Unfortunately, there are many music fans in the world who choose to separate “live music” and “DJing”, labelling the latter as a lesser art form that requires little to no skill over say, playing guitar and singing with the band.

Although we don’t condone this type of ludicrous and counter-productive creative dissection, this negative notion has sadly reached boiling point, forcing Aussie electronic outfit What So Not, a duo that comprises of Flume and Chris Emerson, to defend their art against naysayers, as inthemix highlight via Pedestrian.

A recent interview with the Aussie culture website saw Emerson challenged with the question, “What would you say to Haters who contend that DJs and producers like yourself only get up on stage at those kinds of festivals to press play?” which saw Emerson provided quite possibly the best response, emphatically silencing such nonsensical stabs.

“So much of what you’re doing, even when you’re up there, is playing something you’ve composed: you’ve written the baseline, you’ve written the drums, you’ve written the leads, you’ve worked with the vocalist to write the song lyrically, you’ve worked on the sonics and engineering of everything, you’ve done all that and there’s so much more that goes into it.”

Speaking further truth, he noted of the few DJs who tarnish the scene’s reputation, “Some people, yeah, they might just be the face of a brand and just play CDs but there are so many other thousands of people who aren’t doing that as well.”

Concluding, he sharply states “The difference you see in a DJ set of someone who knows what they’re doing and is doing some really complicated stuff as opposed to someone who is just playing a pre-recorded or pre-meditated set is a large variant. If you can’t see that, then you’re pretty narrow minded.”

We’re sure producers around the globe will praise Emerson’s name in unity for standing up for the EDM scene, these incredibly tuned in beat professionals build music up the exact same was a more traditional typed musician, using a multitude of instruments and effects.

Love Electronic?

Get the latest Electronic news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more

Let’s make a few final points clear. There many DJs who perform solely with vinyl, check out DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist who are touring Australia next year as proof, on top of this, there are DJs who perform with live band, have you seen Todd Terje and his insane live version of ‘Inspector Norse’?

EDM performances can be just as technically challenging as bands playing live and although there are some questionable DJs who suggest otherwise, the entire dance scene should not be judged as a talentless group who just “press play.”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine