21:I[451931,["/_next/static/immutable/chunks/0x-9rc1bm-510.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/3c3f-22xoml17.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/2aysqd7pxmaii.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/0_atzlwf6gk0u.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/20fshtwk_-5ao.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/3fpr4npajysq9.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/26s8ya5u9xp77.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/2yh-rx77963rh.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/3mh4qchssoisj.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/39z3hzjh8n_9z.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/35fhpglf18mmk.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/0madmk4rnu7_2.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/2a-chn2721jfz.js"],"default"] 22:I[951898,["/_next/static/immutable/chunks/0x-9rc1bm-510.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/3c3f-22xoml17.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/2aysqd7pxmaii.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/0_atzlwf6gk0u.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/20fshtwk_-5ao.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/3fpr4npajysq9.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/26s8ya5u9xp77.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/2yh-rx77963rh.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/3mh4qchssoisj.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/39z3hzjh8n_9z.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/35fhpglf18mmk.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/0madmk4rnu7_2.js","/_next/static/immutable/chunks/2a-chn2721jfz.js"],"default"] 23:T148b,

Ditto Music asked 5,039 independent artists in 112 countries how much money music actually brings in. Three in four (74%) made less than $1,000 last year. That's for a whole year of studio time, mastering, artwork and promo. It barely pays for an audio interface and a pair of entry-level monitors.

Here's what else the survey found.

64% of the artists work a full-time or part-time job outside music. Only 29% think their music income will last the next three years, and 32% thought about quitting in the past year. You can keep releasing tracks around a work schedule. Touring is much harder, because it needs time off.

After streaming, live shows bring in the most money for these artists. But 82% say they can't afford to tour. An earlier Ditto survey of UK artists, covered by DJ Mag, found 84%, so this isn't a one-off.

DJs have it easier than bands, since a DJ can travel with a USB stick instead of a van. Still, the costs hit before the gig does: flights, hotels and unpaid days off work. The fee comes after. And for a producer making dancefloor music, getting booked is how a track turns into money.

Streaming is the biggest earner for about two thirds of the artists. 37% said Spotify pays them the most, 27% said YouTube Music and 10% said Apple Music. Half said Spotify brings in the most plays. But only 1% said editorial playlists drive their streams, even though those are the playlists everyone talks about.

When asked what would help most, 43% wanted better playlist and discovery tools and 41% wanted higher royalty rates. Education came a distant third. They already know how to upload a track. They want people to find it, and to be paid more when they do.

Club music shows the problem clearly. A stream counts once someone listens past 30 seconds, and it pays the same for a 2:30 track as for a 7:00 one. A track built for DJs, with a long intro, a breakdown and a slow-building drop, takes more studio time than a three-minute edit. It earns the same per play. That structure pays off in a DJ set, which brings us back to the touring problem.

MIDiA Research estimates that self-releasing artists earned about $2.0 billion in 2024, up 4.7%. But the number of artists grew faster, to 8.2 million. Divide one by the other and you get roughly $244 each. That's only an average, and a small group at the top earns most of it.

The stress follows the money. 37% said financial pressure is their biggest stress, and 23.5% said marketing and promotion. Releasing a track costs almost nothing now. Getting people to hear it is what costs.

Ditto sells distribution subscriptions to the artists it surveyed. Nearly two thirds of the answers came from the US, the UK and South Africa. So the findings cover independent artists in general, not just electronic producers, and many respondents are likely hobbyists.

Still, one result stands out: the artists ranked a major-label deal last. They aren't waiting to be signed. They asked for better discovery tools and higher royalty rates, and only the streaming platforms can deliver those. The sums don't add up, and the fix isn't in the studio.

Sources: Ditto Music, The Independent Music Report 2026 (dittomusic.com/en/independent-music-report-2026); We Rave You coverage of the study (1 October 2026); RouteNote summary of MIDiA Research 2024 figures; DJ Mag Ditto Music tag page. The $244 average is a simple division of MIDiA's two figures, not a published number.

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media or join our Discord community for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

24:T2e21,

Η Ditto Music ρώτησε 5.039 ανεξάρτητους καλλιτέχνες από 112 χώρες πόσα χρήματα αποφέρει στην πραγματικότητα η μουσική. Το 74%, δηλαδή σχεδόν τρεις στους τέσσερις, κέρδισε λιγότερα από 1.000 δολάρια μέσα σε ολόκληρη την περασμένη χρονιά. Αυτό αφορά έναν ολόκληρο χρόνο δουλειάς στο στούντιο, mastering, artwork και προώθηση. Με το ζόρι φτάνουν για μια κάρτα ήχου και ένα ζευγάρι entry level monitors.

Ας δούμε τι άλλο έδειξε η έρευνα.

Το 64% των καλλιτεχνών εργάζεται παράλληλα σε μια δουλειά πλήρους ή μερικής απασχόλησης εκτός μουσικής. Μόλις το 29% πιστεύει ότι τα έσοδα από τη μουσική του θα διαρκέσουν για τα επόμενα τρία χρόνια, ενώ το 32% σκέφτηκε να τα παρατήσει μέσα στον τελευταίο χρόνο.

Μπορείς να συνεχίσεις να κυκλοφορείς μουσική γύρω από ένα πρόγραμμα εργασίας. Οι περιοδείες, όμως, είναι πολύ πιο δύσκολες, καθώς απαιτούν χρόνο μακριά από τη δουλειά.

Μετά το streaming, οι ζωντανές εμφανίσεις αποτελούν τη μεγαλύτερη πηγή εσόδων για αυτούς τους καλλιτέχνες. Ωστόσο, το 82% δηλώνει ότι δεν μπορεί να αντέξει οικονομικά το κόστος μιας περιοδείας. Σε παλαιότερη έρευνα της Ditto σε καλλιτέχνες από το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, την οποία είχε καλύψει το DJ Mag, το αντίστοιχο ποσοστό ήταν 84%, οπότε δεν πρόκειται για ένα μεμονωμένο αποτέλεσμα.

