Later this summer, Bowery Presents throws one of New York's biggest concerts, Keinemusik. Keinemusik is an estimated 40,000 people planning to attend an event at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The American Music Festival lineup is increasingly dominated by dance music acts, with the dance music festival attracting record crowds. Las Vegas' Electric Daisy Carnival attracted 525,000 participants over three days last year. (For context, Coachella 2024 attracted around 200,000 people over the weekend.)
The international market for dance music is even bigger (as always). Large dance music festivals are becoming destinations in India, where the UNUM Festival in Albania and the Amsterdam-based festival DGTL have launched editions in Mumbai and Bengaluru. At the small end of things, like New Jersey's drip, Hypernich's electronic music festival pops out and attracts so much attention. Or, the upstate New York sustain release is now in its 11th year, and is a more mythical myth than ever before. Admission is granted only to those with membership through referrals alone.
And if Ibiza, the true mecca of dance music, is any measure, Spanish islands have broken the record of tourism spending over the past few years, with tourist spending rising by 30.78% between 2019 and 2024. This month, the largest nightclub in the island's history (UNVRS), pronounced “space.” It was announced in a trailer featuring Will Smith, which once opened, has a capacity of 15,000 and will become the world's largest nightclub, comparable to the arena.
The latest moments in dance music are not entirely a party. Longtime practitioners and followers worry that inexpressive qualities that make nightlife great, and the space and DJs that do so are under threat as they spiral upwards and outwards.
Artists and venue owners claim that the festival will suck up money from nightclubs. Not to mention the increasingly competitive commercial real estate market in cities where nightlife flourishes and cities where Ibiza's civic fabric is unstable as key workers set the island's prices. It's not helpful to drink less and spend more time online.
The economic benefits related to the music business are also changing. A large global private equity company, KKR owns some of the world's largest music festivals via portfolio company SuperStruct, in addition to its boiler room. Some of that event have not been going well with the progressive dance music community, primarily.
