The New York Times ran a piece today titled, "Electronic Dance Genre Tempts Investors," as though everybody didn't already know that there is good money in booze and titties.
The article cites the rise of the dance music megabashes - Electric Daisy, Hard and, of course, Ultra Music Festival - as a marker of dance music's ascendance from the underground and into popular culture. It also explores the world of the financially lusty investors interested in figuring out if anybody has seen Molly.
Despite the seeming obviousness of the Grey Lady's headline--yes, duh, EDM is taking over absolutely everything--Crossfade is interested with their assertion on a historical basis.
How did we end up here, with glowsticks up our collective cultural ass? And how will we ever get them out?
Bruce Sprinsteen, Madonna, and the Rolling Stones are listed as examples of the Big Touring circuit's decline. Sure, these artists make a pretty penny on tour. But these days, they're the only ones doing so without a laptop in front of them.
The most poignant observation comes from Michael Rapino, the chief executive of megapromotion agency (the largest in the world) Live Nation Entertainment: "If you're 15 to 25-years-old now, this is your rock 'n' roll."
That's because that exact demographic consists of the first humans to be completely socialized with the internet. The cognitive jump that the Times fails to make in their exploration of mass-produced EDM is that it signifies an increasingly cyborg populace, and that there's no turning back.
David Guetta and Steve Aoki do not simply represent decadent, mind-numbing party-pleasure culture. They're also harbingers of The Singularity.
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