt. "If you look within the genre, you’ll find the cool sound, the hipster sound, the extreme sound. It’s like any other genre, rock, hip-hop, urban. As far as using the word ‘rave,’ what’s the definition of a rave? I think that term is used by the older generation because they don’t like the fact that a bunch of young people are listening to music that they don’t understand."
For all the evils of major labels, the big companies did help bands and solo acts build longevity.Record companies have stopped investing in artist development and now just chase the next big thing," says Scher. "They don’t cultivate catalogs and they drop acts if they’re not red hot. There’s a tendency only to go to the sure bet so there’s very little music discovery out there."
The rise of EDM parallels the growth of mondo music fests in the U.S. Modeled after European events, shows like Coachella and Bonnaroo draw thousands of fans to camp in fields.
"The festivals themselves are probably the robust sector of the live business right now," says Waddell. "In the last ten years, American concertgoers have embraced the festival experience, the community of it and the value of getting the most bang for your buck. When you look at the human experience of music to the dawn of civilization, people have always gathered to hear whoever banged on the stone better than anybody else. People want to come and be in the same place. They want to breathe the same air as the artist and have that feeling that anything can happen."
COMMENT: OMG!!! Peace, Love, Unity and Respect have finally been monetized. House, dubstep and trance are the new rock 'n roll. Whereas ravers of the nineties eschewed clubs and massive venues, "...opting instead to attend secret parties in desolate settings..." that were often free, the new ravers blow hundreds on "...monster light shows and surreal performance art..." without even knowing who the performers will be. So awesome. And the music, the genres "...you’ll find the cool sound, the hipster sound, the extreme sound." Hipster sound!! Hell, I'll miss another house payment or two and purchase a ticket. Perhaps take out a second mortgage. I can see why the kids can't afford college tuition:( And finally, what the f--k is a "rave" anyhow? "As far as using the word ‘rave,’ what’s the definition of a rave? I think that term is used by the older generation because they don’t like the fact that a bunch of young people are listening to music that they don’t understand." Yes. As soon as I heard of the Electric Shit franchise I invented the term rave because I don't understand house music. Yesssss. I think I'll go back to the secret, desolate venues of the past and call them??...faves? Can't afford the rave.
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