What is Electronic Dance Music?

What is Electronic Dance Music?

Electronic dance music, commonly called club music, electronic dance music, or just dance, is an expansive collection of percussive musical styles created primarily for clubs, raves, and informal festivals.edm Artists producing this style of music often incorporate traditional instruments such as keyboards, drumsticks, and samplers; as well as more abstract musical forms, such as beats, snares, vocals, and breakbeats. These styles are popular across many different countries in Europe and North America. In most cases they share the same influences with other popular dance genres such as house, techno, hip-hop, breakbeat, pop, jazz, and techno.

Club music is known to be one of the most identifiable of all EDM genres.edm edm It is characterized by a heavy presence of low frequencies and highly processed or complex sounds. Club music often makes use of samples from elsewhere, including drums and samples from different recordings. Most club music is performed entirely in one stereo frequency. Other genres of EDM include progressive house, breakbeat, Latin, Japanese, and other non-traditional "house" music genres.

Breakbeat is an electronic dance music scene characterized by fast, drum-tight beats.edm edm It began in the late 90's and has grown into one of the most popular genres in the electronic dance music scene. Common features include breakbeats, pitched/pitched kicks, drum looping, and hard hitting hi-hats. While breakbeat is growing as a solo artist in the club scene, it is beginning to take up space on the radio as well. DJs who specialize in this style of music are beginning to form their own label, such as Planet Mu, which has released several compilations featuring breakbeat artists.

Dubstep is the leading trend within the early years of the new millennium, with an emphasis on drum programming and sample based, high tempo electronic dance music.edm edm Dubstep is one of the first forms of dubstep to feature vocals and has slowly grown into one of the most recognizable styles of Dubstep worldwide. Most Dubstep artists focus on creating their own sound rather than trying to fit into the existing Dubstep scene. Artists like Skrillex, Dot Da Genius, and Kid Cudi have successfully marketed themselves and their music using dubstep elements, building a fan base in the process.

This article is just a quick introduction to the world of EDM.edm Although this article doesn't cover every single type of EDM out there, it does discuss a few of the more common genres. For a much more comprehensive discussion of the world of electronic dance music, check out our sister site, Music Biz, which is dedicated to the world of EDM. You'll also find many other articles, reviews, and free mixes to get you started.