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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Live continues to power the electronic music business to new heights, as revenues settle at more than double pre-pandemic levels.

The EDM industry was valued at $12.9 billion (€11.3bn) – up 6% year-on-year – according to the IMS Business Report 2025, which was presented today on the opening morning of IMS (International Music Summit) Ibiza.

Authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan, the report noted that the growth rate was lower than the 9% achieved in the previous 12 months – a slowdown attributed mainly to live music “settling into organic, post-Covid boom rates of growth”.

“Global music industry revenue grew again in 2024, though at a slower rate than in 2023 due to maturing streaming revenues and the post-Covid live resurgence lessening,” says Mulligan. “Electronic music however, continued to increase its share of both revenues and culture.

“Driven by the rise of new genres like Afro House, a renaissance for genres like Drum & Bass, and the rise of a new generation of fans, creators and scenes remaking electronic music in their own image, electronic music finds itself at the start of a brave new era of culture resonance.”

Live was still the biggest earner, however, with festivals and clubs remaining the largest revenue source. Ibiza club ticketing revenue rose to €150 million in 2024 – up 6% on the previous year’s €141m. That figure does not include VIP, meaning the total value created for the local economy was even higher.

Higher ticket prices were responsible for the increase, since the average number of events per venue dipped slightly from 147 to 144. Electronic acts made up 18% of the line-ups of the top 100 festivals – up from 16% in 2023. Nine of the top 100 were electronic music festivals.

“The post-Covid recalibration is done, and live music has come out on top”

“The post-Covid recalibration is done, and live music has come out on top,” reads the report. “Revenue growth normalised in 2024, but with revenues more than double what they were pre-Covid. Growth was boosted by pre-sales for 2025 tours. However, higher ticket prices were the main driver of growth rather than volume of tickets sold.

“The higher end did best, with big tours at big venues and high-priced tickets boosting revenues, while the lower end of the market faces venue closures and lower willingness and ability to spend by many consumers.”

However, DSPs were the fastest growing segment for the first time, ascending 18%.

“While live still leads revenues, streaming has more growth potential and is growing faster,” adds the report.

IMS 2025 runs at the Mondrian Ibiza and Hyde Ibiza hotels in Cala Llonga from 23-25 April,” says IMS co-founder Ben Turner. “The IMS Business Report continues to evolve each year, with more robust data and the benefit of over a decade of compilation — allowing us to truly compare and contrast the state of the electronic music industry.

“Our annual health check this year reflects continued growth and major developments: the Superstruct acquisition reshaping live, rising momentum in key genres like Afro House and Drum & Bass, ongoing catalogue acquisitions, and unprecedented engagement with the genre on cultural platforms such as TikTok.”

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The debate over the impact of VIP culture on the next generation of clubbers has been reignited as top executives warn it is in danger of becoming “an elite form of entertainment”.

Moderated by International Music Summit (IMS) co-founder Ben Turner, ILMC 37’s Electronic Music: Where to Now? panel delved into the dance space ahead of the imminent launch of Ibiza’s latest superclub [UNVRS].

Billed as the world’s first “hyper club” thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the 15,000-cap venue is due to open this summer on the site of the former Privilege Ibiza.

“I think it’s going to be amazing,” said CAA agent Maria May, who has worked in the electronic space for almost 30 years. “The team behind it [Yann Pissenem’s The Night League] are incredible. The production in there is going to be epic. I think every artist that is going to be in there is going to make the most of it. Anyone who’s going to Ibiza next summer is going to go to [UNVRS] to see what he’s done to it.”

Today (13 March), meanwhile, it was announced that Calvin Harris will become the first artist in history to hold a double residency at the same White Isle venue in a single season. He will take over Tuesdays (1 July-26 August) and Fridays (30 May-12 September) at Ushuaïa Ibiza this summer with 25 curated shows. General sale tickets cost €100-120.

Speaking at London’s Royal Lancaster, Turner noted electronic music, which was valued globally at $7.3 billion pre-pandemic, suffered an “inevitable dip” during the Covid years, but had since experienced a “phenomenal bounce back” to a “nearly $12bn industry”.

“The whole success of the night is going to be based on if you’re selling out all your tables”

On a less positive note, May admitted to concerns over the general state of affairs, suggesting that young clubbers were shortening their stays in Ibiza due to the escalating costs, and questioned whether the spirit of the island had been “buried”.

