Music returns to Ibiza’s dance floors

Music return to Ibiza's dance floors
After two years without being held due to the pandemic, the International Music Summit returns with notable changes compared to 2019: metaverse, NFTs and Web3 gain ground in the electronic music scene, which, although it recovered in 2021, is still far from the figures of 2019

José Miguel López Romero

Modified: Tuesday, March 24 2026, 4.08am

The first International Music Summit in Ibiza in 2008 attracted some 300 professionals. A year later, 450. Before the pandemic broke out, there were more than 1,000. After two years in dry dock, the convention appears to have returned in force: the organization expects that Destino, its new location (after passing through the Ibiza Gran Hotel and the Hard Rock in recent years), will attract some 600 professionals by tomorrow, which is not bad after the ordeal experienced in 2020 and 2021.

The hustle and bustle in the corridors, the swimming pool, the press room, the area dedicated to new technologies and in every corner of Destino is an unmistakable sign of the industry’s desire to get back to business, which is what the IMS is all about. The sector is preparing its return to the dance floors, which will open this weekend, an unusually early date in the history of the island. Like every year, the first day opened with the ‘IMS Business Report’ report prepared by David Boyle, director of audience strategies, regarding the statistics and accounts of electronic dance music. According to his calculations, this type of music is currently worth $6 billion. Is that a lot? It’s not bad: that’s 2.4 billion more ( 71%) than in 2020, when the world stopped dancing. But it is not time to start ringing the bells yet, because the figure is still below that of 2019, when it billed 1.5 billion more… which they hope to recover this year. The report states that the market for recorded music “also continued to grow, including physical sales”. Although this was not the case for downloads, which fell by 15%. Festivals and clubs recovered in 2021, although “continued restrictions prevented them from meeting record consumer demand”, as Ibiza’s nightclubs were well aware as they could not open their doors until October and were imposed with many restrictions (which some of them skipped out on). Getting “staff” or the attention of “suppliers” were other challenges faced by the sector, such as “the shortage of chips and the problems of global distribution”.

Younger, digitally native artists, are cutting out the middlemen and building “monetized relationships directly with their fans”

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The rise of Web3 and metaverse in the music industry

Also highlighted is the emergence or consolidation of “new ways to build monetizable relationships with audiences”, such as Web3, the metaverse (e.g., to tap into it), NFT, Blockchain…: “Electronic artists pioneered NFT (non-fungible token) for digital collectibles.” In fact, seven of the top 10 artists selling the most NFT belong to electronic music: 3lau ($17.8 million), Grimes ($6.3 million), Steve Aoki ($4.8 million), Don Diablo…. 64% of all music NFT streams identified “were streamed by electronic artists.” It is noted in Boyle’s report that another trend is that younger, digitally native artists are cutting out the middlemen and building “monetized relationships directly with their fans.” The IMS Business Report warns that streaming is not cheap for artists. In general, although it has grown by 24% in one year, it does not make them rich: “Only 1,650 electronic artists earn more than $65,000 a year from their music”. That’s less than 1.2% of the total. Outside of streaming, “the earnings of DJs and artists increased by 400 million (111%) compared to 2020, mainly due to the return to live music and shows.” Mind you, this is 365 million less (-34%) than in 2019.

Female representation in the Top 100 of the DJ Mag Top 100  “stagnated in 2021.” The public voted 12 female DJs into the top 100, one less than in 2020. It is the first drop since 2016

decoration It also analyzes issues such as “diversity”, in which the report highlights “progress” has been made, while recognizing that “there is still a long way to go”. It gives as an example the representation of people of color in DJ Mag’s top 100, which increased in 2021 to 20, after 12 in 2020 and 8 in 2019. Growth is slower among women. Female representation in the Top 100 of the DJ Mag Top 100  “stagnated in 2021.” The public voted 12 female DJs into the Top 100, one less than in 2020. This is the first drop since 2016. For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.