Electronic Music Awards Shows Face One Big Challenge
electronic-music-awards
October 06, 2017
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# Electronic Music Awards Shows Face One Big Challenge
On a Thursday evening in September, my
Uber drops me off on an industrial street lined with warehouses and
chain-link fences in downtown LA. I've arrived at the inaugural
Electronic Music Awards, and what a scene it is to behold: a
disorienting swirl of LED lights, hula hoop-twirling ravers, scuttling
camera crews and wristband-stacked industry types all packed into an
asphalt lot. I turn to my friend and say with a laugh, "OK, this is
basically a music festival."
The air vibrates with competing blasts
of bass from three adjacent stages. Closest to the entrance, at "The
Docks of Detroit", Juan Atkins drops Rolando's "The Jaguar" and other
Underground Resistance classics. The sweet melody of "Halcyon And On"
swells from a white tent where Orbital's Hartnoll brothers are throwing
devil horns under video projections of a twinkling night sky. Further
inside, past the food trucks, Fool's Gold prodigy Madeaux fires off trap
remixes on the "Apocalyptic Junkyard" stage, wiggling his fingers in a
"come hither" sign like a bleached-blond EDM heartthrob.
Co-produced by Paul Oakenfold, the EMAs
is the latest addition to a growing number of award shows devoted to
electronic music. Of course, there are other long-running electronic
music honorifics like the [DJ
Awards][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} in Ibiza, which celebrated its 20th
anniversary this past September. Add to this list Winter Music
Conference's [IDMAs][2]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"} in
Miami, now in its 32nd year, as well as more niche distinctions like
Germany's MIPA Award and media honors like the annual RA and Mixmag
polls.
The first edition of the EMAs was
announced in April 2016 and was initially set to air on Fox's TV network
in America. But the show was [abruptly postponed][3]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener"}, relaunching this year
with Twitter and entertainment company Hunt & Crest as its new
partners.
Earlier in September, A-Trak teamed up
with Fool's Gold, TMWRK and Noisey to debut his own DJ accolades called
the Goldie Awards in Brooklyn. That night, 16 artists selected from
online applications competed in DJ and beat battles with Diplo, Just
Blaze and Mannie Fresh serving as judges. The winner won a performing
slot at Fool's Gold Day Off as well as a release on the label.
The EMAs and Goldies signify a growing
interest within the dance music industry---now valued at $7.1 billion
according to the International Music Summit's 2016 [global business report][4]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"}---to
celebrate...well, *itself*. Both the Goldies
and EMAs made a point to depart from award show conventions and to
highlight how DJ culture is evolving. However, both skewed heavily
towards male-identifying talent, suggesting that despite their best
intentions, organizers still have some catching up to do. In 2017, the
upper echelons of electronic music are no longer a boy's club. Equal
gender representation is an expectation if these awards wish to cast
themselves as relevant mirrors of today's thriving scene.
During a 2015 trip to Ibiza, I attended
the DJ Awards---described on Wikipedia as "the Oscars of the DJ
industry"---with South African DJ Black Coffee, and the glitzy evening
followed relatively traditional format. I sat with Black Coffee's posse
at a banquet table stacked with champagne buckets and finger food as he
walked up to a stage in the center of the dance floor to deliver an
acceptance speech after winning "Best Breakthrough."
In comparison, there are no red carpets,
speeches, or even tables at the EMAs. Results for categories like "Album
of the Year" and "Club of the Year" are announced to little fanfare on a
Twitter livestream of the evening and on four TV screens next to the VIP
area. We're encouraged to check our phones to find out who won.
Mirroring the contemporary rave experience, the night unfolds in both a
physical and virtual reality at once.
On a similarly progressive tip, A-Trak
states in a [promotional
video][5]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} for the Goldies that this "isn't the same old
DJ battle"---perhaps a not-so-subtle reference to competitions like the
DMC World Championships, the world-famous turntablism competition that
the DJ won 20 years ago at age 15. In order to "represent what DJing has
become today," A-Trak continues, the Goldies would allow any piece of
equipment used today, including CDJs.
[The Goldie Awards First Annual DJ & Beat Battle - Official
Trailer][6]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}
While aiming to reflect the current
state of electronic music, both the EMAs and Goldies fell short in an
important way: accurately representing the many talented women at the
top of the game. Female-identifying DJs and producers are perhaps more
visible today than ever, thanks to booking agencies, parties, and
[online databases][7]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"}
organized by feminist crews like Discwoman, Female:Pressure, Room 4
Resistance, Siren and No Shade, among many others. "As a curator or
promoter," Female:Pressure's co-founder Electric Indigo [told Electronic Beats][8]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"}, "you
have to have more imagination and you have to dare a little bit more if
you want to have fair representation or diversity."
