The State of Nightlife 2015 - Absolute Labs

Absolut has been about inclusivity and
nightlife dating back to its roots in New
York City in the Eighties, when clubs like
Studio 54 and Area attracted an eclectic
crowd - uptown/downtown, black/white,
straight/gay... everyone could be equal
on the dancefloor.
This report is our attempt to capture
the rich and exciting state of nightlife
in the U.S.A right now - when
technological change offers the
chance to take experience to new
heights, when there are more diverse
voices in the mix than ever before.
Today our mission is the same – to
make nightlife more inclusive and more
innovative. That’s why we launched
Absolut Labs, an idea incubator and
think tank to develop cutting-edge
products, experiences and technology
that help people create and deepen
social connections.
We hope it will inspire you as much
as it has inspired us.
Afdhel Aziz
Brand Director,
Absolut Labs
www.theabsolutlabs.com
ABOUT THIS REPORT
“The most interesting and
memorable events are ones
that are open to participation
from its attendees.This always
leads to something that’s truly
one of a kind.”
Tim Shilstone,
Founder/Partnerships at Something Different Brooklyn NY
The State of Nightlife 2015 is
focused on understanding how
the people shaping nightlife across
the country currently view and
experience the culture as well as
hearing their personal visions for
the not too distant future.
As more of our lives are spent with
our heads bent over a small glowing
rectangle, the need to unplug and be
present is becoming essential.
Nightlife is no different. In fact,
nightlife may be more susceptible to
being disconnected than other cultural
artforms. There has long been an
element of see and be seen present in
clubs around the country. From the line
outside, to the tables in the VIP, status
and appearance have come to govern a
large portion of club culture. Add social
media to this environment and what was
once confined to the inside of a club is
now splashed across your own social
channels for all of your friends to see.
After all, if you didn’t instagram it,
were you really there?
A new generation of promoters, DJs,
and concept creators are bringing
people party concepts that aim to
combat the passivity of experiencing life
through a phone. They aim to keep the
audience on their toes - crossing genres
and hosting parties in pop-up and nontraditional venues. They are building
parties designed to get you out of your
phone and into the party; on the dance
floor, feeling the music, and making faceto-face connections.
Experience is becoming the new luxury.
In place of watches, cars and other
traditional status symbols, people are
beginning to place more value on the
intangibles: concerts, exploring a new
city, getting outdoors, spending time with
friends in a nice coffee shop. These are
the new signs of a life well-lived.
To be clear, this isn’t to discredit the
role of emerging technology in nightlife
culture. Technology has made it far
easier to promote, find and amplify
parties, concerts, and experiences. It has
allowed DJs to carry around a truck full
of vinyl on a thumbdrive. It has improved
the general quality of PA systems in
venues around the country. Mobile
apps like Shazam allow you to instantly
identify that underground remix the
DJ just dropped and then buy it on
iTunes.On the balance of things,
technological developments have
greatly improved nightlife.
The trick is to strike a balance between
technology that is additive to the
experience and technology that detaches
people from the moment.
This is the state of nightlife in 2015.
EXEC U T I V E
SUMM A RY
The following report is intended to open
up the the conversation around the
possibilities and challenges in nightlife.
In it, we’ve described nine key trends
organized around three macro themes:
music, experience and venue.
Backed by industry experts and
interviews with 100 key nightlife
influencers across the US, each of the
trends point to potential opportunities
to help people spark and deepen
relationships in new and
richer ways.
MU SIC
Each of the three pillars are defined
as follows:
MUSIC: Music is the fuel that drives
the experience, whether it is live music
or a DJ.
VENUE: The venues range from the
traditional (club, bar, house party)
to the non-traditional (pop-ups,
warehouses)
E X PE
V ERIE
N UN
E CE
EXPERIENCE: The ‘experience’ is
defined as the elements that make up
a nightlife experience beyond the music:
the theme, the decor, the technology.
E X PE
V ERIE
N UNC
E E
K E Y T H E M ES
D RI V I NG NI G H T L IF E
MU SIC
The [Almost] Post EDM Landscape
The Rise of the Open-Format Party
Visuals: No Longer an Afterthought
VENUE
Nostalgia and The House Party
The Demise of The Club and The
Birth of The Alternative Venue
The Not Just Music Festival
E X PE RIE N CE
Unplugging and Mindfulness
Hyper-Local Goes Global
Diversity of Voices
RES E A RC H
STRU C T U R E
How is the research structured?
