One of the most outspoken critics of the EDM boom has to be DJ Sneak. The Chicago house veteran has shared his thoughts on the commercial boom on many occasions. In March, he got the 'debate' going with pointing to the 'House' part of Swedish House Mafia's pseudonym.
In an interview to DJ Mag, Sneak said: “It’s a sad thing when the Swedish House Mafia is being paid big money to come to the U.S. to play house music. For the record, they do not play house music.” This was the cataclysm which started a series of angry back and forth arguments. When SHM announced their hiatus to pursue individual careers, Sneak cheered with a post: “TODAY HOUSE MUSIC WINS!!!”
You can imagine Sneak's face when he heard that they're going to have a 'farewell' tour, with lots and lots of extra dates because of unforeseen demand. Regardless of what Angello, Axwell and Ingrosso have said - the hiatus was in large part a marketing move and a successful one at that.
Although, Ingrosso seems to think that Sneak's arguments, the talk in first place, was also a marketing decision. Inthemix did an interview with Ingrosso recently. Of course the question about the 'dialog' came up: “To be honest with you, [Sneak] is a smart man. He just went on us because he gained around 6,900 followers in one week. So that was just a marketing thing. It was a great marketing plan from his side, I must give him that. But I think that he is a f*cking douchebag, also.”
The Swede added his thoughts on the issue with his general view on haters: “I’m sorry if we made a hit! What should we do? We just make music for what we feel, that’s why SHM became big in the first place. You had trance guys who made big melodies, but we kind of put that into big room house music. Some techno guys hate on the successful DJs and I’m sorry, but why? For what reason? It’s like, ‘Oh I hate Jay-Z because he is a rapper and he’s so successful.’ How can you hate someone’s music? It’s weird. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. Don’t punish yourself!”
So we can't be totally sure who is speaking their mind or just marketing.. maybe it's both. Reserve judgment, though, DJ Sneak is a veteran of the scene who's contributed to house music in large quantities. The thing is, it shouldn't be about putting labels like 'winners' or 'losers' on anybody who is at this high level. While Angello, Axwell and Ingrosso are among the best 30 in The Official DJ Rankings, DJ Sneak is at a more than respectable 305th spot. All these guys have made it into the big league. But it's kind of obvious that these kind of feuds pop up in light of the EDM boom. There's probably a lot of old school house DJs who are ticked off by neon-fur and stadiums foreshadowing the close-knit school's of Chicago and traditional house music. There's no need to worry, though. Nowadays, the abundance of music is so great, that arguing about genre-labels isn't a very lucrative activity ..unless it helps marketing, of course.