Insomniac Events, the event promoter behind the Electric Daisy Carnival, has announced a partnership with Dick Clark Productions (DCP) to produce a dance music awards show in 2014. The show will be dedicated to dance music and culture and will run during what is being dubbed “EDC Week next June” in Las Vegas.
Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella and Dick Clark CEO Allen Shapiro announced the partnership in between panels at the EDM Biz conference. The show will celebrate “different art forms, everything from lighting to production,” according to Rotella. “There are other award shows out there, but not that cover the whole spectrum of what we want to.”
Dick Clark Productions, which also produces the American Music Awards, sees Insomniac as an event partner akin to others like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (with whom DCP produces the Golden Globe Awards).
“We think Insomniac has the exact same position in the EDM field,” Shapiro told the EDM Biz audience. “We’ve been following the growth of it and we think it’s the natural evolution for our company.”
While it was reported earlier this year that DCP had interest in a dance music award show, Wednesday (June 19) was the first official announcement on the subject. Guggenheim Partners, owner of Billboard’s parent company Prometheus Global Media, acquired DCP last year from RedZone Capital Management.
While no television partner has been announced, this is the first foray into TV for the EDM world since its explosion in the U.S. over the last few years.