“Ibiza was a bit quieter last August, which was unusual,” she observed. “They might have made it up in September, but the reality is it was quieter… because of cost of living.

“I brought someone very important to Ibiza last year, who will remain nameless, but is in the rock & roll world and known to everybody, and they felt that it’s like Vegas now.”

May said the Ibiza profit model was increasingly leaning towards VIP table sales.

“The whole success of the night is going to be based on if you’re selling out all your tables,” she said. “All the investment that’s going into Ibiza has got to be paid for by the VIP tables. [But] there aren’t enough VIPs on the island to fill every single VIP table, so at some point this is going to start to creak.”

May was also critical of some of the circuit’s programming choices for stifling opportunities for newer talent.

“We’re also gatekeeping younger talent from emerging because we continually book the DJs that sell the VIP tables,” she argued. “The whole model now is pretty much based on a VIP offering and what we’re seeing is pretty much the same DJs from the same genres playing every single year. You look around across Europe and you see emerging talent that are selling serious numbers, but they’re not getting a look in.”

“We’re saying that it’s harder and harder to break talent, but we’re actually sticking to that top level… We’re maintaining the hierarchy”

She continued: “An artist that could… be playing in Ibiza this summer is not allowed to, because the promoters don’t know who they are. And yet, in other places in Europe, they’re selling out thousands and thousands of tickets. It takes a lot more than just a hit record and being hot in Europe to have a residency in Ibiza… but there is an element of actually starting to call out the gatekeeping.

“We’re complaining about there’s not enough headliners. We’re saying that it’s harder and harder to break talent, but we’re actually sticking to that top level. Especially in dance music, across the board, we’re maintaining the hierarchy.”

Turner brought up that VIP culture had permeated the London dance scene, pointing to one DJ event where VIP access tickets were priced at £400.

“I can’t stand it, I honestly can’t stand it,” said Pete Jordan of promoter LWE/AMAAD. “It’s a joke, and if we want to onboard young people, we should be really going back to the roots of what it was about… VIP culture is effectively cutting out most people. It’s going to become an elite form of entertainment, and youngsters will just do their own thing – and they’ll do something different.”

He added: “The biggest thing we should be doing is really opening the doors for young promoters to be able to do events and be given a little bit of freedom, and not be pushed too hard financially because, ultimately, it’s a risky business. If you’re 18-19 and haven’t got thousands of pounds to back you, then as soon as you do your one bad show, you’re out of it for good.

“Promoters, DJs, musicians, will keep coming through forever because it’s kind of hardwired into you. But at the same time, we are definitely cutting out some talent at the low end just because there’s too many barriers to getting into the scene.”

“A lot of promoters are going for similar acts across the board”

UTA agent Hannah Shogbola, who represents acts like Jaguar, Helena Star and Girls Don’t Sync and previously worked within the booking team at London’s Fabric, had mixed feelings on the subject.

“I’m kind of split on the VIP thing,” she said. “I think it’s also genre-dependent. For example, within genres such as amapiano and Afro house, VIP does really work. I’m not going to deny that sometimes I prefer to be in a club and be in the VIP section. But in other places, I don’t. I want to be down in the nitty gritty.

“I’m definitely against the insanely overpriced tickets to stand on the side of the stage next to the DJ… But I do think there are events that it is suitable for.”

Shogbola moved on to discuss the heated competition for festival slots within the sector.

“A lot of promoters are going for similar acts across the board,” she said. “Certain parts of my roster that might sit in between fees of £1,000 to £5,000, you’re probably up against 30 to 60 other people competing for that slot. It’s been quite tricky this summer actually, if I’m honest, just allowing myself to give artists that transparency, because obviously, for them, that’s hugely disheartening sometimes. I think in their heads, it’s always like, ‘There’s so many festivals and there’s all these available slots,’ and the reality is there just isn’t anymore.”

“The shows really need to sell out to be successful – 80-90% sold just doesn’t cut it”

Columbo Music’s Marcus Drew, who is also in-house booker for Phonox nightclub in South London and the 15,000-cap Maiden Voyage Festival, described the London festival market as “incredibly saturated”.

“We’re all going for the same kind of space musically, especially within electronic music,” he said. “Two Brixton acts don’t equate to 10,000 tickets. Ultimately, there needs to be an intentional theme in the curation, and there needs to be more community-driven sales beyond just headliners on the bill.

