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
Darkness
Chris Stussy
Up The Stuss
out now
Comment
"As he prepares to release his most expansive and personal statement to date, with 'Lost, Found & Forgotten, which comes out on Friday, 3 April. He's going to be dropping a tune every week up until then. He's hosting Radio 1's Residency for April. Headlining London's Ally Pally, the day after album release, which he sold out in 10 hours, 12,000 tickets. The world really has opened up and caught up to the Stussy sound. People are mad for it. So this ENT is just as much to celebrate the start of that sequence. It's going to be a Stussy summer."
This week's featured Essential New Tune was featured in last week’s Friday show on BBC Radio 1. Listen again and forward to 30.48 here.  
Contact
Label: Up The Stuss
Radio: Martin Cook, All Ears Promotions 
17 Mar 2026
Business
  • Live Nation employees bragged about ‘Gouging’ customers and ‘Robbing Them Blind’ in dozens of leaked exchanges. (DMN) 
  • Concord has acquired UK independent label Ninja Tune, bringing the influential imprint into the Concord Label Group and expanding the company’s footprint across the UK and Europe. The deal also includes Ninja Tune’s publishing division, Just Isn’t Music. (DMN) 
News and Features
  • The nominees for the 2026 International Dance Music Awards have been announced. (Billboard) 
  • The Night Time Industries Association, in partnership with KUVO powered by DJ Monitor, announced the launch of a new chart of the UK’s most played tracks, artists and labels, across more than 75 dancefloors in the UK, in venues participating in the Music Recognition Technology initiative). (RotD) 
Digital
  • TikTok has partnered with Apple Music to allow subscribers of the streaming service to play full songs without leaving its social network. (TechCrunch) 
  • Tidal has added direct-to-fan album downloads with a 90/10 split, bypassing traditional distributors and putting the platform in direct competition with Bandcamp. (DMN) 
Live
  • Goldenvoice unveils one-off dance music festival, Head Trip, at the Coachella grounds. (IQ) 
  • Electronic music festival No Art Open Air is returning to Manchester after four years. (TimeOut) 
  • Neopop 2026 line-up, including Goldie, Ben Klock b2b Rødhåd, Joseph Capriati b2b Luke Slater, and Jeff Mills. (DJ Mag) 
  • Ancient temple in Sicily confirmed as site of new AURA festival. (DJ Mag) 
  • Chicago’s ARC Music Festival announces 2026 lineup & expansion to four days. (Billboard) 
  • MUTEK Montréal reveals first names for 2026. (RA) 
News Update from AFEM
(Association for Electronic Music)
  • AFEM Industry Insider podcast: Gender Parity
    Gender parity remains one of the most important and widely discussed challenges facing the electronic music industry. While there has been meaningful progress in recent years, disparities in representation, opportunity and visibility across many areas of the sector continue to shape the experiences of artists and professionals alike. We will hear from three organisations doing the real work to evolve this conversation covering Touring, Recording, Producing and Education. Featuring guests: Martha Bolton (Not Bad For A Girl), Professor Samantha Parsley (Minor Keys / University of Portsmouth) & Sydney Blu (Change the Beat).
    Listen here.
Comment, Opinion and Analysis
  • Global recorded music revenues were up 9.4% in 2025 to reach $39.5bn. (Midia - Mark Mulligan) 
  • The BPI reported UK recorded music revenue increased for an 11th consecutive year in 2025, rising by 5.0% to a new nominal high of £1.57bn. Revenue in 2025 was nearly 90% higher than it was the decade before. (RotD) Streaming revenue rose by a further 4.6% to a new record level of £1.07bn, accounting for 67.7% of recorded music revenue, a small drop from 68.1% the year before as physical music sales grew at a faster rate in 2025. Vinyl sales grew 19.9%.
  • Spotify's annual Loud & Clear report details: Among the many stats, the platform notes that in 2025, there were more than 13,800 artists who generated at least $100,000 a year from Spotify alone - nearly 1,400 more than last year; Only two years after debuting, artists already see more than half of their royalties coming from outside of their home countries, on average; and the 100,000th highest-earning artist generated more than $7,300 in royalties from Spotify alone. In 2015, the artist in that same position generated about $350. 
