Final Project

Disclaimer: This is my genre post for my final project that I would have posted on a “Reddit” page so I could add to the conversation on why EDM is not trash. My audience of the blog page are youths (16-25 years old), which is the reason for the tone and style of the essay. Enjoy!

Recently I have come across a lot of hate about electronic dance music (EDM) as it has become more popular over these last few years. As I have started to listen to EDM more frequently in the past year, the people in my life such as my parents, brother, and even some of my friends have expressed their hatred towards it. A lot of people don’t see the value in the music and consider it to be trashy, with no talent involved in making it.  I've also noticed a lot of people online on websites like reddit that claim rave culture is dumb and they don’t understand it. EDM isn’t just “a bunch of random sounds put together” and I want to prove that.
The acronym EDM is an “umbrella” term as it has dozens of different subgenres that are all different from one another. Subgenres such as house, dubstep, trap, and trance, all sound completely unique from one another although they are all created by producers using digital platforms and are coined as “EDM”. Producers of EDM (such as Bassnectar, Getter, Snails, Skrillex, RL Grime) use digital audio workspaces (DAW) that are purchased online and installed into computers. Before someone starts creating EDM beats and songs, having knowledge about music in general is important, as you should know simple terms such as a beat, key, bar, chord, etc. and how they all relate. Producers also use another software program known as a synthesizer (commonly known as syths) which is basically an electronic instrument that has an endless about of sounds, and has built in oscillators so the producer can make their own sounds. There’s a ton of practice that goes into creating music on these platforms, and it requires a level of expertise to make the beats flow naturally and sound good together. Artists can spend months and even years creating just one beat, so it requires a lot of time and not anyone can just make this music.
In a peer-reviewed article titled “Introduction to Weekend Societies: EDM Festivals and Event-Cultures” by Graham St. John, he states that the EDM industry became popular in London around 1990, and started to gain momentum in North America around 2010. Going to festivals started to become a common activity between youths, and eventually EDM made its way into mainstream music.
As EDM has become more popular, going to raves have become more accepted. Attending a festival/rave is truly a unique experience that I suggest everyone try in their lifetime at least once (although you will want to go more than once). “Its so accepting, there’s no rejection, and everyone loves each other, the feeling is really hard to explain, but that feeling is what makes me keep going to raves.” My friend Regan who has been going to raves for four years now said this quote about going to raves, and I think it sums up the experience pretty well. I’ve talked to a lot of people about going to raves and they all said a lot of the same things. Everyone agrees that the EDM community is one of the few genres of music that have such a unifying culture behind it. When you go to a festival/rave, everyone is so open to meeting new people, and everyone is just genuinely happy.  It also acts as a source of therapy, as everyone around you is having a great time listening to the music that makes everyone euphoric. According to Eventbrite, about 25% of the nation attended a music festival in the past year, and over 92% responded with positive feedback. The majority of people who have attended a rave, want to continue going to them as they have “life-changing experiences” at them. Because the environment is so different than what we are used to in the real world, it opens peoples minds up and relieves stress.

I suggest to everyone who is against EDM and its culture, to listen to different subgenres, as there might be one out of the dozens that you might enjoy. I also feel that it takes time for someone to enjoy listening to the more intense dubstep music, however going to a music festival and experiencing it in person definitely helps! I myself never enjoyed this music until I was brought to a rave/festival and now I understand what all the hype was about, and love this culture.  

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