Thesis advisor: Judith Schwartz / Increased access to media and production tools has given the civilized masses the means not only to consume an increasingly comprehensive wealth of content, but also the means to interact with that content in ways never before imagined. This has allowed the digital generation to grow ever more comfortable creating and editing content outside of the professional environment. Much of the creative output of our day comes in the form of the “remix,” a piece of content which is constructed, in full or in part, from bits (most often in the form of bytes) of other media artifacts. However, because of American law and international copyright agreements that prohibit the copying (reproduction or derivation) of creative works, a generation of amateur producers has been criminalized. Despite the message sent by recent prosecutions in light of the letter of copyright law, the original spirit of copyright law was to encourage creative production, not restrict it. Within the music industry, the international electronic dance music community demonstrates how new forms of content and copyright management within a hybrid economy could benefit artists, fans, and industry alike. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

Trance and house music are sub-genres within the genre of electronic dance music. The form of breakdown, buildup and anthem is the main driving force behind trance and house music. This thesis analyzes transcriptions from 22 trance and house songs in order to establish and define new terminology for formal devices used within the breakdown, buildup and anthem sections of the music.

Club Texas: Building Community in Electronic Music Fan Culture through Online Collaboration is a report of results from a content analysis that analyzes the role of online participatory culture for community development and social capital for a local underground EDM ‘scene’ (Electronic Dance Music) in Dallas, TX. This study analyzes DallasDanceMusic.com (DDM), one of the first and largest message board communities to support the EDM community in Dallas, TX since 1994. The study measures participatory culture and social capital using content analysis of the site during high profile activity for a four-month period in 2012. / text

<p><italic>Composers on the Decks</italic> is comprised of three related chapters: an original composition for amplified chamber ensemble and laptop DJ, <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic>; an extended article entitled "Composers on the Decks: Hybridity of Place and Practice among Composer-DJs Gabriel Prokofiev, Mason Bates, Ari Benjamin Meyers and Brandt Brauer Frick"; and an archive of edited interviews of the four primary research subjects. Chapter 1 is the author's artistic contribution. Chapters 2 and 3 explore the emerging practices of "club classical" and what I am calling "instrumental-electronic dance music" in what may be the first academic study to examine the latter and its connections with the former.</p><p><italic>Alleys of Your Mind</italic> is a work for seven wind instruments, soprano and laptop DJ composed as social dance music, intended to be performed in a nightclub. Its repetitive style, electronic dance beats and long-form instrumental writing create a musical hybrid of classical compositional techniques and electronic dance music (EDM). The work contains three movements: the first and longest movement is paced at a dance tempo of 124 beats-per-minute; the second movement at half of that speed, 62 beats-per-minute; and Movement 3 returns to the original tempo. The movements are performed without pause and leave generous space for the DJ to improvise with audio effects and an extended interlude in Movement 2. In addition, <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic> has a documentary dimension: audio samples of medical machinery and voices, recorded by the composer during his recovery in a neuroscience intensive care unit, feature in the second and third movements. </p><p>Chapter 2 introduces the related practices of "club classical" and "instrumental-EDM," explaining the musical connections between contemporary classical and EDM and interpreting the hybrid social environments where this music lives. The first section deals with the club classical phenomenon in the practices of composer-DJs Gabriel Prokofiev and Mason Bates, and presenters such as Yellow Lounge. Prokofiev leads Nonclassical Records and hosts monthly club nights in London, during which live sets of recent classical works alternate with sets from Nonclassical's resident DJs. The label's releases adapt classical music to an EDM format, featuring new classical compositions and electronic remixes of these works. Bates presents Mercury Soul, a party in nightclubs that links DJ sets of EDM with live classical sets via composed, electro-acoustic interludes; these nights involve a director, conductor, and a chamber ensemble from a major symphony. Yellow Lounge situates older classical music in nightclubs and employs DJs who spin classical works between live sets. Ari Benjamin Meyers composes instrumental-EDM, music that features classically influenced composition with a dance focus, and has performed it with his Redux Orchestra in Berlin's late night dance clubs from 2005-2012. Brandt Brauer Frick, an EDM trio, formed an 11-piece ensemble of mostly classical instruments that plays their orchestrated techno-like tracks in clubs and concert halls. </p><p>Using social and performance analysis, the chapter describes these phenomena as musical and social hybridity. Club classical and instrumental-EDM evince a desire on the part of event planners and classically trained composers to connect on a more physical and social level with their audience. Many of the composers and presenters express a wish that through these practices, classical music can expand beyond the concert hall and potentially see a demographic change in its audience over time. The chapter also delves into the narrow demographics of the classical-EDM scene, the difficulties of instrumental-EDM, and situates the author's dissertation composition, <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic>, and its presentation at the Duke Coffeehouse, within the greater practice of instrumental-EDM. </p><p>Chapter 3 presents edited versions of the author's interviews with the study's four primary research subjects. This documentation, and the dissertation as a whole, is paired with a website, <underline>composersonthedecks.org</underline>, which provides additional information, photographs, links, and audio and video of <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic>.</p> / Dissertation

