Global electronic music industry grew in value in 2021, International Music Summit reports

The electronic music industry saw significant growth globally in 2021, a new report from the International Music Summit (IMS) reveals. This is up from 2020, when the industry saw a massive decline due to the pandemic. In 2019, the industry was valued at $7.9 billion. The pandemic’s effect on the global electronic music market was significant. The following year in 2020, the global electronic music industry lost a staggering 54% of its value, being valued at $3.4 billion. In 2021 however, likely with the gradual return of live events and nightlife, this figure has climbed to $6 billion, a 71% increase. 

This suggests that the electronic music industry is slowly recovering from the effects of lockdown, with the International Music Summit predicting growth to continue and for the industry to eventually surpass its 2019 value. A major factor to this renewed growth is the return of the live events sector and nightlife industries. In fact, the IMS suggests that club ticket sales are at 126% of what they were in 2019, with festival ticket sales up 176% compared to 2019. 

The report also covers trends in electronic music. According to the IMS, techno has been superseded by tech-house as the most popular electronic music genre. Meanwhile, South Africa’s amapiano “exploded globally,” becoming one of the most promising and popular new genres worldwide. A significant growth factor was also noted in new sources of revenue that artists established during the pandemic, particularly in NFTs and customised content through channels such as Patreon.

Read the full IMS report here.