In an article written by Todd VanDuzer titled “EDC, PLUR, And The Rapid Growth Of EDM Culture” on the huffingtonpost.com, he states that over 400,000 people attended EDC Las Vegas this year and what once was a small gathering of 5000 people 20 years ago has now generated $1.3 billion for the local economy according to Beacon Economics and has drawn more than 1.7 million people to it’s Las Vegas location. Those are some crazy numbers if you ask me but what I believe that keeps EDM and its festivals so popular today and continuously growing at a huge rate, is the culture that runs it all. Culture is the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. The culture has been compared to the hippie era as I’ve said in a previous post, which isn’t all that far off from what it really is. But there is one main principle and acronym that supports the culture itself. That would be “P.L.U.R.”. P.L.U.R. stands for peace, unity, love and respect. I mean what more can you say about it? This is what people expect of you when you attend the events and if  you stick by it, the world will follow and be a better place. From my 6 years of attending music festivals, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen one physical fight at any event. I truly think that speaks a lot for the acronym itself because no matter the problem or issue we have, we resort to P.L.U.R. resolve in the most sincere way and that’s with peace, love, unity and respect. In an interview done with Bro Safari a popular DJ and someone who’s DJ’d at EDC Las Vegas, he says “Not to sound cliché, but PLUR actually does resonate with the audience heavily. Everyone is here for the music but they are also here for their friends and the overall experience. That has to be the reason it is still going strong years later.” Even the musicians understand the culture and concept which I believe rubs off on the fans themselves because a lot of us idol them and what they portray is what we will take in.

Below I’ve put a link which I think everyone should watch. It is a documentary created by Pasquale Rotella the founder of EDC. It’s titled Under The Electric Sky and it portrays the culture of EDM festivals today but also follows a few festival goers through their entire EDC experience from the moment the get to the festival til’ the day they leave. It is truly an amazing documentary put together and will teach all about the festival and everything it involves.

• Header picture was taken by me at Ultra Music Festival showing the unity between the thousands of people all dancing to one DJ.