Tech
  • Minimal Audio releases “musically intelligent” plug-in, Poly Flanger. (DJ Mag) 
Beatport
  • LA Underground Standouts Unite for 'Point Winona Sound Library Vol. 1' (Beatportal)
  • Miami Music Week 2026 Events: What's Happening Each Day [Updating] (Beatportal)
  • Breaka Leans Into Swing on New FABRICLIVE EP 'Mangled' (Beatportal)
  • Aaron Hibell on 'SYNCHRONICITY,' His Debut Album That 'Sits Somewhere Between the Dance Floor and Film Score' [Q&A] (Betaportal)
  • Label of the Month: doof (Beatportal)
  • Skyline Festival Finds Its Beat in LA’s Arts District [Review] (Beatportal)
  • djay x Beatport Streaming sessions with ‪Femdelic (Beatportal)
Clubs
  • Ibiza:
    Black Coffee announces three [UNVRS] Ibiza shows this summer. (DJ Mag)
  • Village Underground Barcelona is set to launch next month with a strict no-photo policy. (Mixmag) 
  • Peckham's Palais is London's best new nightclub. (Mixmag) 
  • Brighton club Quarters launches free monthly events amid cost of living crisis. (Mixmag) 
Streams & Podcasts
  • Camisra ‘Let Me Show You’ | The Making Of A Hard House Anthem (DJ Mag) 
  • RA.1030 Main Phase (RA) 
  • Mason Collective | Mixmag Lab Andorra | L’Abarset (Mixmag) 
  • Miss Monique Live from Hï Ibiza (DJ Mag) 
Artist and Music Features
  • Independent music is gaining ground, and A2IM in the US is at the centre of that shift. CEO Ian Harrison explains how advocacy, community building, and smarter access to data are helping independent artists and labels compete while staying independent. (Chartmetric) 
  • Sarah Woods, Chief Executive at Help Musicians and Music Minds Matter on why mental health and wellbeing are increasingly important for artists and musicians, and the support services in place. (ICMP)  
  • The five step program to reach 5k Spotify streams. (Hypebot) 
  • How Daft Punk’s ‘Discovery’ reshaped dance music for the digital age (DJ Mag) 
  • “Daft Punk’s ‘Discovery’ changed my life”: 21 tales of the iconic album’s endless influence (DJ Mag) 
  • How Illenium’s long history in Las Vegas paved the way for his Sphere residency. (Billboard) 
  • James Blake escaped the major label labyrinth. Now, he’s got an album to show for it. (LATimes) 
  • How Claude VonStroke dialed the wrong number to find his way “Back to the Beginning”. (EDM) 
  • Mau P talks about making his debut album at Billboard House @ SXSW. (Billboard) 
  • Freddy K discusses his late-career ascent, the discipline of the marathon set and the shifting class dynamics threatening the underground. (RA) 
  • How Daniel Avery remixed every track on his alt-metal album in six weeks. (MusicTech) 
  • Physical impact: Run Da Bass brings the weight of UK soundsystem culture to Osaka. (Mixmag) 
  • DJ EZ selects 10 essential garage anthems (DJ Mag) 
  • The 10 most pioneering electronic albums of the 1970s. (Far Out) 
  • Rach Brosman did not set out to become one of the more disruptive voices in electronic music, but the lineups gave her very little choice. (EDM) 
  • Chuck Daniels on Detroit roots, longevity, and the future of house and techno. (Magnetic) 
Artist News
  • SOFI TUKKER release playful new single ‘BOBA’. (EDMTunes) 
  • David Guetta releases new single with Jennifer Lopez. (IbizaSpotlight) 
  • James Blake announces UK and EU tour dates for 2026. (Skiddle) 
  • Piezo, DJ Plead and DJ Python (known collectively as PPP) have announced a new collaborative EP on Facta and K‑LONE’s Wisdom Teeth imprint. (DJ Mag) 
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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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