“It’s an interesting point about what slots are available to artists… because of the risks involved with festivals at the moment, the shows really need to sell out to be successful – 80-90% sold just doesn’t cut it. And with that in mind, we’re booking every single slot with artists that have proven ticket value in the market. So even our 12 o’clock slot, our 1pm slot, our 2pm slot, will be someone who’s sold 500 tickets and has proven that in advance. I think that makes it very difficult for everyone else.”

May did see reasons for positivity for the business as a whole, however.

“Yes, we have problems. Yes, there’s a credit crunch. Yes, the cost of living is more,” she added. “But there are still a lot of entities that we work with on a regular basis that are doing really great.”

A report on the state of the electronic music sector will appear in the next edition of IQ.

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Iconic hotel and nightspot Pikes Ibiza has announced it is banning mobile phones from the dancefloor seven nights a week.

The legendary venue acknowledged it “caused quite the stir” when it became the first site on the island to launch a phone-free policy for Mondays back in April.

“We think it was the start of a positive shift in the way people experience parties in Ibiza, especially as we’ve noticed more and more events adopt a similar approach over the course of the season,” it says via its social media channels.

The reaction has prompted Pikes to extend the approach through the whole week.

“Keeping your phone in your pocket and your mind on the music – and knowing that everyone around you is doing the same – opens up a whole world of freedom, not only on the dancefloor but all around Pikes and so, we’ve decided to introduce the policy seven nights a week,” it continues.

“You can bring your phone with you to Pikes… we’ll simply place a sticker over your device’s camera when you step through the gates”

“Of course, you can bring your phone with you to Pikes… we’ll simply place a sticker over your device’s camera when you step through the gates. We ever-so-kindly ask that you refrain from filming or using your camera and our team will ever-so-politely enforce the policy if they catch you trying to snap a cheeky one, though you might even find your fellow partygoers stepping in ever-so-nicely to remind you before we get there!’

An Ibiza institution, Pikes is operated by Ibiza Rocks and was immortalised as the location where the music video for Wham!’s 1983 classic Club Tropicana was filmed. It was also famously the site of Freddie Mercury’s 41st birthday party in 1987.

“We want you to dance like no one’s watching,” it adds. “We want the very special guests in our booth and our resident DJs alike to feel as comfortable as if they were at a friend’s house party, with the freedom to dance, sing, jump, squeal, shout and celebrate however they like. We want you to find your new best friends, make memories that live in your mind, not on your phone, and experience the magic of Pikes the way it was always intended to be. After all, what happens at Pikes stays at Pikes.”

On a related note, Bob Dylan unveiled the European leg of his 2024 Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour last month, for which mobile phones are prohibited. The shows are being held in partnership with US firm Yondr, which specialises in producing sealed phone pouches.

Swedish rock band Ghost also banned phones for their US tour last autumn, following in the footsteps of the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Jack White.

IMS Ibiza resurrected its “presidential debate” at this year’s conference to pit Wasserman Music agent Tom Schroeder against leading promoter Richard McGinnis.

Schroeder represents artists such as Fred Again.., Disclosure, FKA Twigs, The xx, Raye, Kaytranada, Nia Archives, Overmono and PinkPantheress, while McGinnis served as head of talent at MAMA Festivals for nearly a decade and is a founding partner of Warehouse Project and Parklife Festival.

Their conversation, held at Ibiza’s Destino Pacha Resort in May, explored the ever-changing dynamic between agents and promoters. Moderated by the Association for Electronic Music’s interim CEO, Finlay Johnson, it can be revisited in full below.

“The way I see the industry is it’s much more collaborative… We have to look after each other a little bit more”

Here is a selection of some of the panel’s key talking points:

The agent/promoter dynamic…

Tom Schroeder: “I think it’s changed. The way I see the industry is it’s much more collaborative, it’s much less secure. We have to look after each other a little bit more. We need everyone to win. Yes, I am here to represent my clients. But that means to make a success of a festival, it doesn’t mean just to take the most I can get out of it. Live music, particularly electronic music, was built [to be] quite combative, but I think everything’s changed and we’re here to make this ecosystem good again.”

Richard McGinnis: “I think the days of drum and bass agents ringing you up and threatening to burn your house down because you’ve not paid the deposit on time have passed! Certainly, pre-Covid, the merging of a lot of the agencies, and the professionalism that the American [companies] brought to the table, alienated a lot of that kind of culture. That kind of street level agency behaviour has slowed down, it’s not as prevalent as it used to be. It certainly used to be a problem.”

