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Deep pockets court baggy pants
Electronic music scene

Mitchel Raphael
National Post

Last summer, over 10,000 ravers descended on Toronto's city hall for the iDance protest rally. As the bass from their sound system's speakers shook the building, angry electronic music fans demanded that city council lift a ban on raves held on city property. The party people won by a vote of 50-4.

Now with the blessing of Toronto's council, iDance, which is run by a non-profit collective, is back on Sept. 2 as a full-blown music festival. This time, however, the revellers have a presenting sponsor -- Xbox, the new video-game console that will be launched in November by Microsoft. According to Microsoft Canada, this is the first time the company has sponsored an electronic music event.

Big festivals like iDance, smaller one-off parties (still referred to as raves, though the original underground warehouse gatherings no longer exist), and DJ club culture: The corporate world has been sniffing around the electronic music scene for some time.

For over a year, Benson & Hedges has been sponsoring a popular "Big DJ Small Club" series across Canada where they pay top DJs -- from techno star Richie Hawtin of Windsor, Ont., to pop icon turned DJ Boy George -- to play intimate clubs for select crowds of about 500.

This summer, Kahlúa launched a campaign that targeted electronic-music clubgoers aged 19 and over by sponsoring hot DJs and styling the clubs to look as if they had been transported to the Spanish party island of Ibiza. "Dance club culture is the biggest trend we have seen in years among the twentysomething crowd," according to a press release from Corby Distilleries, which markets the brand.

In May, the second annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF), which attracted more than a million people this year and last, was sponsored by Ford Focus. The car company also sponsored the DJ tent for musician Moby's recent tour "Area: One," which featured turntable giants such as U.K. rave scene founder Paul Oakenfold and techno legend Derrick May, a pioneer of the U.S. electronic music scene.

Within the electronic music community, responses to corporate sponsorship have been varied.

"What's Ford got to do with dance music?" Mr. Oakenfold wondered prior to "Area: One." "You drive to the club, that's part of club culture," responded Derrick May. "You gotta get your records there."

On the official iDance Web site (www.idancetoronto.com), corporate sponsorship has been a hot-button issue. One message board contributor wrote: "Where the f--- was Ford when Michigan was passing anti-rave laws that allowed promoters and DJs to be handed $10,000 fines for playing music all night? Probably in a boardroom brainstorming another ad campaign that exploited youth culture to sell cars."

Others don't seem to care if a party is brought to you by Microsoft: "I really hope they give away free Xbox systems!" notes one iDance enthusiast.

Mark Oliver, one of the founders of Canada's rave scene back in the early '90s, feels party folks shouldn't be tripping over their baggy pants when it comes to deep pockets: "As soon as the second rave company came around, well before we were getting 2,000 out to an event, people were complaining about how the evils of capitalism were dividing the scene."

Mr. Oliver has held the much-coveted Saturday night residency at Toronto's largest club, The Guvernment, for nearly five years and was one of the DJs sponsored by Kahlúa this summer. Recalling how things began 10 years ago, Mr. Oliver says it didn't take long for the Canadian scene to become very capitalistic. "Anyone who had a bit of cash or an uncle who wanted to invest in a party would throw a rave and expect to make tons of cash. The scene was originally based on a hippie model, but soon people came along and capitalized on it, and took the money and ran.

"For years the wool has been pulled over partiers' eyes. These guys who are throwing parties pretend they are like starving artists. Just because they're not wearing a suit doesn't mean they're not a capitalist."

"It's always been a capitalistic culture," says York University humanities professor Rinaldo Walcott. "It's a culture that stands for partying. It's just small business people who sell you clothes, music and all those things to maximize your sense of having a good time. The promoters know they are selling something. That's why they're called promoters. There's only a short distance between promoter and ad exec.

"I don't think corporate sponsorship is a good thing or bad thing. If it's brought to you by a company like Coca-Cola and you're still having a good time, then who cares? People have to make a living."

Cary Chang, 26, is an Alberta DJ and owner of Feroshus, a hip store with locations in Calgary and Edmonton that carries independent clothing lines and electronic music. Mr. Chang opened for Boy George when Benson & Hedges brought him to Calgary. At first, he struggled with the idea of cigarette money paying for a big-name DJ. But, says Mr. Chang, there was no way the Calgary scene could afford Boy George (who was rumoured to have been paid $30,000) without corporate sponsorship.

After Boy George wrote in his newspaper column that Mr. Chang "was a far swifter DJ than I ... and his music was refreshing, funky and not even slightly obvious," Mr. Chang says "everyone has treated me like gold. I'm one person who has had my career escalate because of one of these corporate shows."

Mr. Chang feels that "if you don't get on the commercial wagon you are done for. These are consumer-driven events. It's an entertainment industry. Corporate sponsorship gives us clout and the ability to raise the standard of shows. That's an economic reality."

"I would love corporate sponsorship," says Rich Gablehouse, 36, the promoter behind Vancouver's Ghouse Productions. "We are starting to get nibbles, especially with Microsoft [presenting iDance] in Toronto."

This weekend, Mr. Gablehouse is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Summerlove, the largest electronic music bash on Canada's West Coast. Last year, 13,000 people attended. The budget for this year's production, which includes numerous stages and glow-in-the-dark skydivers, is over $400,000. "I spent over $6,000 just on toilets," Mr. Gablehouse says.

Mr. Gablehouse is extremely nervous. Recent government crackdowns on the electronic music scene and the escalating costs of putting on these events have taken their toll on Vancouver's party culture. If he doesn't get the numbers this weekend, it will spell the end of Summerlove.

People who attend electronic music events have "no clue or idea what the costs are," says one Canadian promoter, who requested anonymity. In 1992, you could throw a party for $2,000. A headliner DJ cost $400, plus airfare. Today, he says, a decent DJ starts at $5,000, travels with an entourage and expects star treatment.

Canada Customs has also caught on to the electronic music scene, so paperwork must be filled out. With so much money riding on events, it's not worth taking a chance on a DJ being turned back at the border. Before, says the promoter, a DJ could "say he was a record collector and customs didn't think twice." And venue owners, who used to be told the party was, "Oh, just a big video shoot," now want a piece of the action, too. And then there's the cost of insurance and hiring police.

As a result, a promoters must always throw a successful parties or be faced with the prospect of maxing out their credit cards or begging their parents for cash. Some choose to turn to less legitimate sources.

Ten years ago, says the promoter, "the drug dealer was your friend. These were people you partied with." These days, he says, biker gangs sometimes provide front money.

"Where are some of the promoters getting their money?" asks Corporal Scott Rintoul of the RCMP Drug Awareness Service in Vancouver. While acknowledging that much of the party income is the result of business acumen (or generous parents), Cpl. Rintoul says "we know some are getting loans from organized crime. And when they back parties they want something in return.

"Some of the smaller-scale promoters maximize profits by having drug dealers work parties. Most of the production companies that we suspect are not using public venues, they use underground venues."

Some of these underground promoters, says Cpl. Rintoul, will "tell known dealers, 'You take all the risks [of being busted], but I want $1,000 bucks if you work my party.' "

Detective Rick Chase of the Toronto Drug Squad has also seen "guys who get seed money from people who are not on the up and up." He says corporate sponsorship of the electronic music scene could eliminate the need to turn to shady characters.

"The corporations are going to come forward with the money and that's going to take away from these guys using illicit funds," Det. Chase says. But, "if I'm a corporation, I might be thinking twice about handing money over. What happens if someone dies there?"

Cpl. Rintoul feels taking corporate cash over drug dollars is a preferable scenario: "If you can keep the system open and transparent by having corporations who can be held accountable, it keeps people fair and honest."

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Companies like Ford say they are careful about who they work with when it comes to these events.

"We looked at how organized and smooth [last year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival] came off and how great a success that was," says Miles Johnson of Public Affairs for Ford Division Cars. "We look for the right people to work with. The City of Detroit was a great help getting this festival up and running. The city was directly involved."

Mr. Johnson says Ford Focus marketing is aimed at a younger demographic and the electronic music scene is an ideal market to tap: "We've got to be where these kids play and where they go. If you're not there, I don't know how your message is going to get picked up."

Many people on the Focus marketing team are in their mid-twenties and grew up in the Detroit techno scene, according to Mr. Johnson. The campaign was considered a success by the car giant's senior brass: "All it took was for the [Ford] executives' kids to go down to this festival and report back," he says.

Like Ford, the marketing people for Microsoft's Xbox are young and grew up with electronic music. Also like Ford, Microsoft picks partners cautiously.

"We really liked a lot of what iDance had to say," says Ryan Mugford, marketing lead for Xbox at Microsoft Canada.

Mr. Mugford says it certainly helped that iDance has the approval of City Hall and a board of advisors that includes Booktelevision's Daniel Richler, former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall and city councillor Olivia Chow.

Xbox doesn't seem phased by iDance's protest-rally roots and its commitment to battle government crackdowns against electronic music.

"We identified the electronic music community as a great audience to speak to," Mr. Mugford says. "They are intelligent, technologically savvy -- key elements of what the Xbox is all about. Xbox is speaking to 16- to 26-year-olds."

Xbox games have music by top DJs like Junior Sanchez or popular electronic acts like the Chemical Brothers. In addition, Xbox users will be able to customize their Xbox to their own musical tastes.

Toronto's iDance festival is merely the beginning of what Microsoft hopes will be an intimate relationship with the electronic music scene. "We only see this community getting bigger," Mr. Mugford says.

So far, some of the smaller businesses within the electronic music scene are not too worried about corporate sponsorship. Snug Industries, an internationally successful streetwear clothing line has been sponsoring electronic music events and DJs for six years.

"We sponsor things on a much more underground level which Microsoft wouldn't understand," says Tony Elston, one of the designers and owners of Snug.

But Toronto-based Snug will also be a presence at iDance. "Our reasons for supporting the iDance are different," Mr. Elston says. "We know the people throwing the iDance. We're supporting something we believe in. We're not supporting something to make money off it. But iDance had to get the money to throw this [free] event and there is no way Snug or an indie record label will bring the cash to throw it."

Corporations like Ford and Microsoft "are smart," Mr. Elston says. "They know it's controversial enough that they'll get noticed, but not controversial enough that they'll lose their reputations."

Everybodies_Daddy

Arghh.... too complex for my small mind. Money good... corporate money not so good?

Who cares, as long as the party is hype... and free Ford cars for everyone wouldn't hurt.

MCED

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insaneone

dont expect the microsoft to be giving away money next year for their precious xbox campaign. its going to flop bigtime, theyre only hope is to sucker as many people into the hype as possible. so go ahead and prepurchase your xbox today!!

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face2face

so how long do you think it will be untill nike lunches it's line of shoes for "ravers"?

NagaMak

Is there really a DJ named Junior Sanchez or did they fuck up and mean to put down Junior VAZQUEZ??


Just wondering....

Kornflake~Girl

^^Looks up

LOL!!!

Your innocence has totaly made my thanksgiving, boo

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ecstasy riot

Thats the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard.

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