Οι DJs έχουν ένα πλεονέκτημα σε σχέση με τα συγκροτήματα, αφού ένας DJ μπορεί να ταξιδέψει έχοντας μαζί του μόνο ένα USB αντί για ένα ολόκληρο van. Παρ' όλα αυτά, τα έξοδα εμφανίζονται πριν από το ίδιο το live: αεροπορικά εισιτήρια, ξενοδοχεία και χαμένες ημέρες εργασίας. Η αμοιβή έρχεται μετά.

Και για έναν παραγωγό που δημιουργεί μουσική για dancefloors, το να κλείσει εμφανίσεις είναι ο τρόπος με τον οποίο ένα track μετατρέπεται τελικά σε εισόδημα.

Το streaming αποτελεί τη μεγαλύτερη πηγή εσόδων για περίπου τα δύο τρίτα των καλλιτεχνών. Το 37% δήλωσε ότι το Spotify είναι αυτό που του αποφέρει τα περισσότερα χρήματα, το 27% ανέφερε το YouTube Music και το 10% το Apple Music.

Οι μισοί δήλωσαν ότι το Spotify είναι η πλατφόρμα από την οποία προέρχονται τα περισσότερα streams τους. Ωστόσο, μόλις το 1% είπε ότι οι editorial playlists είναι αυτές που οδηγούν το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των streams του, παρόλο που πρόκειται για τις playlists για τις οποίες ακούμε συνεχώς να γίνεται λόγος.

Όταν ρωτήθηκαν τι θα βοηθούσε περισσότερο, το 43% ζήτησε καλύτερα εργαλεία για playlists και ανακάλυψη μουσικής, ενώ το 41% ζήτησε υψηλότερα ποσοστά δικαιωμάτων. Η εκπαίδευση ήρθε αρκετά πιο πίσω, στην τρίτη θέση.

Ξέρουν ήδη πώς να ανεβάσουν ένα track. Αυτό που θέλουν είναι να το ανακαλύπτει περισσότερος κόσμος και να πληρώνονται καλύτερα όταν αυτό συμβαίνει.

Η club μουσική δείχνει το πρόβλημα ξεκάθαρα. Ένα stream μετράει όταν κάποιος ακούσει ένα track για περισσότερο από 30 δευτερόλεπτα και η αμοιβή είναι ίδια είτε το track διαρκεί 2:30 είτε 7:00.

Ένα track φτιαγμένο για DJs, με μεγάλο intro, breakdown και drop που χτίζεται σταδιακά, απαιτεί περισσότερο χρόνο στο στούντιο από ένα edit τριών λεπτών. Παρ' όλα αυτά, αποφέρει τα ίδια χρήματα ανά stream.

Αυτή η δομή μπορεί να αποδώσει μέσα σε ένα DJ set, κάτι που μας επιστρέφει στο πρόβλημα των περιοδειών.

Η MIDiA Research εκτιμά ότι οι ανεξάρτητοι καλλιτέχνες που κυκλοφορούν μόνοι τους τη μουσική τους κέρδισαν περίπου 2,0 δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια το 2024, σημειώνοντας αύξηση 4,7%.

Την ίδια στιγμή, ο αριθμός των καλλιτεχνών αυξήθηκε ακόμη περισσότερο, φτάνοντας τα 8,2 εκατομμύρια. Αν διαιρέσουμε το ένα ποσό με το άλλο, προκύπτουν περίπου 244 δολάρια ανά καλλιτέχνη.

Πρόκειται μόνο για έναν μέσο όρο και ένα μικρό ποσοστό καλλιτεχνών αποκομίζει το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των χρημάτων.

Η οικονομική πίεση ακολουθεί αυτή την πραγματικότητα. Το 37% δήλωσε ότι η οικονομική πίεση αποτελεί τη μεγαλύτερη πηγή άγχους του, ενώ το 23,5% ανέφερε το marketing και την προώθηση.

Η κυκλοφορία ενός track κοστίζει πλέον σχεδόν τίποτα. Αυτό που κοστίζει είναι να καταφέρεις να το ακούσει ο κόσμος.

Η Ditto πουλά συνδρομητικές υπηρεσίες διανομής στους καλλιτέχνες που συμμετείχαν στην έρευνα. Σχεδόν τα δύο τρίτα των απαντήσεων προήλθαν από τις ΗΠΑ, το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο και τη Νότια Αφρική.

Επομένως, τα ευρήματα αφορούν τους ανεξάρτητους καλλιτέχνες γενικότερα και όχι αποκλειστικά τους παραγωγούς ηλεκτρονικής μουσικής. Παράλληλα, πολλοί από τους συμμετέχοντες πιθανότατα ασχολούνται με τη μουσική ως χόμπι.

Ωστόσο, ένα αποτέλεσμα ξεχωρίζει: οι καλλιτέχνες κατέταξαν μια συμφωνία με μεγάλη δισκογραφική εταιρεία στην τελευταία θέση.

Δεν περιμένουν να τους υπογράψει κάποια εταιρεία. Ζητούν καλύτερα εργαλεία για να ανακαλύπτεται η μουσική τους και υψηλότερα ποσοστά δικαιωμάτων, και μόνο οι πλατφόρμες streaming μπορούν να προσφέρουν ουσιαστικές αλλαγές σε αυτά τα δύο σημεία.

Τα ποσά απλώς δεν βγαίνουν και η λύση δεν βρίσκεται μέσα στο στούντιο.

Πηγές: Ditto Music, The Independent Music Report 2026 (dittomusic.com/en/independent-music-report-2026), We Rave You, κάλυψη της έρευνας (1 Οκτωβρίου 2026), RouteNote, σύνοψη των στοιχείων της MIDiA Research για το 2024, DJ Mag, σελίδα με άρθρα σχετικά με τη Ditto Music.

Τα 244 δολάρια ανά καλλιτέχνη προκύπτουν από απλή διαίρεση των δύο στοιχείων της MIDiA και δεν αποτελούν δημοσιευμένο αριθμό της ίδιας της έρευνας.

