The rapid growth in size and popularity of EDM has only recently occurred, making the relatively unstudied demographic an unpredictable one that is constantly shifting, realigning and contradicting itself. “SFX”, one of the top live event corporations in America that primarily focuses on EDM based events conducted a study on members of their audience to help others understand the movements and behavior of those who participate in ‘Electronic Music Culture’. The study was intended to provide new insights into why/how EDM became the genre that has shaped the identity of the millennial generation, which in turn would lead to provocative questions to be considered by marketers as they strategize about how to connect with this ‘elusive’ audience. The study sample included 437 U.S. users of the music-purchasing site Beatport, owned by SFX, and first asked them to rank how much they agreed with certain statements about EDM on a scale from 1-5. The % of participants that agreed with the statements on the survey ranged from 86%-95% and included statements such as: “It has created a culture that’s bigger than itself, it’s a defining aspect of my generation, it’s a huge part of my life, its more accepting than lots of different types of fans of other genres, I feel connected with the artists, its easier for me to get music from artists directly than for other genres, and I feel connected with other fans.” Next participants were asked to rank on the same scale aspects of live events that they enjoy the most with the top three aspects being the music (99%), the stage, lights and lasers (99%) and the art installations spread throughout the festival grounds (96%). Next they were asked to list their favorite genres within EDM with the top five genres being House (66%), Deep House (55%), Electro (53%), Techno (49%) and Progressive (49%).

        Another study conducted by Alistair Fraser of the National University of Ireland examines geographic literature on EDM to argue its rising popularity is due to cooperation among its constituents to forge what he refers to as ‘hedonistic spaces’, which emphasize personal freedoms and individual fulfillment. While researching #junglememories’ on Twitter, a hashtag for statements among makers and fans of the EDM genre ‘Drum n Bass’, responses were primarily reflections on how they gained positive memories, experiences, knowledge, skills, and acquaintances as a result of involvement in this culture. Other responses included how their fulfillment from experiences came from sharing knowledge, opening doors for others, and promoting/belonging to a scene that broke down barriers regarding race, gender, sexual orientation and was purely about the love of music.

        A third study conducted by Megan McDonald as a senior communications project at Cal Polytech St. took a look at EDM and the attitudes held about it by its fans and designed a study that analyzed the relationship between EDM and its growing popularity in society. Common themes that arose from the data included statements such as: raves are incredibly unique and memorable experiences, raves can provide a place where you feel free to express yourself, raves promote feelings of love and acceptance from everyone, even people whom you do not know very well or at all, and raves create an escape from the real world by offering an atmosphere free of troubles and insecurities (suggesting that people may attend raves because they feel ostracized from the world), and raves are where you don’t have to think about any responsibilities or stresses from ‘normal life’. Lastly, responses to questions that asked participants to describe the music yielded an overall theme that understood the music as allowing the listener to connect with it on an emotional level, taking you to a happy/nostalgic place.

        Being that the recent prominence of EDM has coincided with many prominent technological developments, there is much to be said about how this demographic behaves in an online context. Online event platform for sales and promotion, Eventbrite, conducted a study with the leading social media insights firm, Mashwork, on 1000 EDM fans that were active on Twitter and analyzed over 70 million posts worth of conversational data for a year to determine trends in behavior and actionable insights. The individuals studied tweeted an average of 11 times per day, roughly 6 times more active than the average Twitter user, who tweets roughly 1.85 times per day. EDM Fans also tweet with significantly greater frequency than General Music Fans, generating roughly 72% more conversation about core topics in their life. 1 in every 3 posts among EDM Fans consisted of them talking about electronic dance music. This was roughly 52% more than fans of other music genres, further underscoring the intense levels of fandom that EDM aficionados exhibit. Beyond the sheer volume of conversation, these individuals actively engaged within the EDM subculture. Overall, 14% of all EDM fan conversation was driven by EDM subculture topics, such as PLUR (peace, love, unity, and respect) lifestyle discussion and EDM Podcasts and DJ mixes. Online, they talked about developing their dancing routines, and they used social media as a communication tool with their rave family, or groups of people who travel to attend shows as a tightly knit, loving group of friends. As a comparative example, these individuals tweeted about EDM nearly 2 times as much as the average Twitter user tweeted in a year.

