Artists in residence: Electronic Music Report 2025

The electronic music scene has incrementally bounced back after the pandemic. There were, of course, zero or very few live events during the Covid era, so it is chiefly in the live arena that income has returned to the industry.

The 2025 IMS Business Report was presented yesterday (23 April) at the IMS (International Music Summit) in Ibiza, and all the signs are that the sector has again grown steadily. Last year’s report stated that the global industry grew by 17% so that it was valued at $11.8bn, with indicators pointing to a further increase over the past 12 months. A significant portion of this comes from the flourishing UK music industry.

A recent report by the UK’s Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) pinpointed that the electronic music sector is worth £2.4bn to the UK economy – one of the main contributors to the country’s finances. The NTIA’s third edition of the UK Electronic Music Report, aims to emphasise “the undeniable economic, cultural, and community value of the electronic music industry in the UK.” And yet, even now, in some circles, electronic music is considered the poor relation to supposedly more high-brow cultural activities.

As part of the UK government’s recent culture fund awards, the National Poetry Centre in Leeds scored a £5m grant, while other substantial awards were made to a railway museum and a Cultural Gateway attraction in Coventry. The proposed £100m pot of “levelling up” money was cut by a third due to the cost-of-living crisis, and it was noticeable that projects directly relating to electronic music received zero support.

“One of my key pieces about being successful in this space right now is really thinking about what your audience wants”

Listen
Despite some the lack of support for the sector from some short-sighted governments, the business is enjoying some spectacular results. In addition to residencies in Las Vegas and Ibiza, and headline slots at various festivals around the world, superstar DJ Gavid Guetta will also be taking his Monolith Tour to a number of European Stadiums this summer – taking electronic music to a new lever.

Speaking recently during ILMC’s Electronic Music session, Guetta’s agent, Maria May (CAA) heralded that breakthrough but also shone a light on the creativity of the sector at smaller events.
“All we seem to hear is all the negative noise instead of all the positive noise,” said May. And addressing tumbling F&B revenues at events where younger fans are turning away from alcohol consumption, she observed, “I have quite a lot of artists on my roster that attract an older audience, and we’ve been doing a lot of daytime things. And honestly, the over-40s that come to these venues do drink. So, we’re having these analogies where we’ll do a party on a Saturday, let’s say at Fabric, where the bar spend is more in the day rave than it is on Saturday night when kids come in.”

She added, “One of my key pieces about being successful in this space right now is really thinking about what your audience wants. Why aren’t we looking to provide events for people that are older who want to go to bed earlier? Elijah, who is one of the great young thinkers of our industry, said to me that we don’t need club audiences to get younger to survive; we actually need to get older people to go out!”

“There’s the sense that festival culture has been hurting club culture, along with the cost of living”

Play Hard
As May suggested, there are inevitable challenges in the sector as well. A recent report by the UK-based Night Time Industries Association stated that 29% of artists across UK festivals are electronic, while 80% of the top 30 global artists in 2024 have been significantly influenced by electronic music.

Nightclubs, meanwhile, for so long the breeding ground for new talent in the electronic sphere, have been closing at an alarming rate. The numbers are down from 875 to 851 in the UK in the last year. The report highlights the role of clubs in “fostering community, inclusivity, and tolerance – values that are deeply embedded in the genre’s DNA.”

“There’s the sense that festival culture has been hurting club culture, along with the cost of living,” says agent Tom Nettleton from Paramount, who represent artists such as Booka Shade, Paul Woolford, and Scottish techno powerhouse Mha Iri. “An abundance of talent on offer versus a shrinking [number] of slots and outlets has made the market competitive and artists have to pay close attention to their marketing, musical output, and social media presence in order to maintain a busy schedule. However, the industry continues to grow in popularity, and this is illustrated by lineups on what you would consider mainstream pop festivals, whereby previously headlining bands have been replaced by DJs.”

