Electronic dance music (also known as
EDM,
dance music,
club music, or simply
dance) is a set of percussive
electronic music genres produced primarily for
dance-based entertainment environments, such as
nightclubs. The music is largely created for use by
disc jockeys (DJs) and is produced for use in
DJ mixes, in which the DJ uses a synchronized
segue, or "mix", to progress from one recording to the next.
[1]
In 2010, the
acronym "EDM" was adopted by the American
music industry and
music press as a
buzzword to describe the increasingly commercial US electronic dance music scene
Electronic dance music (also known as
EDM,
dance music,
[3] club music, or simply
dance) is a broad range of percussive
electronic music genres made largely for
nightclubs,
raves, and
festivals. EDM is generally
produced for
playback by
disc jockeys (DJs) who create seamless selections of tracks, called a
mix, by
segueing from one recording to another.
[4] EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a
live PA. In Europe, EDM is more commonly called 'dance music' or simply 'dance'.
[5]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the emergence of
raving,
pirate radio, and an upsurge of interest in
club culture, EDM acquired mainstream popularity in Europe. In the
United States at that time acceptance of dance culture was not universal, and although both
Electro and
Chicago house music were hugely influential both in Europe and the USA, mainstream media outlets, and the
record industry, remained hostile to EDM. There was also a perceived association between EDM and
drug culture which led governments at state and city level to enact laws and policies intended to halt the spread of rave culture.
[2]
Subsequently, in the new millennium, EDM increased its popularity and mainstream profile in Europe and across the world,
this time including the United States. By the early 2010s, the term "electronic dance music" and the initialism "EDM" was being pushed by the United States music industry and music press in an effort to rebrand American rave culture.
[2] Despite the industry's attempt to create a specific EDM brand, the initialism remains in use as an umbrella term for multiple genres, including house, techno, trance, drum and bass, dubstep, and their respective subgenres.[6][7][8][9]
