PETE TONG
DJ, BBC Radio 1
Streaming, streaming, streaming. As the
major [digital streaming platforms] mature,
I expect dance and electronic music will
become more important in distinguishing
Apple’s and Spotify’s services too, with
the introduction of mixes on Apple [a little
over a year ago] being the first example.
GINA TUCCI
VP/GM, Big Beat Records
This next decade is about artists who
grew up with electronic music in their
formative years influenced by their own
internet culture. Shorter, quicker, pix-
elated music will come to the forefront,
giving listeners a much more dynamic
experience with less fatigue. It will also be
about how to take this accelerated music
onto the main stage in a compelling way.
CODY CHAPMAN
Agent, Paradigm Talent Agency
Artists that innovate and develop their
own branded events will thrive. Others will
maintain, but accelerated turnover and an
influx of new artists grasping fans’ short-
lived attention will level the playing ground.
I
N THE PICTURESQUE KOOTENAY ROCKIES OF
British Columbia, a line of festival attendees forms outside
a tent. It’s early August, and they’re carrying MDMA, LSD,
ketamine and other substances — or so they think.
They’re here to use the drug-testing service offered at
Shambhala, the electronic music festival that has taken place
at the Salmo River Ranch, about 400 miles east of Vancouver,
since 1998. Operated by the nonprofit AIDS Network Koo-
tenay Outreach and Support Society (ANKORS), the service
helps attendees make informed decisions about illegal drugs,
which the festival prohibits but attendees inevitably sneak in.
A large TV screen visible to passersby displays the results:
One substance sold as MDMA was actually bath salts; a bag
of ketamine contained meth. “We’re not trying to stop them
from using drugs or get them to use drugs,” explains project
coordinator Chloe Sage. “We’re neutral.”
Shambhala’s stunning location and stacked lineups —
deadmau5 and REZZ will headline the 2020 event in July
— have made it a favorite on the North American circuit. But
in a genre that has experienced several high-profile drug-
related deaths at festivals in the past decade, Shambhala also
has become an industry leader in harm reduction.
Currently, drug testing at festivals is rare. In the United
States, it’s not available at any major dance music festival,
partly because of the 2003 RAVE Act. Sponsored by then-
Sen. Joe Biden, the law effectively made venue owners and
promoters liable for drug use at their events, which discour-
aged organizers from sharing harm-reduction information
that might draw attention to illicit activity.
But as the opioid crisis gripped British Columbia in the
past few years, its government recognized the value in
Shambhala’s efforts. In 2018, the province granted the festi-
val a special exemption that allowed ANKORS to carry out
its work more freely. (Previously, volunteers took precau-
tions, like not handling drugs directly, to avoid liability.) Last
year, epidemiologists from the British Columbia Interior
Health Authority volunteered with ANKORS.
Now others are taking note: Another British Columbia
festival, Bass Coast, began working with ANKORS and
in 2019 received the same exemption. Last June, British
Columbia provincial health minister Bonnie Henry signed
a letter to festival promoters recommending that any mass
gathering in the province have drug testing. Sage hopes
festivals across Canada and beyond will follow suit. “We
were the only one for so long,” she says, tearing up. “I’m so
excited to see this spread.” —K.B.
CONTROLLED
SUBSTANCES
How a Canadian music festival’s drug-testing
initiative made the government — and
other promoters — take note
The drug-testing tent
at 2019’s Shambhala
music festival.
WHAT’S
NEXT?
At the dawn of a new
decade, dance music
visionaries share their
predictions for
the genre’s future
older, more soulful styles are coming
back thanks to new global festival
headliners like DJs Hernan Cattaneo
of Argentina and Amelie Lens of Bel-
gium. “I see a downturn coming, but
I’m not nervous. Things are going to
get more creative,” says Marci Weber,
co-owner of MDM Artists. “How
many times can you see the same
thing over and over — the lights, the
smoke, the pyro?”
Top EDM events remain strong,
particularly Electric Daisy Carnival,
which sold 450,000 tickets in total
over three days last year, and Harris,
Bassnectar and Illenium have high
billings at major festivals like Coach-
ella, Bonnaroo and Firefly. Still, James
Estopinal, co-founder/CEO of festival
producer Disco Donnie Presents, has
gradually reduced his holdings from
six festivals in 2016 to just two this
year: “A lot of festivals have gone away.
You saw the EDM scene staggering a
bit.” He adds, though, that his remain-
ing festivals are selling better this year
than they did in 2019.
Not everyone sees a correction on
the horizon. Promoters in individual
cities are finding success with more
adventurous music — in San Fran-
cisco, newer acts such as San Holo,
Slander and Nghtmre will headline
the 8,500-capacity Bill Graham Civic
Auditorium in coming months, while
promoter Another Planet Entertain-
ment increased its dance music events
at the venue from two in 2011 to 25
last year. “Our business is as strong as
ever,” says APE vp concerts Bryan Du-
quette. Detroit’s influential Movement
Electronic Music Festival in May has
boosted ticket sales by 1,500 — “the
best campaign we’ve ever had,” says
director Jason Huvaere.
Huvaere thinks EDM fans haven’t
gone away — they’ve just evolved
into more sophisticated dance music
aficionados to whom the all-night
parties don’t necessarily appeal. That
has led many attendees back to styles
like techno: “Everybody’s starting
to realize, ‘Oh, shit, techno is really
cool, it has been here the whole time,
and I need to get me some cool,’ ”
says Huvaere. The shift includes
superstars: Calvin Harris has so far
spent 2020 departing from his usual
high-profile collaborations to release
old-school rave music, complete with
R&B and funk samples, under the
name Love Regenerator.
“People are craving soulfulness
and feeling. There’s more emotion
in dance music today,” says Moxey.
“The EDM business is probably flat
to slightly down. The good thing is,
the business that I’m in is the dance
and electronic music business. To us,
EDM is a flavor.”
MARCH 14, 2020 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 45
PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATIONS
BY JOEL KIMMEL