Investing in EDM

[KLH]

Well written article that doesn't say much:

Hey guys, there is something new and cool to exploit and some people are making some money somewhere somehow. It can be tricky, but with some luck, you can make money too!

There are a lot of assumptions and suppositions. The key point to me is that EDM is crossing into the mainstream (which we knew) and is now being viewed as exploitable by investors (which is new).

The last time this happened was alternative rock in the 90s, IIRC. I, for one, hope that EDM is truly embraced by the mainstream. Of course, if it is, then what will the underground move onto?

-KLH

[Mahatma Coat]

Not just about revenue from ticket prices though: Sponsorship, merchandising, advertising, rents; these big corporate gigs & brands can generate lots of profit over the medium term.

I don't think underground electronic music will ever fully become mainstream because:

1. Most of it is too inaccessible for a pop audience. Could you ever imagine Toronto keta-house, Berlin techno or Bristol dub-step in the top 40? I really don't think so.

2. The nature of the underground is that it reflexively changes itself from whatever tropes the mainstream sucks out of it, reinventing itself to stay different and separate; at best all the mainstream could ever achieve is a crude caricature of what the mainstream thinks the 'underground sound' is. Rusko is a good case of this, he's had to 'manicure' his dubstep to see the levels of attention he's getting now, but its no longer anything like what you hear in the backstreet clubs

[disparate]

EDM is the underground term that the media finally caught on to.

Might just be an American thing then, I've never heard anyone outside of the internet use that term seriously (although I know I'm not the only one who cringes a bit at its recent use in US mass-media...)

[djfarcyde]

Meh. Too many risks that you can properly account for.

[DJMESSIDONA]

very cool article... Haha my fav part was when it said something about it dying out like in da 90's...Not even on da same level Itz way 2 hyped now People can listen 2 a song and name da song and artist thats the difference lol anyways Tiësto probably makes the most from his touring

[Atomisk]

$1 million for a festival sounds well exaggerated.

My thoughts exactly. SHM is ~200k and they're one of the biggest DJs out there... $1m is Coldplay money

[mrkleen]

Top DJs are NOT making a million dollars for one appearance. Not even close.

Tiesto was making $60,000 a gig a few years back....and Deadmouse might make around the same in a bigger room or festival....but a million a set? NO WAY.

[deephouse]

huh...

also I'm sick of the media STILL trying to look down upon EDM events because of 1 in 200,000 people dying at a festival. In an article about new investment opportunities arising in electronic music, why is there a short paragraph in the middle telling us how 1 girl died of a drug overdose (I don't think it was an OD either, was it?) at EDC?

Oh wow. You are an interesting fellow.