misuse of EDM words

[samer]

One of the most misused word in the Music Industry and EDM scene specifically is the word Commercial

Many ppl label music that they dont like as Commercial, others simply attribute this adjective to very well known tracks.. even some DJ misuse it when they wanna brag about how good their tracklist is concerning quality and being uptodate so they label competition as playing "Commercial"..

but what's really "Commercial Music"?
when everyone of us might have his/her own definition, i would like to share mine and hope to get some comments/contributions from all of you!

Commercial Music is music that is produced with no efforts at all, produced with no feelings, no self contribution, just trying to follow the usual trend and make up something that might sell good and profit well.. that's what Commercial Music really is.
Many do get confused and label tracks that get famous as being commercial, but logically a track cant get commercial all of a sudden (taking into consideration that everyone attributes this adjective as a negative point and not to describe how popular this production has become), a track cant be at first a quality production then after a year a crappy commercial track.. maybe it can get overused in a "commercial" way, and this is where the difference exists..

So basically there's a difference between producing non quality music for profitable purposes and between a track getting too famous and loved by everyone! eventhough sometimes it gets overplayed, sometimes many of us feels sick of it since we get to hear it everywhere we go.. but thinking rationally, most great productions tend to follow this path one way or another! most of the best productions in all music styles are very famous and almost everyone knows them by heart!

To conclude, i think Producers are the ones who make Commercial Music and NEVER the end user!

[DIONYSOS]

We've had this discussion a countless number of times in real life already and my opinion would have to be the exact same one as yours...

Commercial Music can come from almost all musical genres, and is the result of production standards that aim at solely selling even if at the expense of producing non-quality music. The target is not real music lovers, but consumers, and the means are not authentic musical acts, but marketing-centered ones.

Most commercial music can be found getting aired on radio stations, but at the same time that doesn't mean that everything played on the radio is commercial - for example, Coldplay is undoubtebly one of the current greatest bands in the world, and their music is played on the radio, but that surely does not render it commercial, even if they're making money and fame out of it! And in EDM, a perfect example would be Tiesto's Adagio, a track so over-played on radios and in clubs (after 2 years of its release they discover it) that as Samer said you get "sick" of it, but actually when it first got released it was on all our "current favorites" lists. Does that make it "commercial"? Of course not! It just happened that this particular quality track (out of hundreds of other quality Trance ones released every year) made it to the airwaves and into self-proclaimed DJs' bags.

So just don't go on labeling anything played on the radio as "commercial", because although most of it is, some of it is not, and especially in the music genre you listen to (whatever it is), don't start bashing your previous "current favorite" just because it feel in the wrong hands; in itself, it still is a great piece of work, regardless of which musical ignorant is now playing it.

As long as all the materialistic aims are secondary to the aesthetic ones, then the music is respectable.

[bxtreme]

Totally agree.. commercial defines the purpose of the track, not if it ends up to be a success!

The hard part is what we identify to be a commercial track... how can we know for certain that making money or getting massive mainstream attention was the purpose of this track? I feel thats the debateful part. Like for example, I feel that The Other Side (Paul Van Dyk) is a commercial track, but many may not consider that... Does anyone agree/disagree? Ill lay out the details after I see some words

[Proof]

I feel that Commercial music is music that hasn't been worked on properly. For example ... Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight ... the original could been done better. I didn't like the Original that much ... but many say its not commercial ... its pretty hard to define it. Does it differ within ppl?


Bashing of "The Other Side":

1. Proof

[DIONYSOS]

Another thing I left out: if you don't like a track, heck even if you hate a track, don't go on immediately labeling it as commercial or cheesy, because then you would be using your subjectivity to determine wether it is commercial or not, and not objective means.

Objectively determining wether a track is commercial or not would entail answering the following question: "was this track produced for primarly aesthetic purposes (regardless of what comes secondarily) or primarily for marketing purposes?".

The Other Side and Alone Tonight may not have appealed to you, you may have found the structure to be weak, the melody to be unoriginal, and the vocals to be corny or cheesy, but they surely are not commercial tracks, because they were not produced to sell, just as all previous productions by PvD and A&B. Commercial Trance would be Lasgo, DJ Sammy, Ian Van Dahl, surely not PvD nor A&B nor Tiesto as some falsely presume... and please don't turn this into another Tiesto-bashing ceremony - we have something else to bash on the side!


Bashing of "The Other Side":

1. Proof
2. DIONYSOS

[TRANCED]

Bashing of "The Other Side":

1. Proof
2. DIONYSOS
3. TRANCED

God knows i tried liking that track, i just couldn't!

[Guest]

Hell yeah........The Other Side was disapointing. So me add my name to thy list.

1. Proof
2. DIONYSOS
3. TRANCED
4. BSaab LTFC

[Proof]

[pTq]

[e-sam]

[pTq]

[A.H. DeeJay]

[s u h a]

[Genesis]

[Genesis]