Detroit Electronic Music Festival
The Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF) is a successful electronic dance music showcase held in Detroit each Memorial Day weekend from 2000 to 2002. In subsequent years, the festivals Movement (2003–2004), Fuse-In (2005) and currently, Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival (2006) continued the DEMF's traditions, with each name change reflecting shifts in festival management. All of these festivals featured performances by musicians and DJs, and emphasized the progressive qualities of the culture surrounding electronic music.
History
The Detroit Electronic Music Festival [DEMF] was founded in 1999 and produced by internationally respected electronic music producer, DJ, indepedent label owner [Planet E communications] and lifelong Detroit resident Carl Craig who partnered with Carol Marvin and her company Pop Culture Media (PCM - a former sponsorship organizer for the [Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival aznd Detroit-Montreux Jazz Festival]. The concept for the festival arose from discussions between Craig and his former associate Derrick May. But it was Craig who put the event into motion by linking with Marvin who was brought in for her expertise at dealing with the city and the venue to be [Hart Plaza]. Craig exclusively handled the artistic direction of the festival, immediately making it not only a solid forum to expose his fellow Detroiters and electronic music specifically but also to showcase talent from around the world. It was Craig's intention to give Detroit a festival that would compete with festivals around the world that he was familiar with as a DJ and live performer. It was intended to give Detroit and it's overlooked history of electronic music major exposure both locally and nationally. Craig used his well established name and respect to draw an incredibly diverse range of the talent from big internationally recognized names to lesser known new local talent.
Patterned on high-profile dance music festivals in Europe, the DEMF had free admission and attracted a substantial number of international attendees. Each festival has been held at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit, and has been sanctioned and financially supported by the City of Detroit. The city's support for the festival has been seen by many as the first high-profile acknowledgement and celebration of the city as the birthplace of techno music.
2000: Successful launch
The first festival occurred in May 2000 and concluded with few hitches and no reported crime. It was applauded by city leaders and tourism officials as a vital injection of youthful energy into the aged city.
Attendance at the first DEMF surpassed expectations, with estimates over the three-day run surpassing one million visitors. Subsequent festivals drew even bigger crowds. City officials and others including media observers and local businesses saw the apparent economic boost to the city, with the Visitors and Convention Bureau stating that in only its second year, the event had pumped over $90 million dollars into the local economy.
As new producers handled the festival, media and city officials began to question the validity of attendance figures and financial gain. Subsequent producers of the event, Derrick May (Movement), Kevin Saunderson(Fuse-In) did not deliver the same results that the partnership of Criag and Marvin had, and lost thousands of dollars. Many performers and sub-contractors of those events are still owed for services rendered.
2001–2002: DEMF growth and controversy
In the festival's second year and beyond, there was a veritable explosion of techno music events around Detroit, with many independently organized and impromptu parties packing area clubs and makeshift venues early into each morning.
Controversy ensued when Carl Craig and Carol Marvin had a dispute that led to them parting ways. The public was firmly behind Craig however with many attendees carrying banners declaring "We Support Carl Craig."
Also adding to Controversy, was the obvious expansion of company sponsorship. One questionable decision was to run "commercials" on the jumbo TV screens at each stage between artist performances. Furthermore, a few of these commercials was to promote Eminem's new album, of which one of the songs has the lyrics "It's over, nobody listens to techno."
2003–2004: Movement
In January 2003, city officials decided to place the event in the hands of popular techno artist Derrick May. This was a suprising move by the city, considering that May had no festival production experience.
With the DEMF name trademarked by Pop Culture Media, May dubbed the 2003 festival Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, though many fans continued to call it The DEMF, or simply DEMF.
The second Movement festival took place in 2004, but despite its public success, the event faced significant financial losses and its fate became uncertain[1].
