Where will EDM be in 5 years?

The question can be puzzling to some or followed by a quick and direct answer, depends on who you ask, take your pick. We can jump right in and say “the bubble is bursting” soon and move on or we can do some research, or we can just die (other options also available). We have some hands-on experience with this directly, because we love asking this question from artists. The Interviews tab has responses from people like UMEK, Frankie Bones or DJ Dan to name a few.

Lets sit back and contemplate on this, shall we? Electronic Dance Music is moving masses, it’s on radio, clubs, TV and online. Festivals are emerging out of the blue, most mainstream artists are predictable and samey, everyone is learning Ableton… Where can this lead? One place can be the gutter. If something doesn’t change soon, EDM may be replaced with a new sound in the mainstream music world.. Will it be hip hop or rock (what other genres could be next, jazz…)? Not sure. Let us know if YOU are, though.

Now lets do some research, a Spanish National Research Council study showed that music has gotten simpler and louder over the past 50 years (reference article here). Could it be that major music industry leading companies put tons of money into taking it into a predictable direction? Are there constant board meetings about developments of new boy bands, their images and sound? Can it be that EDM is mainstream NOW because they wanted it to be? Surely these are very possible, so in this case, where will it be in 5 years? Simply put: Exactly where they want it. Looking at it positively, even if this wonderful musical genre (and all the genres inside of it) is not blasted through every channel and media outlet known to man any more, it will have generated millions of fans and listeners over the years who will look into the vast amounts of great music available. As a scene, the mainstream industry leaders may have done us a favor over-all, they ended the era of “listening to house music is weird” or the era of “You go to raves? You must be on drugs!”

What if EDM is still strong and booming 5 years from now? What would be on the radio in 2019? A brand new genre we haven’t crossbred yet? Will it be “deep-progressive-hip-pop-bluegrass-tallgrass-trance with dubstep elements”, or “DeePhop” for short? The answer can be YOU, and if it is, we have one request: make it not suck! We had enough of the copy cats with millions of hits, the masked gimmick-riders jumping around on their decks on massive stages with their hands in the air. Can we just see and hear art happening again? Producers trying new things, DJs using the new advanced technology to make their sets just that much better and challenge themselves.. One assumes a high profile artist likes where they are and what they do (or should be doing), so how can they go on stage staring at laptop wave forms, holding one arm up high and hovering their finger over a button on said laptop? What happened to using your brain? You have an app for that now? The mainstream Grammy winners and top names may hold key amounts of influence over where EDM is in 5 years, contact them and straighten their act (where appropriate) so we can enjoy this music on radio in 2019.