What do you make of Rolling Stone’s ’50 Most Important People in EDM’ list?

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What do you make of Rolling Stone’s ’50 Most Important People in EDM’ list?

(Photo: Our boi Carl Cox came in at a respectable place of 38 – grooves ensued.)

Following on from Eric Prydz’s epic Rolling Stone debut (listen here, PRYDA 4LYF), Rolling Stone’s romance with EDM entered the perpetual spinning wheel today as they derived their first ever ’50 Most Important People in EDM’ list.

Almost laughably, the Prydz himself didn’t make the cut (really guys?), but there were a great many faces there in his absence. James Murphy, Annie Mac and Daft Punk all made appearances – as well as a whole host of record label owners, promoters and event organisers, Rolling Stone certainly rolled their way through the research with this one.

But the list really got us thinking, just what makes someone ‘influential’ in EDM? Being a master of drops and beats? The skills to utilise one giant fuck-off mouse head? Putting melodies in New York City subway stations? To a degree, yes.

But due to the relatively low number of artists on the list (only Pete Tong and Skrillzy make it to the top 10 in places 7 and 8)- one is reminded of the secret society of flipside figures who engineer the trajectory of our music.

At the top of the list reigns James Barton, the President of Electronic Music for the Live Motion enterprise. Founder of ‘Cream’ nights at Nation in Liverpool and the subsequent initiator of the sponsored seizure the world knows as Creamfields Festival – Barton is one powerful player in the dance music landscape. Naturally, SFX overlord Robert Stillman came up at number 3, sigh.com.

With much contention in the Stoney office, the list got us a little heated about who we’d like to see on there. There may or may not have been Caramello Koala oriented attacks.

Who do you think missed out?

Check out the full list bellow;

50. Thristian Richards and Blaise Bellville, Boiler Room
49. Paul Clement and Nick Sabine, Resident Advisor, Founders
48. Annie Mac, BBC Radio 1, DJ
47. James Murphy
46. Tony Andrews, Funktion-One, Founder
45. Steve Aoki
44. Jason Huvaere and Sam Fotias, Movement
43. Sean Horton, Decibel Festival, Founder
42. Dave Rene, Interscope, A&R
41. Disclosure
40. Afrojack
39. Glenn Mendlinger, Astralwerks, General Manager
38. Carl Cox
37. Kathryn Frazier, Biz3 Publicity and OWSLA
36. A-Trak
35. Vello Virkhaus (V Squared Labs) and Martin Phillips (Bionic League)
34. Richie Hawtin
33. Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf, Spinnin’ Records
32. Many Ameri and Torsten Schmidt, Red Bull Music Academy, Founders
31. Diplo
30. Liz Miller, Big Beat Records, General Manager
29. Nile Rodgers
28. Ash Pournouri, At Night Management, founder
27. Mark Gillespie and Dean Wilson, Three Six Zero Group, Founders
26. Disco Biscuits
25. Gary Richards, HARD, Founder
24. Deadmau5
23. Paul Tollett, Goldenvoice, President
22. Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud, Founder/CEO
21. Maria May, Creative Artists Agency, Senior Agent
20. Matt Adell, Beatport, CEO
19. Daft Punk
18. Disco Donnie Estopinal
17. Neil Moffitt
16. Patrick Moxey, Ultra Music, Owner; Sony Dance/Electronic Music, President
15. Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg, Strategic Marketing Group, Founders
14. Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records, Chairman/CEO
13. Armin Van Buuren
12. Tom Windish and Steve Goodgold, The Windish Agency
11. Dave Grutman, Miami Marketing Group, Founder
10. Amy Thomson, ATM Management, founder
9. Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts, Chairman of the Board and CEO
8. Skrillex
7. Pete Tong
6. Russell Faibisch, Ultra Music Festival, Founder
5. Paul Morris, Founder/President, AM Only
4. Joel Zimmerman, William Morris Endeavor, Head of Global Electronic Music
3. Robert Sillerman, SFX Entertainment, Founder
2. Pasquale Rotella, Insomniac Events, Founder/CEO
1. James Barton, Live Nation, President of Electronic Music

[via Rolling Stone]

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