There is the phrase -- PLUR (Peace Love Unity Respect) -- which is used by some to describe the ethos of the dance music culture, notably, the rave culture. When things are heading to court, PLUR goes right out the window. Two of the biggest players in United States electronic music are getting set for a major clash over the name Electric Daisy Carnival, which is the driver behind the Insomniac Events company. Gary Richards, head of Hard Events is suing Insomniac Events, headed up by Pasquale Rotella.
Center in the lawsuit is the right to the name Electric Daisy Carnival, a massive EDM festival that has become one the most attended in the world. Potentially equally as important is a clash of ideologies and personalities between the two titans of the west coast electronic music event scene. Richards is more of a musical purist -- apparent in his statements seen in the Hard Summer trailer "its not a rave, it's a music festival" and tabbing live acts like The Weeknd, Schoolboy Q and The Chemical Brothers to perform. Rotella has always been a champion of the rave scene, focusing on the openness and community of his festival experience.
A rivalry has been brewing between the two for years and on April 20, it got ugly when Richards filed a trademark lawsuit to cancel Insomniac's use of the Electric Daisy Carnival name, which Richards founded in 1991.
They have been competitors since the 1990s in the Southern California rave scene when Richards and his partner, Stephen Enos, started throwing events like Electric Daisy Carnival. Richards left the circuit to work at Rick Rubin's Def American label. Rotella picked up the banner for EDC and continued to throw the parties, allegedly getting verbal permission to use the already established name.
Rotella commented on the situation to Billboard, saying that the petition "is being done out of spite."
If all of this wasn't intriguing enough for you, both companies are owned under the Live Nation umbrella of event companies, which could make this ugly when it comes to the nitty gritty of settling things legally.
"Disco" Donnie Estopinal, former partner of Rotela until 2012 and big US EDM promoter, offered insight on the rivalry between the two California titans.
"These rivalries have been going on for decades," he says. "But the level it's at in EDM right now, we're all wondering how long before it begins to hurt the scene."
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