TORONTO (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Live Nation has tapped hired veteran Canadian electronic music producer Ryan Kruger to helm their long-rumored but newly launched electronic music division, Electronic Nation Canada.
Prior to joining Live Nation, Kruger served as president of Destiny Productions since 2002, producing more than 600 club dates and concerts, primarily in the Toronto market.
Kruger, through Destiny, was one of the co-founders of the World Trance Festival, which eventually became the 3-day campout World Electronic Music Fest (WEMF). The event went on what was said to be a permanent hiatus in 2008, but was revived just this year in August, reportedly with a more substantial booking budget than in previous years. Coincidentally, rumors concerning Live Nation's launch of a Live Music division started circulating four months earlier, in May of 2011.
Electronic music, after enjoying a brief spate of popularity in the late 1990s, has remained largely an underground phenomenon in the U.S., until recent years when events such as the Electric Daisy Festivals have been doing big box office numbers. However, these events are not without controversy. The Electric Daisy festival in Los Angeles last year drew criticism after one girl died from an overdose and more than 200 attendees were hospitalized and has since relocated to Las Vegas.
"With Destiny being a pioneer of the electronic music scene in Canada, it is personally rewarding to see the nation's largest concert promoter fully committed to the world-wide culture and excitement that is coming from electronic music today," Kruger said in a statement. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