With clubs closing in the UK and the margins for promoters becoming ever tighter, many are playing it safe in 2025 – booking big names who tend to hoo- ver up most of the budget. Some of the bigger DJs and electronic acts are bypassing clubs altogether now to focus on arenas and festivals, although 211 festivals in the UK have folded since 2019.

There are various reasons behind each festival ceasing to operate – the cost of infrastructure, artists, staff, land, and a raft of other issues have steadily increased over the past few years, particularly since the pandemic, which means the pot is eternally squeezed. And that’s not even factoring in the disastrous effects of Brexit on the UK music scene. Plus, festivalgoers, on the whole, have less disposable income than they had in the years before 2019/20.

“Festivals are in a tricky economic period, but it feels like now more than ever, people need that escapism”

Curtailing Growth
Elrow has built itself up into a huge megabrand within the electronic dance music sphere since its founding in 2010. Growing out of an event space in Barcelona, it became almost a travelling circus when a ruling came from the Spanish authorities that they couldn’t throw more than one event per month at their home venue. Over the past decade and a half, the brand has made its name by staging fun-packed, themed parties with huge production values coupled with quality music. Until recently, elrow was putting on 150 shows a year in many cities around the world but has recently cut the number back to around 60.

“The change has been way less club shows – most of our shows are now big events or festivals,” says Victor de la Serna, elrow’s music director.
Victor is keen to stress that cutting back the number of shows isn’t due to financial necessity but simply a question of consolidating their strengths. “I believe that people are after experiences in general,” he says. “It has come to a point where lineups are very similar across the board, so people are after other kinds of experiences or events that offer something else… Due to the saturated market that we have and the lack of headliners, the industry needs to get creative.”

Against a backdrop of industry pressures, it’s nice to be able to report on a new festival beginning afresh in 2025. Jess Lardner is operations manager for Team Love, who produce UK festivals Love Saves The Day, Forwards, Silver Hayes at Glastonbury, and others. She’s also the co-founder of the new Homestead Festival in Somerset, alongside partner Will Lardner. The pair decided to start their own festival after working for a decade on Shindig in The West Country.

“We really believe in the importance of gathering – it’s something that people have done for thousands of years,” says Lardner. “Festivals are in a tricky economic period, but it feels like now more than ever, people need that escapism. We also see the huge benefits and positives of gathering: to exchange ideas, share moments in a crowd, and have that time away from the daily grind.”
Homestead is focusing on a slightly older demographic, with “a range of food options, nicer camping options, and less focus on booze and late-night raving. People don’t want to leave an event feeling totally broken. We’re also seeing the popularity rise of ‘start early and finish early’ rave-style events, too, in the younger generation.”

“It feels like an exciting time for music in the coming years with the rise of punky, live, indie/electronica music all over the UK”

Lardner lauds a growing influx of artists and sounds from around the world, such as the African continent, but confirms electronic music will always be a foundation for Homestead’s line-up.
“Look at people like MJ Cole, now touring with a full live band, playing his debut album Sincere,” she says, “Seeing big electronic artists now move into the live spectrum of performances proves the appetite for it still.”

In the coming year, Lardner thinks there will be more acts straddling a few different genres. “Fat Dog is a great example of that,” she says. “Their rise over the last 24 months to one of the UK’s most interesting and in-demand live acts, while blurring the lines between indie and dance, is proof that younger artists with electronic-based music aren’t being restricted to traditional platforms like DJing to play shows. Another example of that would be Barry Can’t Swim making live and DJ sets just a thing he does – both equally as good. It feels like an exciting time for music in the coming years with the rise of punky, live, indie/electronica music coming from all over the UK.”

Lardner is also keen to stress that the event is “something that doesn’t feel like a money grab at every opportunity.” The festival, which takes place 18–20 July, has no VIP areas; there’s just one ticket for everything.