Μείνετε συνδεδεμένοι με το dancetoday - ακολουθήστε μας στα social media για ενημερώσεις, ιστορίες και θέματα που διαμορφώνουν τον κόσμο της ηλεκτρονικής μουσικής.

25:T15c8,

There are nights that start with simply going out for music and end up meaning something much more. A festival, a club, a big open air event. Thousands of people who don’t know each other, suddenly standing under the same lights, listening to the same tracks and moving to the same rhythm. And somewhere in all of that, a stranger can become part of your group, a group can become a group of friends, and a random meeting can continue long after the last track has played.

It’s not just a nice idea. In psychology, the term “collective effervescence” is used to describe the intense feeling of connection that can emerge when many people take part in the same experience at the same time. A study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, based on four studies and 789 participants, examined this connection in the context of live music events. The findings showed that this sense of collective connection was associated with greater enjoyment and a stronger sense of meaning during the event, as well as increased happiness one week later.

And maybe the most interesting part is that you don’t even need to talk to someone for that connection to begin. Research has found that moving together in sync can make people feel socially closer, even when they are complete strangers. In one experiment involving a silent disco, participants who moved to the same rhythm reported a stronger sense of connection than those who moved out of sync. Suddenly, the dancefloor starts to make a little more sense. Sometimes, the music is already doing the introduction for you.

There is also something physical behind that feeling. Studies on synchronized movement and group bonding have found that dancing together can be associated with an increased pain threshold and stronger feelings of connection between people. Researchers have suggested that the release of endorphins may play a role in this process. It doesn’t mean that every person you dance with is suddenly your best friend, of course. But it does help explain why sharing physical effort, rhythm and emotion with other people can make a night feel much more intense and much more memorable.

And maybe this explains why the people we meet on the dancefloor can sometimes feel different from the people we meet anywhere else. You don’t need to start with a conversation, shared interests or a particular reason to connect. Sometimes all it takes is a drop, a smile, a high-five or that look that says, “What the hell was that?” A shared musical experience creates a different kind of communication, where for a few hours, everyone seems to belong to the same thing.

This is also how our own community at Dancetoday has grown. Not only through music and content, but mainly through the people we have met along the way. The events, festivals and moments we have shared with our community have become one of the ways Dancetoday built its own identity and brought people together. People who may have met for the first time at an event, danced together, shared a track or simply a moment, and eventually became part of a group that keeps growing. Because a community is not built only through posts and stories. It is built where music becomes a real experience.

Maybe that’s why electronic music has its own way of creating memories. You might not always remember which track was playing at that exact moment. But you might remember who was standing next to you when the drop hit. And sometimes, the person you randomly met in a crowd of strangers becomes the person who is there with you at the next festival, the next trip, the next big night.

Because the dancefloor is not simply a place where we listen to music. It is one of the few places where, even for a few hours, thousands of different lives move to the same rhythm. And some of those lives may continue moving together long after the final beat.

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media or join our Discord community for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

26:T42bc,

“The worst and biggest clown wannabe DJ ”

That was Sven Väth’s reaction under a recent Instagram clip showing Argy behind the decks, swinging his headphone cable during his set. A few days earlier, Väth had also commented “Clowns 🤡!!!” under another post featuring Anyma and several other artists from the current melodic techno circuit. As of today, neither Väth nor Argy has publicly explained that exchange, so everything beyond the comments themselves remains interpretation.

And that distinction matters. It is easy to focus on the insult: it was public, personal, unnecessarily aggressive and did very little to explain what Sven Väth was actually criticising. You can criticise the act without attacking the person.

But once we move past the wording, there is a much more interesting conversation underneath it. Because plenty of people understood immediately what they thought Väth was reacting to: not necessarily Argy himself, but a version of modern DJ culture where the booth has increasingly become a stage, the DJ increasingly becomes the visual centre of the night, and a moment can sometimes seem designed as much for the phone camera as for the people standing in front of the speakers.

Whether that interpretation reflects Väth’s exact intention, we cannot know until he says so. But the argument exists regardless of Sven Väth and it leads somewhere much bigger.

So What Does Underground Actually Mean?

The easy version goes something like this:

Small club = underground. Arena = mainstream.
Unknown DJ = underground. Famous DJ = mainstream.
Independent label = underground. Major production = mainstream.

Except electronic music stopped being that simple a long time ago.

And let's take Argy himself. It is tempting to present this story as an old-school legend attacking a product of the new generation. But Argy has been releasing music for more than two decades. His Unreliable Virgin EP came out on Väth’s own Cocoon Recordings in 2007. Even more interestingly, in a 2015 VICE interview Argy spoke about avoiding gimmicks and distractions in his work, putting the emphasis on music that would last instead.

Of course, that does not prove anything about Argy in 2026, but it simply makes the old-versus-new story much less convenient. And perhaps that is exactly the problem with the word “underground”. We use it as though everybody agrees on what it means.

But do they? Is underground about the number of people listening?

Imagine an artist making uncompromising music for 300 people every weekend. Then the same music reaches 3,000 people. Then 30,000.

At which number does it stop being underground? Is it the first festival headline slot? The first viral clip? The first million streams? The first big booking fee? The first arena?

And if absolutely nothing about the music changes while the audience gets bigger, what exactly changed: the art, or its reach?

Can Success Make You Mainstream?

Commercial success clearly matters. And it would be strange to pretend that an artist operating inside a huge global touring machine exists in exactly the same context as someone running DIY parties for 150 people.

Because scale changes things and money change things. Also, professional teams, agents, sponsors, global festivals and marketing budgets change things. But they still do not tell us everything.

An artist can be globally successful while taking musical risks. On other hand, another artist can play to 100 people while obsessively chasing status, bookings and online attention.

Similarly, a tiny event can be driven by community, but it can also be driven by ego. A giant festival can feel impersonal, but it can also give somebody one of the most meaningful musical experiences of their life.

This is where “underground” starts looking less like a fixed category and more like several different things mixed together.

There is underground as scale: small audiences and limited visibility.

There is underground as infrastructure: independent labels, DIY promoters, alternative spaces and local networks.

There is underground as sound: music outside the dominant commercial language.

