Billboard ran into EDM star Gareth Emery with his day-to-day, Josiahs Porter, and his manager, Brett Fisher, both of Three Six Zero Group (the management, publishing , recording and production team in partnership with Roc Nation) in the middle of a press run in the media area, following Emery’s packed set at the Sahara tent. Emery was still glowing — he showed us a photo from on-stage of the wave of people in front of him. And the team had reason to celebrate: on April 1, Emery’s album, “Drive,” topped the iTunes dance chart.
“Everything’s been gearing towards this festival,” said Porter. “The crowd response was incredible. He’s very happy. We’re very happy.”
Fisher was equally onboard. “I just think it’s cool that you have the mix here — the most indie rock grimy gritty music playing next to these EDM artists,” he said. It’s cool to see the marriage of the two coming together. In a perfect world you’re getting the fans from different genres culminating on your stage.”
The Coachella drop’s a huge part of Emery’s launch strategy. Porter said, “The main thing really for us is that this is a tastemaker festival. This is the one that everyone wants to play, so to be able to play it, we’re pretty fucking honored to do it. It’s been a goal for him for quite some time now. Now that he’s done it, it’s a big stress relief. It’s also his wife’s 30th birthday as well, and that was a good celebration, too. Doing this leads us into the festival season with a good start. It’s April, and shit’s moving really really well.”
That said, Porter’s a bit skeptical about the state of EDM at the moment. “I think as you’ll see this week, I’m sure, you’re probably going to hear a lot of the same records. There’s a lack of gatekeeperness,” he said, before a bit of spin, “there are some really exciting acts on the bill that we’re looking forward to seeing. We’ll leave it at that.”
Of course, Emery’s gearing up for much much more this summer. “We can’t announce [everything] right now, but we’re pretty much doing the whole schedule,” Porter confirms. “We have a June tour, then we go to Australia in July and then in May we start his UK tour, so, it’s touring the album heavily through the end of the year.”
