If you are interseted by this research and would like to talk about it, pelase contact me directly at pydolbec at yorku dot ca. Thanks! How does a genre become mainstream? Categories are central cognitive structures that underpin the dynamics of markets. Yet, we know little of their evolution. I define electronic dance music (EDM) as an emerging new music category. Using an institutional approach to categorization, I explain how EDM became a mainstream music genre through a three stage process. First, a few number of pop artists champion the use of electronic music and introduce it to a mainstream audience in North America. Second, a fragmentation in the niche genre of electronic music leads to the definition of EDM as a set of practices, identities, and meanings, and to the emergence of EDM stars. Third, actors at the center of this new genre adopt institutionalized practices of pop music to crossover pop and attain mainstream acceptation. I contribute to the current literature by explaining the benefits of fuzzy boundaries in bringing about change in market categories, and by unpacking the process through which new market categories gain legitimacy.

1. How Did EDM Conquer
Mainstream America?
A Producer Perspective
Pierre-Yann Dolbec

2. How Does a Genre Become Mainstream?
– How do categories change?
– What is the role of niche and mainstream actors
in changing categories?
– How do changes in categories impact niche and
mainstream actors?

4. Why is this important?
• Lack of research on genres in marketing
• Categorization from a social constructionist
perspective
• Process through which categories emerge and are
accepted by everyday consumers through the
actions of producers
• Decentralized category evolution
• Theoretical implications for work on boundaries &
categorization
• Managerial implications for market and trend
research, and product launches

5. Some literature: Categorization
• Institutional approach to categorization (e.g.,
Lounsbury and Rao 2004)
• The influence of categories (e.g., DiMaggio 1997;
Scott 2001)
• Categories are cognitive infrastructures that
underpin markets (Lounsbury and Rao 2004; White
1981)
• Music genres as categories (Lena and Peterson
2008)

6. Some literature: Boundaries
• Boundaries as “conceptual distinctions” (Lamont
and Molnar 2002)
• Categories can change and have more or less fixed
boundaries (Hannan 2010)
• Category work as a specific type of institutional
work (Lawrence, Leca and Zilber 2013)
• Bridging
• Creating
• Mimicking

7. Data
Netnographic
6 months
Archival data
3271 pages
522 media articles
Interviews
• Reader and commenter on EDM.com, THUMP, RA, edmplanet
2007-2014
• Mainstream news sources (e.g., NYT, The Guardian)
• Music-specific (e.g., Billboard, Rolling Stones)
• EDM-specific (e.g., THUMP, RA, blogs)
• Evolution of 15 artists (Forbes’ Top Paid DJ list)
• Major players of the field (e.g., Sillerman, Roachella)
• Industry-reports & press releases
• Primary interviews:
• industry actors (4 interviews: 2 promoters, 1 producer, 1 A&R; average
interview length: 75 minutes)
• 3 consumers (average length: 60 minutes)
• Secondary interviews & conference panels:
• 25 panels from industry conferences (e.g., EMC; average length: 45
minutes)
• interviews with DJs, promoters, A&Rs, and managers (15 interviews; e.g.,
Tiesto, Deadmau5, Jake Urdel; from 5 to 90 minutes)
Billboard charts
6 years
• HOT Top 100 albums coded for genres and styles (2007-2014)

8. EDM in Numbers
• Fastest growing music segment (in sales of
recorded albums)
• 8.4% growth 2012-2013 (Nielsen 2013)
• Highest growing genre in # of tracks sold
• A genre tailored for the experience economy
• 4.2BN$ of the 6.2BN$ industry revenue comes from
events (IMS 2014)
• EDC grew from 65 000 in 2008 to 400 000 in 2014.
• Burning Man: 65 000 in 2014
• Coachella: 545 000 in 2014 (Calvin Harris, Skrillex,
Zedd)
• Other electronic music festival
• Ultra: 330 000
• Tomorrowland: 400 000

9. Findings
EDM-pop had to fly, and then die, so
electro-pop, in all these wonderful new
iterations, could live. (Williot 2013)

10. 2007 - 2009
The Crossing
Music journalists are only just now beginning to
grapple with how EDM seemingly sneaked up on
them unawares. The narrative of new music has so
often been one of building from a despised
underground after years of struggle, rip-off, and
hustle to mass popularity. But EDM came in by no
back door but right through the front gate, with Lady
Gaga's "Just Dance" in late 2008. (Bogart 2012)

11. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Evolution of electronic music presence in the Hot Top
100
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Crossovers Pure Artists

12. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
The boundaries of pop
• Partial membership to different genres “of the moment”
widens the target audience:
• “pop music is music found in Billboard magazine's Hot 100
Singles chart. Songs intended for the pop music market usually
have their distinguishing genre characteristics purposely
obscured or muted in the interest of gaining wider appeal”
(Lena and Peterson 2008; Weisbard 2008; see also Hannan
2010).
• Pop music boundaries are fuzzy/porous
• Contrary to Hannan (2007, 2010) where fuzzy boundaries
are not ideal since they do not allow for the definition of
categories and reduce appeal

13. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Bridging: The role of pop
• …no one's name came up as often in interviews for this
piece as the ever-shapeshifting, reggaeton-cum-house
vocalist Pitbull. […]“He's a combo between a little hip hop
and some pop," […]That's really good to see for the house
community." […] EDM got another heavy dose of
validation when Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch the
Throne […] rap over the textbook dubstep beat on "Who
Gon' Stop Me.“ (Makarechi 2011)
• Something we saw over the last two or three years—more
in America than anywhere else—is that the normal Top 40
radio pop culture has been influenced [by EDM].
Suddenly Rihanna and Usher want to become dance
electronic artists. (Paul Van Dyk interview by Lynch, 2012)

14. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Bridging: The multi-artist festival
The tipping point was Coachella
2006 […] [it] truly introduced Daft
Punk to the rock kids. […] Not only
prove that live electronic music
could be captivating, but they set a
new standard for spectacle.
(Sherburne 2011)
In a couple of hours they proved that two men operating laptops
on stage could not only rival but surpass anything that any other
musical genre could offer in terms of a live experience.
They also cracked the unresponsive US market for dance like a
walnut … (Dick 2013)

15. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Impact: Legitimacy for electronic producers
[On Afrojack] Ninety-nine point nine
percent of New York has no clue who the f- I
am […] [yet] he racked up an impressive
assortment of global hits during the past
few years for his production and
songwriting work on Pitbull and Ne-Yo's
"Give Me Everything,“ (2011) David Guetta
and Sia's "Titanium“ (2011) and Chris
Brown's "Look at Me Now.“ (2011) […] I
don't want to be an EDM artist […] Making
such goals attainable is an album that's
consciously commercial […] The guest
lineup betrays his cross-genre designs.
Snoop Dogg […] Wiz Khalifa […] Devin
Cruise […] Sting (Hampp 2014)

16. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Impact: Introducing EDM to a New Audience
• Macklovitch [A-Trak] […] credits Daft Punk's
masterful Alive 2007 tour across America and Justice's
simultaneous explosion as "educating a whole generation
of kids about electronic dance music" (EDM). The
obsession spread like wildfire, and familiarity with
electronic artists became a ready-made badge of cooler-than-
thou… (Makarechi 2011)
• AVICII: … suddenly artist like the Black Eyed Peas and
Akon were introducing house beats to American
audiences. That introduced electronic music to a lot of
people. It opened their minds. (Gottlieb 2012)

17. 2009-2012
The Fragmentation
Nice song and all, but where’s the drop?
(Comment on Skrillex’s page when he posted a song
from British experimentalist Aphex Twin)

18. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Creating: New Practices
• The structural feature around which much modern EDM is
built—the "drop," a series of fritzing, tempo-shifted
noises …often characterized in Internet slang as WUB
WUB WUB (Bogart 2012)
• Skrillex’s dubstep “has become pop music’s buzziest new
word” […] with its sonic upheaval, aggressive posturing
[…]— tempos and textures aligned nicely with current rap
tracks […] "Wobble," as it came to be known for its
oscillating bass…(Gaerig 2011)

19. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Creating: New Identities
• Kathryn Frazier (Press agent: Skrillex, Diplo): no offense to
shiny shirt dance-y euro, but in America that didn't really
fly.
Dave Rene (A&R: Zedd): Yeah, there started to really be
some personality behind this music, some attitude and
not a gay one. (Ryce 2012)
• DJs are the new rock stars (Forbes / Greenburg 2012)
• …to what they wear to the tattoos on their body […] the
thing you feel is that we bring the rock to the raves. (Jake
Urdell, Krewella manager, EMC 2013)
• Button pushers: “he's a producer who chooses to publicly
represent his sound in person, but not a DJ in the
traditional sense: a selector who responds to the mood of
the crowd.” (Reynolds 2012)

20. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Creating: New Audience (& resistance)
• Joe Nice is unconvinced. “It’s a completely different
audience,” he insists; “the noisier stuff is for the kids. The
‘real’ dubstep is usually an older crowd. (Mugge 2011)
• …it's probably best for our culture if RA does not choose
to combine these worlds …Yes, that scene helps
introduce electronic music to new ears, but really- just
wait until they start digging and developing their palette,
and they will end up here on this site, where the
discerning fan resides.
[…]
The real fact is, these two sub-cultures have nothing to do
with each other and they are simply two seperate but
similar cultures based around using technology to make
dance music. (RA user 2012)

21. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Impact: The Creation of a New Category

22. 2012-onward
The Embrace
“EDM is the new sound of American pop
music" - David Guetta (2012)

23. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Presence of “true” electronic songs and
electronic artists on the Top 100
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Pure Artists
Songs

24. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Mainstream recognition
• 2012: VMA introduces an electronic music category for its
prizes
• 2012: deadmau5 and David Guetta play at the Grammy’s
• 2012: Skrillex wins 3 Grammy’s, is nominated for “Best
New Artist”
• 2013: Billboard introduces a Dance/Electronic chart.
Will.I.am. And Britney Spears take the first two spots.
• 2013: Skrillex wins 3 Grammy’s
• 2013: 6 electronic artists make it to Billboard’s Year-End
Hot Top 100
• 2014: Dick Clark Productions (Billboard Awards, People
Magazine Awards, Miss Universe, Golden Globe)
announces a Dance Music award show

25. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Mimicking: Professionalization
• If the EDMBiz conference confirmed anything, it’s that the
genre is a business first, and an artistic endeavor second
(Wolbe 2014)
• I quit drinking. Before that I’d drink at least two vodka Red
Bulls during every set, but now I live like an athlete. I only
drink water during shows, no after parties. It sounds boring,
but there’s so much pressure and professionalism in my
scene that I just can’t afford to do that anymore. (Laidback
Luke interviewed by Friedman, 2014)
• You need to have a very consistent message across every
single touchpoint. […] if you look at the acts that are really
succeeding […] there’s very specific storyline features […]
activating brands is not that different from activating
recording artists. (Jake Urdell, Krewella manager on
Krewella’s media strategy, EMC 2013)

26. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Mimicking: From electronic artists to pop
artists
• Practices
• From DJs to button pushers to bands
• [On Krewella] The group’s use of strong vocals, electrohouse and
dubstep combined with Top 40 melodies generates appeal from both
the EDM and Pop music crowds. They consider themselves a band
that does some DJing, in contrast to many of the EDM guests that
prevail as DJs. (Emmer 2014)
• Featurings & vocals
• Guetta's stock has soared since. His latest album, Nothing But the
Beat, features collaborations with more than a dozen hip-hop and
R&B stars. (della Cava 2012)
• Tailored for Pop
• Cooked into the DNA of Zedd'smusic are ingredients designed to
attract commercial success. Songs hover in the three to five minute
range and are heavy on swooning vocals and catchy melodies.
(Yenigun 2012)

27. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Mimicking: From the DJ booth to immersive
show experiences
• The show is … gonna be way more immersive. It’s in the
round. We have Hollywood screenwriters coming up
with a script. We have Chris Ha over at Blizzard [the
video game developer] doing storyboards for it. We’re
producing it like you’d produce a film. (deadmau5,
interviewed by Smyth, 2014)
• Modern EDM festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival, HARD
Fest, and Skrillex’s Mothership tour are massive
productions that dwarf their predecessors: most
"laptop" artists and DJs were, until recently, lucky to
have shoddy projections on a poorly hung bedsheet as
their visual backup. … Now … tents are covered in acres
of LED panels, riddled with high-intensity lasers, and
dense with the sticky musk of artificial fog. (Wolbe 2014)

30. Crossing Fragmenting Embracing
Impact: Emergence of Electronic Pop Stars
• 6 electronic artists on the Hot Top 100 in 2013
• Even vocal verses are no longer a necessity for pop listeners,
as evidenced by the popularity of Avicii’s “Levels,” which
dominated radio airwaves no less than a year ago. (yPulse
2013)
• …now a great deal of people that come out to festivals have
an expectation of immediately accessible music … EDM, in a
live setting, has a way of being instantly entertaining – and
here’s the kicker – in a way lyrical, 90s-style hip hop really
has no chance at matching. When you’re accustomed to
thousands of perfectly synced strobe lights and the energy-building
peaks and valleys of a common electronic dance
music set, suddenly, watching a guy pace back and forth on
stage uttering halfway-audible lines isn’t as entertaining
anymore. (Hirsch 2014)

31. Discussion

32. Theoretical implications
• Fuzzy boundaries and lack of conflict
• Rather than field stability (Zietsma and Lawrence 2010)
• Conflict in fields depends on the type of boundaries
protecting it
• Boundary crossing dependent on field position
• Appropriation
• Adaptation
• Between niche and dominant fields
• Authors previously theorized niche fields to have an
influence on dominant ones
• Developments in dominant fields can open up new spaces
of possibilities that re-orient niche-based communities and
lead to conflicts in niches
• Emergence and decline of one category can facilitate the
emergence of another

33. Managerial implications
• Launching a new cultural category
• Requires
• Building an audience
• Multiple actors from different field positions
• A strong niche
• Monitoring niche discourses can facilitate the
identification of emerging scenes
• Monitoring bridging work from established actor
can help in identifying meso-level cultural trends

34. Thank you