Electronic Genre: The Future of Music

By Jillian Haguisan
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     For the past few decades, most of our music has consisted of decent singers accompanied by decent background music that, especially in today’s top songs, is mostly responsible for the song’s catchiness. It’s time for a change, and electronic music is the solution. What is electronic music? In a general description, it’s a genre of music that doesn’t necessarily require vocals to create tunes, but rather uses all kinds of sounds, synthesizers, beats, and instruments to compose a melody. The most popular style of this form of music is Electro Dance Music (EDM), which is widely played at mclubs or concerts (particularly DJ concerts).

      However, not all types of the technical form of music have to follow this path; there are many different types, including dubstep, electropop, electro house, etc. Unlike the other genres of music, electronic songs can vary, depending on the artists who created them. While some may find themselves listening to rave music, others can opt to relax to mellow, soothing music.

Multiple electronic artists use launchpads, a device that has various recorded sounds/rhythms on a singular button that plays when you tap it. Essentially, it’s a more complicated piano, but the notes are replaced with different sounds.

     The Global Electronic Music Industry is worth $7.4 billion, and since 2008, the three largest Dance Music festivals have quintupled their maximum capacity (with the Electric Daisy Carnival entertaining around 400k visitors). Compared to other genres of music, electronic is nowhere near as popular; however, EDM is gaining popularity.
     In addition to the small community, non-listeners often criticize electronic songs for lacking emotion and uniqueness in comparison to other types of songs. Flume, a record producer and DJ, once commented, “For me, one of the downfalls of electronic music is that it can feel a little soulless or robotic.”
    

An example of an Electronic Music Festival

​     So why should people listen to these “robotic noises”? Though some songs may sound absolutely awful, there are underrated, powerful ones hidden within the internet, which can offer the same amount of emotion and impact as any other song, if not more. While it’s all technical sounds and pitches, some artists can present their unique personalities through their work.
     “I tried so many different music. I kind of burned out on classical and wanted to make it fun again. I started playing with indie bands and country bands and finally realized electronic music brought my style to life,” says Lindsey Stirling, a musician and performer.
Although this particular style of music may not be everyone’s taste, the genre itself is so diverse that it’s impossible to hate the entire electronic community. True, the genre has only recently become popular, but the future of electronic music looks promising.