According to music business professor Steve Cole, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has become increasingly popular over the past decade, and three members of the genre’s wide fan base created a website blogging and promoting their favorite artists.

Sophomore Andy Hobday and two friends started the online music blog “Rowdy Beats” in August 2012. Hobday said the site focuses on everything from blogging to interviews with EDM stars.

“Every day we’re on SoundCloud, all over the Internet … finding new music. When we find something we like, we post about it,” Hobday said. “We also go to shows. My buddy is really an incredible photographer.”

The trio has interviewed artists like Big Gigantic, Infected Mushroom, Eoto and Paper Diamond. They post these one-on-one interviews to their website to give viewers a first-hand account of what the artists are like. Hobday said interviewing Big Gigantic was an amazing opportunity.

“Interviewing Big G was really a cool experience,” Hobday said. “Dom and Jeremy (Big Gigantic) are both super cool people, and the music they make … it’s definitely some of my favorite.”

“Rowdy Beats” has around 1,400 Facebook likes and 3,000 Twitter followers. Cole said EDM has grown rapidly in the past decade.

“(EDM) is a revolution that has been going on for decades, but just recently it starts to really respond with kind of that golden demographic—like the 18-34 kind of millennial demographic,” Cole said.

Cole said the fact that “Rowdy Beats” is constantly adding more information to its site is a great way to keep people informed about the electronic music industry.

“That’s so important with a curatorial site or a site that serves as a filter or a guide for people- that it’s updated regularly because it’s something that’s going to keep people’s attention and keep people coming back.”

“Rowdy Beats” fan sophomore Krzysztof Walczak said he admires all Hobday has accomplished.

“I’m proud of Andy because he set himself a goal, and he’s pursuing it—not looking at people around him and what they think about it. He just goes and gets it,” Walczak said.

Hobday has loved EDM since high school and said the atmosphere of an EDM rave is what inspires him to keep “Rowdy Beats” going.

“It’s all based around the people,” Hobday said. “It’s about the love. So we’re out there just having a good time, finding new music, going to shows, meeting people all the time. Basically the sky’s the limit.”

Alison Bengtson can be reached at beng4632@stthomas.edu.