Raves & Waves
One place that has enhanced its VIP culture in recent years is Ibiza. The Balearic Island has bounced back from pandemic shuttering with aplomb, starting its season a month earlier (end of April) and not finishing until October.

The big news in Ibiza this coming season is the opening of [UNVRS] on the site of the old Privilege (and formerly Ku club). Once certified as the biggest nightclub in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, it’s been bought by The Night League, owners of Hï Ibiza and Ushuaïa, two of the island’s most prominent clubs, and will be drawing thousands of music fans every night.

“The thought of a packed-out 10,000-capacity venue is staggering, but can it sustain itself for the season?”

“The thought of a packed-out 10,000-capacity venue is staggering, but can it sustain itself for the season?” asks Mick Wilson, the editor of DJ Mag Ibiza, a seasonal publication on the island. “This is something that we’re going to find out, but from the lineups that they have already announced, they are going for it.”

[UNVRS] have brought back one of the biggest DJs in the world, Carl Cox, to the island for a weekly residency every Sunday. UK DJ Jamie Jones’s Paradise party has been poached from nearby Amnesia for a weekly session, while famous Frenchman David Guetta and Australian showman Fisher are also reportedly moving over from Hï Ibiza. Also coming to [UNVRS] are Eric Prydz’s Holosphere 2.0 and Anyma’s audiovisual extravaganza, fresh from his groundbreaking residency at Sphere in Las Vegas – two huge DJ shows built around incredible AI visuals.

Nearby superclub Amnesia has seen big draws such as Joseph Capriati and Indira Paganotto depart for Hï Ibiza but has used the opportunity to foreground emerging talent such as Josh Baker, Deborah De Luca, and Marco Faraone, and to bring back weekly techno event Resistance, which features scene stalwarts Adam Beyer and ARTBAT.

“Credit to Amnesia for not rolling over, and also investing in bringing something new to their programming,” says Wilson, who resides on the island and has advance insights into club programming through his White Isle networks. “Personally, I’ve already seen some amazing lineups from other clubs like Chinois. I think the opening of [UNVRS] can be a positive thing for the island as a whole as it will force other clubs and events to up their game, as well as bringing in new and exciting talents, which is only a positive thing for the island’s dance music audience.”

Meanwhile, elrow is also making the transition over from Amnesia in the middle of the island to [UNVRS]. Most big nights in Ibiza are built around one or two big DJ names, but elrow has succeeded by focusing on the immersive experience, piling thousands of euros into production – lights, costumes, giant inflatables, themed parties, and suchlike. The company’s technical director, Ferran Pascual, believes the big new space of [UNVRS] will enhance the elrow experience further.

“The fees artists are commanding are simply ridiculous and out of range for many promoters”

“It’s a change of mentality,” he says. “From a theatre-inspired ‘stage-centric’ experience to a dynamic environment where every space in the club becomes part of the narrative. With more actors, interactive elements, and surprises, every show will be bigger and better than ever.”

However, sounding a note of caution during ILMC’s electronic music session, both CAA’s May and UTA agent Hannah Shogbola cited a dip in Ibiza visitor numbers last August.
“I think all the investment that’s going into Ibiza has got to be paid for by the VIP tables – and I’d like to know where all these VIPs are going to come from,” said May.

And while observing that Ibiza is now a lot more diverse than it was in the noughties, Shogbola added, “I would agree with a lot of what Maria’s saying – it will be interesting to see how it plays out across the clubs in Ibiza this year.”

Levels
Elrow still book quality DJs, but their focus on the production rather than superstar names has allowed them to sidestep spiralling DJ fees and put more money into the overall experience.
“The fees artists are commanding are simply ridiculous and out of range for many promoters,” says De la Serna. “This creates a secondary market where only certain artists can play, leaving clubs and other venues in a difficult position.”

