Electronic music has a longer history, spanning over half of a century. These sounds have evolved from the Moog Synthesizer, which made its debut into music recordings in 1967 (Holmes), to the software programs, such as Ableton and FL Studio that mix any digitally-stored sound to create music. Electronic sounds that were once only possible to capture from a unit larger than a piano can now be generated on a laptop given the right production tools. The sounds created by the Moog and early synthesizers were very limited in scope and frequency; however, this early innovation has forever impacted how modern music is produced and recorded.

The German band Kraftwerk of the 1970s paved a path for the first commercially successful electronic DJs and music producers, the Innovators of electronic music. Raves would emerge in the 1980s and 90s in Europe and in the United Kingdom, with house music prevalent in the Chicago underground around this same time, with these early ravers being the Early Adopters. Festivals would emerge out of raves, such as: Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Tomorrowland in Belgium, and Ultra Music Festival in Miami, accommodating hundreds of thousands of occupants. By the 2010s, electronic music had truly integrated itself within popular and mainstream music, enjoyed by the Late Majority.

I first encountered what I would consider to be modern electronic music when I first heard Pjanoo by DJ Eric Prydz in 2009, when I was fifteen. Around the same time, my cousin showed me an album that he bought featuring the DJ Deadmau5. This period would mark the beginning of mainstream electronic adoption. I would have considered myself to be an Early Majority adopter of EDM, or electronic dance music. I still almost exclusively listen to electronic music, mostly the less popular trace and progressive, and I would certainly say that I have reached the Confirmation stage, following what I know to have permanently shaped the music industry.

After its peak in the mid 2010s, with the integration of pop music, many have argued that electronic music is dead or dying. While certain genres of electronic music are losing growth, as dance music has decreased in the streaming market share from 4.4% in 2017, to 3.8 in 2019 (Knopper), electronic music production is far from dead. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, electronic music is “any music involving electronic processing” (Hiller); therefore, electronic music, to some degree, can be found in nearly all modern produced music. Hip-hop, for example, that is dominating current music market shares, utilizes the use of digitally produced and electronically edited sounds, and could be defined as a form of electronic music production. The future of electronic music will be paved by further innovation as technology evolves. New platforms for music production will contain at least some electronic and digital elements.

To compare the Early Majority stage of adoption in which I attribute to myself in regard to EDM to another innovation, I would chose the smartphone. While I really began to listen to more mainstream electronic music as it first began to reach the height of the EDM era, I would consider myself a Late Majority, if not even a Laggard adopter of smartphone usage. I did not purchase my first smartphone until I was twenty-one years of age, in early 2016. The rural area where I live had limited cell coverage, and I was financially disadvantaged to where it took me a few years of working to allow me to afford what everyone carries around with them. Shocking, I know, and I am wondering how my life would have changed, for the better or worse if I would have adopted the smartphone sooner.

References

Hiller, L. (2021, August 26). electronic music | Definition, History, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/electronic-music

Holmes, T. (2021, July 8). Moog: A History in Recordings—The First Moog Synthesizer                                                  Recordings. The Bob Moog Foundation. https://moogfoundation.org/moog-a-history-in-recordings-by-thom-holmes-part-two/

Knopper, S. (2020, March 12). “The Balloon Deflated”: What’s Next for Dance Music After the                 EDM Era. Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/9332803/dance-music-post-edm-era-analysis-2020-dance-issue