The form of the research was
foundational, which provides a deep
understanding of the target group
through one-to-one interviews and open
format questions.
The research questions are structured
to explore:
Mental models: personal ideas
of how things work in the world
Motivations: why people behave
the way they do
Goals: objectives driven by
motivations
The target group was identified
according to four ‘Tribes’ - beatmakers,
party fixers, visual stage acts and
nightclub owners - in order to get a
holistic understanding of the landscape
and discover new products, services
and/or experience opportunities.
T R I B ES & I N S I G HT
GAT H E R I N G
Nightlife Fuelers
Nightlife Makers
Beat makers — Emerging music
producers and DJs that are up and
coming but not yet recognized producers
and performers with a passion for music.
Party Fixers — Party fixers are the
concept creators and promoters who
both make the experience with their
own personal touch and get the crowd
to come have a good time. You can find
them in most cities around the world.
Visual Stage Acts — Acts within various
fields, from immersive environments,
interaction design, live branding
and live audio-visual performances.
Consists of multimedia designers, artists,
programmers and performers.
Nightclub Owners — Owners of
nightclubs and global hot spots. Very
well connected individuals within the
music and nightlife scene. They enable
social connections through their club
nights and events.
BEATMAKERS
PARTY FIXERS
VISUAL
STAGE ACTS
NIGHTCLUB
OWNERS
MUSIC
Today, music is trending towards
a post-genre environment, meaning
that the strict categories of the past are
quickly blurring. The pervasiveness of
readily available streaming services
like Spotify, Rdio and Soundcloud, music
discovery platforms like Shazam, digital
retailers like iTunes and Beatport, and
the subsequent portability of music is
creating opportunities for sounds and
styles to be fused, borrowed and played
with, by anyone, more easily than
ever before.
Those who grew up on hip-hop, rock,
pop, and electronic can borrow at will
from the diverse array of sounds at their
disposal. Musicians who effortlessly
blend influences from Electronic to Rock
to Hip Hop, like FKA Twigs or Jamie XX,
or groups like Bob Moses that combine
live vocals and instrumentation with
electronic-leaning production methods
are coming to the fore.
The impact of this portable sound
and mixing of genres on the nightlife
landscape at large is also seen in the
diversity of locations in which artists are
comfortable playing. Performers who
are equally at home on a small rooftop
party in Brooklyn as they are on a stage
at Mysteryland Festival in front of tens of
thousands of people.
We see this mash-up of locations
and music to be reflective of a wider
experimentation with technology and
the way it is being used to enhance our
environment.
THE [ALMOST] POST
EDM LANDSCAPE
“I find it very exciting because
I get to play the music I grew up
loving which is everything from
classic R&B to Reggae to some
old school Hip Hop to House to
African dance music.”
DJ MOMA, Co-Founder Everyday PPL, NYC
The EDM wave really took off in the
United States in 2012. David Guetta and
Calvin Harris each had 3 tracks chart
in Billboard’s year end top 100 songs.
Dance music, long a staple in European
cities like Berlin and Amsterdam, blended
with pop music resulting in a Festival
MainStage, radio-friendly sound that
resonated with a US audience in a way
no dance music had since the death of
disco in the 1970s.
Beyond EDM festivals like Ultra, Electric
Zoo and EDC, clubs quickly picked up on
the EDM boom, booking big-name DJs
for tours and residencies with talent fees
that could put someone through a 4-year
private college. In the intervening years,
EDM has become inexorably linked with
the status-driven bottle service scene.
Dissatisfied with the formulaic nature of
an EDM top-40 crossover, a new wave of
artists, promoters, and concept-founders
are moving beyond EDM and basic club
nights in 2015. In fact, the growth of EDM
slowed from 2013 to 2014. Hip-Hop in
particular is undergoing a resurgence as
a return to classic DJ techniques gains
traction with smaller independent parties.
We are witnessing a resurgence of
daring and musicality in the US.
At the musical forefront of this
groundswell is classic Hip-Hop and
R&B. There is an innocence and lightheartedness present in hip-hop and R&B
that makes it great party music. As the
hours of nightlife extend, into brunches
and day parties, the music programming
has to stretch with it. These throwback
vibes and sounds can conjure a lowkey summer BBQ as easily as they can a
night out with friends. This versatility has
launched the sounds of the 90s back into
our zeitgeist.
