Derek Lefholz of Embark Music, a full scale music production hub, knows what's happening in the growth of EDM

(Electronic Dance Music) from underground to Mainstream. EDM started out by DJ's mixing high energy beats in their bedrooms. It generated a whole new revenue stream. Acts like Skrillex ( 2012 multi-Grammy winner), Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto and many others have become big stars. Tommy Sunshine predicts "an amazing year for EDM and the emerging culture around it" in a recent Huffington Post article. 1) It appears Embark provides music services across the full visual spectrum, from licensing music for film, TV, game, etc., to creating original soundtracks as well. Would you say you're a one-stop shop? In fact, are you not a full scale music production facility? Yes, we are a one-stop shop for all the music we represent. At Embark Music we provide a lot of custom work in a boutique fashion, meaning we have the complete master and publishing rights for all the music we produce and/or represent. Primarily we focus on Music Production, Music Supervision & Sound Design, with an emphasis on Electronic Music Production, particularly Remixes in the genres of EDM, House, Deep House, Dub, Chill, Drum and Bass and Trance sub-genres. We also represent composers who create all styles of scoring, such as cinematic composition for films, commercials, television, etc., and bands in the genres of Pop, Reggae, Rock and Blues. My brother Dustin and I compose Electronic Music Composition for Film, TV and Commercials as well. 2) Talk about the kind of success you had at the Hollywood in Media Awards in 2011. We were double nominated for Best Dance Song in a remix of "Beautiful Disaster," by Hash Headz, which is Dustin's and my remixing and production moniker. The song was entitled "Beautiful Disaster (Hash Headz Remix)" for the Indie artist Kady Z. Also, an original Trance song, "The Fly," by DegreeZero (a.k.a. Derek), was nominated for Best Techno/Electronic Song. 3) What's the current state of EDM? Strong. We can look at the Winter Music Conference that takes place in Miami. It used to be a three day conference and event and has now grown into a full on week long celebration of EDM. This year it was coined as Miami Music Week, which included the double weekend, 15 year anniversary of Ultra Music Festival. Over 10 million people viewed the live streams on YouTube's UMFTV alone, coupled with the hundreds of thousands of people who descended on Miami. Needless to say, it's blowin' up many markets! It's big and getting bigger! Let's remember this is all relatively new in the States, at least in the Mainstream. It's been huge in the UK for years, I mean Armin van Buuren played to over 1 million people at the 2008 Love Parade in Berlin, playing next to acts such as Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox and other pioneers of the scene. The electronic music scene in the States has been around since the 90's but the events or raves were mostly held at warehouses, hence the term, "underground." 4) What kind of production goes into EDM? Obviously it's electronic, but what does that mean? Mainly the use of analog and digital synthesizers, drum machines and many live instruments and analog gear. Electronic is another way to say digital. Even if an analog synthesizer is used, it's still electronic music since the basic fundamental way the sound is generated is electronics (i.e., the sound is created from oscillators and

