Platformization and Its Ongoing Impact on Dance Music Spaces
Chico State (US)
<http://dx.doi.org/10.12801/1947-5403.2024.16.01.13>
In an Instagram story posted by Baby Weight, a DJ/producer with about 7000 followers, on 3 February 2022, she playfully emphasizes the branding work that today’s DJ must engage in to stay in the game: “Nala [another DJ/producer] … unveiled the industry secret that 40% of your DJ career is convincing other people that you’re cool. Um, I’m just here to say the other 60% is
silently screaming”. The brand-building that DJs are expected to do today is primarily playing out on social media, perhaps especially on platforms like X/Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Baby Weight’s Instagram story reflects one of many examples of how DJs are currently navigating these digital spaces.
This article begins to make sense of the ongoing platformization of dance music by describing and analyzing recurring brand-building practices enacted by DJs post-lockdown, teasing out how these practices enable DJs to promote their work while also opening space for debates about the state of the industry. How have these practices both contributed to “a flattened, technological sameness” and a generative new normal that aims to directly address inclusivity, anti-harassment policies and outcomes and other hopeful change (Assiter 2020)?
Although an emphasis on technological innovation and change has been central to research about dance music’s history, sociological trends and media attention, a close analysis of today’s digital media effects is few and far between. We know very little about how today’s dance music content creators navigate their digital brands across multiple platforms. While dance music scholars have been slow to take up this line of research, dance music content creators—DJs, their fans and other folks in the industry—are constantly thinking and talking about these digital shifts, often on the platforms themselves. For example, DJs/producers openly debate and discuss topics such as: brand-building tactics and frustrations; touring problems and related advice; gendered branding tactics; the sexualization of women DJs; racism and privilege in the industry; PSAs (public service announcements) about sexual assault and harassment, stolen property, and/or unprofessional behavior; crowdsourcing or sharing tips about music; working with other industry players such as booking agents and any number of industry-related tips. These topics are posted as #hottakes, questions, crowdsourcing and as status maneuvering strategies.
Some of the posts are direct brand-building (for example, posting music, a flyer for an upcoming event, pictures, videos and links to merchandise such as t-shirts) while other posts constitute indirect brand-building such as networking with other industry players, interacting with fans, or sharing personal reflections about the industry. A third category of posts entail brand-building—advertising—but without making it seem like the creator is posting an ad, a practice I call authenticity maneuvering. This is a distinctly cultural practice wherein dance music content creators employ “strategies to gain and maintain legitimacy” (Hidalgo 2022: 9). Those who skillfully authenticity maneuver often mask their commercial practices while those who are less adept at authenticity maneuvering occasionally run into trouble because their commercial practices are more obvious, leaving them vulnerable to criticism. Authenticity maneuvering also helps DJs educate, often calling out practices they see as troubling and dangerous in physical and digital dance music spaces. These categories are not mutually exclusive; sometimes DJs will post about an upcoming show whilst also making a political statement or make a political statement while critiquing an industry-related issue.
At the same time, clubs and clubbers also shape and inform DJs’ brand-building, creating a feedback loop wherein clubs and clubbers are also building their own brands. For clubs and festivals, the brand-building often looks almost exactly like the DJs’ content, though more transparently commercial. For clubbers and festival goers, their posts are often fan-based, prompting reposts from their favorite DJs and events.
Wrapped up in the 24/7 imperative to post, DJs are also expected to weigh in on current events, recent deaths and other tragedies in the industry, much like content creators in other industries.[1] This is an additional requirement, one that ramped up during the first couple years of the pandemic and has started to shift on-the-ground policies and behavior across the industry, particularly as festivals and other party promoters organize and monitor their events. This sociological shift requires more in-depth study. Their engagement with current events and topics also leads to other questions unanswered by current research. What has changed since the pandemic started and how have those changes been impacted by digital expectations and behavior? As content creators navigate ongoing authenticity expectations (see Hund 2023), how are these expectations realized across differences of race, gender, sexuality and class, and how do they impact the actual work that dance music’s content creators are expected to be able to do? Answering these questions will elucidate concerns about how digital media is impacting dance music industry standards (see Chandran 2023) and music industry trends in general.
The pervasive influence of digital platforms has significantly shaped the landscape of EMDC (electronic music and dance culture) spaces, prompting the need for a deeper exploration of how DJs, clubs and clubbers are navigating today’s augmented reality: or the ongoing enmeshment of the digital and physical in our everyday lives (Jurgenson 2011). For this short piece, I turn to some of Nala’s social media posts as they reflect a few central ways that DJs are both promoting their brands and thinking deeply about the state of the industry.
After posting a few incredulous “state of the industry” tweets, Nala emphasizes what she typically posts: “okay, no more existential thoughts on twitter lmfao needed a week to point out how fucking weird the culture is and now i’m back to regularly scheduled programming”.[2] “Regularly scheduled programming” constitutes DJs’ typical brand-building posts which often include promoting their upcoming shows, recently released music, merch they’re selling or an advertisement they’re doing for another brand. These are posted with tags to DJs, clubs, festivals, record labels and other brands they’re working with. These typical posts constitute an opportunity to promote one’s brand while also actively promoting brand partnerships that are either one-off or ongoing.