To be clear, electronic music still has a
large role to play in nightlife culture. In
nightclubs and more party-ready bars
across the country it is very much the
music du-jour, the soundtrack to a big
night out.
“Yes, yes. Every club here offers an EDM
night, every single one. There was one
club that was a really strong Hip-Hop
club, the Compound, they have Drake
and Future and all those guys every
week. They were notorious for having all
kind of celebrities. And the owners just
said that they were going to attract a
different demographic on Friday nights.
So Friday nights they started doing an
EDM night. It was huge.”
Andrew Parkin, Atlanta, GA
Atlanta is a traditionally hip-hop driven
market, long known for artists from
across the Hip Hop and rap spectrum
like Outkast, Ludacris, and Wacka
Flacka Flame. The penetration of EDM
into Hip Hop’s stronghold shows the
pervasiveness of EDM in nightlife today.
But it also highlights a saturation point,
where the bubble is about to burst.
THE RISE OF THE
OPEN FORMAT PARTY
“Events with a concept, mission
statement or reason to believe.”
“Just the energy and people really
coming to enjoy good music. I think that
that’s probably the driving factor. Also
I throw a party that’s very niche in its
music selection and the response is great
because people are going for the music
first and then that’s kind of a draw to
present them with other things.”
“In nightlife, you will find of a lot of
artists, a lot of people in fashion, singers,
song-writers, people in the arts etc. But
also a lot of honest hard-working citizens
with 9-5 who have artistic tendencies.
We try to create a space where we can
bring these folks together; a space for
them to mix and match.”
Samantha Duenas, DJ sosupersam, Los Angeles
DJ MOMA, Co-Founder Everyday PPL, NYC
But what makes an open-format party so
appealing?
Playing multiple genres creates a really
powerful melting pot. Open-format
parties tend to draw a more creative
crowd: club kids, Hip-Hop heads, artists
and designers, the programming at
an open-format appeals to those who
welcome a little bit more lateral thinking
than an EDM night at a big club.
Harry Benson, Brand Partnerships, Boiler Room London
As the music that people play diversifies,
and audiences become more openminded, nightlife programming is
beginning to adjust in-step with this
new post-genre landscape. The result
is a resurgence of open-format parties.
Featuring line-ups with DJs from different
disciplines side-by-side, or even
individual artists spinning Hip-Hop, Funk,
R&B, and Electronic music within the
same set.
LA is currently the epicenter of the openformat party, with 10 year old mainstays
like The Do Over, namechecked
repeatedly by nightlife makers and
nightlife fuelers interviewed. Party
concepts like The Do Over are, however,
spreading across the country, with NYC
editions and other promoters trying to
re-create the welcoming, anything goes
vibes that radiate out from an openformat party.
Certainly the music has something to do
with it. Drawing from a variety of genres
keeps things more interesting. The music,
constantly in flux, draws you back in.
When the audience is kept on their toes,
the experience is more engaging. Just
when you think it’s cool to open up your
phone and fire off a tweet, the DJ can
throw a 180, going from some old school
R&B to a Hip Hop track that
really blows up the club. In this way,
open-format parties keep their audience
more present. You go to be surprised. You
go to enjoy the music. Instead of being
part of the background noise at a club,
the music at open-format parties are
central to the experience.
But the power of an open-format party
transcends the music. The music may be
at the heart of the open-format concept,
but it has a knock-on effect that bleeds
through the entire experience. By their
very nature, open-format parties have a
way of drawing a more diverse crowd.
And with the expanding hours of nightlife,
when parties are often held in afternoons
and early evenings, in warehouses and
outdoor settings, there is less pretension
in the crowd. There is less ‘see and be
seen’ at these party concepts. They are
much more about being present, having
a good time. This is something we can all
get behind. Grab a few friends and
have a good time. No pressure, just
positive vibes.
VISUALS: NO LONGER
AN AFTERTHOUGHT
Visuals from Porter Robinson’s Worlds Tour
created by Invisible Light Network
In step with the growing trend for
more holistic music experiences is a
rise in prominence of the gifted artists
previously behind the scenes. VJs,
technicians, and visual artists are now
the ones that take a band or DJ’s set from
average to unforgettable. In nightlife
today it is no longer enough to get on
stage and play with a simple light set-up.