The purpose of this thesis is to describe, analyze and compare traditional and new marketing tools of music industry, focusing on distribution and promotion, and demonstrate through an example of succes of electronic dance music in recent years that digital era and internet development have significant influence on mujsic marketing. Based on analysis and primary research reveal basic segments of listeners and recommend a mix of tools for a starting artist.

The purpose of this project is to understand how it is that women become electronic/dance music (E/DM) DJs and intervene in the dominant discourses and practices of cultural production in E/DM and DJ culture. The three main areas I address are: the impact of the socialization of gender and technology relations, the various ways that women use the Internet to access knowledge and create supportive communities, and finally, the hegemonic representation of women in dominant E/DM culture and how this representation has led to women creating their own communities of practice. I take a cultural studies approach to understanding the communicative strategies women adopt to become DJs. Adopting this methodology requires an examination of the relationships between people, places, practices, and texts. Such an interdisciplinary approach also necessitates drawing on literature from various "studies" areas, including cultural studies, popular music, women's studies, technology, and cyber culture studies. The result is a group of interconnected case studies linked by the ways that each of them addresses distinct aspects related to my central question of how women become DJs. It is clear from my research that the increased integration of women in E/DM is the result of women building face-to-face social networks and creating their own communitiesboth on and offline. In the spirit of the Women's Music movement that started in the 1970s and Riot Grrrl culture in the early 1990s, women in E/DM are increasingly taking on the roles of bookings agents, event planners and promoters, website developers, listserv managers, DJs, producers, and record label owners. Online forums are used to organize offline events like monthly potlucks and public performances, in addition to providing spaces where women can ask questions or share knowledge about all things DJ related. Overall, this project highlights the ways that cultural assumptions, discursive and material practices affect the roles that men and women adopt in E/DM culture.

Electronic dance music is a genre that has been long in the making. Starting with disco in the 1970s, dance culture genres evolved into house, acid house, techno, garage, 2-step, hardcore, gabba, san frandisco, electro, and many others. This paper studies the transformation of electronic sound, and the contributing/impeding factors involved. Drug use is heavily related to the creation and enjoyment of music, and features prominently in the history of dance culture. Starting with the use of acid in the 1960s and progressing to the use of acid, Quaaludes, poppers, speed in the 1970s, with MDA featured in clubs toward the end of the decade. The 1980s began the recreational use of MDMA, but not until the late 80s in UK acid parties did it become known as the party drug that it is known as today. MDMA use then spread rampantly throughout the US as the UK culture was exported and emulated. UK acid parties were the precursor to raves, which were illegal, and the backlash from the law was incredible and organized. Slowly licensing laws became more relaxed, and permits became easier to obtain, making future raves more legal, but according to ravers, less fun, ending at 2am instead of 8am, and forcing the drugs scene underground, rather than having them openly solicited. Organized crime in the UK got much worse as gangs realized the potential profits of selling drugs, and the scene forever changed because of this in the early 90s. The raves of the early 90s in New York, the Midwest, and San Francisco, were paradise in comparison. San Francisco enjoyed the most freedom, and beach raves became common. The electronic dance culture found a home in large festivals, and perhaps because of this the future of electronic music remains uncertain, especially with the casualties that have recently happened relating to ecstasy use, and complications in organizing such massive events.

Berlin is heralded worldwide as being a city that is open, innovative and diverse: a true multicultural metropolis. Music plays a central role in the city’s claim to this title. Go to any one of Berlin’s many notorious alternative nightclubs and you will hear techno, house and electronic dance music blasting out to hoards of enthusiastic partygoers. Many of these clubs and their participants claim that these parties represent diversity, acceptance, equality and tolerance: Spaces within which social divisions are suspended, difference is overcome and people are united. This ubiquitous discursive assertion is referred to in this thesis as a “diversity discourse”. This “diversity discourse” will be deconstructed and situated within a wider political context, with a specific focus on perceptions of race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender. Engaging with theories of intersectionality, post-colonial theory (looking specifically at Jasbir Puar’s important work on homonationalism) and employing qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and autoethnographic inquiry, it will be argued that the “diversity discourse” works as a mask to conceal a reality of social segregation. Far from being sites of equality and diversity, it will be suggested that access to these nightclubs is premised on the possession of societal privilege. That being said, it will also be argued that research into EDM nightclub participation refrain from viewing these clubs within a binary framework of “good” or “bad”; Rather, they should be seen as complex sites of ambivalence, within which multiple identities are acted out and explored. The project contributes to the current body of work within the (post-) discipline of intersectional gender studies, arguing for the need for theorisations in the field to encompass notions of intersecting privilege and disadvantage.

