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Dealing BehindClub Doors
E x a m i n i n g t h e E D M D r u g E c o n o m y
F e a t u r e S p e c i a l
As the popular American music producer anddisk jockey DJ Shadow
stated back in 2012,We are living in a musical renaissance.
Elec-tronic dance music, popularly known as EDM, is thenatural
soundtrack o a generation born into a pluggedin culture and
according to the International Mu-sic Summer Consumer Report, its
the astest growingmainstream genre in the United States. A quick
look atthe salaries o EDMs pioneers is all thats need to provethis,
with the 10 highest paid DJs amassing a combined$115 million last
year alone, according to a report romForbes.
However, while EDM is growing in demand, thescenes popularity
has bee n undercut by an inabilityto shake off the il licit
reputation that comes with thegenre as an underground, drug- ueled
phenomenon.Te outlaw nature o EDM has only been urtherpropagated by
the recent media attention to string odrug-related deaths at
electronic dance events, whichhas dragged the issue into the
spotlight. wo Mollyoverdoses at the Electric Zoo Festival hosted on
LaborDay weekend in New York City resulted in the events
immediate shutdown, and a total o seven drug-relateddeath at
dance events in the United States since March.Te relationship
between electronic dance culture
and drug use is sometimes attributed to the musicindustry itsel
, which is commonly accused o glamor-izing drug use. Lyrics rom
artists rom Kanye West toMiley Cyrus have all mentioned Molly the
slang termor MDMA an illegal drug that can be sold either inpill or
powder orm. Te effects o MDMA resemblethose o both stimulants and
psychedelics, althoughthe drugs main appeal is the condition o
euphoria itproduces, which can cause a user to eel more open
and connected to their surroundings somethingdiscos, the rst
wave o EDM music, attempted to crin underground warehouses. Tese
tragedies andthe growing media buzz surrounding the
relationshipbetween EDM and a possibly related drug culture
raquestions about the effectiveness o the security o thscene.
Former EDM venue promoter Shane Morris explains that in his
experience, itsonly easier or venues to turn a blind eye to drug
usebut that its also ver y lucrative to do so. He said
thatelectronic dance scene is arranged in a manner thatallows
individuals and businesses to exploit the genyoung and ofen
affluent an base or a handsome proHe described having taken
advantage o the systemhimsel in the past. I would get prepaid
credit cards rom gas stationand would process putting cash on the
credit cards rthe money I was making selling drugs at a prior
eveMorris said. Te money I was making would sit at mapartment in a
shoe box and I would wait until the nevent would come up in two
weeks, and then I woulsub-promote events or other promoters. It was
goo
or [concert promoters] because they had higher ticksales and
were guaranteed to get a percentage o themoney. I was basically
paying them or access to theevents, and they couldnt block me
because they didwant to lose 200-300 ticket sales a night. He
explains that in a system where everyone is ready getting what they
want, no one eels motivatetake more sa ety precautions. o the
promoter and agent, that show sold out aneverybody is happy. Tey
dont have to work in such way that they are asking who are these
250 people thare supposed to show up. Teyre not looking or it.
I
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Photo: Dave Yang
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are a signicant enough parto the scene to result in thissort o
recognition. Tis standsin stark contrast to the justsay no
philosophy that hasdominated the rhetoric o thesecurity policies
and guidelineso major estivals. As a result, venue ownersand
concert organizers aceextreme pressure to avoidnegative publicity
to theirevents, and ofen opt out othe services offered by Danc-eSa
e, out o ear that asso-ciating with such a program
acknowledges the presence odrug use at their events. Tisear was
even urther perpetu-ated by the creation o anti-rave ordinances,
such as theRAVE Act introduced in theearly 2000swhich was notpassed
but would have made venue owners, event organizersand promoters,
and even DJsresponsible or the drug use otheir patrons. DanceSa e
wasofen denied access to these venues out o ear o
implicitlyacknowledging the reality odrug use, and there ore
takingresponsibility or it. Tis misperception oDanceSa e,
Wooldridge said,has denied concertgoers theproper resources they
needabout drug use. Never once do we go in
and tell someone to take a drugor that a drug is sa e or anyo
that, Wooldridge said. Werecognize the act that druguse is
occurring, and its medi-cally and morally negligent tonot provide
[participants] withhealth resources that can savelives.Te
zero-tolerance policyadopted by most estivals and venues, while
strict in nature,
On its sel -titled debut album, Te1975 gives a nod to one o its
greatest in-uences: the 80s. Just like a John Hugheslm, the sound o
the album transportslisteners back to a time o synthesizers,in
ectious beats and Morrissey-coiffedhair styles. Drawing inspiration
rom alkingHeads and Peter Gabriel, the quartet hasput together a
16-song albumreminiscent o the white-punknoise that dominated the
thetime period. Unlike the lineo traditional one-hit wondersrom the
era, such as Devo andDexys Midnight Runners, Te1975 puts up a
daring oppo-sition to the play-once-and-move-onmentality. Te album
is packed with riff-heavyhooks and sing-along choruses,
especiallyin catchy an- avorite and ourth track onthe album,
Chocolate, which debuted asa single in January. Te track has since
gained interna-tional notoriety and airplay or its big,blocky
rhythm and blues drum loop and
uturistic beats.Following up that number is th
est hit rom the band, Sex, in wlead singer and guitarist
Matthewcroons about the angst-ridden li ealling in love with a girl
whos gboy riend anyway a lyrical gedown by overlapping guitar
licksseries o clashing drum beats. S
new, raw tone or the bandmusically and lyrically, prthe proper
transition to a sdance-pop power ballads exclusively on the
secondthe album. Te record nishes out the tinkling o a piano
and
whimpering cries o Healy on IsSomebody Who Can Watch You,the
album in silence and letting tspeak or itsel : I know its me
thposed to love you/ And when Imyou know I got you. Te 1975s
experimental blend modern soul and alternative rockin a bold and
diverse sound, makalbum worthy o being put on rep
Modern band brings back80s sound on debut album
R o c k & R o l l
EDM
Te 1975 put upp a daring opposition tothe
play-once-and-move-on
mentality.