Given the “regularly scheduled programming”, what constitutes irregular scheduled programming or “existential thoughts on twitter . . . [about] how fucking weird the culture is”? For Nala, these posts look like the following: “woke up this morning wondering if there were any female, bipoc or lgbt dj/producers from the US that became massive headliners in the last 10 years [raised eyebrow emoticon]”.[3] Many replies later, Charlie Knot tweets: “love that you asked this, and the replies speak for themselves”.[4] Knot highlights other comments made in the thread such as “this has to change”, “the us[(as in the United States)] scene is so fucking stale it hurts” and Baby Weight’s “I just oof’d the biggest oof I ever oof’d because this statement bypassed my heart and went straight for every fiber every tendon every blood platelet”.[5]
In short, attempting to answer this question highlights how relentless and pervasive the problem is, summed up in Nala’s response (see below) to another DJ/producer’s answer that reads:
Tokimonsta // LP Giobbi // Blessed Madonna // Sara Landry // Octo Octa //Eris Drew // Honey Dijon // All popped in the last 10 years and well deserved. [clapping emoticon] Honey & Blessed have been grinding for 25+ years but really became headliners this last decade. No one blows up overnight even when it seems it.[6]
Nala replies:
definitely all incredible artists! wish that was reflected on line ups. however, I don’t see
this in vegas, red rocks or at festivals. i have to disagree with the overnight notion as there’s plenty of examples of that in the US for a specific demographic [wink emoticon].[7]
In this response, Nala correctly emphasizes how “a specific demographic”—read: white cishet men—dominate the line-ups and many of those men (unlike DJs/producers from the US who are women, bipoc, or lgbt) have become “massive headliners in the last 10 years”. This ongoing fact requires more research about how whiteness, masculinity and privilege continue to play out across EMDC (see Conner and Dickens 2023 and Hidalgo 2024). For example, utilizing McKenzie Wark’s (2023) definition of punishers at raves (“[a] social type labeled by ravers to denote, firstly, a kind of non-raver. Often, but not always, straight, white, cis men. Treats the space as a spectacle for their entertainment, contributes nothing, gets in the way”), I think it’s worth thinking about how punishers also operate online (Wark 2023: 92-93; my emphasis). Where do we see punishers on these platforms, depositing themselves in the middle of these debates, trolling and posting any number of sexist, racist and other problematic posts? What does their involvement do? How do they treat the space as a spectacle for their own entertainment, contribute nothing and get in the way? Relatedly, are some of the DJs/producers who have become massive headliners in the last 10 years also punishers and, if so, what are they able to get away with? What do they do?
While my research on platformization in dance music culture is ongoing, what’s clear so far is how much work is required to not only tour, produce and release music, but also to create and post content across platforms. Analyzing the kind of content that DJs/producers post, “irregular scheduled programming” content is typically posted by industry players who are already navigating a system that often excludes, ignores or fails to make room for them. Straight, white cis men DJs/producers rarely post questions like Nala’s, instead sticking to “regular scheduled programming” content that often includes the following: how excited they are about headlining yet another festival, any number of posts that focus entirely on them or their friends and their non-stop tour schedules. In other words, these men do not seem interested in disrupting the larger dance music industry status quo and rarely stop to consider how their privilege has supported and continues to support their ongoing success.
John Summit is a case in point. In September 2023, he performed on the main stage at Chicago’s ARC festival, a slot that was also shared by other headliners like Eric Prydz and Boris Brejcha. In fact, Fatboy Slim came on before John Summit closed the main stage, and Peggy Gou was the only woman DJ with a prime-time spot on this stage over 3 full festival days. As a DJ/producer from the US who has exploded onto the scene over the course of the last 3 years, John Summit’s headlining status happened quickly, once again reflecting how straight, white, cis men like him are often welcomed and supported by the industry. As a recent bio suggests, his “rise to prominence is a testament to the power of hard work and creative passion … [in addition to] his infectious energy and boundless enthusiasm.”[8] A critical reading of his bio suggests that hard work, creative passion and boundless energy aren’t the only reasons why he’s a headliner now. Another reason is a dance music industry system that repeatedly privileges, supports and recognizes the work of cishet white men while marginalizing and often ignoring everyone else. Strengthened by #BLM, MeToo and other reckonings in dance music, the culture is finally, though slowly, starting to recognize the historical and contemporary work of women, bipoc and lgbt artists in dance music.
