Electronic Dance Music | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Mid-1970s to early 1980s |
Typical instruments | |
Derivative forms | |
Fusion genres | |
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Electronic dance music (also known as EDM, dance music,club music, or simply dance) is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres made largely for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. EDM is generally produced for playback by disc jockeys (DJs) who create seamless selections of tracks, called a mix, by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. In the United Kingdom and in continental Europe, EDM is more commonly called 'dance music' or simply 'dance'.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the emergence of raving, pirate radio, and an upsurge of interest in club culture, EDM acquired mainstream popularity in Europe. During the mid to late 1990s, despite the initial success of a number of dance acts in America, acceptance of dance culture was not universal and mainstream media outlets remained hostile to the music. At this time a perceived association between EDM and drug culture led governments at state and city level to enact laws and policies intended to halt the spread of rave culture.
By the early 2010s the term "electronic dance music" and the initialism "EDM" was being pushed by the US music industry and music press in an effort to re-brand American rave culture. Despite the industry's attempt to create a specific EDM brand the initialism remains in use as an umbrella term for multiple dance genres, including house, techno, trance, drum and bass, dubstep, and their respective subgenres.