EMC Day One: Chasing The EDM Dream In America

As the speakers, delegates, media hacks and interested onlookers roll into the inaugural Electronic Music Conference, some common questions linger in the air. Has Brisbane superclub The Met sold yet? How was Stereosonic? What is this lemon-flavoured thing in the EMC 2012 goodie bag, and what happens if I take two of them? And will the real EDM fans please stand up?

The latter question is posed by The Sound Alliance's CEO and EMC main man Neil Ackland at his opening address to the 300 attendees on morning one - two-thirds of the room sat down, while the remainder identified with the current buzz acronym of the music industry.

Next up is Tiësto, the Dutch DJ veteran who certainly didn't shy away from EDM and chasing the American dream. He'll base himself out of New York City in 2013 to capitalise on the USA's current love affair with dance music, though he's quick to point out that he'll leave the R&B crossover hits “to David Guetta and Calvin Harris”. The man born Tijs Verwest employs 35 people full-time, but still listens to around 100 promos per week – hit up @tiesto on Twitter if you fancy your chances of him spinning one of your tunes.

In the smaller Loft room of inner Sydney's Doltone House, local indie promoters talk shop at the Sound Of The Underground roundtable. Is EDM having any spin-offs for them yet? It seems to be the last thing on their mind as they battle such small matters as increased police presence at their events (Simon Caldwell saying his Mad Racket event had a visit from the men in blue despite a 14 year clean sheet) and restrictive licensing (Scott Commens revealing that next weekend's Subsonic Music Festival has just been told that full strength grog service switches off at 8pm). Of the local scene, Caldwell says, “We value our local artists less than anyone else – half the [crowd] haven't heard of half the international artists anyway”, while Dave Stuart from Sydney venue One22 says his crowds range from 18-40 years old and “the underground isn't just an old person's game”.

The Off The Record 'survival guide' forum for dance music labels thrashes out such issues as physical versus digital sales (ARIA's Dan Rosen said that while physical accounted for 63 percent of sales in 2011, it'll be closer to a 50/50 split for 2012), and the growing influence of Spotify and other streaming services. Modular's Steve Pavlovic isn't a fan – “It's good for the end user... but the artist is getting screwed” – while John Course from Vicious reveals that the Swedish artists on the label want to be on Spotify first, elsewhere later.

Streaming services aren't really a concern for Future Classic's Chad Gillard, for whom Australia's current EDM it-boy Flume is the only artist racking up numbers big enough to count, but he does readily acknowledge the support of iTunes in building that artist's success story. For Coursey and Vicious though, Beatport is the local producer's modern equivalent of the Central Station record stores of old – where they shop, so where they want to see their music sold.

The Future Sound of Summer 2013 CDs waiting on every seat in the main conference area for the post-lunch session prove that physical promos aren't totally a thing of the past. This session is about the present though – America Joins The Party: Inside The EDM Explosion. “This thing has been a long time in the making,” offers Patrick Moxey of Ultra Music (the long running independent label, not the Miami music festival). “Most people's first instrument is the computer now, so there's no turning back.”

“As of now, it's pop music,” says veteran LA A&R man and now head of HARD events, Gary Richards, who DJ Gina Turner backs up with the revelation that Laidback Luke & Steve Aoki's Turbulence (featuring Lil Jon) has usurped classic hip hop tunes as the closing track of choice at bar mitzvahs. Bundaberg-bred, LA-based Tommy Trash argues that it's the responsibility of labels to sift through the plethora of music being produced due to the digital production boom to find the super creative stuff, and Moxey says “dance music will have its Spinal Tap from a major label” - to which San Francisco house DJ Jay J interjects “LMFAO”.

On the future, Richards says “Everything's cyclical, but dance music's here to stay”, or, in the deadpan words of rising production gun Dillon Francis: “We're safe. I'm here.”

As for the EDM acronym and its co-opting by the American mainstream machine?

“It doesn't phase me either way,” says Tommy Trash. “I couldn't give a shit.”

TOMORROW: the EMC artist panel featuring Diplo and Nina Kraviz, behind Australia's festival boom, and where to from here for the Australian scene?

Pictures and words by Kris Swales