Dancing Astronaut

Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content syndicated across on-demand audio platforms.

Dancing Astronaut
Type of site
Music, Media and Entertainment
Available inEnglish
FoundedDecember 2011 (2011-12)
Headquarters
New York, New York
Founder(s)Senthil Chidambaram, Kevin Kaiser, Zeyad Assaf, Tim Lim, Jacob Schulman, David Giamanco
EditorDavid Klemow, Bella Bagshaw, Robyn Dexter, Christina Hernandez (Managing Editors), Will McCarthy (Editor-at-Large)
Key peopleKevin Kaiser, Andrew Spada, Senthil Chidambaram (Board of Directors)
URLdancingastronaut.com
LaunchedJuly 29, 2009

History

Dancing Astronaut was started in 2009 by Kevin Kaiser and Senthil Chidambaram as a platform for the emerging electronic dance music culture. As electronic dance music grew in popularity in the United States, Dancing Astronaut became known as the source of information that provided the youth audience with detailed insights into the expanding community. The company was incorporated in 2012 and has 6 founding members: Senthil Chidambaram, Kevin Kaiser, Zeyad Assaf, Tim Lim, Jacob Schulman, and David Giamanco.

In 2012, Billboard Magazine referred to Dancing Astronaut as "The voice of the EDM generation." Profiling the notable companies in the rapidly expanding industry of electronic dance music, Billboard's article titled The Takeover of EDM also praised Dancing Astronaut for its "style that resonates with EDM’s young fan base" and as a "content company with a strong, recognizable brand already in place." Billboard positioned Dancing Astronaut as a valuable asset if it were to be acquired by Robert Sillerman's SFX Entertainment.[1]

In January 2014, Dancing Astronaut re-launched their website to "showcase interactive media in dynamic, innovative ways." Expanding beyond the original blogroll format, Dancing Astronaut introduced a new user experience to change the way its audience engaged with content, creating conversation around news and music.[2] Later that year, Dancing Astronaut was named in the "Top 20 Most Influential Music Blogs" by Digital Music News.[3]

In 2015 it had been rumored that Dancing Astronaut had been acquired by a major event promoter, with speculative parent companies Live Nation, SFX Entertainment, or AEG.[4] The New York Times reported that Dancing Astronaut was "in talks to be acquired by Insomniac, a dance promoter whose majority owner is Live Nation."[5]

Dancing Astronaut has been nominated for Best Music Media Resource at the International Dance Music Awards each year since 2014.[6]

Radio

In January 2012, Dancing Astronaut launched their flagship podcast, Axis, hosting DJ mixes from guest artists on a weekly basis. Syndicated on iTunes and SoundCloud, each episode garners tens of thousands of listeners. Dancing Astronaut has produced over 180 episodes of Axis entering 2017, with guests including Martin Garrix, Afrojack, and others.[7]

Brand partnerships

Dancing Astronaut has been the official media partner various music festivals across the globe including New York City's Electric Zoo, TomorrowWorld, Mysteryland (US) and Ultra Europe. P Diddy’s Revolt network partnered with Dancing Astronaut for their Summer Madness campaign in 2014 to further tap into the dance music audience.[8]

In 2014, Dancing Astronaut was a launch partner of Beats Music, one of the initial brands to serve as guest programmers to the streaming service, alongside outlets such as Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Following Apple’s acquisition of Beats Music, Dancing Astronaut was again tapped as a featured curator of Apple Music upon its launch in 2015.[9]

The mainstream discussion

On June 24, 2012, former Editor-in-Chief Jacob Schulman published an editorial entitled "Dance Music Has Gone Mainstream, But It Doesn’t Have to Sell Out" which addressed the controversy surrounding EDM's rising popularity.[10] The article went viral, becoming Dancing Astronaut's most read article to date, opening the subject for discussion and examination from music critics and cultural experts around the world.[11]

will.i.am controversy

On April 16, 2013, Dancing Astronaut published a report accusing famed producer will.i.am of stealing from the production of "Rebound" by Arty and Mat Zo for his own single, "Let’s Go" featuring Chris Brown. The article provoked instant responses from Chris Brown, who tweeted his defense of participation on the song.[12] Dancing Astronaut's findings were picked up by major US news outlets and became the center of controversy that questioned will.i.am's ethics, ultimately leading to the producer's admission later that month.[13]

Breaking Daft Punk's return

On January 26, 2013, Dancing Astronaut broke the news in the United States that Daft Punk would be leaving their longtime record label EMI to sign with Sony's Columbia Records for the release of their fourth studio album.[14] The break lead to mainstream news outlets reporting on Daft Punk's future plans, as well as an imminent confirmation.[15]

gollark: This may take 190247189037819 aeons.
gollark: I'll go compile it.
gollark: I don't have ircii on my package manager, but "epic4" exists and says "It's a new direction in ircII development".
gollark: Depends what favor, but quite possibly.
gollark: osmarks internet radio™ *is* perfect and without flaw.

References
  1. "The Takeover of EDM". billboard.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  2. "Welcome to the New Dancing Astronaut - Dancing Astronaut". dancingastronaut.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  3. "The Top 20 Music Blogs". Digital Music News. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  4. "Edm Industry Rumor Alert: Dancing Astronaut Sells to Major Event Promoter". www.magneticmag.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. "Influential Site Inhabits Fringe of an Electronic Dance Music Culture". The New York Times. 13 July 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. "31st Annual International Dance Music Awards - Winter Music Conference 2017 - WMC 2017". wintermusicconference.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  7. "Dancing Astronaut Radio by Dancing Astronaut on iTunes". apple.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  8. "Inaugural TomorrowWorld Festival Ups the Ante with Elite VIP Offerings from XS Nightclub and Encore Beach Club: Kirvin Doak Communications". pitchengine.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  9. Singleton, Micah (8 July 2015). "Apple Music review". theverge.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  10. "Editorial: Dance music has gone mainstream, but it doesn't have to sell out - Dancing Astronaut". dancingastronaut.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  11. "Looking Beyond EDM, Hoping The Crowd Will Follow". npr.org. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  12. "Will.i.am rips off Arty and Mat Zo's 'Rebound' for latest single [Updated] - Dancing Astronaut". dancingastronaut.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  13. Mobile, Kia Makarechi Senior Editor for; Innovations; Post, The Huffington (16 April 2013). "will.i.am Accused Of STEALING An Entire Song". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  14. "Daft Punk signs with Sony/Columbia, fourth album to be released this spring - Dancing Astronaut". www.dancingastronaut.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  15. "Daft Punk Signs with Sony/Columbia, New Album Planned for Spring 2013". highsnobiety.com. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
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