voltage). But then I guess every instrument that is not acoustic and/or mic'ed could be deemed the same (electric guitar). Moreover, in my opinion, it's the sound or vibe that the music creates that categorizes it into the Electronic genre. It makes me want to dance. 5) Is it more of a producer's medium than artist/band? Producer yeah, but these days producers are artists so it's all in how you look at it. Bands are still bands but then there is that famous Fatboy Slim song "Funk Soul Brother" that starts with a recording of a fan calling into a radio station asking for the one-man-band. Vocals are the crux of the Electronic production although at times used sparingly. The vocal has much more impact in an electronic production due to the juxtaposition to the very dry and at times anthemic nature of electronic music. 6) I suspect you're a multi-instrumentalist. How much of your work is done using virtual instruments and sample libraries? Virtual instruments a good amount of the time, triggered with MIDI controllers (keyboards, drum pads). But you can't replace the inherent nature and intention of acoustic instruments so those are used as well. Sample libraries are used at times but only to get a certain sound. There's always a negative connotation with samples but as long as they are used creatively I see nothing wrong. For me it is a matter of production style--some tracks call for samples some do not. 7) How do you handle mastering? Do you have a mastering engineer on board or do you send tracks out to a mastering house? I learned all I know about Mastering from my Brother Dustin. Dustin is the man when it comes to production and mastering. He's been a studio engineer (tracking, mixing and mastering) for years and is now a writing partner...a blessing indeed. 8) One of your clients is Elite Model. Needless to say, that's a major client. Talk about your relationship with Elite Model, what kind of music you're providing and how the relationship came to be. We are a partner and the Official Record Label for the Elite Model Look Singapore. We learned of the opportunity through friends and online resources and reached out. After viewing our Beatport Label Page, they got back with a list of songs they wanted to use for their program. There were 16 songs total that they wanted to use for the live Network taping of the Fashion Show Finals that took place in Singapore. This is the company that launched the career of Top Models such as: Cindy Crawford (U.S.), Gisele Bundchen (Brazil), Stephanie Seymour (U.S.). This broadcast will be shown on Network Television in Asia and will be shown in 3D Globally though certain television providers. 14 of the 16 songs were Electronic tracks mainly in the "Minimal" vibe mostly by DegreeZero (that's me). Minimal is a genre built primarily from the techno genre but has a lot of House and Tech House influences and engineering principles applied. Bass is also an important characteristic as I remember this was one of the requested terms (Minimal music with low bass). I guess I should say that bass is critical in EDM requiring a unique understanding of bass and EQ. The track listing for the fashion show, available on an Elite Model compilation released by Embark is as follows: "Totem (Original Mix)," "Desire (Original Mix), "Feel Alright," "Juice," "Desire," (Club House Mix)," "Zulu Nation," and "Cherokee," "Space (Decayed Mix)," all by DegreeZero. Other tracks by other artists include: "Up To Much" and "Orale Vato" by Serset, "Too Many Doors" by Liscris Soul, "Reggae Radio"

by Fortunate Youth, "Been Very (8 The Hard Way)" by Kid Dynamic, 9) Who are some of your other clients and would you say these clients favor EDM over other genres? TigerStorm Productions, Fallbrook Film Festival, KC Chamber of Commerce, Filmworks, A Week With My Father, Play Networks, Disney, Mood Media, to name a few. With respect to EDM, it really depends on the project or the style of music they want or what we pitch, although we are seeing a lot more uses of EDM or Electronic Music in general. 10) In addition to your music being used by clients in the commercial world, are you also getting club play? We do get played by DJ's and have for years. Actually, to get DJ support is something that Electronic Music producers focus on. There are promo pools which used to be known as record pools. These are collectives, now mostly online, where DJ's are members and get advanced or promo copies of new productions. Part of the balance for a DJ is to play cutting edge new music that other DJ's don't have access to or play while dropping some of the hits as well. From the producers standpoint, its always great to get feedback because we love to hear how certain tracks go over live. Because one guy or gal loves something or one crowd eats it up maybe doesn't mean that another will so we like to see those determining factors. 11) What's the difference between EDM and House, Chillout, etc.? What are the defining elements of the EDM genre? EDM is really a new term coined a few years back but recently just accepted. I guess it is better than Techno which is how many people used to refer to Electronic Music. EDM is more encompassing but to producers and DJ's this doesn't mean as much. It is more of a marketing or branding term and can mean any music that is Electronic in nature and makes you wanna Dance. More essential is all the Sub-Genres and where they originated. To be specific, House music was formed in Chicago and New York after the fall of the New York Disco scene in the late 70s to early 80s. However, the Disco scene was instrumental in the beginnings of what is now EDM and House music, and this is where we started to see the beginnings of how DJ's mixed music. DJ's in the Disco scene began mixing over two records to keep the energy going in the club. As House Music formed in Chicago, you saw a lot more 4/4 beats that made mixovers more subtle and transitions more smooth. This is how all DJ's used to mix; with Vinyl (which I'm sure you can imagine was heavy and limited). Now many DJ's utilize CD and live DJ programs like Traktor, Virtual DJ and Ableton where there is only files on the computer, all cued up and triggered by the DJ's. Then there are the DJ's who have became notorious for using premixed sets which is the case with the larger light shows, because many of these shows are time-coded to the musical changes. It's harder to do this when you don't know what songs are next. Let me also just say that there is a certain sub-set of DJ's who do still spin vinyl; this is where the true art is. The art of not knowing what you are going to play and then having to successfully Beat Match and Harmonically Mix one song to the next is a true art and skill. Feeding off the crowd and actually knowing your collection well enough to choose tunes to fit the ever changing vibe of the club or event, there is nothing like that. But to answer your question, all genres really evolved in some way from other subgenres. Almost all can be traced back to House to some degree, and by default, other genres of popular music, including Disco. If you go on Wikipedia and search genres

