NEWS FROM INSIDE THE ELECTRONIC
DANCE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Welcome to the weekly INDUSTRY INSIDER – created by IMS and RECORD OF THE DAY. We've teamed up to create a digest of global electronic industry news, across the full spectrum of the genre, to help you get straight to the stories that matter. INDUSTRY INSIDER will follow the template of Record of the Day but focus on what’s relevant for this genre and demographic…
BEN TURNER
Co-Founder, International Music Summit
Pete Tong's Essential New Tune
Gotta Be Cool (Luch Remix)
Rafael
Crosstown Rebels
out now
Comment
"This track's been a feature of Damian Lazarus's sets throughout the year. Rafael's 'Gotta Be Cool' has become one of Crosstown Rebels' defining records for 2026, and now the Mexican DJ and producer Luch steps up with a fresh rework. I've been playing this out over the last couple of months. Notably, it lit up the Steel Yard at Creamfields a few weeks ago. Also, I gave it a sneak preview in this show last week. This week's ENT is Luch's remix of 'Gotta Be Cool' by Rafael." 
This week's featured Essential New Tune was featured in last week’s Friday show on BBC Radio 1. Listen again and forward to 30.16 here. 
Contact
Label: Leon Oakey, Crosstown Rebels
Management: Luch - Oliver Berg
Publishing: Roberto Garcia
Radio: Adam Carter, Exclusive Promo
Club: Adam Carter, Exclusive Promo
Online: Jake Price, Dispersion PR
Live Agents: Luch - NA/SA - Rico Pedraza, WME  / ROW - Kal Jhugroo, CAA
15 Sep 2026
News and Features
  • Believe and Suno have announced a strategic partnership covering the participating repertoire from Believe and TuneCore. (RotD) 
  • beatBread has announced that Andreea Gleeson has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. She was previously CEO of TuneCore. (RotD) 
  • Superstruct Entertainment has launched its Artistic Code, bringing together the principles that guide artistic programming across its portfolio of more than 80 festival and live event brands globally. (RotD)  
  • The MMF is to host its fifth annual Manager Summit, with the theme of answering the question of how, in an era dominated by recommendation algorithms and AI-generated content, do you build a music career that actually lasts? (RotD)  
  • Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced Norman Cook, Jamie Cullum, BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Chris Hawkins and Northern Irish singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery as new patrons of the charity. (RotD) 
  • More than 100 young people have gathered in Ibiza to protest against tourism on the island, rallying against overcrowding and unliveable conditions. (Mixmag) 
Digital
  • SoundCloud’s Principal Product Manager, Harry Manion, said the platform blocks millions of inauthentic actions a week, but AI has made it harder to distinguish bots from real users. (EDM) 
  • Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs announced a multi-year licensing agreement and wider strategic collaboration to launch a new AI-powered music platform for fans as well as to jointly develop AI audio products for artists and songwriters. (RotD)  
  • ElevenLabs has officially launched AI-music service ElevenMusic v2.5 – but not with its newest partner, Universal Music Group, which is collaborating on the development of a different product. (DMN) 
  • Suno has launched Suno v6, built on a new dataset that includes music licensed from WMG and BMG. (Variety) 
Live
  • Amsterdam Dance Event has revoked Komplott and Overgave's official ADE affiliation and pulled their event from the ADE Festival programme, following controversy over the promoters' booking of headliner Shlømo for a 21 October date. (ADE) 
  • Music Summit Malta makes its debut, bringing music and technology’s next generation together. (DT) 
  • Djakarta Warehouse Project (DWP) has shared the first wave of names for its 2026 edition. (DJMag) 
  • The Prodigy was announced as a headliner for Creamfields' 30th anniversary in 2027. (EDMTunes) 
  • Tomorrowland Winter 2027 dates and ticket sales announced. (DJMag) 
  • MUTEK announces this year's Japan lineup. (RA) 
Comment, Opinion and Analysis
  • Recorded music revenues in the European Union reached €6bn in 2025, growing 5.1% year-on-year and accounting for 21.3% of global recorded music revenues, according to ‘Music in the EU 2026’, IFPI's new annual report. (RotD) 
  • Why is Distrokid holding out on streaming integrity? (MTP) "Spotify owns equity in DistroKid. As recently as its June 2026 financial statements, Spotify identified its investment in DK Holdco LLC — DistroKid — as its most significant long-term equity investment". 
  • How synthetic activity is reshaping digital markets and entertainment economics. (Outpost)  
  • Hardly anyone in music enjoys social media. So why does it run our industry? (The Music - Matt Walters) 
  • Wired called it a 'psyop'. A marketing agency called Chaotic Good used TikTok comment armies to manufacture buzz for bands like Geese and Wet Leg. But does manufactured hype actually convert to real fans or just noise? (Chartmetric - Harry Levin)  
Tech
  • Ten of the weirdest drum machines in 2026. (Attack) 
  • Heritage Audio Herchild 670N compressor review. (MusicTech) 
  • Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-4 is a small mixer with big ideas. (MusicTech) 
  • VirtualDJ officially supports OneLibrary. (AlphaTheta) 
Beatport
  • Max Dean & Luke Dean join forces with Nafe Smallz on new single 'Not a Problem'. (Beatportal)
  • Paranoid London launch Two Seas producer challenge with EarthSonic, In Place Of War. (Beatportal)
  • Kitty Amor on keeping Afro House rooted as it goes global [Q&A] (Beatportal)
