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Music

Mat Zo Thinks Electronic Music Has Rotten Teeth—And He Wants to Be the Dentist

Is this the EDM whistleblower we've been waiting for, or is he just ranting?

Mat Zo has had enough—and he wants you to know about it. Starting over the weekend, the London producer has been steadily unleashing a series of refreshingly honest tweets about how fucked up the electronic music industry has become. "Electronic music has rotten teeth that need to be pulled," he tweeted.

Zo's gripes center around the irony that dance music, as an underground culture, was once a safe haven for nerds and freaks who didn't fit in. But now, with EDM's commercial success around the globe, the culture is being ruled by the people they were trying to escape from.

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Electronic music used to be a bunch of nerds/geeks/outliers, and I have a lot invested in trying to keep it that way
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

The cool people came with their money and ghost producers and us nerds had to start competing with then
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

DJs complaining about EDM's stupidity is nothing new (here's a list of ten respected DJs doing exactly that). However, Zo goes one step further, calling out specific artists who happen to be some of the biggest artists in the world.

I had great electronica role models growing up, cus they were in the spotlight. The spotlight is now on a bunch of fakes
— . (@Mat_Zo) June 2, 2015

Zo starts with the human V-neck t-shirt himself, Tiësto:

.@tiesto once said to me "those trance guys are a bunch of old losers" maybe cus they stuck with their passion and didn't go chasing pussy
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

More people should know what these frauds are really thinking
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

For too long these guys have pretended make their own music succeeded and leave us actual producers to struggle
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

Funny how when I joke about producing for @krewella blogs go crazy but when I call out @tiesto they go silent. Interesting
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

Next, he moves on to another EDM bigwig and (erstwhile) trance DJ, Markus Schulz:

In my time dealing with @MarkusSchulz he tried to trap me in a contract with armada, call me a rookie, give me terrible advice
— . (@Mat_Zo) June 1, 2015

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Everyone else I know thats worked with him thinks he's a dick
— . (@Mat_Zo) June 1, 2015

I'm just getting him back for those years of my life wasted @MarkusSchulz
— . (@Mat_Zo) June 1, 2015

According to Zo, the good guys are few and far between:

Guys like @skrillex @aboveandbeyond @ericprydz @deadmau5 are some of the only real people who headline festivals
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

Oh, and Diplo is a not-so-good-but-still-good guy:

Not all DJs with ghost producers are frauds btw, @diplo is a good example. He built his career on being different and playing what he wants
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

You think @diplo is all butthurt cus I said he has ghost producers? Nah, this is shit hes said in interviews, he knows where his skills lie
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 30, 2015

When Diplo subtweeted Zo, he quickly fired back:

. @diplo great music takes time, and what looks like complaining is actually someone just standing up to you for the first time in years
— . (@Mat_Zo) June 3, 2015

Of course, Deadmau5 had to chime in.

I complained about shit before it was cool. lols were had, but then i got to work making the changes i complained about. there you go Zo.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) June 3, 2015

Soon, they were engaged in a full-fledged twit-war.

.@Mat_Zo here's a thought… start your own label and put your own shit out. At the stage you're at in the game, shouldn't be that difficult.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) June 3, 2015

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@Mat_Zo the world I'm in is the one i made. start centering your view on yours. 1 less megalomaniac i have to fuckin deal with.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) June 3, 2015

. @deadmau5 besides yourself?
— . (@Mat_Zo) June 3, 2015

Zo wants to be clear that he isn't talking shit.

People think they have no power to change things because the fanbase is uneducated. Well, whos gonna educate them, promoters?
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 30, 2015

Most promoters got into dance music for the same reasons I did, and they feel powerless too. They know people need educating
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 30, 2015

Because people need to know what kind of fuckwittery is happening behind-the-scenes:

Btw, you know you can pay to headline a festival. Many big names do it to secure the best slots, its about $100,000
— . (@Mat_Zo) May 29, 2015

For now, it looks like Zo has put a cap on this round of tweets. This isn't the first time that he's spoken out against the widespread use of ghost producers and mixers in electronic music; in 2014, he admitted to using ghost mixers for his radio show, saying the practice made him feel disconnected and lost. The real question is: will Zo's attempt at whistle-blowing actually make a difference, or will the dance music industry shrug its shoulders and return to business as usual?

Mat Zo on Twitter

_Michelle Lhooq is THUMP's Features Editor. You can follow her and her verbal dentistry on Twitter._