I really liked reading this. American electronic music has gotten into a pretty serious rut in the past 7 years.
Despite this, I have continued to hear phenomenal music. It appears that the successes are not being held by those creators often, and the success and cash ends up going to a trendier or more easily swallowed form of hipper musics. On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 12:02 AM, JT Stewart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > well then the prevalent view here is wrong. the festival works best when it > > books diverse acts to pays its bills and perpetuate its own existence. big > > There is no evidence to support the assumption that booking more > artists outside of the Detroit tradition improves the success of the > festival. There is in fact evidence that the festivals that were about > Detroit's electronic music legacy had much larger attendance -- there > is no way to know how many of those people would have attended had it > not been free, but it's fairly safe to assume that the first few > festivals would have been the greatest successes had an entry fee been > charged and had the festivals been competently managed. The > sponsorship was there (selling the festival as "Detroit Techno" all > over TV, to boot), mainstream media was there, the initial excitement > was there, the widespread local appeal was there. The only thing borne > out as a more successful approach in the past few years is the > charging of an entry fee and a much more competent management of the > festival in general. You aren't going to convince anybody jumping to > conclusions that aren't borne out. You can only claim Paxahau's > festival would be less successful as a Detroit-centric festival if > they throw one and it is decisively less successful. You may well be > right (I think you are) considering the trends in electronic music > these days, but they haven't had that festival to prove it, yet. > > > > member that wants that 25 percent, there is someone out there looking for > > the dnb stuff they are booking, or this or that. just because YOU dont dig > > it, doesn't mean its invalid and has no place at the festival. > > That's certainly true enough, but helllooo McFly, why the hell are you > on the Detroit Techno mailing list if you don't think Detroit's legacy > is more important, ultimately more culturally relevant, than global > superstar dj's or the newest hype for the majority of people > attending. There has to be a balance between commerce and art/culture, > but considering it's Detroit, and the only electronic music festival > in Detroit, I think it's reasonable to expect there will be an > undercurrent to the festival that celebrates Detroit's legacy. I don't > think Paxahau has failed to address that, but as Detroit Techno > devotees we want more, we want Paxahau to have the balls to risk it's > ass to throw another Detroit-centric festival, now that they have put > in place proper management. It is a bit unreasonable. Paxahau's > business smarts that dictates the festival goes increasingly in a > different direction -- the cultural relevance has been minim(al)ized, > because.... > > I'm afraid electronic music, especially American electronic music, has > suffered tremendously in the last 7 years. It would be crazy to throw > a festival like the first few festivals again given that no one > (comparatively) in America is buying Techno, and maybe more > importantly look at the output of Detroit (and America in general). > Paxahau is smart and they have probably judged the market correctly. > You gotta get the kids there. There ain't many heads among the kids > these days. The heads have jobs, kids, old fogie legs that don't dance > so good no more...The kids ain't got no responsibilities and are much > more carefree about burning through their dough. The majority just > wanna party. Perhaps they would be open to learning about why > Detroit's legacy is so important and unique to electronic music. But > there is no real exciting reason why they would care to learn. The > infrastructure to put Detroit/American electronic music culture in the > public eye and make it compelling just isn't there. > > /0 may be obnoxious (ain't we all sometimes), but I'm afraid he's right. > > That said I'm attending if it's within my budget (plane tickets and > gas = megabux right now) and a lot of friends of mine who have never > gone before -- heads even -- want to go this year. It's the best we > have and it's not going to improve if it's not nurtured. I believe > things will come back around, and besides it's the best opportunity we > Americans have to see so many artists we like in one place, without > using a passport. And if the festival ain't up to snuff for you, you > can shift your attention to soaking up the city and hanging out with > seldom-seen friends...It depends on your budget etc whether it's worth > it or not -- if budget isn't a primary consideration, absolutely it > is... > > I miss Detroit a lot... > -- --- Michael Kuszynski [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.planerecordings.com New York, NY