Live sector fuels dance music industry growth
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).
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
IMS’ Ben Turner on the future of electronic music
International Music Summit (IMS) co-founder Ben Turner has urged the business to look at the development of artificial intelligence in music as an opportunity rather than a threat.
The debate has dominated the conversation since a song that simulated the voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming services due to a copyright claim.
The complexities of AI will be a leading topic at the 14th edition of electronic music conference IMS Ibiza, which returns to the White Isle’s Destino Pacha Resort from 26-28 April. And Turner believes the rest of the industry could learn a thing or two from the genre’s willingness to embrace technological innovations.
“The reason electronic music seduced me was its independent spirit and culture. That spirit of independence has been a big part of what we do,” Turner tells IQ. “Electronic music has always been about embracing new technology by its very definition, and it’s had first mover advantage quite often as technological shifts have happened because of that independence: Web 3.0, metaverse, NFTs and now AI.
“Electronic music has never shied away from embracing technology when a lot of the music industry just pulls the shutters down”
“Electronic music has never shied away from embracing that technology when a lot of the music industry just pulls the shutters down, like we’re seeing now with the Drake and Weeknd thing. It’s just remove-remove, takedown-takedown, block. And I get it, I understand that millions are invested in these artists, but AI is going to eat us all alive unless we learn to play with it and we learn to control it, and collaborate, experiment and educate.”
He adds: “There are many people within electronic music playing with AI and enjoying it. So I think the rest of the music industry should learn a lot from what the electronic space is doing. Equally, I’m also nervous about what this means on many levels.”
IMS’ Understanding The Unstoppable: AI and Music Unravelled… panel will seek to demystify the issue by bringing music executives together with “some of the best brains from the AI world” – including lawyers.
“There’s a big saying around the music industry now about AI, which is that the lawyers are going to make all the money for the next few years and have fun trying to stop it,” explains Turner.
“People are not booking these artists trying to tick a box, they’re booking them because they sell tickets and are bonafide headliners”
Speakers at IMS will include Grimes, Warner Music Group’s Max Lousada, Tap Music co-founder Ben Mawson, YouTube Music’s Dan Chalmers, CAA’s Maria May, UTA’s Hannah Shogbola and Tom Schroeder of Wasserman Music, with around 1,500 delegates expected.
The summit, which will also see the unveiling of the annual IMS Business Report, will conclude on 28 April with seven-hour open air party IMS Dalt Vila, which marks the opening of Ibiza’s summer season. Acts will include CamelPhat, Anna, BBC Radio 1’s Jaguar and IMS co-founder Pete Tong. On a related note, Turner suggests that mainstream music festivals’ attitudes towards booking dance acts have evolved over time.
“I feel like there was a long period of time where festivals felt, ‘Okay, we need a DJ on the stage. Who shall we book? We need to show some recognition of DJ culture at big festivals,'” he reflects. “But now, I don’t think people book Calvin Harris because he’s a DJ, they book Calvin Harris because he’s one of the biggest and best artists in the world, and I think that’s the shift.
“People are not booking these artists trying to tick a box, they’re booking them because they sell tickets and are bonafide headliners. It just happens that they’re a DJ, but they’ll put on as big a show and as great a show as any other act headlining the festival. It’s become so immersed into mainstream culture now that it’s a less marginalised genre, it doesn’t really work to keep it in a corner anymore. It’s just what young people expect to see as part of the blend of going to a crossover festival.”
“Africa and the Middle East are the final two parts of the world that are only really beginning to truly embrace this music in a huge way”
In closing, Turner identifies the Middle East as a key emerging market for the dance music scene.
“The Middle East region is fascinating, inspiring, and exploding at a high speed in terms of events and festivals and now production,” he says. “There’s just so much excitement and energy coming out of that whole region. What you’ve seen with the festivals in Saudi Arabia is this huge growth of young people embracing this music and hearing DJs for the first time in their lives.
“We used to say the final frontier was Latin America, and then the final frontier was Asia, but actually, Africa and the Middle East are the final two parts of the world that are only really beginning to truly embrace this music in a huge way.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.