Unpopular opinions

[ceero]

i remember even events like Qlimax 2006 or Sensation Black 2005 selling out within like half an hour. Nuff said

These debates about what is mainstream and what is commercial are just pointless imo. There are different levels of 'mainstream', depending from the size of the audience. Ofc hardstyle is not as mainstream as Dimitri Vegas kind of stuff, but Dimitri Vegas kind of stuff isn't as 'mainstream' as The Beatles, right? Also hardstyle is way more mainstream then Black Metal and Black Metal is also way more commercial then let's say Drone Metal.

[lilfrenchidiot]

i remember even events like Qlimax 2006 or Sensation Black 2005 selling out within like half an hour. Nuff said

These debates about what is mainstream and what is commercial are just pointless imo. There are different levels of 'mainstream', depending from the size of the audience. Ofc hardstyle is not as mainstream as Dimitri Vegas kind of stuff, but Dimitri Vegas kind of stuff isn't as 'mainstream' as The Beatles, right? Also hardstyle is way more mainstream then Black Metal and Black Metal is also way more commercial then let's say Drone Metal.

Love this post

[[]]

Rap music lyrics and trap breaks in hardstyle makes me cringe. Completely takes out of musical context. This is a rave genre... (At least it used to be).

[Ferren]

Commercial is where it become money driven instead of an ideal driven organisation.
Money will always talk and people at ID&T, Q-Dance and all the other organizers needs to get money to keep their staff employed and create big stuff for us to enjoy.

Having Hardstyle go the EDM route was a good move in terms of money making, the EDM bubble is huge.
Its also easier for people to transit from EDM to Hardstyle if they look for a harder sound.
Try to present EDM fans to Techno, will probably not go that well.
But with everything else, that bubble is going to burst sooner or later and then a new business strategy needs to take effect for the next big thing in dance music.
This is just how the music evolve. And the big masses love today's Hardstyle. Nothing will change till that change.

With all that said, I wonder if the sales for Hardstyle has gone down since a few years back. Feels like Spotify is a better substitute to listen to track then to buy it from a music store.
When I'm at Hardstyle.com, I get nervous when thinking about buying a track, dunno if it is a radio edit or a extended version.

[NEKA]

Feels like Spotify is a better substitute to listen to track then to buy it from a music store.

That's because people who buy tracks are a small margin.
They're usually DJ's and/or collectors who prefer physical stuff like albums, vinyls etc.

[lilfrenchidiot]

About the whole commercial discussion, my two cents is that seeing how acts like Sub Zero Project, Radical Redemption, TNT, Dither, Lil Texas get (nearly) as much recognition in the mainstream EDM world as guys like Headhunterz or Brennan Heart, not mentioning guys like Timmy Trumpet playing The Purge or Virtual Self playing fucking I:Gor on big EDM mainstages, I don't think the style is gonna get softer because of the mainstream.

If anything, it will probably get more rave-oriented with influences from other genres but still hard.

[Tomix]

If anything, it will probably get more rave-oriented with influences from other genres but still hard.

I wonder how people define the word rave nowadays. I think it has become a buzzword, and appealing trendy epithet to call themself one while long lost its original meaning and feel

[lilfrenchidiot]

If anything, it will probably get more rave-oriented with influences from other genres but still hard.

I wonder how people define the word rave nowadays. I think it has become a buzzword, and appealing trendy epithet to call themself one while long lost its original meaning and feel

Yeah you're right. I meant it as more drop and kick-part focused rather than melodies.

[ceero]

What I'm really praying for is that this fusion of techno and early hardstyle producers like T78 (and a lot of others) are pushing would become a thing. I do like the kick focused hardstyle you guys are talking about but the 20 second drops are kinda ruining the thrill for me. Except also focusing on the kicks, techno also has proper, progressive, danceable parts and these early hs flavored tunes are taking hardstyle right where it belongs in my books.

[Reverse Ghost]

What I'm really praying for is that this fusion of techno and early hardstyle producers like T78 (and a lot of others) are pushing would become a thing. I do like the kick focused hardstyle you guys are talking about but the 20 second drops are kinda ruining the thrill for me. Except also focusing on the kicks, techno also has proper, progressive, danceable parts and these early hs flavored tunes are taking hardstyle right where it belongs in my books.

It would be very nice for a return to form, since there used to be a decent number of Hardstyle tracks that sounded almost like Techno. See: Speedwave - Junior (Second Switch Mix), Philippe Rochard & Max B. Grant - Maximizer (Philippe Rochard Mix), The Raiders - Salamandra (Hardstyle Masterz Remix), and The Raiders - Speaker Leader (Speaker Mix).