Dance music’s illustration on the competition circuit is larger than ever, however the trade’s heavy reliance on reside efficiency revenues are a double-edge sword.
David Guetta’s late 2021 assertion—that dance music’s finest years would arrive within the aftermath of the pandemic—is beginning to show constructive.
It was a daring declare on the time, however the newest annual IMS Enterprise Report backs up Guetta’s sentiment with onerous information. The 2023 version of the report, a compilation of dance music information from the prior calendar yr, claims the trade grew 34% in 2022.
“This isn’t nearly bouncing again; that is bouncing again and virtually bouncing off the trampoline,” stated Mark Mulligan, Managing Director of MIDiA Analysis.
The meteoric spike brings the worldwide valuation of the trade to $11.3 billion, a 16% internet improve versus its pre-pandemic ranges. Whereas final yr’s report was characterised by the beginnings of a “return to regular” following variable states of lockdown throughout the globe, the trade in the end remained double-digit share factors under its pre-pandemic highs.
The report, authored by Mulligan and MIDiA Analysis, finds that the booming reside efficiency sector is the trade’s greatest driver. Revenues elevated 65% versus prior yr to $4.1 billion. When it comes to bookings, the EDM style’s illustration on the competition circuit bookings rose 6% year-over-year to 39% of the overall share of competition bookings.
c/o Press
Dance music’s conventional recording and publishing wing, in addition to its manufacturing expertise vertical, grew extra modestly and in-line with the trajectory of the broader music trade at-large. On condition that reside efficiency income handily outpaced these verticals, one unintended consequence stays: for higher or worse, digital music’s reliance on the reside efficiency sector is extra vital than ever earlier than in its historical past.
“The pandemic shone a harsh gentle on the trade’s heavy-reliance on reside,” the report reads. “Now, that reliance is even larger due to reside’s enormous progress.”
Nonetheless, the report does establish a number of rising developments exterior of the reside sector that will likely be worthwhile to look at carefully. Person-generated content material and productiveness augmentation because of AI applied sciences, the rise of artist-led digital communities and the continued proliferation of latest age avenues for music discovery corresponding to TikTok are simply a number of the budding progress levers that might drive the dance music trade of the longer term.
Learn the complete report right here.