“I think it’s good as a promoter to go to an agent who’s given you a headliner and offer them up X, Y, and Z slots”

Leveraging support acts…

TS: Different strokes for different folks. At my company… we don’t really do that. Or I like to think we don’t do that. I don’t want to leverage acts on to Parklife that aren’t suitable for Parklife and are going to play to no one – no one wins.”

RM: “I think it’s good as a promoter to go to an agent who’s given you a headliner and offer them up X, Y, and Z slots. That’s basic etiquette in terms of, if someone’s giving you a big act, you should look after them. But equally, from a promoter’s perspective, that can work both ways. [There are] acts that we’ve booked for a couple of grand as a favour for a big agent, and they’ve played an early slot and hated it. And then 18 months later, they’re the biggest act on the planet and you want to offer them [a slot] and they’re just like, ‘We’re not going back.’ That favour that we did ended up biting us in the bum, because they didn’t have a great time. In the old days, independent UK-based agencies might have tried to shoehorn every single act of theirs onto a lineup. That doesn’t happen [anymore], because the agents rep the acts on a pan-European or a global level, they’re not just reliant on this small bit of England. So it’s definitely changed.”

“When you have 100 acts on a bill, billed A-Z, you’re not getting value for money as a promoter”

A-Z artist billing at festivals…

TS: “When you have 100 acts on a bill, billed A-Z, you’re not getting value for money as a promoter if it takes me a long time to see a headline act. And actually, promoters need to stand up to these idiots and say, ‘This is what’s going to sell my tickets for my festival, this is how my artwork has to work. If you don’t want to buy into that then come off the bill.’ I would support people 1,000,000% doing that. From my end, I can lay out my stall from the start and say, ‘I would only consider it in this position. If you don’t want to book it, you don’t want to book it.’ But this A-Z thing is hurting everyone, and it’s a cop out.”

RM: “It’s a cop out, I completely agree. The human brain looks at the poster and reads the first line from left to right. Those acts there are going to sell the tickets. That is the basics. Once you lose a big act to an A-Z… you might as well not have them on the bill. No one’s read that far.”

“What promoters expect of acts in terms of promoting a festival is not working”

Marketing collaborations…

TS: “I think what promoters expect of acts in terms of promoting a festival is not working. Where it works is when an artist explains to their fanbase why they’re playing a festival and what to expect, so that there’s some ownership. These artists don’t have a lot of ownership of the festivals and I’m telling really important people, like Rich, to watch this for the next few years because it’s a problem. My artists want to play festivals, but they’re not as desperate to play them as they might have been a few years ago. The rite of passage thing has slightly come away as we’ve come through Covid and they don’t want to spend their entire time plastering one poster – of which they’re A to Z with 100 acts – on their socials. And you know what? Their fans don’t want to keep seeing that poster appear. So we’ve all got to work out a much cleverer way of my artists helping to sell your tickets.”

RM: “There are so many shows that we’ve worked on together where the artists who’ve created the show, from Annie to Disclosure… And the symbol of authenticity that comes from that is undeniable. Where I see the difference is, it’s all right if you’re Fred Again and he’s on this path that he’s on, but what about the kids in the mid tier? Those kids that are grafting doing three shows a week for £2,000 need to start pushing these shows. Their shows need to be busy. They haven’t got all these opportunities like the big acts have, so there’s another side of it.”

As part of IQ‘s enhanced coverage of the electronic music business, check out DJ Mag editor’s Carl Loben healthcheck here, or in our latest issue.

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The resurgence of the live sector has helped power the global dance music to new heights, according to a new report.

Presented during today’s opening day of the International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza, the IMS Business Report 2023 is authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan and puts the valuation of the electronic business at $11.3 billion (€10.2bn) – 16% higher than pre-pandemic and 34% growth year-on-year.

Festivals and clubs represented nearly half of all dance industry revenue in 2022, while Ibiza club ticketing revenue reached €124 million, up from the €80m generated in 2019, as ticket sales rose 25% to 2.5 million. However, live revenues of $4.1bn still fell short of the $4.4bn garnered in the last pre-Covid year.

“The pandemic shone a harsh light on the industry’s heavy reliance on live,” notes the report. “Now, that reliance is even higher because of live’s huge growth.”

