Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival is the new title of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, the brainchild of Derrick May and Carl Craig and organized by the duo along with Kevin Saunderson
The Detroit Electronic Music Festival first took place in 2000 at Detroit's Hart Plaza, near Renaissance Center.
The festival was conceived by Carl Craig and was originally produced by Carol Marvin of Pop Culture Media. Craig was the artistic director of the festival, and was responsible for hiring the talent. The lineup for the first festival was announced just before the event itself. At the time the notion of the festival was quite radical. Three straight days of electronic music in techno's birthplace, all for free? And not just any electronic music, but big names like Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Richie Hawtin, Aril Brikha, and DBX. The lineup also included some hip hop (the Roots, Slum Village, Mos Def, Cash Money) and some ghetto tech (DJ Assault, DJ Godfather, the Detroit Grand Pubahs).
The first festival was an incredible success and all the folks holding their breath over the festival's survival exhaled.
They started holding their breath again when mere weeks before the 2001 festival, Carl Craig was controversially fired by Pop Culture Media and a media deluge in his support ensued. Major Detroit record labels handed out stickers saying "I support Carl Craig." Planet E (Craig's record label) sold shirts with his name in huge type (I'm wearing mine now). Some festival attendees made a giant banner saying "DEMF = CARL CRAIG" and found their way into the newspapers, while several of the performers either dropped out of the fesitval (like Mark Farina and LTJ Bukem) or dedicated songs and sets to C2 (like Laurent Garnier and Kid Koala). Several lawsuits between PCM and Carl Craig have yet to be resolved.
More controversy came up when it was revealed that the four stages at the festival had been renamed after their sponsors. In addition, the entire festival had been renamed to the "focus://detroit electronic music festival" by the Ford Motor Company, the largest sponsor, who also plastered their logo all over the VJ's material. Several took issue with the graphics in general, which featured gyrating women quite prominently.
There was to be a documentary about the 2000 festival and its participants and attendees in the works called The Drive Home. This film was either postponed or cancelled because of legal issues dealing with Ms. Marvin and PCM.
DEMF 2002 was worrisome for many observers. Carl Craig had been replaced by a panel of seven Detroit musicians: Juan Atkins, DJ Bone, Kelli Hand, Mike Grant, Mike Huckaby, Alan Oldham, and Eddie Fowlkes.
I kept a log of things that happened leading up to the 2002 festival, although I could not attend. It's reproduced below:
May 28, 2002
Well, the 2002 festival is over, but unfortunately I missed it. Miss Carol Marvin replaced Carl Craig with a commitee of seven "industry folks", which included Alan Oldham (oddly enough), Kelli Hand, Juan Atkins, Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes, DJ Bone, Mike Grant, and Mike Huckaby.
Pop Culture Media still hasn't paid everyone who played last year, leading to more lawsuits.
Other crap that's come about: Pop Culture Media does not own either of two domains that until recently pointed to the DEMF website.
electronicmusicfest.com is owned by the sysadmin of the company that hosts the website, and demf.com (the original website) is owned by Transmat Records, and it now redirects you right to Transmat's own site.
Kevin Saunderson was originally shown on the lineup, as were Drexciya, DJ Shadow, and Jeff Mills. They were all taken off during the first day after the schedule was announced. Kevin Saunderson was considering a lawsuit; he had done the first two years specifically because Carl Craig asked him to and he says he would not have done the festival even if he had been invited.
Motor Lounge was originally listed as sponsoring the same stage as the previous two years, but that was incorrect as well; the stage was simply the Miller Genuine Draft stage.
Photos of Richie Hawtin and Derrick May were all over the website even though neither had anything to do with the festival this year.
There were SIXTY-SEVEN afterparties counted by the TechnoTourists. m_nus had one from midnight to noon on Saturday night.
There was no big sponsor like Ford from last year. PCM approached GM, but they declined. They then approached several foreign automaker sponsors, which all declined.
Paxahau had a competing festival called PEMF.
Commercials were played between acts on the main stage.
January 19, 2003
This year's festival will be produced by Carl Craig, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson. The City of Detroit will not be putting any money towards the event this year.
Now that 2003 has arrived, a number of things have happened. Carol Marvin and Pop Culture Media have claimed ownership of the name "Detroit Electronic Music Festival" and have started a company called DEMF, Inc. to create a yearly festival, along with a record label and a nightclub. The Detroit Historical Museum has made an exhibit of early techno called "Techno: Detroit's Gift to the World".
Presumably because of legal issues, the official name of the real DEMF was changed to Movement. However, it turns out that the domain name demf.com is still owned by Transmat Records, and it now points to the festival's website at http://www.movementfestival.com. No stages at the 2003 festival are named after sponsors. The only stage with an outside connection is The Music Institute stage, named after a short-lived but highly-influential Detroit nightclub that was active in the late 1980's.
Notable in the lineup this year is the inclusion of Jeff Mills, who has gone years without playing in Detroit. We'll see what else happens as the festival approaches. Detroit techno is notoriously full of drama.
April 2004
TICKETS BOOKED! HERE I COME, DETROIT!
Derrick May put up $300,000 of his own money, including big loans from his family, to make sure this year's festival goes off. I plan on gratuitously giving back to Detroit's economy, which is the whole reason they let him throw this big party anyway! | 
