The dance music industry is constantly evolving, and DJs & producers have to adapt to the ever-changing landscape. Major social media updates have rendered the effectiveness of marketing and EDM’s most popular genres continue to fluctuate.
And what better way to get your predictions and advice than from the top experts in the dance music industry. Here are 22 experts and their predictions for the music industry and EDM in 2018:
Artists will release independently under their own brands rather than under labels. Distributed through Tunecore, CDBaby etc. Labels will only be involved for specialty releases/campaigns.
Most labels will focus more on radio friendly/Spotify music as there is less $$ floating around in other ways.
It will be more challenging than ever to break an act especially if you don’t have the right co-signs/team + agent + funding.
The positive: We’re moving into a very creative phase for artists. Spotlight isn’t shining so hard on being the biggest mainstream act which is leading to some incredible music. The next few years are going to be fun!
2018 and beyond will be watershed years for the music industry as content is easily monetized and the paying subscriber base grows.
Wall Street wants in again.
A growing trend for breakbeats to feature in prominent techno and house DJ-artists sets and productions.
More of the positive power in the electronic music scene will be harnessed for good causes by charitable organisations.
Blockchain-powered music format(s) and certain artist-to-fan platforms will progress from concept to functioning business model via early adoption by one or more ‘big players’.
More Collective Rights Management Organisations globally to will adopt technology solutions to ensure the artists, writers, labels and publishers of music played by DJs in clubs, at festivals and online receive the correct royalties due.
Dubstep feels like its growing, festival trap has leveled off a bit, bass will continue to dominate the main stages, pop will continue to creep into dance music (via “trap” tempo-style tunes) and a few acts will distance themselves from the pack by bringing in fresh sounds.
I think you will see a further melding of the hip hop and dance music cultures. Where fans were once only immersed in recorded collaborations- festivals such as Goldrush and Imagine, which showcase place these artists on the same platform, will become the norm.
As a side note, I think you will also see dance music presenting more happy and chilled offerings. The resurgence of 90s culture in 2016/2017 with its ‘party vibe’ mentality will find a way into the dance music you hear in 2018.
Unfortunately i’m seeing a trend of music being more consumed, but also more disposable than ever. A lot of artists are just releasing single’s and not fully building a story or concepts for fans to really get behind and connect with long term, so my hopes is that this changes. Streaming will continue to dominate the way we consume music, and artists selling hard tickets will continue to develop ways of performing more hybrid live/electronic shows while touring. I think the gap between “genres” will continue to shrink and we’ll see a lot of new emerging artists in 2018 then we’ve seen in the past few years.
Watch for a techno surge as Resistance from Ultra takes a stronghold. Pure, Carl Cox’s new festival series will also be one to watch.
Definitely foresee Gareth Emery’s new distribution platform “Choon” being a hit among upcoming artists. Predicting that streaming giants Spotify & iTunes will continue to grow thus bringing down the SoundCloud platform (even though we would hate to see that as we love SoundCloud).
Have a good feeling about older genres being revisited & remade such as fidget & electro house maybe even Dutch house to name a few of the sounds we can expect in 2018. Some local Artists to keep an eye on in 2018, Schade, Kash Simic, Whyel, DarkHeart & Kastello.
Also in 2018, EDC Vegas changing dates will make for an even bigger turn out for all 3 days; possible that it could influence EDC Vegas 2 weekends? Predicting that EDC Vegas camping will be less then pleasant. Predicting more industry members will feel comfortable enough & confident enough to help us expose fake industry news by giving us valuable information.
Bass house is here to stay. Big festivals will still dominate.
Spotify will go to the stockexchange and continue to grow.
Music will continue to evolve more around the branding of an artist / DJ.
I feel we’ll see the continued rise of streaming services being the first place people listen to music. Blogs will continue to be the main source of marketing for musicians. Facebook will continue to decline in organic reach. Instagram I feel, still hasn’t peaked and will rise in popularity. Indie labels will continue to obtain a larger market share of the total market… especially in America.
“Underground” music will continue to grow in the states & events that don’t provide true experiences for fans will continue to decline.
My prediction for 2018 is a resurgence of disco and funk. I have a strong feeling we’ll see a lot more soul coming from producers paying homage to the classic garage days in the UK, Chicago & Detroit.
Did the EDM bubble burst yet? I foresee a shift away from glow-sticks and light shows back to a real passion for music and culture. Artists won’t stop using the sync button but both analog and digital sales will continue to swell.
Spotify is/will be the most important platform. With hip hop now being the #1 most popular genre in the US I expect there will be an increasing trend of dance music producers collaborating with rappers.
Hip-Hop and EDM will converge in the most mainstream thing we have ever heard. And this would lead the charts together with new asian (Chinese, Korean and Indian mainly) electronic vibes.
Dance music is always a bit cyclical, and there seems to be a shift happening at the current time. A hallmark of 90s dance music was melody, harmony, and rhythm, which are classic and fundamental pieces found in all forms of music.
I think in 2018, electronic music will start to get more emotional and melodic, straying from the more minimal mainstreams that have been commonplace the past few years. Marrying old technologies with current methods is the centerpiece for engaging music, and electronic music in 2018 should be no different.
One of the major DSPs taking over/merging with another. GIFs being more important than ever. Wavo dominating the data and digital marketing side of the industry.
Music Streaming: Music streaming has become more popular. Over 2018 I think Spotify will remain the leader. Apple music still hasn’t managed to get users to really engage and the younger generation is still largely behind Spotify. If one of them can find a way to let users download music and stream, for free, offline, but still with commercials. They will most likely take the lead in 2018. I know apple music has given users a three-month free trial but it still doesn’t seem to be luring users in as much as they hoped.
Popular Genres: With the dubstep craze really fizzling out it’s clear that trap and bass heavy music is becoming popular in a large way. For 2018 you will see smaller crowds at the house stages and larger crowds for artists like Flosstradamus, Rezz, Mija, etc. A new wave of music is also becoming very prevalent. In 2018 we are seeing styles come about that honestly don’t even really exist yet. Cross or hybrid genres if you will. I am also seeing a slow rise of cross genre/ performance artists like Louis The Child who can do anything from just a dj set to a full live show.
Artists Predictions: 2018 will be the year Marshmello finally starts to fade. He will have a few more songs and still be popular at the festivals, but he won’t be the “go to” artist to see anymore. Flosstradamus will continue to rise with Curt at the helm. Smaller artists like Rezz, Mija, Alison Wonderland, and Louis the Child will all continue to grow in popularity. And naturally some of the large artists will stay at the same level like Diplo and Dillon Francis.
Festivals: The usual suspects like EDC, Ultra, Lollapalooza , Coachella will all still be largely attended. But 2018 will be the year people discover a lot of smaller festivals. San Diego will be a wildly popular with the rise of KAABOO and CRSSD Festival. Another rising festival growing in popularity is Air + Style in Los Angeles.
EDM Is Dead? Not exactly. Dance music isn’t going anywhere and the “EDM” bubble is not about to burst. In fact, dance/pop will continue to grow and the pop industry will use heavy influences of dance music elements in a majority of the songs. Spotify will continue to dominate in 2018, while SoundCloud continues to lose ground.
There will be more “songs” and less “tracks.”
We believe that this year is going to be bigger than last year. That this year is going to be huge with artists that are about 18-20 year olds. I strongly believe that 2018 is the year for people that has been born around 2000. They offer so much potential, so much knowledge and so much creativity!
