Neon lights flashing, colorful bracelets, eccentric costumes and accessories and smiling faces — these are some of the elements that comprise the electronic dance music, or EDM, scene.
Clay Coco, business sophomore; Matt Ford, business sophomore; Cody Pitre, computer engineering sophomore; and RJ Alongi are members of the EDM culture. The gang admired the openness, expressiveness and camaraderie of the culture surrounding EDM so much that they decided to transform their passion into a social media smartphone app called EDMutual.
Coco, Ford and Pitre each shared similar sentiments on why they find the culture surrounding EDM so magnetizing — mainly the affable and accepting demeanor of fellow ravers.
“The best way to describe it is an escape for the weekend,” Pitre said, detailing his affection for the festival experience. “There’s no judgment from the community, and festivals are just a great way to release emotion. It’s also about the loving and caring people and the experiences we share with them.”
Ford said he enjoys attending festivals because it’s about being as happy as possible and “it allows you to go back to the basics and leave everything behind.”
The nature of the EDM/rave culture can best be summed up by its motto, P.L.U.R. — peace, love, unity and respect. Coco said it’s about having an underlying respect for everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from.
The P.L.U.R. philosophy is often reinforced by exchanging “kandies,” colorful beaded bracelets, with other attendees by using a special handshake that ends in interlocking fingers and trading jewelry.
The notion of swapping kandies is actually what sparked the idea behind Coco, Ford and Pitre’s latest creation.
EDMutual is essentially a social network that caters to EDM fans and focuses on advancing concert-going experiences by providing users with festival maps, schedules, upcoming events and news updates. However, the main goal of the app is to connect members of the EDM circuit.
“It’s to connect like-minded, positive people who all share a love and appreciation for music and celebrating life,” Coco said.
Ford said another reason the app was developed was because of the abundance of “missed connections” that happen when meeting someone briefly at a festival. EDMutual allows users to quickly add one another as friends and kindle a long-lasting and meaningful relationship.
Much like Facebook, EDMutual will include profiles and allow users to express their personal views and philosophies. The app will also feature a history of festivals the user has attended, as well as festivals and events they plan to attend in the future.
“We want it to be a friendly social network. It’s a tool that will hopefully open the door to meet up with great people and stay in touch with someone you may have never seen again,” Pitre said.
The app is still in development as of now, but it’s set to launch in less than a month. The app is being developed for both iPhones and Androids and will be available to download for free.
Along with the app, EDMutual will supply festival-related gear for the lowest prices around, according to the group. The merchandise will include goodies like T-shirts, sunglasses and an array of LED products including “Hydraglow,” a CamelBak-style container equipped with LED strips.
The group also hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams and to set an example of loving what they do for a living.
The founders of EDMutual plan on orchestrating future events such as festivals, and as Coco said, “anything can happen — connections have been made and doors are opening.”
“It’s to connect like-minded, positive people who all share a love and appreciation for music and celebrating life.”
