The Influence of Electronic Music on Society Today

Electronic music has made its way into the public consciousness relatively recently. Emerging electronic technology was initially used to create electronic instruments in the early 1900s. It wasn’t until the 1960s as technology developed and became more easily accessible that the growth of electronic music began to gather pace. In the following five decades, its popularity has grown worldwide, becoming a mainstay on radios and at festivals. Today, the influence of this music and its artists can be seen in many facets of society.

Gambling

The growth of the gambling industry is mirrored in that of the dance music movement and they are now intertwined. Bingo is one such game that has benefitted from this relationship. Previously seen as a pursuit of the older generation, this view has changed. Part of the reason is games such as Paddy Power real money bingo, which allows gamblers to play a range of live bingo games online and has brought bingo to a wider audience.

Bingo raves have exploded in popularity in the UK, Ireland and Australia during the past decade. Mixing bingo with large crowds, companies are bringing bingo to a new audience. These raves mix classic elements of Bingo like number calling and prizes with dance music and other activities during intervals.

Politics

Throughout history, musicians have involved themselves with politics at some level. U2’s Bono and Bob Geldof were instrumental in creating Band Aid in the 80s to help poorer countries in Africa while more recently Stormzy, the UK Grime rapper, has been outspoken on political issues.

Dance music has been at the center of political protest from decades ago until the present day. As with many music movements, early ravers in the US used it as a platform to protest. More recently in Europe raves have been a place to mobilize people too, most recently in Georgia and the UK. Eats Everything and Norman Jay among other dance musicians participated in these protests. Just like in the 1980s, artists are using their platform to try to make a change in society.

Marketing and Advertising

Multinational companies always look for a way into the mainstream consciousness. Celebrities and musicians are an easy way to do this, especially with a genre popular among younger audiences. As electronic music has become more accepted in society, and achieved more radio play, more companies have partnered with dance music artists than ever before.

Calvin Harris has appeared in adverts for Apple advertising the iPad, as well as Coke and Pepsi. While most recently, he appeared in adverts for Giorgio Armani. Other artists have appeared in adverts for large companies too such as Skrillex for G-Star, Canadian Deadmau5 with Sonos TV, and David Guetta with Beats by Dre.

Although it was seen as a music genre that didn’t please the masses, electronic music has transformed into music that is represented at the largest music festivals around the world. This mainstream popularity has resulted in music being represented more and more in everyday life, increasing its popularity and also its influence on society as a whole.

Image Credit: Matty Adame on Unsplash