  • Playlist of the Week: Gaskin (Beatportal)
  • Beatport Connect LA completes 2026 program with Alison Wonderland, Carlita, Elderbrook & more. (Beatportal)
  • Label of the Month: Non Series (Beatportal)
Clubs
  • Refuge NYC turns one, New York’s best-kept secret is throwing a party all month long. (DT)
  • Madrid promoter Laster Club announces autumn 2026 programme across Europe. (RA) 
  • UK promoter La Discothèque has secured a huge eight-figure investment as it marks its 10th anniversary. (Mixmag) 
  • renae launches Promoter Promise, a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)-backed funding scheme supporting three emerging Manchester promoters from marginalised and underrepresented communities. (Mixmag) 
  • London club fabric to host The Cinematic Orchestra at St Paul's Cathedral. (RA) 
  • Annie Mac and Horse Meat Disco join the line-up for TESTBED reopening party next month. (Mixmag) 
Deals
  • Deadmau5 has signed with Independent Artist Group for representation in all areas. (Billboard) 
  • Warner Chappell Music has announced the signing of a new partnership with Kidding Aside, one of France’s most influential independent electronic music companies. (RotD) 
Streams & Podcasts
  • Tiësto - Live at Creamfields 2026 (DJMag) 
  • Joseph Capriati 3.5-Hour DJ Set Live From Metamorfosi at Amnesia Ibiza 2026 (DJMag) 
  • Mozey | SAFE&SOUND x Burn Energy Tour | Bucharest (Mixmag) 
  • 33 Below Live From DJ Mag HQ (DJMag) 
  • TWOFACED Live From DJ Mag HQ (DJMag) 
  • RA.1056 Jasmín (RA) 
Artist and Music Features
  • In his nearly 14 years with the company, Gustav Gyllenhammar, Spotify’s Senior Vice President, Markets & Subscriptions, has been a part of all sorts of milestones. The latest: Spotify now has 300m premium subscribers. He reflects on the journey, and shares a few lessons from along the way. (SpotifySelects - Gustav Gyllenhammar)  
  • What is music marketing in 2026: Industry experts to explain in their own words. (Magnetic) 
  • British producer Simon Green aka Bonobo talks about his stunning new LP 'Distance in Static', turning 50, and how he's considering a major change for the project. (Billboard) 
  • Agoria on three decades of blending music, art and technology. (909Originals) 
  • Arca: Diva, Interrupted. (RA) 
  • How Zedd reimagined Shania Twain’s biggest hit without ever having heard it. (EDM) 
  • Fuelled by hope and pure horsepower, German producer-DJ extraordinaire HorsegiirL is galloping towards new creative horizons. (NME) 
  • Andrew Bayer talks latest album, music as art, career and more. (EDMTunes) 
  • How Andrew Bayer’s son became the muse for his fifth album. (EDM) 
  • Inside Mersiv’s vision for the future of bass music. (EDM) 
  • Dance Up-And-Comer of the Month: BrokinPaper made music inspired by Gesaffelstein. (Billboard) 
  • How Meat Beat Manifesto’s ‘Radio Babylon’ became breakbeat hardcore’s accidental anthem. (DJMag) 
  • The Sound of Saudade: How melodic house music teaches us to be more present. (EDM) 
  • The 15 best tech house tracks of August 2026. (Magnetic) 
  • The 15 best ambient tracks of August 2026. (Magnetic)  
Artist News
  • In honour of the 25th anniversary of Richie Hawtin's DE9 | Closer to the Edit, a new interactive fansite has been launched. (RA) 
  • Anyma to headline Zamna Tulum’s 10th anniversary, bringing ‘ÆDEN’ to the Mayan coast. (Pollstar)
  • B Jones' family launches fundraiser amidst ongoing cancer recovery. (DJMag) 
  • Armin van Buuren appeared in drag as a surprise guest on Dutch TV show Make Up Your Mind over the weekend. Ahead of appearing on the show, he shared a video message and said: "I want to make a statement and invite everybody to party worldwide, but be who you want to be. Feel free, feel safe, and look after each other." (DJMag) 
  • Tomorrowland’s One World Radio has crowned ‘Talk To You‘ by ANOTR and 54 Ultra the number 1 track in its Summer Anthems Top 100 2026. (EDMTunes) 
  • Shygirl announces new album, 'Swallow!', shares 'Lucky (hymn)'. (DJMag) 
  • The Avalanches are set to join DJ Mag for an opening keynote interview at this year’s AVA London conference. (DJMag) 
  • Eliza Rose and Sega Bodega link up on new six-track project, 'ARCADIA: PLEASUREDOME'. (DJMag) 
  • Brian Eno is relaunching his cult ambient label Opal Records with reissues of his "lost" albums 'Another Day on Earth' and 2002's 'Drawn From Life'. (DJMag) 
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About IMS

IMS: International Music Summit is a global educational and motivational thought-leadership platform dedicated to the continued development of electronic music primarily through the presentation of global summits for the industry. 

About Beatport

Beatport is the worldwide home of music for DJs, producers, and their fans. Founded in 2004, the Beatport family of companies includes Beatport, the preeminent store for electronic music DJs, Beatsource for the open-format DJ community, and Loopmasters, Loopcloud and Plugin Boutique for music producers. Follow us on Twitch, Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram.

About AFEM

AFEM: A global voice for electronic music; representing our culture and commerce. AFEM's membership spans all industry sectors, with over 250 company members across 25 countries, the organisation connects its worldwide membership to develop opportunities and enable change.

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Record of the Day has produced a subscription-based daily publication for the music industry for over 23 years, featuring all the best news and comment, along with an editorially-chosen future hit. Sign up for a free trial here.
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