This thesis looks at electronic dance music (EDM) celebrity and fandom through the eyes of four producers on Twitter. Twitter was initially designed as a conversation platform, loosely based on the idea of instant-messaging but emerged in its current form as a micro-blog social network in 2009. EDM artists count on the website to promote their music, engage with fans, discover new songs, and contact each other. More specifically, Twitter is an extension of a celebrity’s private life, as most celebrities access Twitter from their cellphones and personal computers, cutting out gatekeepers from controlling their image. Four power player producers in EDM are used as case studies for analysis of the intimacy and reach Twitter provides. Chosen because of their visibility, style, and recognition, Deadmau5, Diplo, Skrillex, and Tiësto represent different EDM subgenres, run their own record labels, have dedicated fans, and are accessible through social media. All use Twitter to announce shows, interact with fans, promote contests and merchandise, and share stories and pictures of their personal lives with their fan followers. Tweets are a direct line for fans to communicate with these celebrities through the reply, retweet (RT), and mention functions on Twitter. Fan tweets to and from these EDM celebrities are also examined by looking at celebrity-fan encounters in the cyber world and the real world, aftereffects of celebrity RTs, and engagement with said celebrities. The internet is the lifeline for this subculture as it changed the way EDM is shared, promoted, and packaged. Twitter and other social media sites give producers the exposure they never experienced with traditional media and allow fans to participate in a global subculture. To sum up, this is a study on how Twitter influenced EDM and personalized the relationship between producers and fans. / text

Informacinė sklaida šiomis dienomis yra kaip niekad intensyvi ir įvairialypė. Komunikacinių kanalų gausa ir įvairovė sukuria galimybę aktyviai dalyvauti komunikaciniuose procesuose net pačioms mažiausioms ir uždariausioms visuomenės grupėms. Nuo to, kokiais visuomenės informavimo kanalais ir kokio pobūdžio informacija skelbiama apie tam tikrą grupę, gali priklausyti tiek jos visuomeninio įvaizdžio kaita, tiek tolimesnės raidos tendencijos. Elektroninės šokių muzikos subkultūra – viena iš įdomesnių sociokultūrinių grupių, kurios komunikacijos pobūdis su žiniasklaida ir yra šio darbo objektas. Darbe užsibrėžtas tikslas atskleisti žiniasklaidos ir elektroninės šokių muzikos subkultūros santykį, įvertinti šio santykio kiekybinius ir kokybinius pokyčius per dešimtmetį, išryškinti komunikacinius ypatumus bei išsiaiškinti komunikacijos privalumus ir trūkumus. Tyrimo hipotezės teigia, kad šiandien elektroninės šokių muzikos subkultūros ir žiniasklaidos bendradarbiavimas intensyvesnis nei prieš dešimtmetį, žiniasklaida subkultūrą reprezentuoja pozityviau, retesnis probleminis žinučių kontekstas. Užsibrėžtam tikslui pasiekti bei hipotezėms patikrinti išsikelti uždaviniai apžvelgti su subkultūra susijusius pranešimus naujienų portale Delfi.lt 2001m., 2002m. ir 2009m. spalio ir lapkričio mėnesiais bei naudojant interviu metodą apklausti ekspertus: elektroninės šokių muzikos subkultūros atstovus, žiniasklaidos priemonių redaktorius bei kultūros tyrimų specialistus. Teorinėje darbo dalyje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Information spread nowadays is more intensive and miscellaneous than ever. Plenty of various communication channels enable even the smallest and most reserved society groups to participate in communication processes actively. The choice of certain communication channels and information, that should be published, may influence the changes of the group‘s public image as well as further development of it. Electronic dance music subculture is one of the most interesting sociocultural groups, therefore its communication with mass media has been chosen as the object of this paperwork. The goal of this paperwork is to reveal the relation between electronic dance music subculture and the media, to evaluate both quantitative and qualitative changes of this relation during the last decade, to highlight the most important features of the communication of this subculture, to find its main advantages and disadvantages. The hypothesis of the research suggests that the electronic dance music subculture is more visible in the media than it was a decade ago, that the problematic context of the messages is rarer, and the content of the messages is more positive and commercial. In order to achieve the chosen goal and to prove the hypothesis there were messages about the subculture, published in the news portal delfi.lt in October–November of 2001, 2002 and 2009, examined, and several experts – electronic dance music subculture members, media editors and culture researchers – interviewed. The... [to full text]