And then there is perhaps the most interesting version: underground as culture,
which translates to: community, curiosity, risk, participation, respect for the people making the records, a dancefloor that matters as much as the person behind the decks.

Of course, those things can overlap, but they do not always. Which means an artist could theoretically become mainstream in reach without completely abandoning underground values. And somebody else could look perfectly “underground” while treating the scene purely as a career ladder.

When the DJ Became the Show

There is another reason this debate keeps returning: The role of the DJ has changed.

For much of club culture, the records, the sound system and the dancefloor were the spectacle. The DJ selected and controlled the journey, of course, but did not always need to physically dominate the room.

Today, at the highest commercial level, electronic shows often borrow as much from concert culture as club culture: huge stages, LED walls, cinematic visuals, pyrotechnics, close-up cameras, fashion, choreographed production moments, thousands of phones waiting for the drop.

And artists themselves now have to exist far beyond the booth. They are musicians, performers, content creators and brands at the same time.

Anyma is probably the clearest example of how far this can go. His End of Genesys shows at Sphere turned electronic music into a large-scale audiovisual narrative, combining music, characters, technology and cinematic world-building. Anyma himself has openly described the visual side not as something separate from the music, but as a way of expanding the world around it and bringing his sound to audiences beyond the traditional electronic scene.

And that is important, because it complicates the argument again. Visual spectacle does not automatically mean musical emptiness, and social media does not automatically mean lack of artistic intention. A DJ dancing, performing or understanding how cameras work does not automatically make them less serious about music.

So, the harder question is one of balance: When does performance support the music? And when does the music start becoming background material for the performance? Does swinging a headphone cable actually hurt anybody’s experience?

Probably not by itself... but if DJs increasingly feel they need a recognisable gesture, outfit, breakdown, camera moment or viral clip to remain visible, then something more structural may be happening.

Then, the DJs are no longer simply performing to the dancefloor... they are also performing to the feed.

But Underground Can Become a Brand Too

Before the old-school side gets too comfortable, there is another problem. “Underground” has its own image too: black clothes, dark rooms, no cameras, vinyl, concrete, secret locations, lmited information, serious faces.

Those things may come from genuine culture, but they can also become marketing tools. There is nothing stopping somebody from carefully manufacturing an underground identity in exactly the same way another artist manufactures a superstar identity. Mystery and anti-commercialism can become branding. Even refusing branding can become branding. So authenticity cannot simply be measured by how dark the club is or how little an artist posts on Instagram.

And nostalgia deserves some resistance too. Many DJs now treated as symbols of underground culture became international stars themselves. They toured globally, appeared on major festival lineups, built labels, developed recognisable identities and made successful careers from music.

Of course, success itself cannot be the crime. Otherwise underground culture would have to reject almost anybody who becomes good enough, lucky enough or loved enough to grow beyond it.

But there is also an uncomfortable hypothetical: If Instagram, TikTok and today’s production technology had existed during the formative years of previous generations, would every underground legend have refused them?

We cannot know. And pretending we do is another form of nostalgia.

DVS1: What If We Are Asking the Wrong Question?

And this is where DVS1 becomes particularly relevant. Not because he provides the official definition of underground. Nobody does. But because he has spent years questioning what happens when the individual artist becomes more important than the ecosystem around them. His position is also more nuanced than simply “old school is good, modern culture is bad”.

Back in 2014, DVS1 was already writing about the tension between art and entertainment, phones, self-promotion and the changing behaviour of artists and audiences. But even then, he explicitly acknowledged that the past cannot simply be recreated and that every generation experiences culture differently.

More than a decade later, his criticism has become even more relevant to this particular conversation.

In a 2026 interview, DVS1 argued that young artists now face constant pressure around social-media presence, viral moments and visibility. Importantly, he also acknowledged his own privileged position: he built his career before social media became a requirement and understands that younger artists operate under completely different conditions.

Then comes the line that changes this entire debate: “Music - and art in general - should not be a competition”.

And we should think about that for a second, because the "underground vs mainstream" debate is usually discussed exactly like a competition.

Who is more authentic? Who deserves respect? Who understands the culture? Who sold out? Who stayed real? Who won?

And perhaps that mindset is part of the problem. DVS1’s alternative has consistently been community.

Specificaly, his Support. Organize. Sustain. (S.O.S.) initiative was created around strengthening artistic culture and discussion rather than simply expanding the music “industry”. His Wall of Sound projects physically shift attention away from the DJ and back toward the sound system and the room.

And then there was Aslice. DVS1 founded the platform around a very practical contradiction in electronic music: touring DJs can earn significant money playing records made by producers who receive very little from those performances. Aslice allowed DJs to voluntarily share part of their fee with the producers whose tracks they played. It eventually closed in 2024 after struggling to achieve enough adoption and financial sustainability. But before shutting down, it distributed more than $422,000 from DJs to over 27,000 producers.

But its closure almost makes the example more interesting. Because talking about community is easy, but building an economic system around it is much harder. And that takes us far beyond whether one DJ swings a headphone cable.

So… Who Wins?

Underground or Mainstream? Sven Väth or Argy?

Now the question starts to feel really strange once you zoom out far enough, right? Because maybe there are several different battles happening at once: There is the battle for attention, the battle for bookings, the battle between physical and digital culture, the tension between artistic expression and entertainment, the tension between community and individual ambition, the tension between keeping something culturally rooted and allowing it to grow.

So perhaps the most useful question is not whether underground or mainstream wins.

Instead, ask "what remains when the attention disappears?".

Does the music still matter? Did the night create a real connection between people? Are artists supporting the scenes that gave them somewhere to grow? Are the people making the records valued alongside the people playing them? Does the dancefloor still belong to the dancers, or has it gradually become a background for the DJ? And can somebody become successful without believing that success makes everybody around them a competitor?

So, the most interesting line may sit somewhere between using attention and becoming dependent on it, between building a career and building only a profile, between performing for the crowd and performing for the camera, between growing beyond the underground and forgetting what made it valuable in the first place.

