Due to disagreements with the management, the core staff behind Dancing Astronaut decided to leave the brand behind and start a new one called Alleined. Here’s what you need to know.
Dancing Astronaut was started by a group of college students in 2009. Being new kids on the block during the peak of “EDM” in America in the early 2010s gave them a voice that many people listened to. It never quite grew to the level of prominence of some of the other brands on the scene, but its consistence made a lot of important people in the industry pay attention to them.
The brand managed to survive the huge purchasing period that hit the American “EDM” sector in the mid 2010s, when SFX Entertainment (later re-branded into LiveStyle and absorbed by Live Nation), went on to set the goal to purchase 50 independent brands on the scene in the hopes of cornering the American market. It remaining an independent brand throughout this period is something that the ownership deserves to be commended for.
Since 2017, DA’s editorial direction and social media presence was primarily the work of one contributor based in New York: Ross Goldenberg. He was joined by another member in 2021, Zach Salafia, based on the west coast. Both turned their passion into full-time jobs as recently as 2024.
While the two never gained ownership stakes in the company, they were the voice behind it and were the only people in charge of the brand’s day-to-day operation. As of January 2026, both Ross and Zach left the DA brand, dissatisfied with their compensation and the direction its owners wanted the brand to take.
It didn’t take long for social media users to notice this shake-up, with many complaining that its content became more slop-adjacent and lost the voice it had before these events. About ten days ago, the two started a new brand called Aligned, which promises to give that unique voice back to the community. Its name is a reference to their favourite Eric Prydz track ‘Allein’ (2012).
New brand annoucement received immediate support from the likes of Artbat, Cassian, Julian Jordan, Merow and many more, proving that the two were what made DA stand out to begin with.
