IMS Business Report
IBIZA, Spain — The annual dance industry conference IMS Ibiza began today (April 23) on its namesake island, with hundreds of people from around the sector gathering for three days of discussions, presentations, panels, music and more looking at the global electronic music scene and industry from all angles.
As is tradition, the Summit began with the presentation of the annual IMS Business Report, which tracks the key trends from the global business over the last 12 months. Marking its 11th edition this year, the report was authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan and is available here.
Mulligan also presented the report to a packed room on Wednesday afternoon, giving context to the data and illustrating that while revenues may be lagging in clubs and festivals, electronic music culture is booming both on and offline. These are 11 key findings from the 2025 report.
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1) Streaming Is Way Up in the Global South
The report finds that while streaming revenue growth slowed to 6% in 2024, subscriber growth saw huge gains, with the overall streaming sector seeing a 12% growth in its subscriber base.
Incredibly, nearly four fifths of this growth came from Global South markets, an area the UN Trade and Development organization defines as comprised of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Oceania. Mulligan noted that Global South statistic is especially crucial given that user growth will eventually give way to global cultural growth “as these users drive the rise of large local music scenes that will increasingly export their sounds to the West.”
The reports also found that Spotify stayed in the lead in terms of DSPs, maintaining its 32% market share and registering more than a quarter of a billion subscribers globally. The report notes that “YouTube Music was the only other global DSP to also enjoy strong growth in 2024, gaining to a 10% market share.
2) Electronic Music Is a Market Leader
The report notes that electronic music has the top or second highest count of Spotify followers in nine of the genre’s top 13 markets, compared to hip-hop, Latin and rock. And while Latin and hip-hop growth may be statistically stronger, the reach of these audiences, especially Latin, varies strongly by region, versus electronic music’s more global growth.
Additionally, the world’s top four electronic music markets — Germany, Australia, the U.S. and U.K. — all gained significant listener counts in 2024, although Mexico, the U.K. and Germany saw the highest growth, respectively. (Incredibly, electronic music was up 60% in Mexico.)
Meanwhile, electronic music consumption is considered endemic in The Netherlands and Australia, where the report found that the number of monthly electronic music listeners on Spotify is higher than the total population. (This is possible because individuals can consume more than one style of electronic music on the platform.)
3) Electronic Music Fans Over-Index For Time & Money Spent
Mulligan repeatedly emphasized the crucial nature and influence of IRL scenes, which dance music excels in cultivating and which many younger people are prioritizing over online existence.
“This idea of scenes is going to become more and more important,” he said, “because superstars are getting smaller and everything is fragmenting. It’s time to look simply beyond the stream counts, beyond the social numbers to measure the cultural impact, even though that’s nearly impossible to do. But that’s probably a good thing. If it’s not measurable, it’s harder for people to go and overtly commercialize it.”
He referred to culture as “the fuel in the engine,” saying that things like revenue, stream counts and social and followings “will come as a result of the culture. So the fact that the cultural indicators are beginning to really light up in 2024 points to a really strong few years coming up.”
4) Revenues in Ibiza Were Up, But Ticket Sales Were Slightly Down
The report notes that the average number of events per venue on the island “is on a steady, albeit modest decline and ticket volumes were down in 2024, with higher average ticket prices thereason that revenues were up once again. “You keep charging people more until they can’t afford it anymore” said Mulligan, “and there will come a point when people say ‘I literally can’t afford any more for this at the moment.’” This is especially true now, he noted, in a period of global economic uncertainty.
5) Afro House Continues to Rise
Mulligan reported that Afro-house “has absolutely rocketed” in the last year, while drum & bass is also in a “real era of resurgence.” A survey of the digital sample library Loopcloud indicates a large rise in samples of African music genres, suggesting the genre will continue growing.
6) Hard World = Hard Music
The Loopcloud survey also found a rise in harder electronic genres like hardcore and hard dance, while “softer” genres like ambient and chill out are going down and losing share. This is, Mulligan posted, is “because culture reflects the world around us. It’s a crappy world out there at the moment. There’s wars and famine and inequality, and I think that’s beginning to really come through in the music that people are making and the music that people are listening to.”
