Simon Dunmore, the influential founding father of Defected Information, has opened up in regards to the cookie-cutter nature of as we speak’s digital music pageant lineups.
Many would argue that dance music’s leading edge has gone uninteresting, blunted by years of recycled pageant rosters. Dunmore, who in July 2022 offered his label to its former CEO Wez Saunders, took to Threads to debate this phenomenon and the urgency for brand new artists to “challenge the monopoly of the established hierarchy.”
“Festival line ups have been stagnating 4 yrs, w the same 50 acts on rinse & repeat,” Dunmore wrote. “New talent needs 2 break through 2 challenge the monopoly of the established hierarchy?”
He then lauded Keinemusik and ANOTR, a pair of red-hot home music acts, as trailblazers uprooting the development.
View the unique article to see embedded media.
Whether or not or not the pageant scene is in want of a shake-up is subjective, however the dialog has solely continued to swell lately. Reserving the identical artists advert nauseam ensures a dependable draw and satisfies longtime followers who stay up for seeing their favorites, however the strategy usually results in a homogenized expertise that strips away the essence of what made digital music festivals particular within the first place: discovery and innovation.
This shortsighted strategy has sparked debate inside the dance music trade regarding its vitality, and the ripple results are far-reaching. Promising artists are starved of essential publicity whereas dyed-in-the-wool headliners develop complacent, perpetuating a vicious cycle and stifling progress inside the style.
Whereas counting on confirmed headliners could seem financially protected within the short-term, questions come up about long-term sustainability and the cultivation of future headline-caliber acts. By failing to raise new expertise and area of interest subgenres, it is honest to marvel if pageant organizers are alienating the following era of ravers and producers—and inadvertently laying the groundwork for their very own irrelevance.
The financial implications of this reserving development are, after all, complicated. As lineups proceed to evolve, discovering a steadiness between established crowd-pleasers and recent expertise stays a key problem for pageant organizers.
Defected Information, EDM.com‘s greatest label of 2022, is revered for its mastery of that balancing act. The model organizes its personal festivals in Malta, Croatia and Ibiza, amongst others, and just lately introduced an unprecedented New 12 months’s celebration spanning all six inhabited continents.
Reflecting on his sale of the enterprise this week, Dunmore praised Saunders for persevering with to highlight promising artists and break new floor.
“Defected 2.0 is now very much Wez’s vision,” Dunmore stated in an Instagram put up. “For any business to succeed the direction has to be consistent and come from the top down and, as with me, it has has taken a moment for him to adjust. It is great to hear that Defected is marauding in new waters, discovering new musical treasures.”
View the unique article to see embedded media.
