IMS report reveals electronic music industry grew to $15.1 billion in 2025 as female DJs make slow gains

The IMS Electronic Music Business Report 2025/6 has revealed that the global electronic music industry grew by 7% in 2025, reaching $15.1 billion in directly generated revenue

Presented by IMS Ibiza and authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan, the report points to another solid year for electronic music, with growth across several key parts of the business.

The 2025 figure marks a slight acceleration from 2024, when the market grew by 6%. According to the report, publishing, merchandise and DSPs were among the strongest performing areas, while live and creator tools faced more pressure.

However, one of the report’s most important findings for the wider dance music community is that progress for female DJs remains slow, despite signs of improvement.

Female DJs are gaining ground, but the gap remains wide

The report states that female DJs are accounting for an increasingly large share of headliner slots. However, it also warns that there is still a long way to go across the wider base of DJs.

Data from AlphaTheta’s registered userbase shows gradual progress. Female users represented 13% of registered accounts in 2023, rising to 14% in 2024 and 15% in 2025. Male users represented 87% in 2023, 86% in 2024 and 85% in 2025.

The report notes that female DJs now have more role models than ever. Even so, it says the industry needs to do more to unwind decades of ingrained behaviours and biases in order to create a truly level playing field.

For DJane Mag, this is one of the most important takeaways. Visibility is improving, but representation across the wider DJ ecosystem still requires deeper structural change.

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Electronic music reached $15.1 billion in 2025

The global electronic music industry reached $15.1 billion in 2025. According to the report, this value refers to revenue directly generated by electronic music and does not include wider economic impact, such as travel, restaurants or tourism.

The report identifies growth across multiple revenue formats, although performance varied by segment. Publishing, merchandise and DSPs performed strongly, while live and creator tools faced more pressure.

Live music remains a key part of the electronic music economy. However, the report points to challenges including venue closures and less frequent audience behaviour. Creator tools, meanwhile, are being affected by the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.

Culture and scenes remain the heart of electronic music

The report highlights that electronic music’s long term strength depends heavily on culture and scenes.

While the wider music business is increasingly focused on monetising fandom, electronic music already has a strong foundation in scene based culture. Clubs, festivals, DJs, producers, local communities and online platforms continue to shape how the genre grows.

According to the report, electronic music fans over index for time and money spent on music. They listen to an average of 10.4 hours of music per week and spend more monthly on recorded music and live music than the average consumer.

This reinforces the importance of community. Electronic music is not only consumed. It is experienced, shared and built through scenes.

Germany leads electronic music on Spotify

The report shows that Germany remains the biggest market for electronic music on Spotify, with 604 million cumulative monthly listeners. The United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Brazil, Indonesia, Canada, Poland, South Africa, India, Mexico and Spain also appear among the top markets.

Electronic music ranks first or second by Spotify listener count in 10 of its top 13 markets. It is also a top three genre in all but one of those markets. The exception highlighted in the report is Mexico, where electronic music ranks fourth.

The report also notes that large country populations can sometimes make regional trends appear global. For this reason, country level analysis is becoming increasingly important in understanding the real shape of music consumption.

Fan growth remains strong across platforms

Electronic music added 558 million fans across Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook in 2025. This was close to the 566 million fans added in 2024.

The report says this represented 8% growth, in line with rock and Latin, but behind hip hop, which grew by 9%.

Although growth slowed slightly, electronic music continued to keep pace with other major genres. The challenge, according to the report, is the growing competition for attention across platforms.

TikTok strengthens electronic music discovery

TikTok continues to be a major platform for electronic music discovery and culture.

The report states that #ElectronicMusic reached 3 million creations, up 50% from 2024 and 106% from 2022. It also highlights strong global growth for electronic related hashtags, including #Techno, #Garage and #SpeedGarage.

The #DJ hashtag has more than 15 million posts, showing how important visual performance has become for electronic music on social platforms.

The report does not provide a gender specific TikTok breakdown. However, the growth of DJ related content shows how social platforms are becoming increasingly important for visibility, discovery and audience building across the electronic music ecosystem.

Afro house and techno continue to rise

The IMS Electronic Music Business Report 2025/6 also points to important genre movements.

On Beatport, tech house remained the leading genre for the fourth consecutive year. House stayed in second place, while melodic house and techno moved into third.

On Splice, Afro house had a major rise. The genre moved from tenth place in 2023 to second place in 2025 among the most searched genres. It also recorded an 82% increase in searches in 2025.

The report also highlights the growth of regional electronic scenes, including Indonesian breakbeat, Vinahouse, South Korean EDM and Colombian guaracha.

This shows how local culture continues to shape global electronic music, with new scenes building momentum outside traditional industry centres.

Ibiza remains a global electronic music hub

Ibiza remains central to the electronic music business.

According to the report, Ibiza club ticketing revenue reached €160 million in 2025, up €10 million from 2024. This figure reflects ticketing only and does not include VIP revenue, meaning the total value created for the local economy was even higher.

The report also notes that the average number of events per venue declined, but venues continued to maximise income and effectiveness.

Artificial intelligence is changing music creation

The report identifies artificial intelligence as a major force in music creation.

Revenues for generative AI and stem separation tools grew by 651% between 2023 and 2025. These tools reached 63 million monthly active users in 2025, generating $333 million in revenue.

According to the report, the most transformative impact of AI may be its ability to open music creation to consumers. At the same time, the rise of AI also increases the importance of culture, scenes and human identity.

In a market facing commodification and AI generated content, the report argues that electronic music’s scenes and communities have never been more important.

A strong market with work still to do

The IMS Electronic Music Business Report 2025/6 confirms that electronic music remains a growing global business. The industry reached $15.1 billion in 2025, fan growth remained strong, TikTok continued to expand the genre’s reach, and regional scenes gained more visibility.

At the same time, the report makes clear that growth alone is not enough.

For female DJs, the data shows progress, but also underlines the scale of the challenge. The rise from 13% to 15% in AlphaTheta’s registered female userbase over three years is meaningful, but slow. The report’s message is clear. More role models exist today, but the industry still needs to address long standing behaviours and biases.

Electronic music is expanding. Now, the next challenge is to make that growth more inclusive, more balanced and more representative of the full community shaping the future of the scene.

The full IMS Electronic Music Business Report 2025/6 is available to read via the official International Music Summit website.