Of course, that line will be different for different people, which is probably why this debate will never completely disappear. But if we need somebody to “win” this debate, we may already be looking at music from the "wrong" perspective, through exactly the competitive lens DVS1 is questioning.

And a scene does not really need a winner. It needs people willing to keep it alive.

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

27:T15ad,

You finish a track, A/B it against a reference on three pairs of headphones, and get a solid head nod from a producer friend. Ten minutes later, you’re scrolling Instagram, hear an unreleased ID that sounds impossibly good, and immediately conclude you’ve been faking it this whole time.

That feeling has a name, it came from a therapy office in Atlanta in 1978. Psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes noticed a consistent pattern among high achieving individuals: despite clear evidence of their success, they were convinced they were frauds about to be exposed. They named it the "impostor phenomenon." They weren't writing about electronic music producers, but they might as well have been.

This isn't just late night studio fatigue, the music industry has quantified it.

73% of independent musicians report dealing with mental health challenges, according to a survey by distributor Record Union, with financial uncertainty and self doubt ranking as primary drivers.
The Association For Electronic Music (AFEM) formally included imposter syndrome alongside burnout and exhaustion in its industry mental health guide.
Beatport and AFEM’s report, Music Connects Us, surveyed roughly 140 established artists, including Kaskade, LOUISAHHH, Junior Sanchez, and Tom Middleton, who openly detailed their battles with isolation and severe self doubt.

If artists playing main stages still feel like they haven't "made it," the issue clearly isn't a lack of talent, it's structural.

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During a mental health panel at IMS Ibiza, AFEM’s health lead Tristan Hunt highlighted that electronic music is uniquely structured to breed self doubt. A few specific factors drive this:

No formal benchmark. A classical musician has grades, exams, and conservatory tiers that signal progress. A producer has a DAW, a pair of studio monitors, and their own judgment, which becomes increasingly unreliable at 2:00 AM.
Arbitrary feedback loops. Success is often tied to playlist placement, social media algorithms, or a crowd's reaction to a drop. Because these variables are out of your control, a great track can easily flop while a mediocre one goes viral, severing the link between effort and outcome.
Blurry attribution. Between ghost production, uncredited sample packs, complex co writing splits, and heavy reliance on templates, ownership in modern production is often ambiguous. When it’s hard to pinpoint where your contribution starts and ends, it’s even harder to internalize success.

When Pauline Clance first documented the phenomenon, her solution wasn't positive thinking or generic self help advice. The primary mechanism for breaking the loop is peer transparency talking openly with others experiencing the exact same thing.

That is why initiatives like AFEM’s guide matter. Hearing established artists explicitly articulate these feelings strips the mystery away.

Feeling like a fraud before a release isn't a personal flaw or a sign that you lack talent. It is a well documented psychological pattern colliding with an industry built on unpredictable metrics and vague credit. Recognizing the pattern won't instantly cure the anxiety, but it stops you from believing everything your brain tells you at 3:00 AM.

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media or join our Discord community for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

28:T3395,

The people who made Ibiza culturally valuable were not seated behind velvet ropes, ordering bottles while watching the dancefloor from a protected distance. They were inside it, dancing for hours and creating the energy that transformed the island into a global symbol of club culture during the Balearic Beat era of the 1980s and 1990s.

Today, however, some of Ibiza’s most commercially valuable customers may be those who participate least in the experience that made the island famous. And that contradiction sits behind Bob Sinclar’s recent decision not to perform there during the current season.

Speaking during a livestream with French creator Joyca, Sinclar said he no longer recognised himself in what Ibiza had become. He described an increasingly expensive environment dominated by VIP tables, smartphones and spectacle, while the clubbers who built the island’s reputation were being forgotten.

“We go to the VIP, we forget the clubbers, and it is the clubbers who created the Ibiza trend,” he said. His criticism raises a larger question: what happens when a destination created by dancers begins designing its entire experience around spectators, status and spending power?

What Bob Sinclar Is Really Criticising

VIP areas are hardly new to Ibiza, and their existence alone does not explain Sinclar’s frustration. Commerce, exclusivity and celebrity have accompanied the island’s club culture through several eras, often existing alongside musically important parties and genuinely committed communities. The issue begins when premium hospitality stops being one part of the nightclub and becomes the organising principle behind it. The dancefloor then risks shifting from the purpose of the venue into the atmosphere provided for customers seated around it.

The French House music legend described modern Ibiza as increasingly resembling a show, with attention directed toward phones, visual production and the social value of being seen. He contrasted that environment with his own background in clubs, where he prefers playing for people who arrive with the intention of dancing. Smartphones are not solely responsible for this transformation, although they make its effects highly visible. They reflect a wider shift in which attending the event, documenting the moment and displaying access can sometimes become more important than surrendering to the music.

A crowd behaving primarily as spectators also changes the DJ’s role. Instead of responding to a room through tension, movement and musical risk, the artist faces pressure to deliver recognisable moments that can be captured, posted and understood immediately.

From Superstar Fees to VIP Tables

Sinclar’s comments also describe a cultural consequence of the economic pressure examined in dancetoday’s recent article on the possible superstar DJ "bubble". Rising costs at the top rarely remain contained inside private contracts between artists, agencies and promoters.

When internationally recognisable headliners command larger fees, venues must recover those costs alongside production, staffing, marketing and operational risk. Tickets become more expensive, drinks generate more pressure, and customers capable of purchasing premium tables become increasingly important to the entire business model. The venue is then encouraged to allocate its best sightlines, additional space and personalised service toward the highest spenders. Meanwhile, general-admission clubbers may pay more for an experience that feels increasingly crowded, restricted and secondary to the premium sections surrounding them.

This creates a self-reinforcing cycle. Expensive lineups require stronger revenues, stronger revenues demand premium customers, and premium pricing requires enough spectacle and name recognition to make the cost appear justified. The result is an electronic music bubble that can be seen beyond an artist’s booking fee. It becomes visible in the architecture of the club, the composition of its audience and the type of performance expected from the person behind the decks.