The artists that are differentiating their
live shows are the artists that create an
immersive, multi-sensory experience.
people’s phones an active part of the
concert, utilizing the audience’s thoughts
and creativity to shape the visuals.
A new generation of artists are acting
more as curators than traditional
musicians, considering each aspect of
their live set. Artists like Porter Robinson
and Eric Prydz are building their tour
concepts around the work of visual
artists, creating an alternate reality for
fans; as much a cinematic experience
as a concert.
Elsewhere, more traditional visual artists
are becoming prominent figures in
nightlife. In Miami, the world of fine art is
beginning to shape nightlife, particularly
in the Wynwood district:
Similarly, Dan Deacon created an app to
accompany his tour. His app transformed
attendees’ phones from a distraction into
a feature of the show. The app created a
synchronized light show out of everyone’s
phones — expanding the stage and
creating a richer, more immersive concert
experience.
“There are restaurants opening on
every corner, art galleries, events
every weekend. A lot of artists are up
and coming, there are murals coming
up like every week, and a lot of great
“We’ve seen a huge growth in the VJ, or
visual performer, being more a part of the Miami based artists are starting to get
recognition. A lot of events are revolving
actual touring act, which is really cool
around these artists now.”
because I remember when there were
only a few DJs touring with their own
Christina Hernandez/DJ VakDevi on Klangbox.fm
visuals and collaborating together.”
Vello Virkhaus, Founder V Squared
As people clamber for more holistic
cultural experiences over simple concerts
(Source: Interview from The Music Ninja)
or clubs, the importance of visual artists
and technologists will continue to grow.
Some artists are taking this integration
beyond on-stage visuals to the
audience’s personal devices. When
Childish Gambino toured his latest album
Because The Internet, there was an app
to accompany the show. Titled “The
Deep Web Tour” people could tweet,
take pictures, and see their thoughts pop
up behind the the artist. The app made
A new generation of promoters, DJs,
and concept creators are bringing
people party concepts that aim to ‘think
outside the box of the megaclub’. They
aim to keep the audience on their toes
- crossing genres and hosting parties in
pop-up and non-traditional venues.
They are building parties designed to get
you out of your phone and into the party.
We are seeing the return of the house
party, that intimate, hyper-personal
experience which doesn’t require a
guestlist or paying exorbitant prices for
drinks; we are seeing promoters boldly
breaking ground by using non-traditional
venues to create subversive, underground
experiences which get you on the dance
floor, feeling the music, and making
face-to-face connections.
VEN
UE
NOSTALGIA AND
THE RETURN OF THE
HOUSE PARTY
“Everyone remembers that one just
outrageous house party, whether it’s
New Year or was like some random
weekend or homecoming. It was
supposed to be twenty friends, and like
150 people showed up.... Something
about the space is lived in, it’s BYOB,
there’s DJs, but the equipment isn’t
super professional.. It goes back to
things being organic, people being
able to trust the situation and bring
barriers down.”
Elliott Curtis, Creative Producer The Arena BK, Brooklyn NY
Partygoers are starting to embrace a
new age of simplicity. For many of the
interviewees there was a nostalgia that
recalled the days of house parties and
smaller, intimate gatherings, before
clubbing and events at scale became
their everyday hustle.
Craig Bowers, Principal at Incluence in
Los Angeles talks about catering to an
older demographic:
“I think that as you grow older, the pomp
and circumstance of everything just sucks
the energy out. You can go to a club but
you don’t really have a good time. To
throw something that just is really like,
‘hey look, you’re going to come to this
place, you’re going to dance, you’re
going to have an amazing, fun time and
you’re not going to look around and feel
like you’re the oldest person in the room. I
think that really says something. You know
what I mean? Like that takes you back to
how you felt when you were younger.”
For many, that’s a house party. Elliott
Curtis’ event series Arena exploded
last year.
“I still have never felt a vibe like I felt
at our house parties event last summer.
Which is why we can’t throw these
anymore, ‘cause 250 people on a roof
in Brooklyn wasn’t very neighborly. But
I think there is something special about
house parties that we are constantly
trying to replicate with our events.
We never charge a cover. We try to
work with spots that have affordable
drinks. The house party will always be
important.”
