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Forget The Bossa Nova, Brazil Is Now The Country Of Electronic Music - Forbes

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Forget The Bossa Nova,

Brazil Is Now The
Country Of Electronic
Music
FEB 27, 2012 @ 6:46 PM

26,780 VIEWS

Anderson Antunes
CONTRIBUTOR

Business & Wealth News From Brazil

FOLLOW ON FORBES(240)
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are
their own.

FULL BIO

AsceneoffullhouseatGreenValley,namedBrazil'sbest
club

When you think of Brazil, you may

think of it as the South American
birthplace of music genreslike the
samba or bossa nova. But for the past
few years, Brazil has become one of
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the meccas of electronic music too. A

title that it now shares with the likes of
Germany, France and the United
States, where e-music is not only a
controversial topic (isitaformofart
ornot?) but also big business.
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According to a study commissioned by

the organizers of the Rio Music
Conference, the largest gathering of emusic and entertainment in the
Southern Hemisphere, which is taking
place this month in Rio de Janeiro,
ticket vendors collected $515 million
for electronic music events in 2011, up
56.64% from the previous year. The
study also shows that the e-music
segment in Brazil reached an audience
of 19.5 million people last year, who
spent another $626 million on
accommodation, food, transportation
and other items. Sponsoring
investments, the cream of the crop for
these events, was also up to $270
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million, an increase of 60% compared

to 2010.
The growing e-music industry in the
country of Carnival is also good news
for international DJs such as David
Guetta, Ferry Corsten, Sven Vath,
Erick Morillo, Fatboy Slim, Bob
Sinclair, Armin van Buuren, The
Prodigy, Kaskade and Nalaya, all of
whom have performed there recently,
commanding fees of up to $100,000
per gig. In total, the collective sum
paid to DJs who performed in Brazil in
2011 was $57.2 million, 79.9% more
than 2010.
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But why has Brazil become such a

hotspot for e-music professionals? In
spite of its populations predilection
for late-night dance parties, the
countrys sizzling economy has a lot to
do with it. Most of the bash-goers who
attend e-music events in Brazil are
twenty or thirty-something, wellheeled, middle-class citizens who
dont mind paying a fairly high price
for fancy fare (tickets for a David
Guetta concert held in Sao Paulo last
month were sold for up to $600 per
person). Add to this the fact that
nearly 40 million people have joined
Brazils middle class since 2003, and
you have a wealth of assets.
Its also worth noticing that Brazils
nightclubs are among the top rated
worldwide. Ten years after its opening,
Sao Paulos Disco club is still one of
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the favorite destinations for the citys

sailing, polo-playing smart set, also
attracting international celebrities
such as supermodels Gisele Bundchen
and Naomi Campbell. The clubs
futuristic interior was designed by Isay
Weinfeld, one of Sao Paulos most
sought-after architects, and it includes
a 20 sq-meter panel by the Campana
brothers.
Those who favor the slightly grimier,
more underground end of the clubbing
spectrum are habitus of the D-Edge
club, also located in Sao Paulo. With
LED panels synced to the beats, Daft
Punk decor and doors that stay open
until noon, D-Edge which was
opened in 2003 became the
ultimate clubbing address for the citys
discerning e-music aficionados.
But few places in Brazil have
experienced such a dynamic growth in
the e-music business as the city of
Balneario Camboriu, a busy summer
resort that is fast becoming Brazils
answer to Miami. Located in he
biggest tourist region in the south of
the country, Balneario Camboriu hosts
more than one million Brazilian and
foreign tourists every year, a lot of
them visiting just for enjoying its
nightlife. The city, which is located in
the state of Santa Catarina, is the
home of the two best clubs in Brazil,
according to the bible of electronic
music, Britains DJ Magazine.
The Green Valley club, which is listed
by the publication as the third best
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club in the world, occupies a gigantic

tarpaulin-covered arena at the foot of
a giant valley dense with lush
rainforest and surrounded by
numerous bars on wooden platforms.
Handpicking only the most
internationally recognized DJ talent,
Green Valley can pull in up to $1.6
million per night. The other club is
Warung, which is actually located in
the division between Balneario
Camboriu and its neighboring city of
Itajai. Filled with to the brimwith
VIPareas, Warung consistently
delivers something more refined
hosting residencies from the worlds
biggest underground club brands.
Andas the well-known capital of emusic in Brazil,Balneario Camboriu is
just about to get an upgrade: Ibizas
Space club partnered up with a group
of Brazilian nightlife developers in a
new $3.5 million venue set to be
inaugurated next October in the city,
in an area of over 1.7 million sq-feet,
while the nightclub franchise Pacha
Group, which is also based in the
Spanish island, is already considering
the possibility of investing there as
well.
Electronic music has been taking over
the hearts and minds of youths all over
the world for some time now.
Originating over 30 years ago in urban
Chicago and Detroit, the concept was
designed to reassemble mundane
disco tracks and give them greater
appeal to those tired of listening to
music about heartbreak, and looking
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to feel liberated as an individual.

In Brazil as the numbers prove
the partys just begun.

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