even as obscure as Complextro, Dubstep, Booty House, Acid House, etc., it will tell you the sub-genres, and if you want a master reference then Wikipedia has one of those as well. 12) Do you consider Embark a record label? That is, do you actually sign, develop and market other artists/bands? Yes, we are a label, but kind of a different label. We don't take any publishing of our artists and all of the albums and releases are artist controlled. We do have the rights necessary to make quick licensing decisions if necessary but we almost always consult with our artists to see if a project is something that interests them and aligns with their career vision (i.e., a shampoo commercial may pay the bills but does it align with the band or artists career path, fan base and marketing vision). This is where a lot of Marketing concepts come into play. I mean, everyone has to eat. But what's more important is longevity of the act and career alignment. By this I mean aligning with projects that make sense for the direction the band, producer and artist want their career to go. So, yeah we do sign, develop and market artists, bands, producers, etc., and distribute them on Beatport and other portals, but in a different way and in a way that can be combined with other methods of their parent label. Really, we sign and work music that can be accepted by the EDM scene but our production focus is still Electronic Music since that is what Dustin and I produce. We use the pseudonyms, DegreeZero, Kid Dynamic, Hash Headz, Umi Roe, Serset, and then of course, Dustin Lefholz. By the way I should state using pseudonyms is common with DJ's and Producers. This is where the term "bootleg" comes from. Stay with me hereso in the days of records there was and still is some "white label" records--records that came with a white label and were released by a DJ or Producer name that you had never heard of before. Many times the tracks would utilize unauthorized samples in the productions and hence...bootleg. I have some white labels that utilize a Led Zeppelin vocal lick but I'm sure this wasn't cleared. Most of these productions were done by big producers with different pseudonyms. This has disappeared a bit but you will still see the term bootleg floating around from time to time. Just look at Fatboy Slim. He has used the pseudonyms: Norman Cook, Cheeky Boy, Chemistry, Disque Attack, DJ Delite. Thus, you might see a song called "Southern Fried Fat (Cheeky Boy Remix) by Fatboy Slim, or by another artist or producer. Sometimes DJ's and producers will produce in many genres and use certain pseudonyms for certain styles or genres. Most of my Drum n Bass and Dubstep productions are produced under the Kid Dynamic pseudonym...now that I've really confused things! 13) What do you think the state of the industry is today, specifically the role major labels play vs. the Indie movement? Are the majors disappearing? Majors are important when you need muscle behind a project, if you want to blow up, if you want an advance, (note that you have to pay for production costs with an advance most times and sometimes have to pay back with interest). Majors have the ability to get you on bigger platforms faster, sometimes they shelve you. When they do this it comes at a cost, unfortunately, usually at the expense of the rights to the music, in particular the Publishing and the Master or control rights to the release and sometimes the career

direction of the artist. Indie, by the term, can sometimes mean a label that isn't so small. There are larger "Indie" labels and then true Indie labels that are hand-to-mouth. Some artists are selfmotivated and can do it themselves. Others want someone else to do it for them. Whatever the case, you have to give somewhere. And if you need or want help with your career, be prepared to pay somebody and/or give up rights to the material. But always try your best to keep your rights, especially your Master and Publishing rights as this is what gives you control over the direction of your career. So what I am saying is that what is desirable for us is non-exclusive deals or exclusive deals with the right circumstances that benefit our creative vision. If you choose to do it yourself, make sure you have a driven attitude. Be prepared to work crazy hours and surround yourself with amazing people and talented friends.