7) There’s Been a 45% Growth of Electronic Music Hashtags on TikTok
Amapiano and trance saw especially big growth on the platform. “Again,” Mulligan said, “there are all of these cultural indicators that are growing more strongly than the revenue indicators are.”
8) SoundCloud Also Remains a Strong Cultural Indicator
The platform saw 100% growth in uploads of UKG (UK garage) with jungle uploads also up 45%.”These tend to the genres that tend to be owned by Gen Z and even Gen Alpha,” said Mulligan. “SoundCloud has so many of these bootleg remakes … of course [the people who make them] can never get the rights cleared and put them onto Spotify, but a lot of this culture is happening online on places like SoundCloud.”
9) Music Catalog Investors Have a Growing Interest in Dance
“Mainly what happens is old white males invest in old white males, so you still see the Bob Dylans [of the world getting invested in], but we are beginning to see more and more of other genres,” Mulligan said of investor acquisitions of artist catalogs. The report states that the share of catalog deals for electronic artists doubled between 2020 and 2024, with recent notable examples including Kevin Saunderson, Tiga and deadmau5.
10) Dance Music’s Gender Divide Persists
In terms of the number of people producing music and playing events, Mulligan reported that “this is still a heavily male world,” although there’s also been a slight increase in the representation of female artists. This determination is based on a survey of data from AlphaTheta, where the registered userbase, the report says “points to the steady rise of female DJs, many of whom will be inspired by the growing share of top DJs that are now female.”
“We are beginning to see change,” Mulligan added in his presentation. “It’s not dramatic, but it’s good and steady progress.”
11) The Global Electronic Music Industry Was Valued at $12.9 Billion in 2024
This number includes live, merchandising, sponsorships, recorded music, publishing, music hardware and software, clubs, festivals and more. The number represents a 6% growth over 2024, which Mulligan noted “might not sound huge, but remember live music revenues — festivals and clubs — which is a really big part of the revenue mix, is beginning to slow, so that sort of drags down the overall numbers. But most importantly, the culture is absolutely booming. With 0.6 billion new social followers of electronic music followers in 2024 they’re the foundation for what’s set to be a really vibrant few years.”
The 2024 IMS Ibiza conference began today (April 24) on the event’s namesake island electronic music mecca. The conference’s program includes three days of talks on multiple facets of the electronic music business, including streaming, labels, AI, wellness, the island clubbing economy and much more.
As is tradition, IMS started today with an introduction from the event’s founders, including BBC Radio legend Pete Tong, followed by the presentation of the annual IMS Business report, which looks at the trends, growth sectors and general health of the global electronic music industry.
Marking its tenth edition this year, the report was authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan and is available here. Generally, the 2024 report found significant growth areas along with a higher year over year valuation of the industry as a whole. It also offered insights on the general music industry landscape, stating that “after a slower 2022, the global recorded music market returned to strong growth in 2023, up 10%.”
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These are ten key findings from the 2024 report.
1. Spotify Gained Market Share, But Totaled Less Than a Third of The Global Streaming Market
The global streaming market currently has a whopping 713.4 million total subscribers, with this subscriber base growing by 14.4% between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023. This equates to 90 million added subscribers, which is 6.5 million more subscribers than were added over the same period a year earlier.
The report finds that Spotify remained the largest DSP, increasing its global share to 32% in the third quarter of 2023. Tencent Music Entertainment remained the third largest, overtaking Amazon Music in the third quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, Chinese platform NetEase Cloud Music also had strong growth and helped contribute to significant growth for the whole of the Chinese streaming market.
2. Revenues Grew Strongly Across The Industry, Especially In the Live Sector
Revenues of 15 of the world’s biggest music companies – across labels, publishers, DSPs and the live sector – grew by 18% in 2023, for a total value of $75.9 billion. “While less than the post-lockdown boom growth of 2022,” the report states, “this is still strong.”
