Ricky Figueroa

I agree with the notion that in all likelihood the acronym “EDM” was created to simplify the concept of electronic dance music; in other words, for either marketing reasons by labels or by journalists writing about the rise in popularity of the blend between progressive and electro house with R&B and hip-hop that began to growth rapidly here in the US some time around maybe 2007 or so.

However, I would suggest we go further by noticing two things that seem related to me:

(1) That when most people (in the US, at least) think about “EDM” and come to identify a taste for it and follow specific DJproducers, what they are focused on is almost exclusively progressive and electro house and somewhat of a lesser extent trance.

For evidence of this you can look, for example, at playlists with the label “EDM” on Spotify, and to what type of music dominates in certain kinds of festivals and leading dance clubs (at least in the US). In other words, young people I’ve met who like “EDM” know much about other house sub-genres or other types of electronic dance music.

(2) Now here comes a more controversial observation, one that I remember D-Jam, a Chicago-based DJ who contributes greatly to this website’s article comments said once, and that is something I have observed repeatedly first hand: the vast majority of “EDM” fans, again, at least in the US, are White young people. Very, very rarely do I see, in either clubs or big performances by leading “EDM” DJproducers crowds in which the number of Black or non-White Latino people is more than a sprinkle here and there. I have seen this both in person and by looking at videos of big performances, as well as in conversations with plenty of college students.

Indeed, most of this crowd isn’t that interested in deepsoulful house, or so-called “tribal” (a label I hate), or Latin house, d’n’b, etc.

So, if we combine items #1 and #2, it’s possible to argue that either major labels or the press that covers this scene, or both, decided that White young people in the US were a growth market for a certain kind of music that wasn’t generally associated with people of color in this country.

Just my two cents, from the perspective of someone who interacts a lot with college students and plays all kinds of house and other genres.

So far my DJ software has been primarily iOS apps: first DJay 1, then Traktor DJ, then DJ Player 6, then back to DJay when v. 2 was released with those gorgeous waveforms and samples function (I like to record mine), and hopefully soon will check out the upcoming DJ Player 7.

Sure, I’ve also used Traktor Pro on a Mac, but I find the physical, tactile, even sensual aspects of using the iPad’s touch screen much better when paired up with the iDJ Pro, a very underrated board.

But, I will also confess that I’m looking at the new Numark NS7 II and feel so lured by what it offers, although I’m also worried about having to learn still one more app (Serato).

I’ve done this more than once, and it worked out very well. I used two strategies = (1) Music = created many small playlists by genre, tempo and energy, etc.; (2) HardwareSoftware = I used Spotify Premium on my iPhone paired up with an Apple Express wi-fi device hooked to an amp.

This allowed me to dance, entertain, drink, eat and spin songs throughout the night. In fact, everyone was impressed by how well this set up worked. I even got gigs from doing this well, lol.