Is electronic dance music losing its grip on the American market? According to a study by the International Music Summit, the answer is a resounding “yes”.
Explored by Billboard, the International Music Summit’s annual economic study reported that “dance music’s share of the U.S. recorded music market fell to 3% in 2018, down from 3.5% the year before and from 4% the year before that” bringing the popularity of EDM in the States back to its 2013 levels.
The IMS reached its conclusions from the aforementioned market share, a survey of top DJ incomes and the attendance numbers and revenue generated from Las Vegas clubs and pool parties.
Its worth keeping in mind that while the report mainly surveys the US market on the other side of the pond, “the picture was similarly bleak in the U.K., where EDM’s share of the recorded music market fell from 11.5% to 9.5%, as the number of nightclubs dropped by over 20% in 2018 to 1,673.”
Interestingly, Germany and Canada both reported growth in their EDM markets, but what does this tell us? The waxing, and waning, of trends within the scene, and in its mainstream acceptance, is no surprise: Consider the rise of dubstep and its sudden transition from niche interest to huge mainstream popularity in the late 2000’s-early 2010s.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest tends towards an off-the-beaten-path acceptance of niche artistry and boutique music festivals, a sharp contrast to Las Vegas’s mainstream tailorings, an important factor to consider in electronic music’s continued popularity in the area.
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