Yet, the list of nominees at the EMAs
was overwhelmingly male, and [Alison Wonderland][9]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener"}---who inexplicably is
deemed "New Artist of the Year" despite making waves since her debut
album on Astralwerks in 2015---was the only solo female act to win. Not
a single female DJ performed at the show except for Robert Hood's
daughter Lyric, who went b2b with her father but was not listed on the
bill.
At the Goldies, Mija was the only female
judge; other judges included Destructo and Diplo, both of whom have been
criticized in the past for [videos][10]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} and [remarks][11]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} that, as THUMP's Ezra Marcus [put it][12], "sum up everything wrong with EDM bro culture." (Reps from the
EMAs told me over email that the 15 or so female artists they'd reached
out to were unavailable, while the Goldies did not respond to my
question if they had attempted to book more female judges.)
When I posted about the EMA's all-male
lineup on my Facebook wall, some music scene veterans responded
negatively to the idea of such an event in the first place, questioning
if the community really needed more flashy honorifics. "Electronic Music
doesn't need more awards," wrote a DJ and artist manager. "It's not a
competition, it's about letting loose."
Still, there are plenty of loose limbs
amidst the ecstatic crowd at the EMAs. Closing out the evening, Moby
leaps on stage in a Black Dice T-shirt, flitting back and forth between
banging on bongo drums, jumping behind the DJ decks and high-fiving the
front row---often within the span of a few seconds. His set climaxes
into an avalanche of silver confetti blasts, which rain down onto his
gleaming bald head. While I hope the EMAs make more of an effort to go
beyond the straight male DJ paradigm when it returns next year, I can't
deny that I still had a damn good time. Unlike more mainstream
corollaries like the Grammys, which was [panned this year by critics][13]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"}, dance
music award shows are often ridiculous, sometimes uplifting and
certainly never a snooze-fest.
[1]: https://djawards.com/
[2]: http://wintermusicconference.com/events/idmas/
[3]: https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/evdajn/electronic-music-awards-announcement-paul-oakenfold
[4]: http://www.internationalmusicsummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/IMS-Business-Report-2016.pdf
[5]: https://www.youtube.com/embed/EHX7Ep-0q_A
[6]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHX7Ep-0q_A
[7]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/someone-made-a-database-of-female-and-non-binary-artists/
[8]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/two-female-djs-fight-sexism-in-dance-music/
[9]: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/2017-electronic-music-awards-winners-1041765/item/dj-year-1041758
[10]: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-as-destructo-hard-events-gary-richards-drops-tasteless-video-with-yg-column.html
[11]: http://www.youredm.com/2015/02/12/diplo-steals-artwork-gets-caught-responds-sexist-vulgar-remarks/
[12]: https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/3dxze5/hard-summer-edm-bro-culture
[13]: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/grammys-2016-boring-flop-twitter-reaction-kendrick-lamar-lady-gaga-taylor-swift-a6876656.html
---
id: ea01c432-5838-4277-b51f-4e159fd19c7d
blueprint: article
title: 'Electronic Music Awards Shows Face One Big Challenge'
date: 2017-10-06T10:04:40+02:00
wp_id: '140369'
slug: electronic-music-awards
teaser_image: legacy/electronic-music-awards/MusicAwards.jpg
contents:
-
type: text
text: '<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On a Thursday evening in September, my Uber drops me off on an industrial street lined with warehouses and chain-link fences in downtown LA. I’ve arrived at the inaugural Electronic Music Awards, and what a scene it is to behold: a disorienting swirl of LED lights, hula hoop-twirling ravers, scuttling camera crews and wristband-stacked industry types all packed into an asphalt lot. I turn to my friend and say with a laugh, “OK, this is basically a music festival.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The air vibrates with competing blasts of bass from three adjacent stages. Closest to the entrance, at “The Docks of Detroit”, Juan Atkins drops Rolando’s “The Jaguar” and other Underground Resistance classics. The sweet melody of “Halcyon And On” swells from a white tent where Orbital’s Hartnoll brothers are throwing devil horns under video projections of a twinkling night sky. Further inside, past the food trucks, Fool’s Gold prodigy Madeaux fires off trap remixes on the “Apocalyptic Junkyard” stage, wiggling his fingers in a “come hither” sign like a bleached-blond EDM heartthrob. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Co-produced by Paul Oakenfold, the EMAs is the latest addition to a growing number of award shows devoted to electronic music. Of course, there are other long-running electronic music honorifics like the </span><a href="https://djawards.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">DJ Awards</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in Ibiza, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this past September. Add to this list Winter Music Conference’s </span><a href="http://wintermusicconference.com/events/idmas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">IDMAs</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in Miami, now in its 32nd year, as well as more niche distinctions like Germany’s MIPA Award and media honors like the annual RA and Mixmag polls. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first edition of the EMAs was announced in April 2016 and was initially set to air on Fox’s TV network in America. But the show was </span><a href="https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/evdajn/electronic-music-awards-announcement-paul-oakenfold" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">abruptly postponed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, relaunching this year with Twitter and entertainment company Hunt & Crest as its new partners. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Earlier in September, A-Trak teamed up with Fool’s Gold, TMWRK and Noisey to debut his own DJ accolades called the Goldie Awards in Brooklyn. That night, 16 artists selected from online applications competed in DJ and beat battles with Diplo, Just Blaze and Mannie Fresh serving as judges. The winner won a performing slot at Fool’s Gold Day Off as well as a release on the label. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The EMAs and Goldies signify a growing interest within the dance music industry—now valued at $7.1 billion according to the International Music Summit’s 2016 </span><a href="http://www.internationalmusicsummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/IMS-Business-Report-2016.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">global business report</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">—to celebrate…well, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">itself</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Both the Goldies and EMAs made a point to depart from award show conventions and to highlight how DJ culture is evolving. However, both skewed heavily towards male-identifying talent, suggesting that despite their best intentions, organizers still have some catching up to do. In 2017, the upper echelons of electronic music are no longer a boy’s club. Equal gender representation is an expectation if these awards wish to cast themselves as relevant mirrors of today’s thriving scene. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During a 2015 trip to Ibiza, I attended the DJ Awards—described on Wikipedia as “the Oscars of the DJ industry”—with South African DJ Black Coffee, and the glitzy evening followed relatively traditional format. I sat with Black Coffee’s posse at a banquet table stacked with champagne buckets and finger food as he walked up to a stage in the center of the dance floor to deliver an acceptance speech after winning “Best Breakthrough.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In comparison, there are no red carpets, speeches, or even tables at the EMAs. Results for categories like “Album of the Year” and “Club of the Year” are announced to little fanfare on a Twitter livestream of the evening and on four TV screens next to the VIP area. We’re encouraged to check our phones to find out who won. Mirroring the contemporary rave experience, the night unfolds in both a physical and virtual reality at once. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On a similarly progressive tip, A-Trak states in a </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EHX7Ep-0q_A" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">promotional video</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for the Goldies that this “isn’t the same old DJ battle”—perhaps a not-so-subtle reference to competitions like the DMC World Championships, the world-famous turntablism competition that the DJ won 20 years ago at age 15. In order to “represent what DJing has become today,” A-Trak continues, the Goldies would allow any piece of equipment used today, including CDJs. </span></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHX7Ep-0q_A" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Goldie Awards First Annual DJ & Beat Battle - Official Trailer</a></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While aiming to reflect the current state of electronic music, both the EMAs and Goldies fell short in an important way: accurately representing the many talented women at the top of the game. Female-identifying DJs and producers are perhaps more visible today than ever, thanks to booking agencies, parties, and </span><a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/someone-made-a-database-of-female-and-non-binary-artists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">online databases</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> organized by feminist crews like Discwoman, Female:Pressure, Room 4 Resistance, Siren and No Shade, among many others. “As a curator or promoter,” Female:Pressure’s co-founder Electric Indigo </span><a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/two-female-djs-fight-sexism-in-dance-music/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told Electronic Beats</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, “you have to have more imagination and you have to dare a little bit more if you want to have fair representation or diversity.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yet, the list of nominees at the EMAs was overwhelmingly male, and </span><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/2017-electronic-music-awards-winners-1041765/item/dj-year-1041758" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alison Wonderland</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">—who inexplicably is deemed “New Artist of the Year” despite making waves since her debut album on Astralwerks in 2015—was the only solo female act to win. Not a single female DJ performed at the show except for Robert Hood’s daughter Lyric, who went b2b with her father but was not listed on the bill. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the Goldies, Mija was the only female judge; other judges included Destructo and Diplo, both of whom have been criticized in the past for </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-as-destructo-hard-events-gary-richards-drops-tasteless-video-with-yg-column.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">videos</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><a href="http://www.youredm.com/2015/02/12/diplo-steals-artwork-gets-caught-responds-sexist-vulgar-remarks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">remarks</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that, as THUMP’s Ezra Marcus </span><a href="https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/3dxze5/hard-summer-edm-bro-culture"><span style="font-weight: 400;">put it</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, “sum up everything wrong with EDM bro culture.” (Reps from the EMAs told me over email that the 15 or so female artists they’d reached out to were unavailable, while the Goldies did not respond to my question if they had attempted to book more female judges.) </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When I posted about the EMA’s all-male lineup on my Facebook wall, some music scene veterans responded negatively to the idea of such an event in the first place, questioning if the community really needed more flashy honorifics. “Electronic Music doesn’t need more awards,” wrote a DJ and artist manager. “It’s not a competition, it’s about letting loose.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Still, there are plenty of loose limbs amidst the ecstatic crowd at the EMAs. Closing out the evening, Moby leaps on stage in a Black Dice T-shirt, flitting back and forth between banging on bongo drums, jumping behind the DJ decks and high-fiving the front row—often within the span of a few seconds. His set climaxes into an avalanche of silver confetti blasts, which rain down onto his gleaming bald head. While I hope the EMAs make more of an effort to go beyond the straight male DJ paradigm when it returns next year, I can’t deny that I still had a damn good time. Unlike more mainstream corollaries like the Grammys, which was </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/grammys-2016-boring-flop-twitter-reaction-kendrick-lamar-lady-gaga-taylor-swift-a6876656.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">panned this year by critics</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, dance music award shows are often ridiculous, sometimes uplifting and certainly never a snooze-fest. </span></p>'
---
Chunk #1 (Position: 0)
# Electronic Music Awards Shows Face One Big Challenge On a Thursday evening in September, my Uber drops me off on an industrial street lined with warehouses and chain-link fences in downtown LA. I've arrived at the inaugural Electronic Music Awards, and what a scene it is to behold: a disorient...
Chunk #2 (Position: 1)
The sweet melody of "Halcyon And On" swells from a white tent where Orbital's Hartnoll brothers are throwing devil horns under video projections of a twinkling night sky. Further inside, past the food trucks, Fool's Gold prodigy Madeaux fires off trap remixes on the "Apocalyptic Junkyard" stage, ...
Chunk #3 (Position: 2)
The first edition of the EMAs was announced in April 2016 and was initially set to air on Fox's TV network in America. But the show was [abruptly postponed][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}, relaunching this year with Twitter and entertainment company Hunt & Crest as its new partners. Ear...
Chunk #4 (Position: 3)
In 2017, the upper echelons of electronic music are no longer a boy's club. Equal gender representation is an expectation if these awards wish to cast themselves as relevant mirrors of today's thriving scene. During a 2015 trip to Ibiza, I attended the DJ Awards---described on Wikipedia as "the O...
Chunk #5 (Position: 4)
We're encouraged to check our phones to find out who won. Mirroring the contemporary rave experience, the night unfolds in both a physical and virtual reality at once. On a similarly progressive tip, A-Trak states in a [promotional video][5]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} for the Goldies that ...
Chunk #6 (Position: 5)
In order to "represent what DJing has become today," A-Trak continues, the Goldies would allow any piece of equipment used today, including CDJs. [The Goldie Awards First Annual DJ & Beat Battle - Official Trailer][6]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} . While aiming to reflect the...
Chunk #7 (Position: 6)
"As a curator or promoter," Female:Pressure's co-founder Electric Indigo [told Electronic Beats][8]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}, "you have to have more imagination and you have to dare a little bit more if you want to have fair representation or diversity." Yet, the list of nominees at th...
Chunk #8 (Position: 7)
Not a single female DJ performed at the show except for Robert Hood's daughter Lyric, who went b2b with her father but was not listed on the bill. At the Goldies, Mija was the only female judge; other judges included Destructo and Diplo, both of whom have been criticized in the past for [videos][...
Chunk #9 (Position: 8)
"Electronic Music doesn't need more awards," wrote a DJ and artist manager. "It's not a competition, it's about letting loose." . Still, there are plenty of loose limbs amidst the ecstatic crowd at the EMAs. Closing out the evening, Moby leaps on stage in a Black Dice T-shirt, flitting back and...
Chunk #10 (Position: 9)
While I hope the EMAs make more of an effort to go beyond the straight male DJ paradigm when it returns next year, I can't deny that I still had a damn good time. Unlike more mainstream corollaries like the Grammys, which was [panned this year by critics][13]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}, da...