        In addition to the analysis of the study, Eventbrite compiled some of the key data found and put together an infographic that compared the data to data of the same nature conducted on fans of genres of other music. According to the graphics, EDM fans are far more active and expressive of their fandom online than fans of other genres. The two most prominent conclusions drawn from this data is that EDM fans are twice as likely as other music fans to want to attend an event when their friends post about it on social media, and over half of EDM fans revealed that they would pay for live streaming of an EDM concert. The study also found a staggering difference in the amount of social media activity of EDM eventgoers compared to other music genre eventgoers. Social media is one of the largest drivers of EDM events because the fans almost always share their experiences afterwards, making smartphones an integral component of the EDM experience. Further into the SFX study on the EDM audience, they conduct research on what fans are doing while they are using their smartphones at events and what specific social media are they posting to. The most common use for smartphones was for taking pictures and videos (79%), followed by looking up information about songs or artists (51%), posting on social media (50%), checking the festival pages for updates (49%), buying merchandise (38%), and posting Snapchat stories (34%). The most popular use of social media was Facebook (72%), followed by Instagram (58%), Twitter (41%), Snapchat (31%), Google plus (12%), and Vine, Tumblr, and Pintrest (8%-7%).

         The recent technological advancements I mentioned in the previous paragraph, while useful for marketers and advertisers have fundamentally changed almost everything about the ways members of this industry interact with consumers. According to a study conducted at the University of South Carolina by Simon and Rupert Hudson on engaging consumers using social media, the creation of social media has changed the entire consumer decision process. In just the last decade a more nuanced view of how consumers engage with brands has emerged where consumers now engage in extended research and analysis of products before entering into an open relationship with the brand. Traditional branding approaches that emphasize use of mass media techniques have become nearly ineffective now that consumers have access to massive amounts of information about brands, products, and companies. In addition to technology changing much about the marketing/advertising industry, it has also caused a great amount of change to occur within the music industry. At a major conference held every year for members of the dance music industry called EDMBiz, Tatiana Simonian, Neilsen’s VP of branded music presented their findings from a study about music consumption habits, from sales to streams. The study found that with music consumption, streaming is exploding and sales are not; 11.2 billion EDM tracks were streamed over the past year, up from 55%, and 50 million EDM tracks were purchased in 2014, compared to 57 million the past year, a decrease of 14%. The Neilsen findings also mention that EDM is a $6 billion industry, with festivals making up $4.2 billion of the pie.

        Additionally, a study recently published by Google in a piece by AdWeek revealed that EDM channel subscribers on YouTube increased 60 percent on smartphones, 77 percent on TVs and 175 percent on gaming devices in 2014. While the majority of the audience is under 25, the fastest growing segment of listeners on the video platform are between the ages of 25 and 34. Interest among 35- to 49-year-olds also grew 80 percent from January to July 2014. Previously advertisers would stray away from using EDM in marketing campaigns due to the negative PR it has received in the past. However, the recent, rapid growth in the amount of consumers across multiple age demographics that are expressing interest in EDM is what has caused marketers to express an extreme interest in connecting with this bulk of music consumers. Unfortunately for them, this demographic is somewhat difficult to reach, as discussed in an article by James Hook from the University of Greenwich on the topic of brand advertising at live music events. He states that many publications have taken a negative stance on advertising at music festivals because they feel that marketing at this type of event compromises any artistic principles the campaign may hold and suggests to the consumer that the only concern they have is profit. On the other hand, the use of ‘experiential marketing’, where the values of the sponsored brand correlates with the experience of the attendee, has been shown to produce positive results between the brand and the consumer.