French dance/pop icon David Guetta has signed an expanded 360º deal with EMI which will involve the major label launching spin-off Fuck Me I’m Famous parties and merchandise lines around the world.
EMI France boss Oliver Montfort suggested the arrangement will ‘strengthen their involvement on dance music at a time when dance and house are very much at the centre of youth and popular culture’, a point endorsed by overall EMI boss David Kassler.
“You only have to attend one of the club nights in Ibiza to understand the importance of FMIF (Fuck Me I’m Famous) to dance music fans,” the CEO of EMI Music Europe/ROW commented (in a press release issued this week).
“Cathy (Guetta) and David have done a great job establishing it as such a strong brand in Ibiza, and everybody at EMI is excited about working in collaboration with them to take it on to the next stage of its development,” he added.
The pop dance supremo received the qualified support of British techno don Dave Clarke this week, who discussed him during a panel on authenticity at the Amsterdam Dance Event.
“He plays shit music,” said Dave, “but he's a nice guy," he claimed (Ibiza-voice.com: http://bit.ly/bvlLpS )
Birmingham raised tech-house type Steve Lawler was similarly ambiguous about Guetta and the influence he’s having on persuading US hip hop and R&B artists to use elements of house and techno, in an interview with LA Times’ dance critic Dennis Romero.
“In one breath, it’s a good thing because it’s introducing new people to electronic music, but on the other part I feel like something has been stolen,” Lawler explained.
“Because something that we have nurtured and created in the basements of the world is now being capitalized, marketed to death and commercialized and used solely to make money.”
http://www.djmag.com/news/detail/2327
