On July 16, the International Music Summit (IMS) Business reported that the Electronic Dance music industry could estimate a falling worth of 56% of its income by the end of this year, dropping to $3.3 billion.

In the detailed report that reveals the startling impact that COVID-19 has had, the dance music industry has dropped two places to the world’s fifth most popular genre. It estimates that clubs and festivals could lose 75% of their income in 2020 while DJ and artist income could fall from $1.1 billion in 2019 to $.4 billion in 2020 (a drop of 61%).

By April 20, 350 music festivals had reported cancellation, which resulted in a shift in live music streaming by artists with an expansion of brand and artist social media following.  Seven of the ten most watched live streams on Twitch were electronic music focused totaling 6 million viewer hours. Mad Decent saw the most reward by earning 35m views in 11 weeks on Twitch through Electronic music and gaming on the popular Fortnite.

“These figures are inevitable and immediate short-term consequence of COVID-19 and the associated lock down measures put in place globally. As economies begin to reopen many indicators point to an anticipated bounce back over the next five to ten years.”

– IMS

In stark comparison, 2019 saw a prosperous year with the earnings of the top-ten artists increasing 4% to $273 million and the industry as a whole saw an increase in value by 2% to $7.3 billion.

International Music Summit (IMS), is considered the “go-to” platform for business, culture, and education in global electronic music today.  Authored by data analyst Kevin Watson, it is an essential and trusted assessment of the performance and state of the electronic music industry from the previous year.  It provides a global snapshot of the trends and performance areas that the industry faces.

Written by Natalie Wicks Features