Dance music’s illustration on the competition circuit is bigger 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 greatest years would arrive within the aftermath of the pandemic—is beginning to show optimistic.
It was a daring declare on the time, however the newest annual IMS Enterprise Report backs up Guetta’s sentiment with onerous knowledge. The 2023 version of the report, a compilation of dance music knowledge from the prior calendar 12 months, 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 enhance versus its pre-pandemic ranges. Whereas final 12 months’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 beneath its pre-pandemic highs.
The report, authored by Mulligan and MIDiA Analysis, finds that the booming reside efficiency sector is the trade’s largest driver. Revenues elevated 65% versus prior 12 months 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 full share of competition bookings.
Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Analysis.
c/o Press
Dance music’s conventional recording and publishing wing, in addition to its manufacturing know-how vertical, grew extra modestly and in-line with the trajectory of the broader music trade at-large. Provided 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 mild on the trade’s heavy-reliance on reside,” the report reads. “Now, that reliance is even increased due to reside’s enormous development.”
Nonetheless, the report does establish a number of rising developments exterior of the reside sector that shall be worthwhile to look at intently. Person-generated content material and productiveness augmentation on account of AI applied sciences, the rise of artist-led digital communities and the continued proliferation of latest age avenues for music discovery reminiscent of TikTok are simply a few of the budding development levers that would drive the dance music trade of the longer term.
Learn the total report right here.