2005: Fuse-In
In February 2005, May announced his resignation as festival producer, and the festival once again changed hands. Fellow techno veteran Kevin Saunderson announced plans for a Movement replacement to be called Fuse-In Detroit (later shortened to just Fuse-In, with the tagline "Detroit's Electronic Movement") to be staged Memorial Day Weekend 2005.
Successful negotiations with city officials led to 2005 becoming the first year that an event in Hart Plaza did not have free admission. A total of 41,220 admission passes were sold to Fuse-In visitors. 38,382 daily passes were sold for $10 each, and 2,838 weekend passes, covering the full three days, were sold for $25 each. The City of Detroit collected $1 per pass, and was to have collected 30% of festival profits, but admission pass sales did not recoup the festival's $756,000 budget. [2]
2006 (in progress)
On February 16, 2006, Kevin Saunderson announced that due to financial losses and lack of sufficient promotion, he would not continue to produce the festival in 2006. As of March 23, the city has chosen Paxahau of Ferndale, MI], a suburban Detroit-based electronic record label and booking agency, to produce the festival under the name "Movement, Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival." According to Paxahau their selection has been supported by Saunderson, May, and Craig. Though none but May's endorsement has been confirmed. Conspicuously, Techno creator/originator, Juan Atkins has yet to give a statement regarding the festival. [3]
Preliminary 2006 Lineup
- Photek, leading Jungle DJ from the United Kingdom
- Pascal F.E.O.S., pioneering techno DJ from Germany
- Derrick Carter, Chicago house music DJ/producer
- Rob Acid, German acid techno producer
- Ark, minimal techno DJ/producer and first-time visitor to Detroit
- Josh Wink, globally recognized techno DJ/producer
- The Orb, legendary ambient producers
- Greenskeeper, rapidly emerging house music band
- Tortured Soul, rapidly emerging house music band
- Alex Under, Spanish minimal techno artist
- Mark Broom, British techno DJ/producer
- Pantytec, vastly popular German techno act
- Planet of the Drums, America's most popular Jungle DJ/MC ensemble
- Krikor, French minimal techno artist
- Superpitcher, leading talent from Cologne's Kompakt label
- Richie Hawtin, Detroit/Windsor/Berlin techno legend
- Collabs: Speedy J/Chris Liebing, European hard techno duo
- Dandy Jack, Perlon Records (Berlin) popular live act
- Doc Martin, West Coast house music legend
- Roy Davis Jr., globally known Chicago acid house pioneer
- Markus Guenter, German ambient/minimal techno artist
- Klimek, Kompakt Records ambient live act
- Jay Haze, minimal techno artist
- Socks and Sandals, making their Detroit debut
- Adam Marshall, international techno DJ/Producer making his Detroit debut
- Daniel Bell, Detroit minimal techno legend
- Jeremy Caulfield, Canadian techno DJ/producer
- Donald Glaude, West Coast DJ/producer
- Function and Regis, New York hard techno duo
- Neil Landstrumm, Veteran Techno producer from Scotland
- Jeremy Ellis, Detroit-native dance producer [Ubiquity]
- John Arnold, Detroit-native producer + DJ [Ubiquity]
This year's festival is noticeably bereft of Detroit's Techno elite. It is also under-representative of inner city Detroit's new breed of techno and house generators.
Attendance
Historically, attendance of events held in Hart Plaza has often been reported as being well in excess of the 14-acre venue's capacity of 40,000 people, even when crowds were counted by police and city officials. The reported attendance estimates for the electronic music festival were as follows:
- DEMF 2000: 1.1 to 1.5 million *
- DEMF 2001: 1.7 million *
- DEMF 2002: 1.7 million *
- Movement 2003: 630,000
- Movement 2004: 150,000 **
- Fuse-In 2005: 44,920 ***
* Based on visual estimates by police and city officials, and conceded by city officials in 2003 to be an overly generous estimate.
** Reported by police on May 30, 2005. [5]
*** 41,220 ticketholders, plus 3,700 DJs, VIPs, and press, reported by The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press on June 2, 2005. [6] [7]