While reading the fourth instalment of Weekly Roundup from my colleague, my attention was warranted by “underground” remixes by artists such as Martin Garrix and Ryos. It’s hardly a rarity to see “Festival mixes” wisely released a couple of weeks after the radio-friendly prototype, intending to satisfy both sides of the fanbase: EDM centered and general audience alike.
Usually, at least on our blog, we positively welcome these versions (because variety is always pleasant to our tastes), but today evidently I woke up having a mood contrary to one said above.

In my head, there are two situations revolving existence of a festival edit for any pop-leaning electronic song. Case 1: the creator went for a delicate creation than usual, and since they are used to a more dynamic and aggressive style, there could be possibilities of tweaking the original version while experimenting. Thus having a VIP edit lying around, they release it after the main version, to quench the intrigue of fans and their own ego, since it (generally) belongs to their prinicipal sound. That’s the festival mix I prefer: genuinely done project that is a win-win situation for most. Pop fans have the alternative they want; underground followers their own. The producer hence get double the streams and revenue, enhancing their reputation in process: Ryos’ version being a fine example for this specific case.

Then there is Martin Garrix’s remix for his Euro 2020 song.

My apology extends to the STMPD boss for the oncoming criticism, as he still is one of the few heavyweights actively involved in working on his music, but this said remix is literally the original version with a mundane Progressive bassline added to the identical structure, sped up. Sounds much like an emergency patch because of Garrix’s core fanbase wanting his progresssive signature. Not an attempt that show much creativity.

And well, he’s not the only instance here. I know *coff Dastic *coff of a “patched up” version released for God-knows-which reason *cofff more revenues *coff. Nicky Romero popularized this strategy to glory: these festival edits are extremely basic and made just for the sake of grabbing more royalty fees and keeping everyone happy.

Personally speaking, I rather prefer some coherence than lower-quality VIP remixes with zero ideas. Otherwise one can create five different versions of the same drop like ANGEMI did in his series (each more passionate than these edits) and let the listener decide. The lack of bolder ingenuity with this decisions needs to be addressed in the scene.

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