2023’s largest growth sector was live, a function of the fact that “lingering pent-up lockdown interest fostered increased demand, and tickets were both more expensive and sold in larger quantities.” The growth of live was followed by growth of DSPs, which grew by 16% over the last year.
3. Major Labels Dominated, But Lost Market Share To New-Generation Labels
While record labels across the board experienced strong growth in 2023, “non-majors grew the fastest.” More specifically, major labels grew by 7% overall in 2023, with the publicly traded non-majors like HYBY and Believe growing by 17%. Additionally, 57% of HYBE’s revenue was in non-recorded products, compared to 23% for WMG.
“HYBE and Believe grew the fastest,” the report states, “representing the spearhead of a new generation of record labels that pursue revenue streams closely aligned with the dynamics of today’s fan and creator centered music business.”
4. The Top 10 Markets For Electronic Music As Determined By Monthly Spotify Listeners Are:
Germany
United States
Australia
United Kingdom
Brazil
India
Mexico
South Africa
Canada
France
Per the report, Australia is a standout on this list, as the country has 10 times more electronic music listeners than the entire country has people. (In the United States, this ratio is closer to 1:1.) Mexico, India and Brazil represent the newer wave of global electronic music markets, with listener numbers smaller than each country’s total population, which suggests that electronic music culture is still securing a foothold in these territories.
South Africa is also a standout, with nearly twice as many electronic listeners as people. The country’s strong listening figures, the report says, “reflect the degree to which South Africa has built its own electronic scenes and culture.”
5. Electronic Music’s Online Fandom Surged In 2023, Outperforming Other Genres
The genre gained significant followers across Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Spotify, and saw vastly more follower growth than rock, hip hop and Latin. This online expansion saw electronic’s following surpass that of rock on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Meanwhle, while hip-hop remains the dominant streaming genre, electronic is getting closer to the stream counts of Latin and rock.
6. Ibiza Clubs Are Still Booming Post-Pandemic
Clubs on the island continued their post-pandemic rebound, with Ibiza club ticketing revenue reaching €141 million (approximately $150 million) in 2023, up 14% from 2022 and 76% from 2019. “The strength of demand,” the report states, “was illustrated by the fact that average ticket prices increased from €44 in 2022 to €51 in 2023.”
In 2019, total ticket revenue across clubs on the island was €80 million ($85 million), with an average of 123 events per venue over the course of the season. In 2023, ticket revenue was €141 million ($150 million), with 147 events per venue.
7. Tech House Remained The Most Popular Dance Genre on Beatport
Like last year, tech house was the digital download platform’s most popular genre. This year, Afro House shot up from being in the 18th spot in the first quarter of 2022 to the ninth spot in the third quarter of 2023. The report notes that this rise “coupled with the rise of South Africa as a leading Spotify market for electronic music, further points to the rising importance of sub-Saharan Africa in electronic music culture.
Beatport’s ten most popular electronic subgenre’s overall were:
Tech House
House
Techno (peak/driving)
Melodic House & Techno
Drum & Bass
Dance/Electro Pop
Deep House
Minimal/Deep Tech
Progessive House
Afro House
8. SoundCloud Maintained Its Position As a Home For Electronic Music
Electronic music genres grew by 24% on SoundCloud in 2023, the second successive year this has happened. The platform is forecasted to have at least another 10% growth of the genre, with the report stating that “SoundCloud is both consolidating and expanding its long-term position as one of the global homes of electronic music fan communities.”
9. There’s an Apparent Perception Gap Regarding The Industry’s Gender Equality Advancements
In a survey of members of the Association For Electronic Music and IMS delegates, 82% of respondents said that the industry was doing well on gender issues related to diversity of lineups and employees. But a survey of male, female and gender expansive industry members found that women and gender expansive creators were more likely than men to be “interrupted, excluded, questioned and judged unfairly.”
Additionally, a tendency among women to undervalue their contributions is reflected in a industry pay gap, with women creators nearly twice as likely as men to discover they are being paid less than their peers in the same or similar roles.
