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
28 Jul 2026
News and Features
  • Concord Music Group, Universal Music Publishing Group and ABKCO Music have filed an amended complaint against Anthropic over the alleged copying of copyrighted song lyrics by its Claude chatbot. (MBW)
  • The Mercury Prize 12 ‘Albums of the Year’ will be announced exclusively live on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Sounds from 10.30am this Thursday. The judging team has been named as Afrodeutsche, Danielle Perry, Jamie Cullum, Jeff Smith, Lea Stonhill, MistaJam, Phil Alexander, Sian Eleri, Sophie Williams, Will Hodgkinson, and Chair Jeff Smith. (RotD) 
  • Pubs, clubs and live music venues in England will receive a 20% discount on their business rates bills as part of a £100m aid package but Andy Burnham has immediately faced calls to be more ambitious. (Guardian) 
  • Voices from across the Berlin club scene have shared messages of grief, solidarity and concern following a Christopher Street Day attack near Tiergarten park that left one dead and 29 injured. (RA) 
  • BBC Radio 1 Dance X expands Ibiza schedule to [UNVRS], Ushuaïa & Hï Ibiza. (IbizaSpotlight) 
  • London Museum has announced its search for a new DJ collective to perform regularly in its new free permanent galleries. (RotD)  
Digital
  • Deezer said that AI-generated track uploads were at a peak in June, representing a monthly average of 90,000 tracks per day, over 50% of new uploads. (TechCrunch) 
  • The leaders behind Spotify's Fresh Finds on helping independent artists turn early buzz into lasting careers. (Spotify) 
  • Suno last year allowed a hacker to steal the personal information of more than 55.3 million people. (TechCrunch)  
  • Snap announces Now Playing on Snap Map, starting with Spotify integration, to enable Snapchatters to link their accounts and share listening activity. (DMN) 
  • SoundCloud has acquired Nina Protocol, a decentralised music platform that enabled independent artists to sell music directly to fans while keeping 100% of their revenue. (MusicAlly)  
  • Music-focused ‘challenger bank’ superfans startup Belong emerges from stealth. (MusicAlly) 
Live
  • Amsterdam's Breakfast Club returns to ADE for 2026 edition. (RA) 
  • Tomorrowland releases skin, body and hair care collection. (DJMag) 
News Update from AFEM
(Association for Electronic Music)
  • AFEM Presents: Bridges for Music: The Cycle to Amsterdam Dance Event
    Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 2:00 PM BST
    Join AFEM for a LinkedIn Live conversation on the ADE Cycle, the charity ride from London to Amsterdam in support of Bridges for Music. Taking place on 20–21 October 2026, the new two-day route covers 230km and supports the Bridges Academy in Langa, Cape Town, helping young creatives access music, entrepreneurship and mindfulness programmes. RSVP here: LinkedIn Live event
Comment, Opinion and Analysis
  • UK recorded music exports reached £800.3m in 2025 – the highest annual total since BPI began measuring the value of music exports in 2020. (RotD)  
  • Electronic music is the fastest-growing genre in the US so far this year, according to a new report by Luminate. (DJMag) 
  • How hybrid genres are redrawing the music map from the inside out. (Chartmetric) 
  • Niche is the new mainstream: Marketing in an AI-saturated social landscape. (Midia - Hanna Kahlert) 
  • Where some investors see AI as a threat to the downstream value of recorded music catalogues, others see it as a philosopher’s stone that will turn old catalogues into gold. (TheRadioEdit - Patrick Clifton) 
Tech
  • Miltone announces Oberheim Four Voice System recreation, 4Exp. (DJMag) 
Beatport
  • RSVP Now: DJ Seinfeld, salute, Chloëdees | Beatport Live x HARD Selects Takeover (Beatportal)
  • Omar+ pushes forward on new single “Can’t Slow Down” (Beatportal)
  • DJ_Dave announces debut album ‘Hardcore Software,’ shares new single “Next to U” (Beatportal)
  • Playlist of the Week: Osmosis Jones (Beatportal)
  • Eight Emerging Artists On Our Radar: July 2026 (Beatportal)
  • Going Green: Electronic music and the quest for sustainability (Beatportal)
  • Speed up your music digging with Beatport DJ (Beatport)
Clubs
  • radial, a new 250-capacity club is opening in Tottenham this September. (DJMag) 
