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What's happened to EDM?

gregg75

gregg75

Star Participant
Just wanted to light up the board with a new topic.

And the EDM I'm referring to is real EDM (not house, disco, techno, trance, etc. - which often wrongfully get thrown under a general EDM umbrella).

It's clear EDM is not at the level where it was at in past years. Many are saying the bubble has burst. My take on the subject is, look how long Techno lasted. It lasted for years and years (over 10) and although still around today it's not at the level it once was. So maybe the time is up. The alarm clock has gone off.
 
Even though you already know the answer, I'll tell you what happened. It has turned into Pop music....and not in a good way.

There was a time where Pop / Urban music could share the charts with Dance music (I won't use the fake 3 initials like most), and the format was still pure for the most part. It wasn't compromised, and the credibility wasn't lost. You had actual Dance artists and producers making music for the clubs, and there was no need to collaborate with Disney singers to gain the approval of sheep. Those days are gone, and yes we still have the underground....but that influence is very small in comparison to the brainwashing occurring with this festival trend.

I am going to attempt to avoid names, but look at some of the stars today of the genre. A good amount of them were unknown to the mainstream world 5-10 years ago. However they were making noise in the clubs, and were very influential in their homeland overseas. But over time, they decided they wanted a piece of the USA action. They let the major labels dictate their music direction, and we started seeing these cheesy Non Dance singers all of the sudden trying to get under the umbrella and do collabs. The format does not mean anything anymore. Since Pop music has shifted to a slower, more urban direction.....you have these so called Dance producers also trying to stay relevant to the masses. They have totally forgotten their roots, and have no interest in appealing to Dance fans. They have thousands of new fans that they have sold out to.

It was expressed on this board a few years ago, that we should embrace this crossing over idea. The argument was that we had to educate non dance people about our world, by throwing them some mainstream bait paired up with a club producer. Well it looks like you folks were wrong once again, as it has backfired and created a heap of disposable crap. Even many of former Dance DJs (they have now turned into Top40 puppets) have caught this bug. They have to please their corporate mixshows, so they play the game of supporting major label's awful priorities in exchange for promotional goods and fake nominations at these annual DJ conventions. Payola at its finest, as this results in more spins for an undeserving artist and creating higher chart positions. Perhaps I'm rambling, but point is.....it was way less crooked before the genre was on their radar.
 
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Either you evolve or you become irrelevant. Take your pick.

The same can be said for a lot of genres. Consider the number of rap producers who are now in Nashvillle writing country music. I can give you a list.
 
DJ_Perry said:
Even though you already know the answer, I'll tell you what happened. It has turned into Pop music....and not in a good way.

There was a time where Pop / Urban music could share the charts with Dance music (I won't use the fake 3 initials like most), and the format was still pure for the most part. It wasn't compromised, and the credibility wasn't lost. You had actual Dance artists and producers making music for the clubs, and there was no need to collaborate with Disney singers to gain the approval of sheep. Those days are gone, and yes we still have the underground....but that influence is very small in comparison to the brainwashing occurring with this festival trend.

I am going to attempt to avoid names, but look at some of the stars today of the genre. A good amount of them were unknown to the mainstream world 5-10 years ago. However they were making noise in the clubs, and were very influential in their homeland overseas. But over time, they decided they wanted a piece of the USA action. They let the major labels dictate their music direction, and we started seeing these cheesy Non Dance singers all of the sudden trying to get under the umbrella and do collabs. The format does not mean anything anymore. Since Pop music has shifted to a slower, more urban direction.....you have these so called Dance producers also trying to stay relevant to the masses. They have totally forgotten their roots, and have no interest in appealing to Dance fans. They have thousands of new fans that they have sold out to.

It was expressed on this board a few years ago, that we should embrace this crossing over idea. The argument was that we had to educate non dance people about our world, by throwing them some mainstream bait paired up with a club producer. Well it looks like you folks were wrong once again, as it has backfired and created a heap of disposable crap. Even many of former Dance DJs (they have now turned into Top40 puppets) have caught this bug. They have to please their corporate mixshows, so they play the game of supporting major label's awful priorities in exchange for promotional goods and fake nominations at these annual DJ conventions. Payola at its finest, as this results in more spins for an undeserving artist and creating higher chart positions. Perhaps I'm rambling, but point is.....it was way less crooked before the genre was on their radar.
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ITA. The award nominations were the WORST. My feeling is that the "masses" would support some of the dance artists and producers even if they did not collaborate (with artists who clearly were not dance artists themselves) and dumb down their own product. If only they had the equal opportunity for their music to be heard like many generic artists receive.
 