While Sinclar has participated in Ibiza’s headliner economy and benefited from the global system he now criticises, that does not make his observation hypocritical. Instead, it gives weight to a warning from someone who has watched the model develop from inside its most prominent booths.

When the Clubber Becomes the Background

Club culture depends upon participation in a way that most entertainment industries do not. The crowd is not simply watching a completed performance, because its movement, trust and emotional openness continually influence the direction taken by the DJ.

A powerful dancefloor gives an artist permission to move beyond predictable records and immediate gratification. It can transform a technically competent set into something unrepeatable, shaped through a continuous exchange between the booth and the people occupying the room.

However, that relationship weakens when the venue is organised primarily around premium observation points, phone-ready moments and visual production. The audience begins consuming a show rather than collectively determining what the night can become.

Apart from that, there is also a commercial paradox inside this arrangement. VIP customers may generate the largest direct revenue, but the experience sold to them still depends heavily on the atmosphere created by clubbers-dancers elsewhere in the venue.

The crowded floor supplies the energy, imagery and social proof that make the premium table desirable. Treat those dancers poorly for long enough, and the industry eventually damages the very environment it is charging others to observe.

Of course, this does not make every regular clubber culturally pure, or every wealthy visitor indifferent to music. So, the question is not who deserves moral superiority, but whose participation gives a nightclub its character, tension and reason to exist.

Ibiza Does Not Need to Go Backwards

None of this requires Ibiza to reject luxury, technology, ambitious production or commercial success. The island does not need to recreate an idealised past that was never entirely free from hierarchy, tourism or powerful financial interests.

However, it does need to protect the dancefloor as more than a densely packed general-admission zone beneath increasingly dominant VIP structures. Successful venues can offer premium experiences while preserving enough space, accessibility and attention for people who genuinely arrive to dance.

A healthier ecosystem would also support more varied ticket levels, smaller rooms and line-ups built around musical identity rather than depending continually on the most expensive names. Emerging and mid-level artists need environments where audiences can discover them before social visibility has already established their market value.

Clubbing has always evolved, but evolution should not automatically be confused with progress. A scene can become larger, more profitable and technologically impressive while simultaneously becoming less communal, less adventurous and less connected to the music supporting its entire economy.

Of course, Bob Sinclar’s decision will not reverse Ibiza’s direction, and his criticism does not represent every venue or party operating across the island. Music-led spaces still exist, committed clubbers still return, and meaningful nights continue beyond the most visible layer of Ibiza’s nightlife. Yet his warning deserves attention because the greatest danger is not simply that Ibiza becomes expensive or spectacular. The deeper danger appears when the people generating its atmosphere are treated as the customers offering the least value.

And we need to understand that electronic music can produce profit, luxury and global attention without turning its dancefloor into a secondary product. Clubbers do more than purchase admission... they create the energy, credibility and mythology that the industry eventually packages, promotes and sells.

So, Ibiza (and any other clubbing destination) may sell the view from the VIP table at any price, but without the people dancing below it, there will eventually be nothing worth watching...

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media or join our Discord community for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

29:T2c93,

For over a decade, Thomas Bangalter hid behind a helmet. As one half of Daft Punk, the French electronic duo that rewrote the rules of dance music, he spent years performing as a robot, a character, a myth, a deliberate piece of fiction. Now, three years after the split, the man has re-emerged. And he's making one thing very clear: the robots are retired for good.

In a candid interview with The Times in June 2026, Bangalter was asked directly whether he and co-founder Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo would ever reunite. His answer was a single, unhesitating word: "No."

He elaborated with a sense of peace rather than bitterness. "I'm really happy that throughout our long run we were able to not screw it up. There are other things to explore. The history of music is made of fruitful partnerships and they usually last way shorter than the 28 year run that we had. It was great, but staying in character and not spoiling it became very difficult."

On the nature of Daft Punk itself, he was equally reflective: "It was almost performance art where you create these characters and blur the line between fiction and reality. I was one of the robots, but now I'm just a human without any superpowers." As for Guy-Manuel, Because Music founder Emmanuel de Buretel confirmed on French radio in late 2025 that his former partner is quietly working on a solo album, though no details have emerged since.

Bangalter's reemergence has been anything but a traditional comeback. It started in 2025 with a surprise DJ set at the closing of Paris's Centre Pompidou, his first in 16 years which set off a global buzz. "I think I was trying to come back as a human being in the simplest possible way, without making a spectacle of it," he told Rolling Stone.

In February 2026, he joined Fred Again for a back to back set at London's Alexandra Palace, his first UK appearance in 19 years. "They were going crazy at 7:30PM, only in the United Kingdom!" he said. Then in June, New York's The Lot Radio streamed a surprise 75 minute set featuring Aphex Twin, Burial, Boards of Canada and more. No helmet. No theatre. Just music.

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At the centre of Bangalter's new chapter is Mirage Ballet for 16 Dancers, released on 5th June 2026 via Erato/Warner Classics. The album is the score for a 60-minute contemporary ballet conceived with Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet and Japanese visual artist Kōhei Nawa, which premiered in Geneva in May 2025 and has since toured Europe to critical acclaim.

Eight tracks of electronic minimalism, it has nothing to do with dancefloors. Bangalter shaped the music over thousands of hours on a graphics tablet, treating sound as physical material to be sculpted. What he describes as finding "the line between where sound ends and music begins." It follows Mythologies (2023) and the Chiroptera soundtrack (2024), building a remarkable body of post-Daft Punk compositional work.

The guiding spirit behind Mirage is a name that will resonate with dance and classical music audiences: Iannis Xenakis.

For those less familiar, Xenakis was one of the most radical composers of the 20th century and his Greek identity was inseparable from his genius.

Born in 1922 in Romania to a wealthy Greek family, he grew up in Greece and studied architecture and engineering in Athens before fighting in the resistance against the Nazi occupation during World War II. Severely wounded and eventually sentenced to death for his political activities, he fled to Paris in 1947, where he worked as an assistant to the legendary architect Le Corbusier and designed the iconic Philips Pavilion for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair.

