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www.musicweek.com BODYTALKIMS GROW SMARTLY: Legendary DJ steps forward to warn against the rising EDM scene selling out to big business


 BY PETE TONG, DJ & INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SUMMIT PRESENTER


now numerous extremely wealthy individuals, big business and VC funds are eager to buy into the EDM action. If allowed to run riot with their corporate machinery, these same people will destroy the scene. Wikipedia the word ‘stampede’ and I think you’ll get the picture. Now is the time for those involved to sharpen


up and play their very best game; to develop the scene steadily, keeping it true to its roots. Reading Nile Rogers’ brilliant autobiography Le


F


ollowing a hugely successful 10 days in Miami for The Ultra Music Festival and Winter Music Conference last month, the


genre is more powerful than ever back in the country where the journey began, the USA. Just over a year ago many of us were babbling in


admiration at how David Guetta appeared to have cracked the secret code and broken onto mainstream American radio. We all predicted that EDM (Electronic Dance Music, you can’t call it “house” anymore!) was going to explode. Twelve months later that impact seems to be tenfold. For three nights at Ultra in


Freak, one is poignantly reminded of the irony of it all. At the peak of the disco boom America turned on its creators and publicly humiliated them by burning 12” singles in baseball stadiums. Looking back to the first wave of dance music


front of 60,000 people per show, the likes of Afrojack, Avicii, Skrillex, Tiesto, David Guetta, Fatboy Slim and Chase & Status tore into the audience with slick aural and visual assaults to rival the best in stadium rock. Just two blocks away, Swedish House Mafia were hosting their own sold out two-day extravaganza alongside Calvin Harris. Madonna felt moved enough by all this commotion to go and introduce Avicii - a DJ who had just remixed her new single Girls Gone Wild – to the stage. She then got a social media kicking from Deadmau5 for making an alleged drugs reference which made worldwide news. There was a time when the scene needed endorsement by stars of her ilk, but now DeadMau5 has more social media clout than Madonna. How times have changed. This summer Avicii, Afrojack and Kaskade are


all doing 30-plus date arena tours, as Las Vegas hotels boast 50 exclusive DJ residencies and 300,000 people are predicted to attend the Electric Daisy Carnival in June. Whilst David Guetta’s success story follows


reasonably conventional industry rules it’s incredible to think that Swedish House Mafia – who haven’t yet made an artist album – look set to fill the Milton Keynes Bowl in July. The closer you look, the more remarkable the feats. Brazil, India and China are warming up. The game has well and truly changed, forever. But success inevitably attracts attention - and


“There was a time we needed endorsement: now DeadMau5 has more social media clout than Madonna” PETE TONG, IMS


can teach us an interesting lesson. In 1988 I was involved in bringing house music from Chicago and New York back to the UK. We had No.1 records and gave birth to Club Culture, whilst America kept it in the closet because they thought it was music for the gay scene. We enjoyed our own boom decade but the scene eventually suffered a major setback in 2000 when the money generated couldn’t sustain the huge infrastructure and investment. Clubs, labels and magazines closed. DJs migrated off around the world. The money at stake now dwarfs what was on the table


back then, but the history should come as a warning shot to all about selling the genre short and being seduced by cheque book-waving billionaires with no care or vision for the long term game. Even at the peak of all the excitement in Miami


last month, the LA District Attorney was arresting two of the countries leading ‘rave’ promoters along with some of the management team at the LA Coliseum on charges of bribery and corruption - charges they both deny. None of this success would have happened


without the long-term nurturing of the dance scene’s clubs and festivals. There would be no David Guetta or Swedish House Mafia without the clubs in Ibiza. And there would be no stickiness to EDM’s crossover in the US without the years of development on the underground of the festivals like EDC, Ultra, HARD, Electric Zoo, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Monster Massive and Nocturnal. We need the underground as much as we need


Las Vegas - maybe more so. Without a place for all these ideas to develop and come to fruition you won’t get the end result.


 IMS is presented by Ben Turner, Danny Whittle, Simeon Friend, Mark Netto and Pete Tong. Visit: InternationalMusicSummit.com


ABOVE Dead popular: EDM artists such as DeadMau5 are enjoying


international recognition


DON’T SELL DANCE MUSIC SHORT DANCE


13.04.12 MusicWeek 27


IMS AHOY!


At the International Music Summit in Ibiza, our goal has always been to be a much-needed business voice of electronica: The 5th IMS Ibiza runs on May 23 - 25 at The Gran Hotel, Ibiza. It will bring representatives from Twitter, Spotify and YouTube with Luciano, Diplo, Nile Rodgers and leading business players to lay out a blueprint for the next 12 months. IMS / Pino Sagliocco & Live Nation will launch Ibiza’s first “rocktronic” Festival, Ibiza 123, on July 1 - 3with David Guetta, Tine Tempah, Tiesto, Fatboy Slim, Axwell , Luciano and special guests Elton John, Lenny Kravitz and Sting.  Finally, on April 12 (pre-Coachella) we will be holding a Symposium in Palm Springswhere we are inviting 40 of the leading players in Electronic Dance Music to come together and discuss synergies with 40 leaders from tech and brand companies. The event will help consolidate IMS as the respected business voice in global dance music – a focus we feel is needed in today's climate.


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