It seems like the longer a sub-genre or style persists, the more formulaic and predictable it becomes. Too many songs today have this building percussion/rising pitch crescendo that ends in some percussive crash. BORING. Even to an old fossil like me.
 
DJ Perry I remember a lot of those people saying "it gets the door open" for real Dance music, and I didn't think they were right either. There are only about 2 real Dance records that Billboard charts in a given year (or at least that I like). Most are just pop fodder trying to be Dance.
 
I noticed that every time I look at Billboard's Dance Charts I start to wonder why the singles on both the Dance Club Songs and Dance/Electronic Songs Charts aren't crossing over to Dance/Mix Show Airplay, which can also be a factor. There are great Dance/EDM tracks out there right now but at this point I don't see any heart, soul, or enthusiasm whatsoever.
 
I listen to EDM Music and I still think its great to listen to, even if people say its not.
 
only1moore said:
I noticed that every time I look at Billboard's Dance Charts I start to wonder why the singles on both the Dance Club Songs and Dance/Electronic Songs Charts aren't crossing over to Dance/Mix Show Airplay, which can also be a factor. There are great Dance/EDM tracks out there right now but at this point I don't see any heart, soul, or enthusiasm whatsoever.
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I think Billboard is a terrible source for Dance music. You have to look outside the states for the real stuff
 
gregg75 said:
Just wanted to light up the board with a new topic.

And the EDM I'm referring to is real EDM (not house, disco, techno, trance, etc. - which often wrongfully get thrown under a general EDM umbrella).

It's clear EDM is not at the level where it was at in past years. Many are saying the bubble has burst. My take on the subject is, look how long Techno lasted. It lasted for years and years (over 10) and although still around today it's not at the level it once was. So maybe the time is up. The alarm clock has gone off.
Click to expand...

If history is any guide, another type of dance will likely start to get big within the next couple of years. In the late 90s and very early 2000s, Big Beat Electronica, Trance and even Electroclash got popular and bled into the mainstream, but by around 2005, those had faded. A few years later, EDM caught on, especially the Dub Step sub-genre, but then started to fade. Same with House and Techno getting big in the late 80s and early 90s, only to fade and be replaced by Grunge and Gangsta Rap, at least in the American mainstream. I'm guessing that by 2020, we will be in the midst of another dance-electronic craze that will rise and fall the same way EDM did.
 
TheBigA said:
Either you evolve or you become irrelevant. Take your pick.
Click to expand...


I was stubborn and wanted to keep party732.com as the undergound sound even when the club/bar scene here at the Jersey Shore changed, but my listenership was declining. From the summer of 2015, I would get no more than 6000 listeners a month, even with live broadcasts from my gigs. After tweaking the playlist and started digging in the record pool crates thanks to a few DJ buddies, a year later my listeners increased over twice as much to near 15,000 a month. Guess it was a god call to tweak the playlist on Party732.
 
That's what I keep saying, EDM is just a long fad like Techno (which lasted for years, and continues to hop along today- even though it's lost it's glory). Billboard lost it's interest in promoting Dance music probably in the mid to late 90's.... they got off on the wrong track. And they've been pretty much lost in the woods ever since.
 
I was surprised at what was considered EDM when I finally got around to watching the American Music Awards. It's not as high-energy as I would have expected.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I was surprised at what was considered EDM when I finally got around to watching the American Music Awards. It's not as high-energy as I would have expected.
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What did they consider it as at the awards?
 
vchimpanzee said:
I'd have to go back and watch the nominated artists, but I wouldn't know the songs. Certainly not the "dance mix" or "dance party" material CHRs sometimes play on the evenings on weekends.
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Please do? I wanna know and I'd probably know some of those songs.
 
I haven't tried rewinding yet but these were the nominees: The Chainsmokers, Calvin Harris and Major Lazer.
 
EDM artists^^^^ seem to have moved a few steps closer to mainstream Dance in their more recent stuff........but still not enough to get me listening.
 
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