(Roughly) Daily

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While your correspondent is quite sure that his readers are among the hippest of the hip, he imagines that even they may be surprised to know that EDM– Electronic Dance Music– is eclipsing other musical genres.  According to a recent study (pdf; summary here):

The EDM market is a $15.0 to $20.0 billion global industry, with the major players in the global festival market achieving $4.5 billion in sales for 2012. Digital music revenues grew an impressive 9.8% in 2012 (IFPI, 2013)…  Attendance for the top 50 EDM specific festivals was two times the number in attendance of concerts for all other music genres combined…

So perhaps it’s only natural that those at the controls of this musical juggernaut– the DJs– are feeling… well, a bit entitled.

@DJsComplaining chronicles their pain, then djscomplaining.com illustrates (and adds very amusing commentary)…

Imagine having 30,000 followers. 30,000 people who listen to every little thing that you compulsively fart out in 140 characters or less. 30,000 souls, as 3-dimensional and full of dreams as you or I. 30,000 humans, all over the world. Falling in love. Laughing. Getting lonely. Buying fags and scratch-cards. And they all care about you. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t it Max Graham? It’s not enough is it though? Poor Max Graham.

One of the many problems facing the international DJ in the twitter era is that no amount of followers is ever enough. 30,000 zorks reading about your every move might seem like a lot to your average hairy-arsed chancer, but there’s always some Johnny-come-lately with a cap balanced on his head who releases one All Back To My Late Night Fabric Factory mix and BAM! – he’s leapfrogged you to 50k. Yes, envy is a powerful player in the music world, and in this age of information it is almost impossible to avoid those more successful than you…

Rave on!

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As we reach for out glo-sticks, we might recall that it was on this date in 1966 that NBC greenlit that series The Monkees. The prior September, the creators of the show, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, had placed an add in Daily Variety:

Madness!!

Auditions

Folk & Rock Musicians-Singers

For Acting Roles in New TV Series

Running Parts for 4 Insane Boys, Age 17-21

In fact, the show’s production company, Screen Gems, had already put Davy Jones– who had appeared the same night as the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing in his role as the Artful Dodger in Oliver— under contract.  The other three Monkees, chosen from among 437 aspirants, were of course  Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz, all of whom had musical backgrounds and two of whom (Dolenz, the star of Circus Boy, and Nesmith, a drama student) had acting backgrounds.  The show ran successfully (initially in a time slot that pitted it against Gilligan’s Island) for almost five years; at the same time, the band released a clutch of hits (e.g., “Last Train to Clarksville”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, and “Daydream Believer”).  At their peak in 1967, The Monkees outsold both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones; as of 2012, their albums and singles have sold over 65 million copies worldwide.

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