Returning to the kind of branding work that DJs engage in across digital platforms, white cishet men DJs often maintain the status quo, while marginalized groups struggle for recognition. As another example, WTCHCRFT highlights this stark difference across DJs’ posts during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Why is It always the smaller artists, students, minorities etc. Who are the first to speak up
about these kinds of atrocities? The ones with the most to lose, with next to no solidarity
from those with a wider reach and who are much more secure in their position in their fields?[9]
WTCHCRFT’s questions should echo across dance music culture, but they are questions DJs with a “wider reach…who are much more secure in their position in their fields” often conveniently ignore. While Instagram user @raversforpalestine and this “Open Letter” directly counter “business as usual” in today’s EMDC, WTCHCRFT’s questions remain relevant, highlighting the deafening silence of so many stakeholders in dance music today.[10] “Irregular scheduled programming” threads aim to address these problems, actively discussing and arguing about them whilst also offering solutions.
My work calls for a deeper exploration of the effects of digital media on dance music culture and industry standards, emphasizing the need to examine how these shifts impact both creators and consumers of dance music content. The 24/7 imperative of current event commentary—that demanded by the expectations of digital presence—drives the “regular” and “irregular” scheduled programming. This programmed response to platformization plays out differently when intersected with the race and gender of these cultural actors themselves. Those speaking up with “irregular scheduled programming” content, who discuss important inequities, are far more often on the demographic margins. A sustained analysis of how whiteness, masculinity and privilege operate in EMDC (including who is conducting research on dance music!) will likely reveal more inequities, some insight regarding how to implement change now and how authenticity maneuvering can aid and inhibit that change.
Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, PhD, is Associate Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico and author of Dance Music Spaces: Clubs, Clubbers, and DJs Navigating Authenticity, Branding, and Commercialism (2022, Lexington Books), winner of the Mid-South Sociological Association’s Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award. She is working on her next book, titled Dance Music in the Digital Age.
Assiter, Ben. 2020. “No Screenshots on the Dance Floor. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 12(1). <https://dj.dancecult.net/index.php/dancecult/article/view/1170/998> (Accessed 14 October 2023). <http://dx.doi.org/10.12801/1947-5403.2020.12.01.01>
Chandran, Nyshka. 2023. “Clubbing Is Becoming Big Business. What Does This Mean for Dance Music?” Resident Advisor, 6 September: <https://ra.co/features/4235> (Accessed 14 October 2023).
Conner, Christopher T. and David R. Dickens. 2023. Electronic Dance Music: From Deviant Subculture to Culture Industry. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Hidalgo, Danielle Antoinette. 2022. Dance Music Spaces: Clubs, Clubbers, and DJs Navigating Authenticity, Branding, and Commercialism. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Hidalgo, Danielle Antoinette. 2024. “Dance Music Reckonings: Authenticity, Whiteness, And Toxic Masculinity.” In Handbook of Critical Music Industry Studies, ed. David Arditi and Ryan Nolan. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hund, Emily. 2023. The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Jurgenson, Nathan. 2011. “Digital Dualism versus Augmented Reality” The Society Pages, 24 February <https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2011/02/24/digital-dualism-versus-augmented-reality/> (Accessed 15 October 2023).
Wark, McKenzie. 2023. Raving. Durham: Duke University Press.
[1] For example, DJs have been discussing this imperative, often frustrated by the ongoing expectations of their work as DJs/producers; while posting about social and political issues remains important to many DJs, it’s the 24/7 imperative to post that can be exhausting and debilitating (especially if DJs must navigate hate on their pages or in their DMs).
[2] See <https://twitter.com/thisisnalaa/status/1709658535737561195?s=20> (Posted 4 October 2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
[3] See <https://twitter.com/thisisnalaa/status/1709611795080712622?s=20> (Posted 4 October 2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
[4] See <https://twitter.com/chuck_says_yes/status/1709722026632515652> (Posted 4 October 2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
[5] See <https://twitter.com/BabyWeightMusic/status/1709612435961729306> (Posted 4 October 2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
[6] See <https://twitter.com/MikeyLion_/status/1709676936291905941> (Posted 4 October 2023, accessed 18 October
[7] See <https://twitter.com/thisisnalaa/status/1709678272097952112> (Posted 4 October 2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
[8] See John Summit’s bio here: <https://goldenvoice.com/events/detail/?event_id=639118> (Accessed 18 October 2024).
[9] See <https://twitter.com/wtchcrft666/status/1734779485944246370?s=46> (Posted 12 December 2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
[10] Ravers for Palestine’s Open Letter can still be signed (link here: <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JkvfZvCidTUPPiTTIIhPBWc_zBpmHzzGTolmyg68iHc/viewform?edit_requested=true#responses>). Released by late October 2023, the letter calls for the electronic music scene to “urgently speak out against Israel’s brutal and ongoing attack on Gaza” (see <https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy6YBtVI3kV/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D> (Posted 27 October 2023, accessed 18 October 2024). The letter states: “We urgently call on London’s electronic music parties and spaces, as well as our fellow ravers and artists, to publicly declare their solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of the brutal violence they are currently experiencing in Gaza. . . . If queer music venues in London do not now publicly stand against the attempted erasure and extermination of Palestinians, their advocacy in support of queer causes is hollow and their claims to embody dissidence, liberation and resistance are forever void.”