IMS Industry Insider

Pete Tong's Essential New Tune

Loco Loco

Gordo & Reinier Zonneveld

Spinnin' Records

out now

Comment
"So let me tell you a story. So this tune has been gaining traction since the start of the year, when it started appearing in the sets of Seth Troxler and Gordo, to name but a few. And I've been wanting to play it for you for a few weeks, but the lyrics have been a bit of a challenge. They're in Spanish. Some people say, well, it's in Spanish, so I don't mind, but the BBC do. And I'm pleased to say that today, they have sent me a version we can play, and the record's still magnificent. There's no doubt about it. It's different. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, in my opinion. It sounds like a record that could have come out in the 1970s. It's like Abba and Boney M got together and decided to have an after-party at a Dutch techno producer's house, which is kind of what happened. This is also the most unlikely combination I can imagine in dance music. This week's ENT is 'Loco Loco' from Gordo and Reinier Zonneveld."
This week's featured Essential New Tune was featured in last week’s Friday show on BBC Radio 1. Listen again and forward to 30.55 here.

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Label: Spinnin' Records

17 Feb 2026

Business

Sound Royalties announced that it closed a record breaking year in 2025, with $135m in funded contracts distributed directly to creators, while also addressing growing global demand for creator-friendly financing by expanding its offer to YouTube creators and TV production companies. (RotD)
Spotify saw a record 38m new users in the fourth quarter, taking its total to 751m MAUs, up 11% from a year earlier. Paying subscribers increased by 10% to 290m in the quarter. Revenue came in at €4.53bn, about 7% more than a year earlier, thanks to an 8% increase in subscription revenue. However, the company’s ad-supported business saw revenue dip by 4% to €518m. (TechCrunch)
MBW understands that Olivier Chastan’s music rights acquisition vehicle, Iconoclast, is in discussions over a potential sale, with a price tag of approximately $500m.

News and Features

The Femmy Awards are scheduled to return to Miami Music Week next month. (Billboard)
ASCAP says 2025 was its biggest year ever, announcing record revenue of $1.94bn and $1.76bn in royalty distributions to its songwriter, composer, and publisher members — the highest totals in the organisation’s history. (Variety)
Not Bad For a Girl has launched an open letter criticising the lack of progress in diversifying UK dance-music lineups, highlighting recent festival rosters featuring nearly 80-87% men. (DJaneMag)
Dozens of DJs and producers from the electronic dance music scene, including John Summit and Subtronics, have publicly distanced themselves from entertainment executive Casey Wasserman after his name appeared in newly unsealed court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. (RA, Billboard)
Casey Wasserman will sell Wasserman agency after Epstein Files controversy: “I have become a distraction”. (Variety)
IMS Dalt Vila line-up announced for 2026 edition, featuring Faithless Sound System, Pete Tong, Jazzy, Ahmed Spins, Ankhoï, Eliza Rose and more. (IbizaSpotlight)

Digital

Spotify says it wants to enable listeners to interact with their favourite artists’ music through AI – and that the technology to do so is already built. The barrier? Licensing. (MBW)

Live

Tiësto and Dom Dolla lead massive lineup for Breakaway Tampa 2026. (EDM)
Martin Garrix, Zedd, Subtronics and more to DJ at EDC Las Vegas 2026: See the full line-up. (EDM)

News Update from AFEM
(Association for Electronic Music)

Rewatch: The Electronic Music Industry & Net Zero — What Does It Really Mean?
AFEM’s recent session, hosted by Dr Teresa Moore (Director of A Greener Future) and presented by the AFEM Green Working Group, unpacks the sustainability terminology shaping today’s music industry, including “net zero”, “circularity” and “climate justice." Here, we clarify what these terms actually mean in practice and why shared definitions are essential for meaningful climate action across the electronic and live music ecosystem.
Watch the full recording here.

Comment, Opinion and Analysis

The music industry’s boiling frog moment. (Midia - Mark Mulligan)
SoundCloud's new Intelligence report sheds light on how listeners are engaging with music now versus in previous years, how artists are breaking rules and forging new paths, and how tastes are becoming less dominated by top-down trends in the music industry. (SoundCloud)
UK electronic music generated £2.47bn in measurable economic activity in 2025, up 3% year-on-year, despite the loss of more than one in three nightclubs since 2020, according to the fourth Electronic Music Report, produced by NTIA. (RotD) You can read the full Fourth Electronic Music Report from NTIA here.

Tech

The best polyphonic synthesizers to buy right now. (MusicTech)
To the max: How Cherry Audio turned the Roland SH-5 into a soft synth. (Attack)

Clubs

Patrick Topping to headline Shangri-La 15th anniversary at Depot, Cardiff. (DJ Mag)
At Brooklyn’s “hi-def dance club” Refuge, two mainstays of New York nightlife have joined forces to execute their vision of the perfect club, building on the city’s mighty legacy and carrying that inspiration forward into the future. Patrick Hinton headed out to the debut of legendary Detroit-meets-New York party No Way Back at Refuge to find out more. (Mixmag)

Streams & Podcasts

Inside The Industry: Sam Divine on Sobriety, 25 Years in Dance Music & Building the 555 Movement. (Loud&Unfiltered)
RA.1026 Carl Craig, Moodymann & Mike Banks (RA)
Laure Croft | Boiler Room: Warsaw (Boiler Room)
The Dare | Boiler Room x HBO's Industry: New York (Boiler Room)

Artist and Music Features

Fred again.. - Alexandra Palace, London (5*) (Guardian)
How to get your music on playlists in 2026 without relying on luck. (Magnetic)
Recognise 098: Nono Gigsta (DJ Mag)
The hill I will die on: ‘Being a DJ’ isn’t a proper job. (Guardian)
Cloonee: hitting the big time (DJ Mag)
Faithless star Sister Bliss on sexism and ageism in music, touring pressures and life without bandmate Maxi Jazz. (iNews)
Mastery Studio, Djrum and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith on electronic music, sound healing and its potential for positive minds. (MusicRadar)
On his new solo album, the hyperpop producer Danny L Harle explores his own sonic byways. (NYTimes)
Musicians are losing millions to metadata errors. Can AI actually fix it? (MusicAI)

Artist News

John Summit drops long awaited single ‘SHADOWS’. (EDMTunes)
Deadmau5 has responded to a Gen-AI deepfake of him promoting another artist. (Billboard)
Calvin Harris performed for 1.6 million people in São Paulo, Brazil, making it one of the largest EDM events in the country. (Playy)
Eliza Rose shares new single, ‘Quasimodo (0800-Flirt-Divert)’. (DJ Mag)
Fred again.. and Jamie T share collaborative single, 'Lights Burn Dimmer'. (DJ Mag)
Anyma announces 2026 global tour, ÆDEN, and [UNVRS] Ibiza residency. (DJ Mag)
Charlotte de Witte drops new tracks from deluxe album edition. (DA)
Avicii's 'Wake Me Up' has aggregated more than 3bn streams on Spotify, one of 51 songs to surpass the mark. (Billboard)
British producer, DJ, label owner, and promotor, Simon Harris, has died at the age of 63. He was best known for his 1988 hit, “Bass (How Low Can You Go?)”, as well as co-founding Music of Life label. (BlackoutHipHop)

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