Forget overexposure claims, electronic dance music is here to stay
Forget Paris Hilton. Electronic dance music is strong enough to overcome any form of overexposure,DJs and producers at Bali lab tellsAdam Wright
Paris Hilton's recent debut as a DJ in Brazil had a similar impact on the world of dance music as the Hindenburg disaster had on the airship industry.
When the American socialite appeared on stage in Sao Paolo in June wearing sequinned headphones and went through the motions over an obviously pre-recorded setlist, the electronic dance music (EDM) community threw its hands up in despair and was quick to pounce.
"To be fair, the Mayans saw this s*** coming," the notoriously acerbic DJ/producer Deadmau5 tweeted.
June was the same month that Deadmau5 - who's best known for wearing an outlandish cartoon mouse head and generally offending people - became one of the few electronic music artists to grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, accompanied by the headline "Dance madness - the clubs, the festivals, the drugs and the DJs who rule the world".
It was also the same month that the Electric Daisy Carnival, arguably the world's biggest dance music festival, attracted 320,000 people over the course of its three days in Las Vegas.
After spending years in the shadows and providing the soundtrack for a small but dedicated underground subculture, electronic dance music is officially big business. But now that it's got to the point where even Hilton is jumping on the bandwagon, one question is being asked repeatedly: has dance music jumped the shark?