IMS Industry Insider

Pete Tong's Essential New Tune

Vocoder

Jepe

Exit Strategy

out now

Comment
"It goes to Jepe, who heralds from Portugal and has previously released on labels like Get Physical and Cecille. He recently joined the Innervisions camp courtesy of a four track 'Exit Strategy' EP. And this is just one of those DJ records I'm going to play this all summer long, I'm sure. We actually previewed it on last week's show and it's out now. This week's ENT is 'Vocoder' from Jepe."
This week's featured Essential New Tune was featured in last week’s Friday show on BBC Radio 1. Listen again and forward to 35.17 here.

Contact
Label: Exit Strategy

31 Mar 2026

Business

Firebird has entered into a strategic partnership with UK-based artist management company Goodlife Management, the home of Fred again.., The Blessed Madonna, and Ki/Ki, among others. (MBW)

News and Features

Here Are the 2026 Femmy Awards Winners: Full List (Billboard)
Teksupport co-founders, Rob Toma and Mike Vitacco, are locked in legal battle over future of the New York dance events company. (Billboard)
Spotify and the majors are seeking a $322m default judgment against the unknown operators of Anna's Archive. They argue that the shadow library failed to appear in court and ignored the preliminary injunction by releasing millions of tracks that were scraped from Spotify via BitTorrent. (TorrentFreak)
Culture Minister Ian Murray has promised the "full commitment" of the UK government to remove the barriers to touring the EU and UK. (RotD)

Digital

Spotify announced the global rollout of a new feature, SongDNA, that lets listeners more deeply explore their favourite music. (Spotify) Listeners can explore connections, like who may have covered that song, plus other information like samples, interpolations, or what other projects the song’s collaborators have also been involved in. In part, SongDNA has been built on top of data from the online community-built music database WhoSampled.
Bandcamp announced the launch of three brand-new radio shows highlighting electronic, indie, and gaming music. (RotD)
Meta and YouTube have been found liable for deliberately designing addictive products that hooked a young user and led to her being harmed, a jury ruled. (Guardian)
Suno adds ‘Voices’ with label-enabled future models in mind. (MusicAlly) “The capabilities we’re putting in place today — voice fidelity, personalized sound, custom models — lay the foundation for the next generation of music models we’re launching with the music industry later this year.”
SoundCloud has launched ‘Follower Exclusive Releases’ superfan feature, meaning artists can now share tracks with followers ‘for a limited time or indefinitely’. (DMN)

Live

Armin van Buuren reveals plans for debut A State of Trance festival in US. (DJ Mag)

Comment, Opinion and Analysis

Tunecore Accelerator, which helps drive discovery for artists, is responsible for generating more than 50bn new streams since its 2023 launch, the company reports. (PRWeb)
PRS for Music published its 2025 Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap Report, with "meaningful progress in some areas while recognising we’ve lost ground in others". (PRS)

Tech

Loops, leaks and Roger Linn: How Akai’s MPC Sample became the most-hyped gear of 2026 (MusicTech)

Beatport

Mind Enterprises toast their top 10 Italo Disco Selects (Beatportal)
Prospa kick off debut album 'Free Your Mind' with Cloonee-backed title track (Beatportal)
Playlist of the Week: Tinlicker (Beatportal)
Slim Soledad: “The Night Has Many Different Facets” [Q&A] (Beatportal)
Boston 168: 10 Essential Acid Cuts Straight from the Source (Beatportal)
Club of the Month: Kiesgrube (Düsseldorf) (Beatportal)
Eats Everything explores Beatport Streaming on the CDJ-3000s (Beatport)

Clubs

The Cause have shared details of their brand new multipurpose events space in London, described as an “industrial blank canvas”. (Mixmag)
Barbican is expanding its late-night party series this summer. (DJ Mag)
Ibiza:
James Hype and MEDUZA returning to Hï Ibiza with new format in 2026. (EDM)

Streams & Podcasts

Fred again.. & Thomas Bangalter (Fred again..)
Martin Garrix B2B Alesso @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2026 (Martin Garrix)
Hardwell @ Ultra Music Festival Miami 2026 (Hardwell)
Tiësto - Live at We Belong Here Miami 2026 (Tiësto)
Charlotte de Witte | Tomorrowland Winter 2026 (Tomorrowland)
Miss Monique - MainStage | Tomorrowland Winter 2026 (Tomorrowland)
Axwell | Tomorrowland Winter 2026 (Tomorrowland)
Prospa B2B Josh Baker | Miami Music Week (Raw Cuts)
Gorgon City | Mixmag Lab London (Mixmag)
RA.1032 Fcukers (RA)
Loud & Unfiltered 50th Episode Special - Ministry of Sound Club (YouTube)

Artist and Music Features

0to8’s rise to 4bn streams: ‘We were giving raw material to creators’. (MusicAlly) “The traditional major label structure was simply not built for the speed that TikTok requires."
Tracking the jobs that AI is replacing in Electronic Dance Music. (Hypebot)
Armin van Buuren and Apple Music explored the future of dance music in keynote panel at Winter Music Conference in Miami. (RotD)
The Boiler Room reckoning: Why scapegoating won’t fix live music’s funding problem. (Midia - Laura Fisher)
SXSW London's director of programming Katy Arnander teased the conference program at a launch, drawing a distinction between Austin and Shoreditch: ‘We’ve decided to create our own vibe’. (Variety)
How electronic music shaped digital entertainment and gaming culture. (Rolling Stone UK)
From album artwork to full-blown visual worlds, a group of female creative directors inside major labels are changing how the industry thinks about creativity. (CreativeReview)
Before he became a world-famous electronic music DJ and music producer, John Summit was just John Schuster — a CPA working at accounting firm Ernst and Young and making music on the side. (FastCompany)
Superstar DJ, here we go: Marlon Hoffstadt is locking in (Mixmag)
‘This Project Feels Like My Final Form’: Slayyyter talks about her new album, which might be her last album too. (Billboard)
How we remixed Fred Again..: Tips from HAAi, Oppidan and Hamdi (MusicTech)
Corsica Studios: Nothing Lasts Forever. (RA)
Caprices is the coolest electronic music festival on the slopes. (Standard)
DJ Nobu selects 10 leftfield tracks he has on rotation while touring. (Mixmag)
A history of early electroclash in ten tracks. (RA)
Recognise 101: object blue (DJ Mag)
Ibiza Virgins' Guide: International Music Summit (IMS) (Ibiza Spotlight)
Six emerging artists you need to hear: March 2026 (DJ Mag)
Put That Record Back On: Remembering DJ Dan (5Mag)

Artist News

DJ Dan, West Coast House Producer, has died. (Billboard)
SHERELLE wins Best Electronic/Dance Act at MOBOs 2026. (Mixmag)
James Blake has asked for his name to be removed from the production credits of Kanye West’s track 'This One Here,' saying his “original version” of the track, which was recorded several years ago, “is completely different in spirit.” (Variety)
Nia Archives returns with new single, ‘Danger’. (DJ Mag)
Pete Tong to play a set at this year's Grand National horse racing event in the UK. (Star)
Jazzy teams up with Bohemian FC for ’90s-inspired 2026 women’s away kit. (DJMag)

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