Ferry Corsten Opens Up On EDM & Keeping It Relevant

Ferry Corsten has turned from a DJ/Producer into a musical legend with his unparalleled sound that never seems to lose its spark. He sat down with IntheMix recently for an interview to give his own insight on EDM, even the evolution of his own career. Yet, instead of covering the interview word for word, I’d like to address some key points Corsten brings to light, with the first being that the “wow” factor of tracks seems to have been lost in the shuffle. Not only am I talking about the production, but also the hype for tracks. Corsten points out:

“Right now you can release a track and it’s old by the day after tomorrow, where before you could really hype a track for so many weeks or months even, and finally, on release, you would have a big explosion of ‘Wow, everybody wants that track.’ The whole anticipation, that whole thing is kinda gone”.

The music business has shifted enormously to where singles are more popular route than albums. Nearly every EDM artist will release multiple singles instead of albums since it is cost-efficient and generates enormous revenue. As a result of this shift, we see a decline promotional hype for the work of the artist. We usually hear previews before every release and even though it can have the sickest drop, we already know what to expect. However, think about Daft Punk for a second: not only are they revered as gods of dance music, but also a huge reason for RAM’s success was its marketing strategy in which almost nothing from the album got leaked. They locked in that sense of wonder and surprise that kept fans on the edge of their toes, going crazy with anticipation. People didn’t really know what to expect, so when the album came out they had no other choice than to buy the album to quench their avid curiosity.

Ferry Corsten also goes into detail about his Full On project, which has now been present at the worlds biggest stages like Tomorrowland, Ibiza, and TomorrowWorld. Yet, it is the concept that fuels its success:

“It’s all about me playing back-to-back with all my guests; it’s about an old-school jam session.”

 He discusses this as being a competition, in which each DJ tries to beat out the other with a bigger and better track. I love this concept and I don’t want to say it has been lost in EDM, but is a brilliant display of the musicianship involved that not everyone sees. Every DJ will ramble how important it is to please the crowd and read their reaction, but in reality all they really do is press play on their decks and fistpump. Not to undermine the talent of DJ’s who do that, but the Full On project helps show a more intricate and personable side to DJ-ing. It’s reminiscent of the music a lot of us grew up on, like rock n roll, where improvisation was the key to success.

Overall, I loved the interview because it shows that the musicianship is still prevalent in such a celebrity-ridden scene. I think the most important concept to realize is that these artists aren’t god’s, as we so easily compare them to. There are still artists, like Corsten, who are fighting to keep the scene alive and relevant without losing touch of its roots.