The appeal? An opportunity to
do something more intimate, more
comfortable while carving out a specific
identity for a community of partygoers.
“Super Clubs are closing. Small clubs
like Dance Tunnel, or Corsica Studios
are setting the pace and pushing the
boundaries of club music. These clubs
allow acts to express themselves. The
best promoters and brands create an
identity for themselves, using a defined
standpoint, an aesthetic and strong
online presence”
Harry Benson, Brand Partnerships Boiler Room, London
None of us can forget that one house
party we went to back in the day. Aren’t
we all just trying to get back to that level
of freeform fun?
THE DEMISE OF THE
CLUB AND THE RISE
OF THE ALTERNATIVE
VENUE
“Clubs are the focal point of
nightlife, but they can actually restrict
creativity. The simple reason is that
with nightclubs there is generally a
commercial imperative for artists to
play hit records, in order to please
the paying crowd (and the promoter,
who is paying the DJ/Artist). Clubs
therefore aren’t often a natural space
for artists to experiment and indulge
their creative side.”
Harry Benson, Brand Partnerships, Boiler Room TV
In New York especially, nightlife events
like The Night Heron, Queen of the Night
and Sleep No More are providing a more
immersive, mind-bending experience for
people than the traditional club setting.
Before it got shut down, the Night Heron
was a speakeasy and jazz club held
From on-the-go bars like The Bedouin
(illegally) in a water tower atop a vacant
Mobile Speakeasy to DJs like Hot Since
building in Chelsea’, with partygoers
82 who recently blindfolded fans and
took them on a blacked-out bus to play at only able to enter by invitation-only. For
a more extravagant evening, Sleep No
a secret location, experimental, shifting
More, a theatrical experience housed in
locations are being embraced.
As some people tire of mega clubs and
bottle service, a handful of independent
promoters and artists have begun to reinstate a grassroots party community
that explores what constitutes a ‘venue’.
a warehouse but dressed like an
old hotel spread across many levels,
invites participation from the audience
to create their evening by exploring
the building and sets as MacBeth
is performed throughout the venue.
“Outside the box’ events - people
love new venues and new experiences,
and live music. Pop-up parties are a
big hit right now, too. Anything that
brings people out of the normal routine
that they’ve been accustomed to each
night, can attract the ‘it’ crowd, if
properly marketed.”
Sam Tokunaga, Managing Partner,
Triple Crown Group, Atlanta
In the immersive tradition of Sleep
No More, Queen of the Night also
encourages partygoers to wander
the rooms of a restored nightclub in the
basement of the Paramount Hotel and
interact with performers.
Alternative venues are regularly
paired with daytime parties showing
that nightlife is no longer just about
night time.
each time, different ‘wow’ moments,
different performers. Our skeleton is
consistent but there’s different elements
to the experience that keep the
experience fresh and surprising. You
never know what you’re going to get.
And this idea of surprise is fun too —
it’s the thrill of the unknown. If you
always know exactly what’s going
to happen, things get boring.”
Matt Brimer, Co-founder Daybreaker
Daytime events like Mister Sunday,
Everyday People and All Day I Dream
are welcoming thousands of attendees.
Lunchtime parties like Lunchbreak
(pioneered by Absolut and now
sponsored by Perrier) as well as early
evening parties like The Get Down are
attracting thousands of clubbers every
month. Daylight partying has grown
because of the social crowds it attracts,
and an inherently safer environment.
Not to mention for career-focused
Millennials, it allows you to still remain
optimized for the next day.
“I think there’s something very open and
friendly about partying during the day. I
think people don’t have the same barriers
that you might have if you were going
Daybreaker has repurposed the
traditional club for a morning rave, while out at night. And there’s a lot of logical
also rotating venues, including hosting an reasons for that. I mean, with lights on,
you see people’s faces. You know who
event on a boat. This adds and element
you’re talking to.”
of excitement and newness that keeps
partygoers coming back.
Elliott Curtis, Creative Producer The Arena BK,
Brooklyn NY
“At Daybreaker, we always try to keep
the experience evolving and keep
aspects of it changing. We host our
events at different venues, so the space
itself is different. We have different DJs
THE NOT JUST
MUSIC FESTIVAL
Music festivals have been growing in
cultural relevance for the better part of
the last decade with events like Bonnaroo
and Coachella becoming mainstays on
people’s calendars around the country.
