Sexual assault happens at concerts and different events all of the time. It can happen in the crowd or behind the scenes. A DJ, who had been in the game for a long time, had sexual assault allegations arise in the middle of his tour last spring. After one story came to light, many more women came forward with their stories with this man. None of this can be factually confirmed, but his response to this arise of the stories can almost certainly tell you he was guilty. He ended his tour early and was dropped from his label. I have personally been assaulted in a crowd in a concert setting. Stories like this are not uncommon in the EDM community. While this world of music has always promoted safety and it has never been okay to treat people badly, this incident has opened up the discussion further for our leaders in our community in Oklahoma City and what we can do to help our friends and rave goers to be more safe.
Many people who are icons in the EDM community spoke out about this issue to show that this behavior would not be tolerated. Huge artists in the EDM world publicly stated that there is no room for that at events. Many artists have even stopped the music during their set and made people leave if they could see something inappropriate going on. I feel like the community has done part of its job. This particular incident was an eye opener for our community because of how large of an artist he was. Concerts are supposed to be safe. EDM shows specifically are supposed to be a safe environment where you can be who you want, wear what you want and express yourself freely and do it safely despite popular opinion. As a community, we advocate safety in every way when it comes to drug use, hydration and human interaction. What we can’t ignore is that sexual assault happens, but what can we do to combat it? I think as a community, being the artists, their teams, the fans and venues, we need to work together and work harder to keep each other safe.
After this incident came about, Subsonix started to brainstorm to see what we could do to help combat sexual assault from happening at our events in front and behind the scenes also while promoting safety as a whole. We came up with an idea that’s named “Subsonix Angels”. This is a volunteer based program where anyone can do this. You volunteer to stay sober and be in the crowd if someone needs help for any reason. We wear pink shirts that say “Subsonix Angels” on the front. We have posted about it so anyone that follows our social medias will know about our program. This program is to not only help people if you are in an uncomfortable situation with someone, but we are helping in any way necessary. If you feel uncomfortable in any way, we can help you out of a situation. The idea is for everyone to not only feel more safe but to be more safe. We have a section placed in a spot where the stage is visible so no one feels deterred from going there. Here you can rest, get tons of free water, or get medical help if you need it with no risk of getting in trouble. We can help you get an Uber home if you need it. We have shirts that you can wear if you for some reason feel uncomfortable in what you are wearing. There are also consent informational brochures and they are available at the merch table and other various places throughout the venue. We have also been working very hard with our security team to add additional conversations in our pre-show huddles about how to identify attendees who could possibly need help with getting out of an uncomfortable situation. We just want our events to be a better environment for everyone involved. From personal experience, if you are having a problem with an individual and security at the venue is failing to address or take care of it, we have amazing leaders of Subsonix who will gladly step in to remove someone who is acting inappropriately at our events. If someone is acting badly, whether that be making people feel uncomfortable, starting fights or just being a bad person in general, this person will be not allowed back at our events. We make sure that people who have acted in such ways are never allowed back by checking identification at the doors. Also for a side note, if an individual is acting inappropriately online where this person could be a negative energy at our events and the leaders of Subsonix sees this, the individual will be banned from all Subsonix events.
After a meeting we had recently, we discussed how we thought the past six months have went and how this program has been working. It was very exciting to hear that we have had far less issues as a whole at our events. Our staff and promoters work very hard to keep our events a place you can come be yourself and be safe. Even if us promoters aren’t volunteering as angels at events, I know we all keep an eye on everyone. There has been multiple times where I have brought people water when they looked like they needed it. I have also been in a few situations where I had to get a medic for someone. On the other side, I have been in a situation where a stranger came up behind me and put his hands on me, I looked at the person in front of me and mouthed “help”. This person immediately grabbed me away. It’s a matter of everyone working together. We want to keep our events as safe as possible and this program has helped. Doing this assignment has got me thinking of ideas that we could incorporate to make this program flourish. We have posted that we have this program on our social medias, but not everyone can see that. I think a good idea would be for some of the angels to be at doors when we start the event to let everyone know that you will be in the crowd if any one needs help. I think that this could be a good way to make sure everyone is aware of the program. I will bring this up in our next meeting.
I think that the idea of having a group of people in the crowd to be of help could be adopted in larger venues and events. I know a few big artists are starting about to think of ways to incorporate this idea as well. Rezz, another DJ in the EDM community, has been experiencing very rowdy crowds at her events where people are starting to feel unsafe. Her community of fans have recently brought this concept to discussion and are throwing around ideas on how to incorporate something like this in her events.
Bassnectar has been incorporating a concept similar to this into his events for quite some time. “The Ambassador team’ is there for the little things. From things like handing out little pieces of paper to strangers that say ‘You are loved’, to creating fans and posters with the crowd, to even just smiling and saying ‘You’re Beautiful’ to people. During the set, the team goes into the crowd to hand out free water and are available if you need anything. Most of the people who apply and get accepted to volunteer for this program have been a fan of Bassnectar for a long time. In an article by Sydney Calian on bassfeedthesoul.com, she describes the life-changing experiences she’s been lucky to have experienced through the Ambassador team. “I myself am an Ambassador and I have had many life-changing experiences through working shows. I’ve saved people who have overdosed by getting them medical attention, I’ve given water to people on the front rail that won’t leave that bass front property, but most of all I’ve made so many people smile and giggle from the little things I’ve done.”
I believe that this concept would be a great thing if it was adopted by even bigger events, concerts of all genres and festivals. Aside from helping people, this is a really good way to give back to the community. I think that this is a really cool way to get involved with what your passionate about, spread positivity and help your friends stay safe.
