Electronic Dance Music gets quite the bad rap from the media. Much of what is portrayed in the news about EDM is negative, whether it is molly overdoses, deaths, drug usage or reports of arrests. Here are 5 particular DJs who are restoring our faith in humanity and bringing positive light on our scene.
1. 3LAU With Pencils of Promise
Justin Blau aka 3LAU has helped raise over $34,000 for a fundraising program called Pencils of Promise which gives one child access to education for one year. Since the beginning, Pencils of Promise has built over 100 schools since starting with just a $25 deposit. Watch the story below to find out more.
2. Tiesto With Dance (RED) Saves Lives
Tiësto and (RED) joined forces to bring us the Dance (RED) Saves Lives album and special sets from the Stereosonic Festival. The album cost $7.99 and all proceeds went to fight AIDS. Alongside Tiësto stood Calvin Harris, Avicii, Diplo, Bono and many others. Tiësto said “[RED] know what they're doing, and they know how to incorporate music. It's definitely important that the EDM scene [is] involved with it.”
3. Avicii's House For Hunger
Avicii was one of the 6 stars to join forces with eBay to help the less fortunate out. Tim Berglin's House for Hunger charity donated all of the proceeds to the FEED Foundation. Here Avicii auctioned off Headphones, tickets, meet and greets and more to raise money. Tim said “I feel very blessed to be in the position that I'm in to begin with, being able to do what I love and traveling around the world seeing all these amazing places and meeting all of these different people from different cultures. Hunger hits everywhere and no country immune to it.” Avicii hoped to raise over a million dollars from this tour.
4. Steve Aoki's Chartiable Fund
Steve Aoki took time away from DJing to form the Steve Aoki Chartiable Fund which helped children in need in Burma, Haiti, Japan, and Uganda. Steve told Life and Times “Every year I will gather research throughout the year in five different areas of funding that needs attention and money. Then, [I] will let my fans choose on where this money will go towards. This idea allows my fans who want to get involved to have to do enough research to pick the charitable area of choice and give them [the] agency to participate in the fund. Hopefully more artists will start funds and give back to communities and research that needs the attention and dough. The main method is taking a dollar from each ticket sale from select shows throughout the year and putting that money into the fund. It’s a bit complicated so it can only be done for certain shows, not clubs, which is why I did it at my birthday show at The Shrine – which is a hard ticket show.”
5. Bassnectar‘s Dollar Per Bass Head Charity
Bassnectar recently donated over $100,000 from the “Bass Bank” which aided numerous charities. Bassnectar said “this is an awesome way to give back, meet new friends, and explore life OUTSIDE the party.”
The concept was simple, for every ticket sold, Bassnectar would donate one dollar to Air Traffic Control which was a nonprofit that empowers artists to make the most of social contributions. Every time the “bass bank” hit $50,000 Bassnectar and his crew would pick three organizations to donate the funds to.
Also check out the companies in EDM who are in it for the social good. The Electric Family bracelets give a portion of their sales to help one of the 16 million children in America that live in households struggling with hunger.
