Sample Stereo

Have you heard Drake’s “Girls Love Beyonce?” Well, you should. In addition to being an underrated gem, it is also one of the most clever uses of sampling I have ever heard. While you’re at it, you should listen to summer hit “Blurred Lines”…then listen to some Marvin Gaye, the legend whom Robin Thicke and Pharrell allegedly copied. But wait! If you want to be an educated listener, maybe turn on some Afrojack or Tiësto—after all, DJs are just the logical extension of the first examples. Even the musical styles that electronica producers are involved with has expanded dramatically; the trend used to stay away from genres like country, even as it infected hip-hop, pop, and even rock. But now Avicii (along with Aloe Blacc and Mike Einzigger) has broken even that trend with the country-influenced “Wake Me Up,” a song that has rocketed him back to the top of U.S. charts. Though by no means is sampling a new phenomenon—“Ice Ice Baby” samples “Under Pressure,” “All Summer Long” lifts directly from “Sweet Home Alabama,” and Kanye used Ray Charles’s “I Got a Woman” for “Gold Digger” (for some better-known examples)—the practice has recently grown from a tool in an artist’s acoustic workbox to the foundation from which an artist builds.

The direction of influence has changed; instead of Britney Spears’s nameless producer working as only a step in the process of creating an album, David Guetta (a producer) is asking Nicki Minaj to be a guest artist on a song on his album. Even the terminology has changed—the producers of tracks are increasingly known as the “artists.” Though the music community has always respected and valued their skills, DJs are now frequently making the Top 40, giving their names unprecedented recognition under their own brands. One of the main exceptions was long-popular DJ duo Daft Punk, but as the rest of the industry rockets towards a more electronic sound, Daft Punk has gravitated away from sampling in their latest album “Random Access Memories.” Their earlier albums used samples on almost every song, and their new break from that style seems to be a deliberate artistic choice not to ride the wave of the ever popular genre.

Along with the rise in the use of electronic music techniques in popular music, electronic music itself has seen an explosion of growth. Electronic music has been around for decades, but the subgenre electronic dance music has recently errupted with popularity. Though a huge amount of EDM music can be found for free online, part of the reason this music has become so prevalent is because it is nevertheless in the best interest of those who market it—the music business is profiting from it, though not in traditional ways. Touring is extraordinarily lucrative, and remixes mean that the same song can be used over and over. With the rise of festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas and Electric Zoo in New York, in addition to newly popular electric stages at more established festivals like Lollapalooza, the music industry has found a new way to tap into the wallets of young listeners who are no longer buying records or CDs. Ironically enough, the same technologies that are bankrupting record companies are raking in money for other aspects of the business. The last time music festivals (as opposed to tours or performances of individual artists) were so much in demand, it seems, was the era of Woodstock.

But why has EDM become so popular? Only once before have we seen such a rise in the popularity of “producer” music, in the ’70s rise of disco, and today’s rise shares a very important similarity: we have had a drastic change in technology. Disco rose out of a combination of club life and the new technology that allowed for its signature synth sounds. This wave is not dissimilar: there has been a rise in the popularity of rave culture, and today’s quality of production equipment has leapt light-years forward with the introduction of computers and digital recording equipment. EDM has more sticking power, though, because today’s equipment is far more accessible.

Today’s barrier to entry of digital music production is shockingly low. Before home computing, a decent guitar would not have cost much monetarily, but becoming an adept musician required years of practice (and a certain amount of talent). More advanced music production was possible with a normal studio recording session, which would cost thousands of dollars and years of skill. Today, however, a laptop and a few hundred dollars of recording equipment and software lets a 16-year-old create a decent sounding remix overnight. Many of these artists are like you and me: though Skrillex played in a band before producing, 3LAU was studying finance at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Easy creation of music is a good thing. It allows a larger portion of the public to understand the process of creating the music they so enjoy, and it may even affect the way that they experience music when they listen to it. This is the generation of mashups and soundcloud, of YouTube and musical memes (see: the Harlem Shake). Though many still look on EDM (and the pop music it has influenced) as “dumb,” they’re missing the point—the music of the new generation is music of which everyone is a part.

—Staff writer Sara Kantor can be reached at sara.kantor@thecrimson.com.