With the explosion of the electronic music industry, particularly in the United States, the debates over EDM [Electronic Dance Music] being 'real' music are only getting more heated.
Rolling Stone Magazine decided to launch a salvo at the EDM scene with a new video ad categorizing EDM as clearly inferior to Rock n' Roll. Their reasoning is two-fold; first, because EDM composers rarely play an instrument in the classical sense and second, because vocals are not a prominent component of EDM.
EDM is a money-making industry on the rise, there is no question about that. The 'house' genre has become the distant cousin of the 'pop' genre. In light of this, one can't help but acknowledge that parts of Rolling Stone's critique ring true.
Musical software has become so advanced that the task of creating harmonious music does not take nearly as many man-hours of hard work mastering a musical device as it did years ago. Therefore, some talentless composers of EDM slip through the cracks, relying heavily on leading-edge musical composition software -- and the sheep follow suit because most American teenagers must be told what it is that they like.
Regardless of whether you're a fan of bands and artists who play traditional instruments, or technologically advanced musical composers and DJs - we should all respect one another's musical tastes. It seems Rolling Stone is due its fair share of criticism as well for claiming that Rock n' Roll will reign supreme - as I see no need for one type of music to dominate the industry.
