Beatport Signs Three-Year Deal With Warped Tour to Produce a Festival Stage

EDM's maneuvering into festival spaces outside of EDM-specific events is an important piece of the puzzle of how those controlling the genre intent to

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Complex Original

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EDM's maneuvering into festival spaces outside of EDM-specific events is an important piece of the puzzle of how those controlling the genre intent to achieve long-term sustainability. From dance-friendly headliners in the Sahara Tent at Coachella to dance being included as a draw in Lollapalooza's lineups, to even up-and-coming festivals like Trillectro being specifically built around a well-marketed EDM component, EDM's rise is part of a much larger story of dance's early success at identifying avenues of perpetual relevance to the industry of music overall. Thus, it shouldn't be surprising that given Beatport's burgeoning relationship with EDM conglomerate SFX, that the semi-official relationship between Beatport and punk-pop festival stalwart Warped Tour has become officially cemented with a three-year deal.

Beatport already has a festival tent at the Warped Tour. This makes sense, given the success of 2004-2006 Warped Tour lineup band From First to Last's then-lead singer Sonny "Skrillex" Moore as arguably the face of EDM. SFX's involvement is not implicit or explicit in the article from Billboard, but given that Beatport has already undergone multiple restructurings since falling under SFX's conglomerate, the idea that Beatport would lock what was loosely defined partnership under terms that were better defined, approached sustainability and also could be more easily defined on a corporate ledger sheet makes sense given the company's new level of oversight.

EDM's days of being perceived as a wild, unregulated and decidedly non-corporate marketplace are now coming to an end at a faster rate than ever before. As far as for what this means for festivals, well, it would appear as if this model proves successful, that every festival, regardless of genre,should be preparing for a significant infusion of SFX's electronic music culture.

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