With the festival calendar becoming
more and more crowded by the year, it
is nearly impossible not to find a festival
nearby with a line-up that speaks to you.
For many people, music festivals are a
central part of their nightlife experience.
They can be a perfect escape from
reality for a long weekend. For Audrey
Orozco, a marketer in the wearable tech
space, music festivals offer her a chance
to go out in the midst of a hectic lifestyle:
Seeing the power of an open-format
party, festivals like Full Moon, FYF and
Further Future are adopting a mixed
format, featuring artists from multiple
genres of music. Booking a diverse
line-up enables these festivals to evolve
organically, transitioning from day to
night, matching the sound to the crowd’s
vibe at any given point. The result is
a festival that is as much about the
collective experience of the attendees
as it is about the artist on the stage.
Taking this trend a step further, a new
wave of festivals and nightlife events
are making mindfulness and wellness the
center of the event, with the music as an
added bonus. These events incorporate
“Music festivals are my passion. Its only a lectures, entrepreneurship workshops
certain part of the year, I’m 30 now, I’m a and new age spirituality with music and
Mom but live music is always a part of my traditional nightlife. Envision, Lightning
in a Bottle and Wanderlust are beginning
life. I’m out for events or music 2-3 times
to gain mainstream attention in this
a week. I’ve been in it since I was 18.”
space, and it is a space we think will
continue to grow in prominence
Music festivals are still growing globally
over the next few years.
year over year and Electronic Music,
a centerpiece in the club and festival
experience, still accounts for almost 25%
of nightlife ticket sales.
With that said, festivals are beginning to
take a cue from the smaller progressive
parties popping up around the country.
“Experience is the new luxury, we don’t
care about the Rolex anymore. We don’t
care about the Lamborghinis anymore.
What we care about are these amazing
experiences that enrich our lives.”
Like something amazing happened, you
know? A lot of it is in the experience.”
Radha Agrawal, Co-Founder DAYBREAKER,
This report explores the way nightlife
makers are putting the ‘experience’ into
an event - from a surprise element, which
may be in the location or participation,
to the performers - at the heart of it,
there’s an ‘experience’ had which strives
to be standout, and sets the night apart
from the same nightclub or bar visit a
partygoer may make every week.
Elliott Curtis, Creative Producer The Arena BK,
Brooklyn NY
Brooklyn NY
In place of watches, cars and other
traditional status symbols, people are
beginning to place more value on the
intangibles. In short, experience is
becoming the new luxury. Concerts,
exploring a new city, getting outdoors,
CE
EXPERIENCE
spending time with friends in a nice
coffee shop, these are the new signs of a
life well-lived.
Memories, particularly shared memories,
are an experience that unlike a laptop
or new cell phone appreciate in value
over time.
“If you look at culture right now, I mean,
you know, everything, every song, every
image all social media, it is, you know,
I had the best night ever. Right? You
know where people walk away from your
place that they had an amazing time.
UNPLUGGING AND
MINDFULNESS
“We are changed as technology
offers us substitutes for
connecting with each other
face-to-face.”
Sheryl Turkle, author Alone Together
A major trend identified in our research is
the desire to feel human connection and
be part of a community when going out.
As technology like smartphones brings
us closer to networks in our pocket, it has
also introduced a level of disconnection,
preventing us from having an “in the
moment” experience.
For nightlife makers, this desire for human
connection has influenced three aspects
in nightlife dramatically (as pictured
in the diagram): intimacy: a rise in
smaller, curated parties, participation:
incorporating a participatory aspect for
attendees, and analog: finding creative
ways to encourage people to leave
technology behind for the night.
UNPLUGGING AND
MINDFULNESS
“I went to an album release party in
New York, in Bushwick, where the only
way to get into the venue was to buy the
artist’s record and you got this ticket.
It’s like a golden ticket which has been
done a million times -- but the cool part
is when you walk into the venue you got a
bag that had a lock on it and you put the
phone on the bag and it locked. And the
bag wouldn’t unlock unless you walked
back out of the door. The artist did this
performance that was all day and you
had to really be there, and enjoy an
experience with your friends...
“What if we weren’t always feeling
FOMO, weren’t always taking selfies,
weren’t always distracted by some other
thing in our feed? What if instead we
were just present, here and now?”
