AFEM Industry Insider

Brazil is now the eighth-largest recorded music market in the world, with 14.1% year-on-year growth in 2025, and a significant and growing force within the global electronic music industry, which reached a record $15.1 billion in 2025. But what is actually happening on the ground? This edition of the AFEM Industry Insider brings together five leading voices from across the Brazilian electronic mus...

Developing a live electronic music show is one of the most complex and rewarding steps an artist can take. But what does it actually involve, and how do the teams around an artist make it work? Join AFEM CEO Finlay Johnson with four industry practitioners who work at the sharp end of live electronic music production and touring: Tom Cane, Musical Director, A Work In Progress - https://aworkinprogr...

Gender parity remains one of the most important and widely discussed challenges facing the electronic music industry. While there has been meaningful progress in recent years, disparities in representation, opportunity and visibility across many areas of the sector continue to shape the experiences of artists and professionals alike. We will hear from three organisations doing the real work to evo...

This AFEM Legal Summit session will explore what fair, transparent, and future-facing deals look like in today’s music industry. Our panel of legal specialists and industry professionals will unpack the current deal landscape. Outcomes and insights from this conversation will directly feed into AFEM’s ongoing legal and policy workstreams, helping shape industry best practices and future initiative...

Join leading labels, distributors and PRs as they unpack what’s working in today’s release landscape.  From choosing the right formats and platforms to planning release frequency, strategy and spend, this podcast dives into the real-world decisions behind a successful campaign. We'll also explore the role of social media, the pros and cons of self-releasing vs. working with a label, and how approa...

AFEM, Paradise Worldwide & Africa Rising Music Conference Presents:  "Understanding the opportunities for artists, brands and labels in Africa” Join this discussion with artist managers, promoters and artists from South Africa:  Unpacking growth opportunities in Africa’s electronic music scene: Discover how artists and labels can effectively utilize regional brands, distributors, DSPs, touring cir...

In 2024 AFEM partnered with the Masters Students at the Arts, Culture & Media programme at The University of Groningen, to initiate a study to explore the scope of burnout among professionals in the dance industry. So we surveyed over 1,000 dance music professionals across our membership and beyond to see what they understood of burnout including the causes and potential solutions. Hear from leade...

Hear from a cross section of AFEM members at the forefront of the festival business as they review the festival season just past as well as looking into the club and festival market in 2025.  What will be the economic, market and cultural forces that will shape the next 12 months according to a panel of leading figures in promotion, booking agency, publicity, insurance and ticket selling.  Featuri...

Hear a recording from an interview conducted live in front of an audience at Resonate Conference in Glasgow, between AFEM COO Finlay Johnson and Nick Halkes, a dance music industry icon known for managing luminaries like Liam Howlett (The Prodigy) and Bad Company UK. With a rich history at XL Recordings and Positiva, Nick has ventured into music publishing and has achieved top 10 UK chart success...

AFEM has invited a variety of members to explore the current landscape of releasing and marketing electronic music in 2024. Hear from labels, PR specialists, managers, platforms and distributors about the success stories and trends emerging this year. Speakers: Eli Fola (Artist & Tech Afrique), Anton Partridge (Good Company), Hiroki Beck (Fabric Records), Clara Suess (Suess Media), Jack Bridges (S...

The Industry Insider from AFEM is back! In this brand new episode we discuss the intersection of music and AI, the cultural and business benefits and risks of AI and Web3 platforms in music. Beyond the hype cycle and the fear, how do we frame the current explosion in AI technologies as an opportunity for artists and creators?  Contributors: Sarasara  Linktree  Pal Chohan VP Audio Systems & Music -...

Events Reimagined The massive challenges of the past 18 months have highlighted both the fragility of the electronic music live sector, and the deep interdependence of the chain of businesses and creatives involved. On this podcast, we look into some of the innovations and new ideas developed during the COVID and lockdown periods, and how we can work together to make the ecosystem and electronic m...

NFTs have really exploded into our industry this year - it’s becoming a high profile new format for selling digital art, music, fan experience bundles and essentially anything where digital ownership changes hands.. so in this discussion we’re going to try and cover off all the basics and explain what NFTs are, what opportunities and potential challenges they might present for creators and the wid...

Discussions, profiles, interviews and chat from the AFEM - the trade body for the electronic music scene around the world. On this month’s episode of the AFEM Industry Insider we’ve put together an expert panel to talk about Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive - a change of law which will affect a large sector of the electronic music industry from artists and labels to content creators and co...

2020 has seen a massive shift in focus for DJs and artists - moving from live gigs and events to streaming and online, but how are people who make music going to get paid when their tracks are played in live streams? In the 2nd episode of the Industry Insider we take a look at what’s happening in this area of the industry with our expert panel from Mixcloud, Boiler Room, DJ Monitor, Blokur, Fuga a...

The middle of a global pandemic might be a strange time to launch a new podcast, but with clubs, bars, events and festivals all shut down, there’s never been a more difficult or turbulent time for the electronic music industry. In times of adversity though, there are always new opportunities, new ideas, and advances in technology and creativity. In the first episode of the Industry Insider we’ll b...

Discussions, profiles, interviews and chat from the AFEM - the trade body for the electronic music scene around the world. This is a trailer - Episode 1 will be landing at the beginning of July 2020