The publication describes 2022 as “a big year overall” for the live industry, as the top 100 global tours reported a 276% increase in revenue, while Live Nation revenues soared 166%. Elsewhere, bookings for the top 100 DJs increased by 314%, according to Viberate.

“After a couple of pandemic-impacted years, the global dance music industry is back in top gear”

Electronic music artists made up 39% of all festival bookings, up from 33% the previous year, although female DJs saw their share of the top 100 DJ bookings fall from 21% to 15% in the same period.

“MIDiA Research is proud to have compiled the 2023 edition of the IMS Business Report, building on the great work of its previous authors,” says Mulligan. “After a couple of pandemic-impacted years, the global dance music industry is back in top gear and this report reflects how growth has returned across all the various aspects of its thriving business.”

The dance sector’s increase in value has also been attributed to a resurgent creator tools sector, plus music publishing, which grew more than two times faster than recordings in the previous year “underpinned by steady improvements in rates paid to publishers and songwriters”.

“Overall the indicators are positive and the future is bright, with more recovery in live still to come as well as future growth in the publishing sectors,” it states. “In addition, the long term growth of creator culture is set to make dance music even more influential on wider music culture in the immediate future.”

“We’ve always been very transparent about the business report – every year it needs to get better and better, more robust and more bulletproof”

Discussing the report with IQ ahead of publication, IMS co-founder Ben Turner predicted it would highlight a “strong bounceback” for the scene, adding that what began as a “bit of fun” had “turned into something very serious”.

“The value has become quite a talking point in the industry and the business world, with so many eyes on electronic music and so many big companies invested into it,” he said. “We’ve always admired the work that MIDiA do around music and data, and Mark’s come at it with a fresh approach.

“There are two elements to the report. One, last year’s report was a return but was based on 2021 numbers, so I expect a big uplift in terms of the actual valuation. But MIDiA have also integrated some new metrics in there based around creative economy and even music publishing, which was [previously] very lightly looked at in our business report.

“We’ve always been very transparent about the business report – every year it needs to get better and better, more robust and more bulletproof.”

Around 1,500 delegates are expected at this year’s IMS, which runs until Friday (28 April).

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Customer engagement and ticketing platform CM.com has marked the start of its “significant” global expansion by inking new deals with iconic Ibiza nightclub Amnesia and TixBox.

Netherlands-founded CM.com will act as Amnesia’s primary online ticketing partner and will also provide the venue with its customer service and marketing software, in a deal that represents CM.com’s ticketing business’ first venture into the Balearics and wider Spanish market.

“We’re delighted to enter this partnership with CM.com, allowing us to optimise our customer’s ticketing experience,” says Amnesia Ibiza partner Sergi Blaya. “We look forward to innovating with them by introducing crypto payment with our partner KlubCoin and using their marketing suite to create new ways of engaging with our online customers.”

CM.com has also entered into a new multi-year deal with TixBox, the ticketing partner for Alchemy Project, the leading entertainment and event management agency in the MENA region. ​​As part of the strategic deal, all events running through TixBox will use enhanced integrated systems and solutions for customers powered by CM.com on their website and app.

“We’re thrilled to be kicking off 2023 as we mean to go on, announcing two deals which represent the start of a significant global expansion for CM.com within our live division”

Since the partnership launched in October 2022, CM.com has already supported TixBox for a host of events, including 31 during the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Artists performing included Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, J Balvin, Akon, Tamer Hosny, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Artbat, Timmy Trumpet, Oliver Heldens, Camelphat, Claptone, Major Lazer, Alesso and more.

Both the Amnesia and TixBox deals were facilitated via CM.com’s London ticketing division, which launched in 2021 and marked the division’s first expansion outside of the Benelux region, where clients include Lowlands Festival and the Dutch Grand Prix.

CM.com’s music & live team is led by former Eventbrite Europe head of music Paul Everett.

“After launching 18 months ago and delivering significant growth in 2022, we’re thrilled to be kicking off 2023 as we mean to go on, announcing two deals which represent the start of a significant global expansion for CM.com within our live division,” says Everett. “Amnesia and TixBox are both internationally recognised brands, leaders in their respective fields and like us, progressive in approach. We are proud to be partnering with them long term to provide our innovative suite of solutions, ensuring their attendees can enjoy the very best customer experience possible.”

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Ibiza nightclubs will open in April this year – two weeks earlier than normal – as the Spanish island bids to rebound from the pandemic.

