Days of Beer and Laptops: DJ Promos at Lollapalooza

Call it a sign of the digital times: Lollapalooza’s 2012 edition, returning to Chicago’s Grant Park for sets running from Aug.3-5, isn’t missing the boat with electronic dance music’s rising prominence in festival programming, with a strong list of EDM acts announced for the lineup. Perhaps more telling, marketers hoping to ride Lollapalooza’s coattails to plug their products now include products that once had more sizzle for CNET than Pitchfork or XLR8R: data storage.

G-Technology, a firm that touts “premium external storage solutions engineered to meet the needs of the content creation and Apple Mac community,” is setting up shop at a nearby hotel to kick off its “What’s On My Drive” campaign, drafting Lollapalooza performers including M83’s Anthony Gonzalez, Passion Pit, the Juan MacLean, Yuna, Dev, Alex Reside and other scheduled DJs to participate. The EDM stars will get the firm’s wireless storage devices so they can access files through iPads and iPhones, and will also be invited to an invitation-only VIP suite near Grant Park to chill and, presumably, geek out over the technology.  

An Aug. 4 afterparty at Skybar will include guest sets from Passion Pit, whose second full-length, “Gossamer,” was just released, and the Juan MacLean.

It’s an interesting evolutionary step beyond cold cuts and open bars, one that’s likely to continue as festival organizers continue to mine the buzz around the revitalized dance audience.