Deals
  • Electronic duo Boy Harsher have signed to Atlantic Records. (TLoBF) 
Streams & Podcasts
  • Watch Novelist, Becky Hill and Niko B offer up their Cornershop Confessions with ZYN. (Mixmag) 
  • Pegassi makes a trance track from scratch. (DJMag) 
  • RA.1049 Topdown Dialectic (RA) 
  • Kyle Starkey | Mixmag Lab London (Mixmag) 
  • Hannah Laing | Mixmag Lab London (Mixmag) 
Artist and Music Features
  • Return of the rave: How London's nightlife evolved to meet a new generation (Standard) 
  • Drawing on over 15 years of delivering large scale festivals and live music at venues including Printworks London, Drumsheds and the new-for-2026 Magazine Open-Air, Broadwick Live MD Luke Huxham sets out how audience experience at scale is shaped by detail. (AAA) 
  • In case you haven’t noticed, the music industry is exploding everywhere all at once. But who will power the new ‘chaos economy’ infrastructure? (DMN) 
  • Music influencers are getting paid to promote songs — and they're not telling you. (NPR) 
  • Chloé Caillet: rocking the dancefloor (DJMag) 
  • How Lucy Guo, once the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, turned fandom into a DJ career. (EDM) 
  • With ‘In This Bih’,’ Kah-Lo once again has a dance world smash — this time, she’s ready for it. (Billboard) 
  • Boris Brejcha opens up about his first-ever orchestral performance ahead of Hollywood Bowl debut. (EDMTunes) 
  • DJ Harvey on 35 years of Ministry of Sound, the return of Rulin’, punk mentalities and why he doesn’t mind phones in his crowds. (Rolling Stone UK)
  • La Troya: four decades of colour, chaos and collective experiences. (DJMag) 
  • HoneyLuv picks her favourite things to do on Ibiza. (IbizaSpotlight) 
  • Crash Out: The true story of the Fake Viral Techno DJ and the $50 million fraud. (5Mag) 
  • Illuminating experience: The Black Lights invites us to take in Blackpool's forgotten beauty. (Mixmag) 
  • We joined the party at Barrio Havana Club, an immersive festival experience bringing the flavours and sounds of Cuba to Portugal’s Afro Nation. (Mixmag) 
  • KIBO selects 10 projects that inspired his debut album. (DJMag) 
  • 4 Daft Punk songs that changed dance music forever. (Vice) 
  • 3 Skrillex songs that changed electronic music. (Vice) 
  • Standouts from 50 Years of Electronic Jazz. (RA)  
Artist News
  • John 'Jammin' Collins, Detroit techno pioneer and Underground Resistance affiliate, has died. (RA) 
  • Carl Cox tracks 'The Rogues', 'Drone Farm' and 'My Bunker My Party' are included on Andy Serkis' animated take on the George Orwell classic, Animal Farm. (RA) 
  • Alok DJs with his mum and dad at Tomorrowland 2026. (DJMag) 
  • Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter says scoring Tron: Legacy was “depressing” and “limiting”. (DJMag) 
  • Miss Monique debuts Robbie Williams collab, ‘Beauty In Us’. (DJMag) 
  • Fatboy Slim is among the investors bringing Brighton music venue The Pipeline under community ownership. (Mixmag) 
  • Fred again.. and LATIN MAFIA have shared a new film featuring unreleased music by the two acts. (DJMag) 
  • Armin van Buuren has discussed how he almost became a lawyer instead of a DJ. (DJMag) 
  • Mike Posner invites electronic music producers to remix ‘I Went Back to Ibiza’. (EDM) 
  • Martin Garrix and U2 release ‘Fireflies’ after Tomorrowland debut. (EDMTunes) 
  • Ricardo Villalobos unveils first solo single of 2026. (RA) 
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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

Beatport is the worldwide home of music for DJs, producers, and their fans. Founded in 2004, the Beatport family of companies includes Beatport, the preeminent store for electronic music DJs, Beatsource for the open-format DJ community, and Loopmasters, Loopcloud and Plugin Boutique for music producers. Follow us on Twitch, Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram.

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.

About ROTD

Record of the Day has produced a subscription-based daily publication for the music industry for over 23 years, featuring all the best news and comment, along with an editorially-chosen future hit. Sign up for a free trial here.
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