Rising Star
3 Campus Vibes December 20
Te 1975 peat Soho LonPhoto: Gary
e tickets get sold then theyre happy.e system isnt mechanized
enoughsophisticated enough to track whos
oming in and whos not. Tey knew ie drugs disappeared, people
would
e less likely to go.Noting the increasing use and
opularity o the drug, Morris saidat club promoters, venue
owners
nd other music industry personnelave, consciously
not, arranged aystem to prot rome ree use and saledrugs. Based
ons experiences, he
elieves that thentirety o the EDMconomy was built upon the
complexlationship between drug dealers andomoters, and that venue
owners
upply event-goers demands in orderensure their presence at
events.While Morris says that not all venue
wners are willing or involved in suchsystem, they are tacitly
acknowledg-g that they will have lower protargins than their
competition.Te nancial mechanisms in place
r the electronic dance music econo-y are designed to attract
people whotend to consume illicit drugs, said
Morris. He said that while he no longerub-promotes he knows
other man-
gers who are still engaged in a similarusiness model.
What you see are promoters,anagers and other people who get
aid 2,000 to 4,000 a gig, that also sellugs because they are
already there
nd have access to the event and canet past security. When you
work inectronic dance music you under-and that drugs are part o the
model.ou dont talk about it but you knowat they are there. Te only
reason Iarted doing it is because I got tired oug dealers making
more money thane. I look at it as very practical, as anh these
people need to go becauseeyre taking my prot margins.eres a certain
amount o dollars be-g spent by this venue and Im going
to make sure I maximize my prots its simple logistics. However,
notall venue owners share Morriss pointo view. Dan Mastronardi,
co-ownero Syracuses Westcott Teatre, a music venue that holds a
capacity o 700people, said that he takes many precau-tions to
ensure that events run sa elyand smoothly. We are very strict with
security
at our events, said Mastronardi onthe security measures at shows
at theWestcott Teatre. We have a lot on theline and our job is to
make sure thatwe create a sa e and un environmentor all ans. Te
Westcott Teatre currentlymaintains a zero-tolerance drugpolicy and,
and does a ull search opatrons be ore they enter. Likewise,major
estivals have stepped up theirmeasures, even employing the use
odrug-sniffing dogs or setting strict agerestrictions o 21 and
above, such asthose seen at the most recent estival,omorrowLand.
Some estivals haveeven taken a big nancial investmentin security.
Smartassets.com reportedthat the popular Canadian electronicdance
music estival, Te MonsterCenter o Gravity Festival, spent
roughly $70,000 in contracting locallaw en orcement to maintain
orderthroughout the event. While these guidelines and practicesset
in place are intended to limit thepresence o drugs in the EDM
com-munity, Missi Wooldridge, the currentpresident o the board o
directors atDanceSa e, a nonprot organizationthat provides,
non-biased educa-
tional resources andservices at a varietyo events, believesthat
this approach istoo idealistic. Teseguidelines, she ar-gued, ail to
providean outlet necessary
to the realities o the current drugculture. We can see through
drug trendsthroughout time that drug use is aconstant, Wooldridge
said. You cansee the war on drugs is a ailure andwe absolutely have
not decreased thenumber o people taking substances,and all they
have is increased incar-ceration to show or it. While not
advocating or the use odrugs, DanceSa e has come under crit-icism
or its harm-reduction approach,which offer suggestions
(educationalpamphlets) and tools ( ree water anddrug testing kits)
to help reduce thedangers associated with drug use.However, this
approach concerns some venue owners and event managers,who view
harm reduction as an ac-knowledgment that certain substances
Te system isnt mechanized enough or sophisti-cated enough to
track whos coming in and whosnot. Tey knew if the drugs
disappeared, peoplewould be less likley to go.
2 Campus Vibes December 2013
