Is EDM dying? We briefly touched on it a week or so ago when discussing and breaking down dedmau5’s comments about the genre, festivals, and his future as an artist and from that conversation, we put together a list of what’s really killing the genre. From artists bashing each other to fans gravitating away from EDM — we’ve compiled some reasons to why it’s all taking place.
6. Artists hating on other artists
We see it time and time again with artists directly bashing on each other. A good chunk of the time deadmau5 is dishing out his personal sentiments to fellow DJ’s and producers via Twitter. But recently, The Chainsmokers have come under fire for the mass success of their viral hit ‘Selfie’, from artists all across the world. Clearly everyone’s not going to all get along and enjoy each other’s music — but a simple layer of respect would go a long way to prevent more lame TMZ coverage of ‘EDM beef’
5. Cheap quality of music
With the easy success of ‘cookie cutter’ type EDM music, everyone and their mom is shopping their crappy, repetitive music that they want pushed into the Beatport Top 10. Where’s the originality these days? The over-saturation of the EDM market is absolutely killing the genre as a whole. Put some time and energy into your craft instead of trying to brand yourself as ‘the next Hardwell.’
4. Over-done festivals
Back in the day, festivals had a distinct, original purpose. They were dispersed throughout the calendar year and the hype was incomparable. But nowadays with the over-saturated market, there’s way less attention to detail in these festivals. Throw 5 DJ’s in a crowded warehouse and you have a “festival?” I call BS on that one.
3. Fans moving to ‘deep house’
Since EDM’s rise to viral popularity, some folks that consider themselves ‘the original fans’ are moving towards other genres and gravitating away from EDM. Is it because they’re just not feeling their first love? Or is it more so because when something gets popular, it ironically becomes uncool.
2. Always needed NEW music
One of the biggest areas killing EDM is the consistent need for new music. Just when a new song comes out that’s been hyped for weeks, even months — fans are already looking for the next big thing. An artist can take their time crafting a track for weeks and the second is sees it’s release date — their ‘dedicated’ fans are biting at the chomps for something new. It takes a lot to impress people these days.
1. Trends
And I mean c’mon — Kandi, Neon, gimmicks. Is it all really necessary to enjoy the music? Is that really the ‘culture’? I’m certainly a fan of the music, but have never seen the correlation between the two. Maybe I’m just too old, but I feel like all the flash and nonsense isn’t necessary to enjoy or appreciate the music. People call it a form of expression, I call it an excuse for you to dress like a neon-idiot and take drugs with your friends for hours. But hey — I could be wrong.