UI seniors and part-time DJs hope to push EDM scene in Iowa City
Two students and part-time DJs noticed the need for a growing community of EDM followers in Iowa City. They want to create something more for the fan base.
Local Iowa city DJs, Aditya Chahande and Davin Titus posed for a picture. Aditya is a DJ at Eden and Davin is a DJ at Summit.
November 12, 2018
Iowa City’s electronic dance music community had never been fully recognized until two UI seniors and part-time DJs took it upon themselves to create “UIEDM,” a community of local fans that meets at EDM shows and supports the artists.
“We were really trying to figure out how to get a group of EDM fans together, because we had noticed a lot of interest from the community,” said UI senior Aditya Chahande, a cofounder of UIEDM.
Both Chahande and cofounder Davin Titus had noticed other universities, such as University of Texas, had groups to support EDM fans and local artists. In a community with a bar scene as large as Iowa City’s, Titus and Chahande perceived a growing need to establish a group of fans.
“We began a Facebook page of EDM fans in Iowa City to try to connect them to one another, both in shows and outside of them,” Titus said. “Since then, it has grown largely into this community connected upon a mutual love for EDM.”
Titus frequently DJs at the Summit, 10 S. Clinton St., and Chahande DJs at the Eden Lounge. Neither had any prior experience in the music field, but they decided to further their hobby of spinning and get paid for it.
Since then, their passion for the EDM culture has flourished.
“The EDM fan base is different from any other fan base because it is one of passion,” Chahande said. “EDM fans not only go to shows together, they also talk to each other and share music. Even things not related to music, the community has grown to be friends with one another, and it’s hard to come across that these days.”
Chahande, with the help of longtime friend Franklin Jensen, created a website used by Iowa EDM fans to help alert them to shows all over Iowa.
“It scrapes data from smaller websites, and it compiles a list of events in Iowa,” Chahande said. “I then look at the data and double-check it is full of events in Iowa, and then I publish links to promoters and tickets.”
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Chahande and Titus said they have made many friends and developed fans of their own sets at local bars. Chahande also noted that Iowa State EDM fans may show some potential for collaboration.
In addition to collaborating with other schools, UIEDM has considered becoming a recognized student organization, Chahande and Titus said.
“We definitely have thought about the potential in being a student organization,” Titus said. “We would have to look into it a little bit more and the rules and regulations of it.”
UIEDM has created a lot of positive outcomes, as Brittney Guzick, Titus’ girlfriend, will point out.
“I met him [Titus] at Summit while he was DJ’ing,” Guzick said. “He’s one of the best DJs in Iowa City with a lot of potential. These two [Chahande and Titus] are doing great things for a growing fan base in Iowa City, and I can’t wait to see what is to become of it.”
UIEDM follower Rachel Sabo said the local EDM culture has a lot of similarity to that of her hometown, Chicago.
“When coming to school in Iowa, I feared that I would be ripped away from that community and would have less opportunity to attend shows,” she said. “I was proven wrong from multiple show announcements that included artists I loved, and it made me feel not so far from home.”
