iEDM.com On Blast! Weekly News Round Up

Here are the top news stories of the week...

Being a celebrity who tries DJing (as opposed to being a celebrity DJ), Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston came out during Above & Beyond’s main stage set on Saturday to “push the button.”

According to a press statement, the trance three-piece is a fan of the show – “Walter White” has been one of their hits in recent years – and spoke with Cranston backstage before the gig. There, Jono and Paavo invited him to come out and perform with them for a bit.

Didn’t have a chance to be at EDC Las Vegas? Catch the actor known for playing Walter White with Above & Beyond here:

Hardwell showed he has more tricks up his sleeves. For someone whose name has become synonymous with big room house, the Dutch DJ promised a hip-hop and moombahton set – one without a specific time or location. He said, “It’s unannounced but if you’re at the right time, at the right place, I’m gonna play a special hip hop / moombahton set.”

The “Spaceman” producer followed through with an Art Car performance on Sunday, revealing he’s got the chops to show off his varied tastes, rather than go through the motions. Here’s a clip:

This moment, however, isn’t entirely random. The DJ Mag No. 1 producer told YourEDM.com in an October 2014 interview, while promoting United We Are, that he’s looking to expand his horizons, saying  “I always like to think really out of the box, combine the best of different worlds.” 

Hardwell’s hardly the first EDM producer to be looking at a new path. Zedd’s collaboration with Lady Antebellum at the CMT Music Awards essentially set off a chain reaction: The country trio also has a track with Audien planned, titled “Something Better,”

Spotify declared David Guetta the most played EDM artist on the music cloud platform. The “Titanium” producer had racked up 2 billion plays – an amount on par with Ed Sheeran and Eminem.

While he’s the first French and dance music artist to have achieved this record, those in the industry don’t believe he’ll be an anomaly – and, in fact, will open doors for other EDM performers.

“He is the first DJ to reach this milestone which is an amazing achievement but looking at how dance is exploding at the moment as a genre, I am sure he will be followed by others very soon,” Bart Cools, Warner Music’s EVP of global marketing and A&R dance music, said in an official statement. “A big thank you to Spotify for working with us to make all this happen, and massive thanks to David who keeps making amazing music that people love!”

Along with this figure, Guetta is Spotify’s most-followed artist and receives 15 million plays per month through the service.

Dance music fans will always say Guetta’s gone “too mainstream” and “corporate,” but when it comes to exposure, those aren’t always bad things. Producer Viceroy reveled in that this week, announcing his remix for Taco Bell on June 23rd: “My remix for @BigDataBigData is out! Catch some sexy sax and some #summertimeallthetime thanks for @tacobell”

Following the fast food enterprise’s work with Dillon Francis, Viceroy put out a “happier hour” remix of Big Data’s “The Business of Emotion.” Listen to the track here:

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