The inaugural Electronic Music Awards founded by legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold

The 2017 Electronic Music Awards was an event 30 years in the making, and it definitely set itself up well for a bright future. The event took many by surprise, as many fans were unaware of the show. Not sure what to expect or what the mood would be like, I tried to dress somewhere down the middle. Not overdressed but something that would blend just well.

The event took place at Willow Studios in the Arts District of downtown LA, and I was taken back. I was attending a rave. I was attending a warehouse party, not an award show.

I had the opportunity to speak with Paul Oakenfold, and he said,

“…this is a celebration of 30 years of electronic music.  So it is not a traditional award show, where we are sitting down for 3 ½ hours watching acts and clapping, because that is not what our community do. This is what our community does…”

And he nailed it. This was a reflection of how it all started. The dancing, live music and an amazing atmosphere as people were buzzing from the moment they walked into the venue.

The award show was spread across three stages encompassing a variety of elements in the dance world: Apocalyptic Junkyard Stage, Electronic Future Tent and Detroit’s Dock Stage that hosted some veterans and big names throughout the night, including Moby, Paul Oakenfold, Orbital, Illenium, Autograf, Kidnap Kid and many others.

My biggest gripe with the show was missing the award show element to see the winners accept their awards. And there were the awards with 9 categories and the winners being:

Bonobo (Album of year)

Eric Prydz (DJ of the year)

Major Lazer + Bieber (Single of the Year)

Sasha (Record of the year); Rufus Du Sol (Live Show of the Year)

Illenium (Remix of the Year)

Electric Daisy Carnival (Festival of the Year)

Alison Wonderland (New Artist of the Year)

Cashmere Cat (Producer of the Year).

This show has the potential of becoming the next MTV music awards, where music is really being honored. Overall, the event was amazing and downtown was brought to life with the sounds of electronic dance music in anticipating what next year will bring.

-Danielle Sanders