Detroit techno documentary examines 'how the business of music betrayed' its creators

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  • God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines: The Story Of Detroit Techno explores the dark side of the industry.
  • Detroit techno documentary examines 'how the business of music betrayed' its creators image
  • A new documentary aims to tell "the lost stories of the Detroit underground." Filmmakers Jennifer Washington and Kristian Hill are crowdfunding to finish their feature, God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines: The Story Of Detroit Techno. It follows the careers of Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie Fowlkes, Blake Baxter, Santonio Echols and more, and it explores the dark side of the multi-billion dollar industry, where "curious marketing tactics overshadow Detriot's global influence on dance music culture," Hill says in the campaign video. "It has been our personal mission to produce a feature-length documentary that tells an important part of black history and American history that often gets overlooked," Washington says. Hill follows to point out that in the $7.1 billion electronic dance music industry, "many of the cash cows are neither black, nor are they from Detroit." Learn more about the documentary in the video below, and support the campaign here.
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