NEWS FROM INSIDE THE ELECTRONIC
DANCE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Welcome to the weekly INDUSTRY INSIDER – created by IMS and RECORD OF THE DAY. We've teamed up to create a digest of global electronic industry news, across the full spectrum of the genre, to help you get straight to the stories that matter. INDUSTRY INSIDER will follow the template of Record of the Day but focus on what’s relevant for this genre and demographic…
BEN TURNER
Co-Founder, International Music Summit
Pete Tong's Essential New Tune
Come With Me (feat. Jorja Smith)
Major League DJz
Columbia Records UK
out now
Comment
"I actually opened the show with it last week. It comes from the global ambassadors of amapiano, the Major League DJz, who have long been at the forefront of shaping and expanding the genre. This track marks their first official foray into house music, into electronic music, a carefully crafted evolution that has been four years in the making. Got to debut this live when I played it at Koko last month. This week's ENT is the brilliant 'Come With Me' from the Major League DJz and Jorja Smith."
This week's featured Essential New Tune was featured in last week’s Friday show on BBC Radio 1. Listen again and forward to 40.12 here.
Contact
Label: Stephanie Forbes, Columbia Records UK
Management: Zinitha Ntanjana & Nick Ratcliffe
Publishing: Sheer Publishing & Sony Music Publishing
Radio: Crystal Raybe, Sony Music
Club: Your Army
TV: Samantha Sewell, Sony Music
Online: Michael Hewins, Sony Music
01 Apr 2025
Business
  • Napster has once again sold – this time to self-described “social metaverse technology company” Infinite Reality, which says it paid $207m. (Guardian) 
  • Universal Music Group has just published its 2024 annual report. (PRNewswire, report) 
  • Global entertainment and music investment firm Pophouse Entertainment has announced the final closing of its debut fund, Pophouse Fund I, having raised over €1bn, and becoming one of the largest first-time private equity funds to be raised in Europe in the last decade. (MusicAlly) The Fund is already around 30% deployed, with artist partnerships including Avicii and Swedish House Mafia. 
News and Features
  • Joint statement by a coalition of authors, performers and other rightsholders active across the EU's cultural and creative sectors regarding the third draft of the EU AI Act's GPAI Code of Practice. (RotD) Impala: "The EU's AI Act was meant to foster responsible AI while giving Europe's creators and rightholders the tools to exercise and enforce their rights. This draft does neither. We cannot support it. As the statement says, we would rather have no Code at all than to have this frankly inadmissible third draft."
  • The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) in the UK is urging the Safeguarding Minister and local authorities to "move beyond outdated, performative approaches" to safety and commit to real cultural change in safeguarding. (RotD) 
  • Boiler Room underlined its "unapologetically pro-Palestine" stance in an Instagram statement discussing its recent sale to Superstruct Entertainment and its parent company, the private equity and investment firm KKR. (DJMag) 
  • Sara Landry, Aluna, Kaleena Zanders & more win at the 2025 Femmy Awards. (Billboard) 
Digital
  • Apple announced that it is opening up its catalogue and integrating a number of tools to allow its DJ users to mix sets through Apple Music. The company is also launching a set of DJ-friendly editorial playlists and more. (TechCrunch) 
Live
  • Ultra Music Festival has announced its 2026 Miami edition will take place at Bayfront Park on the 27-29 March 2026. (DJMag) 
  • Ultra Music Festival extended its closing time by one hour following a temporary closure due to severe weather earlier in the day on 30 March. (DJMag) 
  • Swedish House Mafia will headline the Saturday night of this year’s Creamfields Festival. (NME) 
  • Afterlife Festival will take place in Barcelona at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 13-14 June 2025. (EDMTunes) 
  • UK festival Field Maneuvers reveals 2025 line-up. (RA) 
  • Tomorrowland and Insomniac are working together on a new Las Vegas Sphere event, Unity. (DJMag) 
  • Armin van Buuren announced as first headliner for AMF 2025. (EDMTunes) 
  • London party SIGNAL confirms lineup for first day festival. (RA) 
Comment, Opinion and Analysis
  • MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan talks changing industry dynamics, bifurcation and the superfan ecosystem. (CMU) 
  • Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024 report: Slowdown? What slowdown? (Midia) 
  • SoundCloud's first Music Intelligence Report highlights emerging consumption trends and cultural movements. Among the many stats, it highlighted 46.5% of listening is devoted to tracks released in the last 18 months. (SoundCloud) 
Tech
  • Best MIDI controllers to buy in 2025: 8 best FL Studio controllers to buy. (RA) 
  • Hit’n’Mix has just unveiled RipX Backstage, the world’s first AR/VR digital audio workstation, exclusively made for Apple Vision Pro. (Magnetic) 
Beatport
  • Patrick Topping commemorates TRICK’s 100th release with “Baby Daddy (Sperm Donor)” (Beatportal)
  • Week 13 exclusive Beatport picks (Beatportal)
  • Beatportal: Out Of Office - Episode 1 | Benny V (Beatportal)