It was in Paris that he turned fully to music. His mentor Olivier Messiaen, rather than steer him toward conventional training, gave him defining advice: "You have the good fortune of being Greek, of being an architect, and having studied special mathematics. Take advantage of these things. Do them in your music."

Xenakis did exactly that. He pioneered stochastic music, compositions built on mathematical probability, the physics of sound masses, and architectural logic, treating music as an architect treats space. He was one of the first composers to use computers to generate music and developed the UPIC system, which translated graphic drawings directly into sound. By his death in Paris in 2001, he had received the Polar Music Prize and a UNESCO International Music Prize, with French President Jacques Chirac mourning: "France loses one of its most brilliant artists today."

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The link between the two artists is more than a passing reference. Like Xenakis, Bangalter is no longer interested in groove or melody as primary forces, he is interested in the texture, weight, and architecture of sound itself. "Finding the line between where sound ends and music begins is a good exploration," he has said.

For a generation that grew up treating Daft Punk as the pinnacle of electronic music, watching Bangalter align himself with one of the 20th century's most demanding avant-garde composers is a genuine provocation. It suggests someone not coasting on legacy, but actively pushing toward new territory.

The message across every interview and surprise appearance in 2026 is consistent: the Daft Punk legacy is intact precisely because it ended when it did. The reunion is not coming. The helmet stays on the shelf. And in its place, Thomas Bangalter is making art on his own terms, drawing a line from the Parisian dancefloors of the 1990s all the way back to a Greek composer who once turned mathematics into music, and sound itself into architecture.

The robots may be gone. But the human is only getting started.

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media or join our Discord community for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

2a:T46e2,

A few years ago, hearing that a major electronic music artist was charging six figures for a festival appearance would have sounded extraordinary.

Today, it barely raises an eyebrow. Lineups are becoming more expensive. Tickets are becoming more expensive. Production is becoming more expensive. Travel, hotels, staging, security, insurance, hospitality and marketing are all becoming more expensive too. Meanwhile, many independent promoters, clubs and festivals are struggling more than ever.

So, where is all the money going?

After our recent look at Coachella, mega-festival economics and the business machine behind large-scale music events, this question feels even more urgent. Electronic music is no longer a niche culture operating in warehouses, basements and small clubs. It is now a global entertainment economy, connected to tourism, luxury hospitality, sponsorship, social media, streaming and city branding.

On paper, that growth should be good news. More money should mean more opportunities, better productions, stronger scenes and healthier careers for artists. However, the reality is more complicated, because the money does not always move evenly through the ecosystem.

Increasingly, it appears to concentrate around a small group of global headliners.

And that leads to a difficult but necessary question: Have DJ fees reached a point where they are starting to damage the ecosystem that created those artists in the first place?

The great inflation of DJ fees

Nobody should pretend that artists do not deserve to be paid well. DJs and producers spend years building their sound, audience, catalogue, touring schedule and brand. Many survived years of uncertain income before reaching international demand, while the pandemic reminded everyone how fragile live music can be.

So, higher fees are not automatically a problem. The problem begins when fee inflation becomes disconnected from the health of the wider scene.

A recent example made this conversation feel even more real. In a clip circulated from a recent interview, global Afro/Latin house DJ and producer HUGEL was reported as saying that his booking fee can now range somewhere between $200,000 and $750,000 per show, depending on the booking, market and context.

This is not mentioned here to target HUGEL personally. Most artists do not publicly reveal their fees, and booking numbers are usually private, flexible and dependent on many factors. For that reason, this article is not about naming and blaming specific artists.

However, when a publicly discussed example reaches that level, it becomes useful as a cultural signal. It shows how far the upper end of the market has moved, especially in a genre where many of today’s superstars were built through clubs, communities and scenes that could never afford those numbers. Because once figures like these become part of the conversation, they do not stay isolated. They influence expectations, reshape negotiations and create psychological benchmarks for promoters, agents and even artists far below that level.

According to industry reporting, top-tier artist fees have risen dramatically in recent years, especially after the return of live events. The post-lockdown boom created huge demand for clubbing, festivals and international touring, while promoters rushed to rebuild calendars and audiences rushed to experience music together again.

At the same time, the number of truly bankable headliners remained limited. When thousands of festivals, clubs and promoters compete for the same small pool of names, the market naturally pushes fees upwards. If one artist can sell thousands of tickets almost immediately, that artist becomes more than a performer. They become a financial safety mechanism.

For promoters, a superstar booking can feel like insurance. It helps sell tickets, attract sponsors, create social media momentum and give the event a clear marketing hook.

However, this also creates a feedback loop. The more promoters rely on the same headliners, the more powerful those headliners become. The more powerful they become, the higher their fees rise. The higher their fees rise, the more promoters need to charge fans, reduce risk elsewhere, or build the entire event around a few recognizable names.

Meanwhile, mid-level and emerging artists can get trapped in a strange position. Some see the top of the market exploding and adjust their expectations upwards. Others remain underpaid, even while the industry around them looks richer than ever.

That is not a healthy sign.

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The Middle East effect

One of the most discussed forces behind this shift is the rise of high-spending entertainment markets, especially in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and other regional destinations have invested heavily in live entertainment, major festivals, cultural tourism and luxury event experiences. Riyadh’s Soundstorm is one of the most visible examples, presenting enormous productions, international headliners and crowds at a scale that few regions could have imagined a decade ago.

But it would be too simple, and unfair, to say that the Middle East is responsible for rising DJ fees. Because the reality is wider than that. Fees are also increasing because of post-pandemic demand, inflation, festival competition, social media hype, production standards, travel costs, agent leverage and the growing celebrity economy around electronic music.

However, high-budget markets do influence global expectations. When a promoter in one part of the world can pay significantly more than the normal market rate, that number does not disappear after the show. It enters future negotiations, it becomes a reference point and part of the artist’s perceived value.

This is known as fee anchoring. If an artist, agent or management team knows that one market can pay a premium, another promoter may be told that this is now the new level. Even if that second promoter operates in a smaller country, with lower purchasing power and less sponsorship money, the comparison has already been created.

