Electronic dance music

• 1. Origins In The Underground

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  In 1973, a Jamaican-American DJ named Kool Herc introduced large bass-heavy speaker rigs to the Bronx. His parties kick-started the New York City hip-hop movement and laid groundwork for electronic dance music. By 1980, Ryuichi Sakamoto released Riot in Lagos from his album B-2 Unit. This track introduced the Roland TR-808 drum machine to clubs and demonstrated a new type of electro music. Afrika Bambaataa followed with Planet Rock in 1982. That song made the 808 very popular on dancefloors and reoriented post-disco dance music around it. Giorgio Moroder produced I Feel Love for Donna Summer in 1977. It became the first well-known disco hit to have a completely synthesized backing track. These early experiments shaped the percussive electronic sound that would define future genres.

• 2. The Rise Of House And Techno

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  Chicago radio jocks The Hot Mix 5 played various styles of dance music including older disco records and Italo Disco. Club DJs Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles mixed in effects and drum machines during their sets. Jesse Saunders produced On and On in 1984. This hypnotic electronic dance song had elements that became staples of the early house sound. Detroit DJs Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson laid the foundation for techno in the 1980s. They fused Chicago house influenced electronic sounds with Detroit funk influences. In 1988, acid house developed as a notable trend in the United Kingdom and Germany. Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold opened clubs Shoom and Spectrum in London. Both places became synonymous with acid house and MDMA gained prominence as a party drug. By summer 1989, up to 25,000 people attended commercially organized underground parties called raves.

• 3. Subgenres And Global Expansion

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  Trance emerged from the rave scene in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It developed further during the early 1990s in Germany before spreading throughout Europe. Dubstep originated in South London in the late 1990s. Its earliest known releases date back to 1998 and were usually featured as B-sides of 2-step garage single releases. Gqom originated around 2009, 2010 in Durban through local record producers. This genre blends elements of techno broken beats and house music while eschewing the typical four-on-the-floor rhythm. In Ghana, an artist named Djsky introduced EDM between 2015 and present. He organized successful festivals such as Hey Ibiza and Sunset Music Festival. Ethiopia saw a breakthrough in 2018 when young artist Rophnan incorporated EDM sound with traditional rhythms. Tens of thousands of youth packed stadiums across the country and radios began playing the emerging genre.

• 4. Corporate Consolidation And The Bubble

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  In June 2012, media executive Robert F. X. Sillerman re-launched SFX Entertainment as an EDM conglomerate. He announced his plan to invest one billion dollars to acquire EDM businesses including ID&T which organizes Tomorrowland. Live Nation acquired Cream Holdings and Hard Events and formed a creative partnership with EDC organizers Insomniac Events in 2013. By October 2015 Forbes declared the possibility of an EDM bubble following declines at SFX Entertainment. The company began looking into strategic alternatives that could have resulted in its sale. SFX emerged from bankruptcy in December 2016 as LiveStyle under the leadership of Randy Phillips. In 2014, seven-up launched 7x7Up, a multi-platform EDM-based campaign featuring producers and branded stages at Ultra and Electric Daisy Carnival. Despite forecasts that interest would wane, 2015 estimated the US market to be a five point five billion dollar industry up by sixty percent compared to 2012 estimates.

• 5. Festival Culture And Economic Impact

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  Major festivals often feature a large number of acts representing various EDM genres spread across multiple stages. The 2014 Ultra Music Festival brought 165,000 attendees and over two hundred twenty-three million dollars to the Miami South Florida region economy. The inaugural edition of TomorrowWorld brought eighty-five point one million dollars to the Atlanta area. EDC Las Vegas boosted the Clark County economy by three hundred fifty point three million dollars in 2015 alone with over four hundred five thousand attendees. These events differed from underground raves by their organized nature and measures to ensure health and safety. After Ultra Music Festival 2014 where gatecrashers trampled a security guard on its first day, Miami city commissioners considered banning the festival. They voted to allow Ultra to continue due to positive economic effects under conditions addressing security drug usage and lewd behavior. In 2018 commissioners voted to bar the festival from Bayfront Park but later approved moving it to Virginia Key.

• 6. Drug Associations And Public Health

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  Methylenedioxymethamphetamine MDMA is often considered the drug of choice within rave culture. It is also used at clubs festivals and house parties. Another drug para-Methoxyamphetamine known as pink ecstasy or Death can take up to an hour to produce effects which may result in hyperthermia and organ failure. Ketamine rose rapidly in dance culture in Hong Kong by the end of the 1990s. Before becoming federally controlled in the United States in 1999 it was available as diverted pharmaceutical preparations. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum blacklisted Insomniac Events after an underage attendee died from complications of ischemic encephalopathy during Electric Daisy Carnival 2010. Drug-related deaths during Electric Zoo 2013 in New York City prompted cancellation of the final day of that event. In September 2016 Buenos Aires banned all electronic music events pending future legislation after five drug-related deaths at a Time Warp Festival event.