10. The Global Electronic Music Industry Was Worth $11.8 Billion In 2023
Particularly significant growth happened in festivals and clubs, with this sector representing nearly half of the industry total. Recording and publishing were also significant contributors, with music hardware and software making up the next biggest segment — around a quarter of total — although growth in this hardware and software sector was relatively slow in 2023.
Given this $11.8 billion valuation, the report states that “the global dance music business is now firmly in its post-pandemic growth phase.”
The annual IMS Business Report was presented today (April 26) at IMS Ibiza. The dance industry conference annually presents the report, which breaks down notable growth (and lag) sectors of the scene and also provides a yearly valuation of the worldwide industry.
For the first time, the report was authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan, who presented it today to a packed room. These are eight of the key findings.
1. The Global Dance Music Industry Grew By 34% In 2022, Reaching a Value Of $11.3 Billion
This number is 16% higher than it was before the pandemic, during which the value of the global industry reached historic lows as live events shut down. But, the report states, “2022 saw festivals and clubs rebound, finally shaking off most of the effects of the pandemic, representing nearly half of all dance industry revenues.”
The report notes that hardware and software combined were the next largest revenue source, but also the slowest growing. Music rights around recording and publishing grew by 14,% representing just under a fifth of the overall total.
2. The U.S., Germany & U.K. Have the Three Biggest Spotify Monthly Listener Bases for Electronic Music
This makes sense, given that these countries are also three of the world’s biggest music markets. But while Netherlands and Australia are smaller, they are multiple times higher as a share of the total population (Netherlands rate is seven times higher than the US). This means that electronic music simply has more cultural reach and impact here in these two countries.
3. Electronic Music Is Outperforming Hip-Hop In Social Follower Growth
Electronic music’s fanbase growth is happening most powerfully on social platforms, and TikTok especially. Here it’s growing 10 times faster than hip hop. TikTok launched #ElectronicMusic as its latest genre campaign in 2021 and hosted LIVE events from artists including Disclosure, BICEP and David Guetta As of March 2023, since June 2022, average daily creations for #ElectronicMusic are up 113% on the platform.
4. Music Software, Skills & Hardware Are Becoming Increasingly Valuable
Music production boomed during the pandemic, fostering more creators than ever before. And although growth slowed in 2022, revenues around software, hardware and production skills hit $6.6 billion, of which $2.8 billion was from dance producers and DJs.
5. Electronic Music Artists Represented 39% of All Festival Bookings In 2022
That’s up from 33% in 2021.
6. Female DJs Gained Traction, But 2022 Still Saw Male DJs Increase Their Share of Global Bookings
Though female DJs represented 15% of top 100 DJ bookings at festivals and other events, in 2022, this share fell from 21% in 2021. In the post-Covid return to live, male top 100 DJs saw their bookings grow 1.7 times faster than their female counterparts. Meanwhile, 67% of female artists reported feeling pressure to look good, while only 14% of male DJs reported feeling this same pressure.
7. Ibiza Came Back Big Following the Pandemic
Ibiza club ticketing revenue reached €124 million ($137 million) in 2022, up 55% from the €80 million ($88 million)registered in 2019. This growth was a result of increases in the number of events per venue, average ticket prices, and the total number of tickets sold going from two million in 2019 to 2.5 million in 2022.
8. Tech House Remains Beatport’s Leading Genre
The genre is followed in popularity by techno, house, melodic house and techno and drum and bass, dance/electropop, deep house, progressive house, indie dance, minimal/deep tech and trance. Despite the dominance of these sounds, 33% of all sales on the dance world digital download platform come from genres outside the platform’s top 10.
9. SoundCloud Is Foundational to Dance Music Culture
The platform saw a 24% growth in dance/electronic plays in 2022. The platform also hosts DJ sets, mash ups, rarities not presented on other platforms, and allows DJs and producers to connect with their fans in a way Spotify does not.
10. The Dance Scene Is In a Better Place Than It Was Pre-Pandemic
The reports states that “the dance music industry has shaken off the effects of the pandemic, coming out the other side, bigger, better, stronger and more relevant than ever.”
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