  • Raphi throws Sunday pop up rave in Hackney dry cleaners (Beatportal)
  • Chris Lake drops his hotly awaited collaboration with Ragie Ban, “Toxic” (Beatportal) 
  • Beatportal Exclusive: Leftwing : Kody shake the dancefloor with ‘Earthquake’ (Beatportal)
  • The people and places shaping Sydney’s electronic music scene | Presented by Miller & Beatport (Beatport)
Clubs
  • Ibiza: 
    Mixmag is heading to the White Isle this summer, with a series of special Mixmag Lab Ibiza showcases at Amnesia Ibiza. (Mixmag)
    Man Power and Ewan McVicar launch new Ibiza party, OFF BRAND. (RA) 
    Sven Väth and Cocoon return to spiritual home, Amnesia, this May. (Ibiza Spotlight) 
    Paco Osuna announces NOW HERE takeover at Hï Ibiza. (EDMTunes)
    Richie Hawtin, Joris Voorn, Kölsch, Nicole Moudaber and more set for RESISTANCE Ibiza at Amnesia Ibiza. (909Originals) 
  • ‘The walls of the building were missing, but I just saw a club’: The oral history of Miami’s Club Space. (Billboard) 
  • Berlin club RSO receives funding accrued from confiscated GDR assets. (RA) 
  • Reports of a "break-in" last month at the Ministry of Sound nightclub was a stunt to help launch a collaboration between Ministry of Sound and pop-up specialists Lab54. The South London venue has announced it will be hosting a series of exclusive toilet raves in collaboration with Lab54, with the first official event happening on 4 May. (RotD) 
Deals
  • Kobalt announced a partnership with electronic music artist Anyma. (RotD) 
  • Armada Music Group’s dance music investment vehicle Beat Music Fund has acquired the rights to a large portion of the catalogue of Canadian DJ, producer and Turbo Recordings founder Tiga. (HR) 
Streams & Podcasts
  • Anyma b2b Solomun @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025 (Anyma) 
  • Zedd - Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025 (Zedd) 
  • Alesso @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025  (Alesso) 
  • Afrojack @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025  (Afrojack) 
  • Miss Monique - Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025 (Miss Monique) 
  • Martin Garrix @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025  (Martin Garrix) 
  • Hardwell @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025  (Hardwell) 
  • Armin Van Buuren B3B with Maddix & Oliver Heldens @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025  (A State Of Trance) 
  • Oliver Heldens @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025 (Hardwell) 
  • Subtronics @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2025  (Subtronics)
  • Titanium LIVE at Ultra’s 25th Anniversary – David Guetta, Sia & Afrojack reunite on Stage! (David Guetta) 
  • Paul Van Dyk | Mixmag Lab Amsterdam (Mixmag) 
  • Diffrent | Boiler Room: Sheffield (Boiler Room) 
  • Deena Abdelwahed B2B Basile3 - Experimental Club | RA Greenhouse Sessions (RA) 
  • RA.982 Barker (RA) 
  • The Mix 053: Mount Kimbie (Mixmag) 
  • The Cover Mix: PinkPantheress (Mixmag) 
Artist and Music Features
  • What comes next may not look like what came before and technology’s role may be in ways we can’t yet imagine. My only request is, if vinyl’s involved – please can you press it in standard black? (RadioEdit - Patrick Clifton) 
  • Ultra Music Festival’s 25th anniversary edition as it happened. (DJMag) 
  • DJ Koze talks about finding inner peace, overstimulation and his new album on Pampa Records. (RA) 
  • The Blessed Madonna: From mixtapes to global music icon (Red Bull) 
  • Doctor P and Flux Pavilion vs. The algorithm: Why fun is dubstep's secret weapon (EDM) 
  • Jessica Audiffred on psychology & bass music: ‘If they cry, if they scream of joy, if they sing out loud — it’s up to you’ (Billboard) 
  • How reggae and dub influenced your favourite music genre. (Mixmag) 
  • Recognise 080: NVST (DJMag) 
  • A history of '90s Latin House in ten tracks. (RA) 
  • The 100 best dance songs of all time (100-1): Staff List (Billboard) 
  • The 15 best house tracks of March 2025 (Magnetic) 
Artist News
  • Joe Dale, a longtime fixture of Chicago's house music scene and a founding owner of Gramaphone Records, has died. (RA) 
  • Avicii's former manager Arash "Ash" Pournouri has reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against Avicii: True Stories filmmaker Levan Tsikurishvili. (DJMag) 
  • Drum ‘n’ bass legend Fabio set to launch new label. (909Originals) 
  • Charlotte de Witte has announced that her self-titled debut album will be released on 7 November. (DJMag) 
  • Nia Archives named artist of the year at Northern Music Awards. (Standard) 
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About IMS

IMS: International Music Summit is a global educational and motivational thought-leadership platform dedicated to the continued development of electronic music primarily through the presentation of global summits for the industry. 

About Beatport

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About AFEM

AFEM: A global voice for electronic music; representing our culture and commerce. AFEM's membership spans all industry sectors, with over 250 company members across 25 countries, the organisation connects its worldwide membership to develop opportunities and enable change.

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