Worldwide electronic music economy reached $15.1 billion, according to latest IMS report

The global electronic music market has climbed to an all-time high of $15.1 billion, according to the 2026 IMS Electronic Music Business Report.

The sector grew 7% year-on-year in 2025, up from $14.2 billion in 2024.

Revenue across recordings, publishing, Digital Service Providers (DSPs), festivals and clubs, creator tools, merchandise, sponsorships, and brands all contributed to the expansion, with DSPs and merchandise among the strongest performing segments. This growth occurred against a backdrop of broader recorded music market acceleration, which rose 9% globally to $39 billion, fuelled by fandom-driven areas such as expanded rights (up 21%) and physical formats (up 9%).

Germany remains the world’s largest electronic music market on Spotify, with 604 million monthly listeners. The United States followed with 402 million and Australia with 328 million. The top markets collectively grew 11% year-over-year, with Indonesia recording a standout 77% increase. The report highlights the rising influence of the Global South in driving industry expansion.

Electronic music continued to demonstrate strong cultural depth. It ranked in the top three genres by Spotify listener count in 10 of its 13 leading markets, ahead of hip hop, Latin, and rock. Fans showed high engagement, averaging 10.4 hours of weekly music listening, spending $24 monthly on live events and $17 on recorded music, and over-indexing on playlist creation and scene participation.

Platform momentum was particularly notable on TikTok, where #ElectronicMusic generated 3 million creations (up 50% year-on-year), and subgenres such as Speed Garage (+147%), Garage (+75%), and Techno (+66%) posted rapid growth. Across major platforms, the genre added approximately 558 million fans in 2025.

On the creation side, generative AI and stem-separation tools saw revenues surge 651% since 2023 to $333 million, with 63 million monthly active users, reflecting a broader democratisation of music making. Nearly half of consumers now participate in or plan to engage in at least one music creation activity.

Commercially, Beatport reported 9.4% revenue growth in 2025, continuing its steady annual increases. Tech house held the top sales position on the platform for the fourth consecutive year, followed by house in second and melodic house and techno in third. Afro house emerged as a major breakout, jumping from 10th place in 2023 to 2nd among most-searched genres on Splice, with an 82% increase in searches.

Investor appetite for electronic music catalogues also strengthened, with the genre accounting for 18% of publicly announced deals in 2025. Electronic catalogues were significantly younger on average (2005 versus 1990 across all genres), offering stronger streaming upside.

Check out the IMS electronic music business report here.