Over the last few years, the term EDM has been a blessing and a curse for fans of dance music. Its emergence came at a time when the world (well, primarily America) started to take a shine to dance music in ways we've not seen since the Electronica craze in the 1990s. Acts like David Guetta, Skrillex, and Deadmau5 were making lots of money, be it touring or hitting the charts, with their music. The media and the music industry responded in kind, and the EDM push began. While "EDM" as a term legitimately means "electronic dance music," the timing of the push definitely raised eyebrows and scorn, as it was seen as a way to monetize on a side of the dance music scene that many feel is cheap, easy, and not representative of the whole of dance music, or even reflecting on electronic dance music.
Enter 2013, the year where everything's changing. Not only is DAD on the scene, but you've got Diplo pitching EDM movies, Afrojack signing to Island Def Jam, and Avicii "going country." EDM is being thrown into many different arenas, with hopes of being the next sound to revitalize a generally stagnant period in music. If EDM is the shot in the arm that's needed remains to be seen, but from Las Vegas to Hollywood, the DJs and producers of today will be thrown into any arena accepting, hoping that the dollars will follow.
Here at DAD, we don't bother with the "shallow context" that many of you feel when you hear "EDM." We've been around dance music for years, and scoffed at the term "Electronica" when The Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers were making waves on this side of the Atlantic. We are old enough to understand the mainstream's need to put things they don't understand into compartments. We've shopped in the "electronic" section of our local mom and pop stores for years, finding Amon Tobin albums right next to Aphex Twin singles. It's just what happens. So while we get why people who've followed dance music in its many machinations are against using the term "EDM," its not something we shy away from. DAD looks at EDM as just that: electronic dance music. DAD also makes it a point to cover what we like, be it the latest from the more popular side of dance music to the freshest talent that's emerging in worlds that aren't as notable.
When we hit you with "five reasons you should call it EDM," we knew there would be a group of readers who didn't agree. No one can agree with everything, especially such a hot topic like the use of EDM to describe dance music. As you can see from the tweets above, there are a lot of people (both known producers and dance music fans alike) that don't subscribe to the term. DAD tends to look at the situation like Tommie Sunshine or Eric Prydz does: it's the term that people are using now, and it does fit with what we're about. We're smart enough to know the differences between dubstep and trance, but know that there are still these compartments that the scene in general fits in. We're not saying everyone can or will agree with this, but to deny the terms being used right now - terms that aren't going away anytime soon - isn't the answer. Maybe its time we reexamine and redefine.
In any case, take a look at the tweets up top, and let us know what you think about the use of "EDM."