Much of this turn toward human
connection and the consciousness
movement in experiential nightlife has
been influenced by the explosion of
Burning Man subculture.
It’s not about social media. It’s not about
advertising. It’s not about anything else.
It’s about the experience. And that’s
pretty f***ing cool.”
“We’re an antidote to a lot of what’s
happening around the world that
has people unsettled. Technology,
cellphones, our fast-paced society.
Being in the desert is transformative.
You come away wanting to connect with
people and think differently.”
Alexander Ferzan, Chief Creative/Owner,
Marian Goodell, Burning Man Spokeswoman
SUPERETTE
(source: The Huffington Post)
2015 is the year nightlife events have
started requiring partygoers to detach
from their digital devices and always-on
information streams, and focus on the
social experience at hand.
Nightlife events and tech applications
are being developed to simulate Burning
Man’s ability to encourage breaking
out of our traditional routines and
established social habits to forge bonds
with the people around us.
New York is leading this trend toward
unplugging. From album launches that
lock your phone away to invites which
explicitly encourage you to ‘put your
device down,’ the always-on New York
nightlife is making it hip to turn in your
phone at the door.
At “Off the Grid” a party organized
by a Burning Man collective, the invite
encourages people to consider:
“What’s the value proposition? Is a
great nightlife really sitting in a booth
with your friends? Or is it being in the
middle of the dance floor and kind of like
doing your thing? There’s a difference
between being an observer and being a
participant in the environment. And I think
now it is more cooler to be a participant
than it is to be an observer.”
Craig Bowers, Agency Director, Incluence
HYPER-LOCAL GOES
GLOBAL
planned global expansion of Daybreaker Franchise
a concept. They are then translating
this essence on a city by city basis
expanding organically and connecting
to each new market independently. Elliott
Curtis cited the example of Ace Hotel’s
subtle adaptations to the surrounding city
and culture in contrast to Soho House’s
plug-and-play model.
“Ace Hotel takes over these very
interesting venues architecturally and
they bring in relevant stores and cafes
into the ground floor. And it’s like –
they’re all connected by the same kind of
creative consciousness. But what you’d
get in L.A. is very different than what
you’d get in New York. To contrast that,
Soho House, which is a great networking
place, feels very transplanted. Soho
House in Miami versus Soho House in
New York? I mean, they’re different
because it’s Miami versus New York, but
the overarching tone feels generic.”
Elliott Curtis, Creative Producer
The essence of a community, of what
“makes a party so Brooklyn/LA/
Miami” is driving the cut-through and
appeal of events, particularly in markets
where for the past decade, the idea
of a good party was a set of common
characteristics (mega club, bottle
service, models) that could potentially be
applied to any venue and any city.
next one, and then they bring a friend.
And I think people just – they want to be
connected to a movement very early.Your
location or your city will become part of
the DNA of your party. But then once it’s
built up, that can then be extracted and
placed elsewhere. For it to be built, it
needs to be local to start”
Elliott Curtis, Creative Producer
The Arena BK, Brooklyn NY
“I think what people are gravitating
towards now are more like communitybased parties that are – you know, you
can come to expect something. And it’s
all based on referrals. So even if you’re
promoting with a venue through email,
through Instagram or whatever, like what
it comes down to is people that came
had a good time find out about your
This is a reversal of the prevailing trend
of the last few decades, where franchises
like the Hard Rock Hotel or mega clubs
like Pacha sought to bring the same
concept to cities around the world.
Instead of replicating the experience
city to city, promoters are starting small,
and identifying the core essence of
The Arena BK, Brooklyn NY
When asked what makes it possible for a
new city to grow from a local hotbed to a
city that can shape nightlife nationwide,
Sam Tokunanga explained how Atlanta is
growing in stature:
“As time goes on, it’s evident that Atlanta
will be the next major city to really
boom. Just as NYC, LA, Chicago, San
Francisco, etc have ‘popped,’ Atlanta
has that growing ‘swagger’ that it’s
moment to shine is in the very near future.
The filming laws and tax exemptions
has brought an amazing amount of
celebrities to town, creating a buzz that
we’ve never seen before. With this boom
comes that national attention to Atlanta
(as seen in so many recent films), which
creates the need for quality venues for
visitors to attend. Because of the film
industry showing off Atlanta, tourism
in Atlanta is up and everyone is going
out more. The food (and subsequently
the beverage industry) is really taking
off in Atlanta.”
