An article posted earlier this week by the Los Angeles Times has caused quite a stir among concert promoters, artists, and electronic dance music fans (this music fan included). The article, supposedly the culmination of a “Times investigation” in progress for several years, attempts to conjure a highly contestable link between drug related deaths and the electronic dance music scene. I won’t boil your blood with every detail, but a few highlights include:
1) The headline – “A fatal toll on concertgoers as raves boost cities’ income”.
2) The strong implication that Pasquale Rotella and Reza Gerami – owners of Insomniac, Inc. and Go Ventures, Inc. respectively – are in some way personally responsible for the deaths of “at least 14 people who attended raves produced by (the two companies) since 2006.” Insomniac responded to the article in a statement on their website.
3) San Bernardino city attorney James Penman’s observation that “a rave without drugs is like a rodeo without horses. They don’t happen.”
Let’s set a few things straight here. First of all – despite what many believe – these are not raves. Major music festivals and events put on by companies like Insomniac and Go Ventures often have budgets well into the millions of dollars, with upwards of fifty or even a hundred thousand attendees. Whether you like it or not, you’re attending electronic dance music concerts, put on by production and promotion companies who pay taxes, advertise heavily and publicly, and go through all the proper legal channels to ensure their events run smoothly. For better or worse, and with the rapid mainstream integration of the EDM scene, true underground “raves” are growing fewer and farther between.
This tidbit of misinformation can be blamed just as much on a fractured scene clinging to its past as it can be on outside observers. That’s not to say EDM should forget its past as it rockets into the future; underground raves had a huge role in crafting the scene’s evolution. From the attitudes of “Peace, Love, Unity and Respect” to the simple fact that people once got together just for their love of great electronic music, we can still feel the ripples in the pond from stones tossed many years ago. WhiteRaverRafting.com chose its name in part to pay homage to the many incredible things which were born of the underground rave scene, so we’re as attuned as anyone to its undeniable influence.
For something to “evolve”, it must move forward, and this is where the “rave” correlations end. When you pay top dollar to see Deadmau5, or Bassnectar, or Swedish House Mafia, or any one of thousands of other artists, you’re paying for a show. The days of dimly lit rooms and 5 dollar covers are all but gone, replaced by massive spectacles like Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo, and so on. While the positive ideals and focus on the music (hopefully) still remain, the negatives often associated with “raves” – the unsanctioned venues, the heavily publicized drug use, the lack of concerns for patron safety – have in reality disappeared.
This evolution is the sticking point for many unaccustomed to the scene. Speaking on raves, the Times writes that the audiences “are no longer a few hundred revelers but tens of thousands.” They even point out that Rotella and Gerami began calling their events “electronic music festivals” instead of “raves” as “safety requirements that were missing from the underground scene (were implemented)”. In writing this, they utterly bypass the minimal leap in intellect it would take to disassociate an old-school “rave” from a a modern day show.
Kaskade had a wonderful rebuttal to the article posted on his Tumblr entitled “No One Knows Who We Are“, and I’ve borrowed a snippet below to hammer home my point.
“Today, massive events are being held on terms that have been scrutinized by engineers, civil servants, fire chiefs, policemen, and all manner of bureaucratic safety hoops. As EDM’s numbers have become larger, we’ve become more accountable. No longer hiding in an abandoned warehouse, we’re paying taxes, paying dues, and stimulating the hell out of each cities’ economy that hosts an event. Before the doors ever open, there is a string of green lights that have to be run through by people whose business it is to keep these events safe. The same codes put into place for every other genre of music applies to EDM. To say otherwise is untruthful and adheres to dangerous stereotyping.”
“Dangerous stereotyping” is a perfect segue into the Times’ egregious insinuations regarding drugs and drug-related injuries/fatalities at electronic dance music events. Unfortunately, Their “reporting” fits snugly into the news media’s predetermined storyline when it comes to EDM-related topics.
The fact that 14 people have died “during or shortly after concerts” produced by Insomniac and Go Ventures since 2006 is not something to be taken lightly. Nor is the fact that many of the deaths were “linked to ecstasy or similar drugs.” It doesn’t matter how hard law enforcement officials, event promoters, security and medical staff work to fight it. Drug use and abuse will continue to occur at concerts and festivals. So long as there is a demand, people will find a way to fill it. And so long as that demand is being filled, people will find a way to overdo it.
But drug use doesn’t only occur at events put on by Insomniac or Go Ventures. Nor does it only occur at electronic music events. Drug use occurs at events of all genres. To paint the EDM scene as some sort of safe haven for the free and open peddling of illicit substances is wildly inaccurate, as is any implication that it’s the only subculture in music where drug use takes place.
On this point, the Times seems to completely discount the level of effort that goes into making events on such a scale happen. These aren’t shoddily prepared warehouse “raves”. These are massive productions planned out to the minutest of details. Security and patron safety are chief among those details. It’s why we’re searched thoroughly upon entry at 95 percent of the events we attend. It’s why security patrols the grounds of music festivals and the dancefloors of clubs. It’s why many festivals and venues hire world-class medical staffs and have ambulances and police cruisers on call, ready at a moment’s notice. I don’t know how to make it more clear: safety is paramount at dance music events.
Look at it like this: You’re sitting in a restaurant. You see an electrical outlet on the wall. You decide its in your best interests to approach the wall, lick your finger, and stick it directly into the outlet. How much sense does it make for you to blame the restaurant for the shock you receive? This may be a rudimentary example, but it works for our purposes: blaming the event promoter for the independent actions of a miniscule minority of their patrons is illogical. Even with the plethora of safety precautions and preparedness measures put in place, accidents can happen. Contrary to the LA Times’ portrayal these accidents are the exception, not the norm.
People ask me all the time about the “future of EDM”. And I don’t have an answer for them; how can I ascribe a singular path to something so limitless? The rapid rise of electronic music in popular consciousness coupled with the explosion of technological advances, musical and otherwise, has been an incredible journey to observe. As with any movement – and especially in an age where truth and accuracy seem to require less and less proof – the speed of EDM’s rise has brought with it a trove of false information and misunderstanding.
But electronic music isn’t going away, and I’m tired of hearing the same bogus story trodden out in opposition of the EDM scene. So here’s looking at you, Los Angeles Times and the mainstream media at large: Stop validating false claims. Stop repeating outdated, biased information. Stop focusing on the negative aspects of a scene you don’t understand. Stop talking and listen; maybe you’ll learn something.
“Dear @LATimes: Sorry, But EDM Isn’t Going Away” (Tweet This)
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