Of course, this does not mean every artist suddenly charges the same everywhere. Good agents understand different markets and serious artists understand long-term relationships. Many still adjust fees depending on the city, promoter, venue, context and cultural value of the booking.

But the psychological effect remains. Once the top of the market moves upward, the middle often tries to follow. Some mid-level artists begin asking for fees that local scenes cannot realistically sustain. Some smaller promoters stretch their budgets because they fear losing relevance. Some fans end up paying more, without always receiving a meaningfully better cultural experience.

And that is where the bubble starts to become visible. Not when artists get paid well, but when everyone begins pricing themselves according to a market that only a few regions, brands and mega-promoters can actually afford.

Who really pays the price?

In the end, the cost does not stay inside the booking contract. It moves outward.

Promoters feel it first. They commit to expensive artists months before knowing whether tickets will sell. They pay deposits, flights, hotels, production, marketing, security, insurance, venue costs and local taxes. If sales slow down, there is very little room to breathe.

For independent promoters, one expensive booking can define the entire event. If it works, it may create momentum. If it fails, it can damage cash flow for months. In smaller markets, it can even kill a promoter’s willingness to take creative risks.

Festivals face a similar problem. When too much of the budget goes to a few headline names, less money remains for the rest of the lineup, stage design, local talent, community programming, fair crew pay, sustainability measures and audience experience. The poster may look stronger at the top, but the cultural depth underneath can become thinner.

Fans pay too, because there is no magic place where these costs disappear. Higher artist fees usually contribute to higher ticket prices. Then come service fees, transport, accommodation, food, drinks and time away from work. For many young people, students and lower-income fans, the total cost of attending a festival or major club event is becoming harder to justify.

And this matters deeply for electronic music. Rave culture was never supposed to be a luxury product available only to those with enough disposable income. Of course, big shows cost money, and quality production should be respected. But when dance music becomes too expensive, it slowly loses part of its social function. It becomes less accessible, less spontaneous, less community-driven, and more like a status symbol than a shared cultural ritual.

Emerging artists also suffer from this structure. If promoters need to spend aggressively on one or two famous names, they often become more conservative with the rest of the lineup. That means fewer opportunities for local DJs, fewer experimental bookings and less space for artists who are building something slowly.

So, the scene becomes more top-heavy. A few names become bigger than ever, while the middle becomes more fragile and the grassroots become more exposed.

Is there a better path for electronic music?

The answer cannot be “pay artists less”. That would be lazy, unfair and unrealistic. Artists deserve fair compensation, especially in a streaming economy where recorded music often does not pay enough. Touring remains one of the few areas where many artists can build sustainable income.

So, the goal should not be to make artists cheaper.

The goal should be to make the ecosystem healthier.

Promoters can help by building events around identity, not only headliners. A strong concept, a trusted crowd, good sound, thoughtful curation and consistent community can create value that does not depend entirely on one superstar name.

Festivals can help by balancing major bookings with deeper programming.

Local scenes can help by supporting residents, collectives and artists before they become fashionable. Fans can help by showing up for discovery, not only for the names they already know from Instagram, TikTok or festival posters.

Artists can help too. The biggest names have power, and power always comes with cultural responsibility. Some may choose to adjust fees for smaller scenes, support local openers, play special club shows, or invest back into the communities that gave them their first platforms.

That does not mean every artist must become a charity. It simply means that electronic music has always been more than a transaction.

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I personally believe in the same philosophy. Supporting the scene should be done in a fair, balanced, sustainable way. For me the growth of electronic music isn’t just about how big an event becomes or how quickly a brand expands but whether the entire ecosystem can continue to thrive, remain accessible and create opportunities for everyone involved.

This means respecting the artists, the promoters, the local scenes, and the fans. It means that every collaboration, every coverage, every community initiative, and every outreach effort must serve something greater than the immediate result. Because if all of us involved in the scene only think about today, then we risk weakening the tomorrow we all want to see.

From my perspective, this is the point worth protecting. I understand why artists charge what the market is willing to pay. No artist should be blamed for maximizing the value of their work, especially after years of uncertainty in a difficult industry.

However, every ecosystem has a point where short-term success can begin undermining long-term sustainability.

If promoters cannot survive, there are fewer stages. If clubs close, there are fewer entry points. If tickets become too expensive, fewer fans can participate. If lineups become too concentrated, fewer artists can grow. And if the culture becomes too dependent on celebrity demand, electronic music risks forgetting the very thing that made it powerful in the first place.

Electronic music was built through communities before it became an industry. It was built in small rooms, illegal spaces, local clubs, record shops, radio shows, afterhours, warehouses, basements and dancefloors where nobody cared about VIP tables or headline fees. People cared about sound, connection, release and belonging.

So, the question is not whether superstar DJs deserve their fees. Some probably do. Some probably do not. Most of us will never know the full business reality behind each booking, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

The real question is whether the scene can continue growing without losing the balance that made it special.

Stay connected with dancetoday - follow us on social media or join our Discord community for the latest stories, insights, and news shaping the electronic dance music world.

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A year later, I discovered FL Studio and began experimenting with music production, which opened up a whole new creative world for me. Over time, I explored other instruments and expanded my musical taste, moving from classical music into electronic and other genres. This gave me a strong foundation in music theory, which I now combine with my passion for music production. My journey eventually led me to the University of Athens, where I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Music Technology. ","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"Over the years, I have co-produced and assisted artists on hundreds of tracks, some of which have been critically acclaimed in the field. ","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"Beyond my own work, I deeply value the role of community in music. 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I began decoding dance music before I could even name it… and that curiosity never left. I’ve been a selector since the late 2000s, drawn to long-form, storytelling sets that gently flow between house, techno, and space-infused underground sounds.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"Alongside my academic path - MEng in Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering, MSc in Engineering Business Management, and an ongoing PhD in Computer Science - I’ve always believed in building bridges between disciplines and people. That mindset led me to co-found Nibiru Mission, a space-inspired record label and creative platform, and to launch SIR KRIS, my personal DJ/producer project.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"text":"That’s also why I’m part of dancetoday: because I believe in real connection, beyond trends, algorithms, and hype. 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