Sam Tokunaga, Managing Partner,
Small party concepts are utilizing this
market by market approach, becoming
global franchises. The Do Over, founded
in LA in 2005, has also become a
mainstay in New York over the last
decade and has now set its sights on
the world. Partnering with Adidas to
grow their franchise, The Do Over hosted
international editions in Brazil and
Japan in August of 2015 alone. Similarly,
Daybreaker has grown from a party for
NYC creatives to a global franchise as
well; just look at the map on this page to
see their global footprint.
Triple Crown Group, Atlanta
DIVERSITY OF VOICES
“I was going to all these parties
and I wasn’t hearing what I wanted
to hear so I took it upon myself.
I learned to DJ and people’s first
reaction was “What, a girl DJ. Woah
that’s awesome.” It’s grown a lot and I’m
so proud that so many women are DJ’ing
and doing their thing.”
music in particular have a long history
with the LGBT community. Parties like A
Club Called Rhonda, or Deryck Todd’s
STRUT NYC party, in addition to nightlife
creators and personalities like Ladyfag,
are beginning to celebrate this link,
returning to the era of night’s where one
can be themselves.
Christina Hernandez/ DJ VakDevi on Klangbox.fm
Mainstream nightlife is a traditionally
straight white male driven space, from
the DJs to the promoters. Underneath
this all though, there have always been
thriving sub-cultures, small niches where
people can go be themselves and hear
what they want to hear, whether that is
Hip-Hop, Salsa, a club night hosted by
a drag queen, or a party that celebrates
the transgender lifestyle. We are now
witnessing these formerly niche cultures
break out and help shape mainstream
nightlife.
This diverse set of voices are throwing
parties that play more inclusive music.
They are creating parties that make
everyone feel welcome - from the
playlist to the venue - and they are
gaining clout. Nightlife and electronic
For many promoters, performers and
party creators, this is happening out
of necessity. Sick of seeing parties
that don’t appeal to them, they have
taken it upon themselves to create
club nights that reflect their unique
attitude and style.
Sandra Hong, a member of the LGBT
community and organizer of Brooklyn
event Girl Party, is a perfect example.
When asked why she founded Girl Party
she has said:
“Ever since I moved to New York City
I was wondering where the parties for
women are. There seemed to be a lot
that catered to the gay men but not many
events that were lesbian-focused.”
MAJOR MARKETS
AT A GLANCE
1. New York
• The capital of nightlife
• Something here for everyone
• From mega clubs to warehouses
3. Las Vegas
• Haven for mega-clubs
• EDM
• Bottle Service
“I’ve always loved the lower east side
of Manhattan, which for me is where all
the magic happened. Historically, New
Yorkers go to Manhattan to party. That’s
where it’s at. It’s just something about
leaving your home borough: whether you
live in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, New
Jersey, Connecticut etc, people come to
Manhattan to experience the magic.”
4. Chicago
• Creative collectives
• House party culture
• Hip-Hop
DJ MOMA
2. Los Angeles
• Open-format parties
• Day parties, warehouses
• Home to thriving creative collectives
“I think there has been an influx of
alternatives to the mainstream Hollywood
and the West Hollywood typical club
scene. There are more opportunities to
go out and have a good time that doesn’t
involve your standard bottle service and
there’s not as much EDM...where you
can still go out in a casual environment,
and not have to jump through all of
those nightlife hoops.”
Samantha Duenas, DJ sosupersam, Los Angeles
“About seven years ago the music
business really shifted back to the
West coast. And so if you’re really
looking at like a lot of the new music
that’s coming out in terms of dance,
electronic disco, all of that stuff-a lot
of that is coming out of Los Angeles. So
a lot of that’s incubating in the dances
and parties here.”
Craig Bowers, Principal, Incluence, Los Angeles
5. Atlanta
• Split between bars and clubs
• EDM having a big moment in a
traditionally hip-hop driven culture
• Influence of the film industry tax
exemptions attracting more business
6. Miami
• Growing arts scene
• Art and music are intersecting
downtown and in Wynwood creating
new party concepts
• Scene is very open minded, people
love to go out and see new artists and
hear new music
VI SI T THE ABSOLU TL A BS.COM FO R MO RE IN FO RM ATIO N