News
Native Instruments Stems – A New Audio File Format Provides DJs, Producers, and Live Performers
Stems - A New, Open Multi-Track Audio Format is Announced at WMC 2015 in Miami New audio file format provides DJs, producers, and live performers the ability to mix with a track’s different musical elements individually MIAMI 2015 – Stems – a new, multi-channel audio format has been unveiled at [...]
Ghost Producing, Part II: If Everyone Does It, Why Not Admit It?
It seemed that, before the end of 2013, ghost producing within electronic dance music was acknowledged but not talked about. Hinted at, yes, but no artist directly came out and said, “Yes, I have used ghost producers,” or “I have a team behind me. Did you think I was a [...]
Should Mainstream Dance Music Producers Criticize EDM?
Remember after the second Transformers movie hit theaters, actress Megan Fox went to the press to call director Michael Bay “Hitler”? Fox’s foot-in-mouth approach seriously cut into her career, and these days, she’s better known as being Brian Austin Green’s wife than actually doing anything. So what does this have [...]
Digitally Imported Eyes Lofty Expansion Plan, But Is It a Good Idea?
Digitally Imported – the streaming radio service geared specifically toward electronic dance music subgenres – has stood out over the years for a handful of distinctive reasons. One, it’s one of the first online radio stations, started by creator Ari Shohat in 1999 from his college dorm room to play [...]
So, Is Deep House Mainstream Now?
Deep house is one of those dance music subgenres that you just don’t touch. Its origins and 30-year history have carved out a firm place in the genre’s pantheon of come-and-go styles, never truly hitting mainstream in the U.S. but outlasting practically any trend. If it’s classic dance music you’re [...]
Graffiti, Richie Hawtin’s Support, and a New EP: Our Interview With Russian Techno Act 4Yo4u
Russian techno quartet, 4Yo4U just put out their latest work, an EP titled Ambush, last month through Refused. The Moscow-based group, made up of members Aibo, Didi, Kodek, and Key-D, formed in 2011 and has since gone onto receive support from prominent techno producers. Richie Hawtin included their tracks in [...]
Is EDM Actually Saving The Music Industry? Depends on Your Perspective
Earlier in 2014, the International Music Summit in Ibiza put out a report stating that the electronic dance music industry was worth $6.2 billion in 2013. The amount significantly grew from a year before -- $4.5 billion in 2012 – with factors ranging from greater demand for big-name DJs to [...]
Ban EDM? Another Drug Overdose, Another Panic
Every time a drug overdose or hospitalizations occur after a major EDM show, the media in North America turns clueless. News outlets don’t know how to describe the phenomena – in some cases, adopting dated language, like a recent Boston Globe article about a similar incident at an Avicii concert [...]
Underground vs. Mainstream Dance Music: Is The Feud Over?
Dance music has long been its worst enemy, with European vs. American, Hi-NRG vs. down-tempo, instrumental vs. production vs. DJing, and underground vs. mainstream scenes always being embroiled in smack-talking battles about how one style is better than another, one way of doing things is superior, or certain artists have [...]
Why Does a DJ/Producer Need an Alter Ego?
For many mainstream performers prior to 2010, careers arched from the highly-sought after club residency to the single topping the Beatport charts to finally making it to the main stage at a major festival like Electric Daisy Carnival or Ultra. But throughout this decade’s long path, one factor remained: The [...]