José Luis Benítez, manager of venues organisation Ocio de Ibiza, said the White Isle’s major nightspots were actively preparing for the 2022 season. He added it would already be possible to open at 65% capacity for those with Covid passes, with fewer restrictions possible in a few months’ time.

“The idea is that the opening will be at the end of April, two weeks ahead of what is normally done,” Benítez told Diario de Ibiza. “Then, “to hang on until October… November if all goes well.

“Even so, we will proceed with caution and in collaboration with the authorities.”

“This summer, the discotheques will be able to open”

Speaking at the annual international tourism fair Fitur in Madrid, Balearic tourism chief Iago Negueruela was similarly confident.

“This summer, the discotheques will be able to open,” he said. “The covid passport serves as a security tool “.

While tourism revenue staged a partial recovery in 2021 compared to 2020, there will be an added focus on consolidating the domestic market, which spent €405 million last season – €40m more than in 2019.

Super clubs have begun confirming their 2022 opening parties, among them Defected (29 April), Es Paradis (1 May) and Amnesia (21 May). The iconic Space Ibiza, which closed in 2016, is also due to make a comeback in 2022 in a new format as a club night, bar and restaurant in the Posta del Sol Building in San Antonio.

Benítez said he had no concerns over demand, insisting the sector had been flooded with letters asking “whether they are opening this year and when”.

“I am quite optimistic,” added former minister Abel Matutes. “The crucial point is that individuals continue to be vaccinated and customers are keen to travel.”

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Prevented from opening by Covid-19 restrictions, nightclubs and dance music festivals lost more than three quarters of their value in 2020, according to new data from the International Music Summit (IMS).

Using data from Viberate and Reisdent Advisor, the IMS Business Report 2021, a copy of which can be requested by clicking here, calculated that €3.4 billion, or 78%, was wiped off the value of venues and festivals last year, as more than 200 electronic music festivals were forced to cancel.

Compounding the damage was a late, scaled-back 2020 season in Ibiza, while searches for flights for 2021 have yet to take off amid ongoing uncertainty, according to the report. IMS’s own flagship event, IMS Ibiza, was among the summer 2020 casualties.

“A huge rebound can be expected as the live industry finds safe routes to reopening”

However, “a huge rebound can be expected as the live industry finds safe routes to reopening”, it continues, while the demand for live dance music events events is bigger than ever: the value of festival tickets sold in March 2021 was more than the whole of 2020 combined, an increase of 4,000% year on year.

The decline in the value mirrors that of the live music industry more broadly, which analysts have put at 75% (Goldman Sachs) and 64% (PwC).

In total (including recorded music and DJ software/hardware), the global electronic music market declined 54%, to $3.4bn, the IMS Business Report estimates.

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Ibiza superclub Amnesia and German festival promoter Cosmopop have signed primary ticketing deals with UK-based Event Genius.

Amnesia, one of the island’s most established clubbing destinations, will use Event Genius’s egTicketing, egMarketing and egTravel products from its 2021 season onwards, while while Cosmopop – whose events include Love Family Park and Time Warp (both 20,000-cap.) – will utilise the company’s entire end-to-end solution, including egTicketing, egMarketing, egTravel and egAccess.

Festicket and Event Genius CCO Yonas Blay says: “Cosmopop and Amnesia are both huge organisations in Europe’s clubbing community and it’s an honour to be working alongside them both. It’s been a tough year for everyone across the events industry, which makes it all the more encouraging when promoters of this nature put their faith in us to help them in the return to live events.”

“Cosmopop and Amnesia are both huge organisations … and it’s an honour to be working alongside them both”

“Ibiza has always been a melting pot for clubbers across the world. For that reason, we need a ticketing provider who is as equally at home in Ibiza and Spain as they are in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and beyond,” comments Sergi Blaya Cutillas, brand manager for Amnesia. “Having the ability to sell and promote our events to clubbers all across the world in their native language, currency and payment method through Event Genius’s egTicketing, egTravel and egMarketing solutions is a great bonus for us.”

Robin Ebinger, director of Cosmopop adds: “We’ve been working with Festicket for some time as a ticketing allocation and travel partner, so we always trusted their ability to deliver great results. As soon as they partnered with Event Genius and explained their new tailored, end-to-end primary product that we could use across all our events and venues to help streamline our operations, we knew it was the right decision to take our relationship to the next level.”

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