“Artist fees need to be adjusted outside of London”

The desire for some sort of equalisation of DJ fees during the pandemic – essentially acts moving towards more of a level playing field, working with venues and promoters to price everything affordably – seems to have gone out the window over the past few years. Fees and the number of shows an artist might do in a year seem to have returned to pre-pandemic levels, although there are some ethical operators who aim to keep costs down and all communities included.

“Fees and the cost of putting on quality events with big-name acts are going through the roof, making them impossible to put on in some parts of the country,” says Biff Mitchell, who promotes the Electric Bay Festival in the south-west of England, as well as booking talent for the Glade area at Glastonbury and independent festivals Beautiful Days and Mucky Weekender. “Artist fees need to be adjusted outside of London. Lots of locals’ nights are popping up, and that will produce the new big names and bring new talent forward.”

Steven Braines from inclusive event series and record label HE.SHE.THEY. also notes that there’s a general trend for big venues and festivals to take away business from more grassroots spaces, contributing towards closures, but singles out Manchester’s Amber night, which has built up a reputation for great events with no pre-announced lineup and a policy of no camera phones.

“It has a low ticket price and a great sound system, too, showing that if you build it, they will come,” he says, echoing a motto of Manchester’s fabled Hacienda venue from back in the day.
HE.SHE.THEY. have flourished since the pandemic. From humble UK beginnings they now tour the world, putting on events in cities from Athens to Austin, Manchester to Miami, Paris to New York to Newcastle. The parties foreground LGBTQ+ performers and clubbers while being open to everyone, and their success has risen in parallel with a welcome increased focus on diversity within the industry. They recently got an agent for Asia, which is going to mean many more events in that part of the world, and host stages at megafests like Tomorrowland in Belgium and Pride events around the world.

Evolution
In genre terms, Afrohouse and Amapiano continue to make waves beyond their southern African birthplaces. Afrohouse pioneer Black Coffee continues his residency at Hï Ibiza, while German collective Keinemusik – the label that delivered worldwide smash Move by Adam Port, Stryv, and Malachiii last year – are now huge across the planet.

From Amapiano, scene stalwarts Major League DJz secured a slot at the fabled IMS Dalt Vila closing party this April, while Uncle Waffles, DBN Gogo, Mellow & Sleazy and others have also exploded internationally.

“Touring European artists are able to play a good number of shows each year, and there’s work out there for a lot of people”

Dancefloor sounds constantly evolve. Genres come in and out of fashion or fuse with others to make new sounds. “Hard techno is huge, as is drum & bass,” Braines says. “It feels like it’s a re- ally interesting countercultural space to let go of all the angst and energy – like dubstep, rave, hard house, jungle, heavy metal, and punk have always been. It’s quite hard to rebel to deep house.”

Whilst drum & bass, the UK-born sound whose foundational artists have stuck with it for more than three decades, has finally conquered America, hard techno artists like Patrick Mason and Sara Landry have appeared almost out of nowhere in recent years.

“The hard techno scene that appeared after Covid continued to do well in 2024,” says Paramount’s Nettleton. “This take on the harder sounds has been omnipresent all over Europe for the last three years, filling stadiums in certain cities. More recently, trance has been taking up some of the space occupied by hard techno. Hard techno is still doing well across Europe, and some new concepts have gained in popularity such as F2F [face-to-face on linked decks, as opposed to the sequential back-to-back on one set of decks]. The bigger names in that scene are still appearing on European dance festivals this summer, along with a new generation of trance acts.”

Nettleton picks out Paris as somewhere that’s buzzing with great venues at the moment. “Between spots like Essaim, FVTVR, Mia Mao, institutions like Rex Club or Badaboum, larger venues like T7, Phantom, [and] warehouse parties – the amount of choice is impressive,” he says.

Meanwhile, North America continues to expand its appetite for dance music, from mega shows in Vegas to underground clubs in major and not-so-major cities. “Touring European artists are able to play a good number of shows each year, and there’s work out there for a lot of people,” Nettleton concludes.

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