Blog - EDM

This year's Electronic Dance Music Awards brought the heat March 28th at the Eden Roc Hotel, inviting fans to celebrate wins by Zedd, Martin Garrix and more in Miami.

First came open-air DJ sets from Hardwell, Armin van Buuren, Alok, BONNIE X CLYDE and a collaborative performance by Aluna and Coco & Breezy, all of whom threw down sun-kissed DJ sets by the pool.

Then, due to noise ordinances, the EDMAs took over the lobby of the storied Magic City hotel for an electrifying, impromptu pop-up event. A slew of electronic music stars showed up and showed out, including Joel Corry, HAYLA, MEDUZA, Becky Hill, HUGEL, Laidback Luke, Sickick, Markus Schulz, Vinny Vibe and Tim Clark. EDM.com Class of 2025 artist Linney also delivered a surprise cameo.

The audio, originally designed for open-air dispersal, concentrated its power indoors with crystalline vocals and palpitating bass you could feel in your molars. The walls of Eden Roc contained what the Miami sky couldn't, and the last-minute pivot mirrored EDM's own origins: adapting existing spaces, working within constraints and finding beauty in the unexpected.

Driven by its fan-based voting system, the MTV-style EDMA ceremony annually dishes out unique trophies that resemble DJ decks, including a functional jog-wheel. This year's winners include superstar DJs like Zedd, Martin Garrix, Dom Dolla, Amelie Lens, FISHER and Hardwell.

Check out a gallery of images from the 2025 EDMAs below.

Nickolas Wolf

Zeds Dead have publicly accused luxury fashion house Versace of appropriating their merchandise designs without permission or attribution.

In a post on X, the influential dubstep duo on Thursday shared side-by-side images comparing a design from their 2018 tour with recent Versace apparel.

"Versace ripped off our merch designs," Zeds Dead wrote, drawing attention to multiple Versace pieces, including t-shirts and sweatpants.

The similarities are striking, as both designs appear to feature nearly identical typography and fonts with indistinguishable color schemes. Moreover, the central imagery of Zeds Dead's original merchandise features a coiled snake while a Versace tee seems to substitute a roaring tiger.

Efforts by EDM.com to reach Versace for comment were unsuccessful prior to this article's publication.

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Brownies & Lemonade's DNBNL offshoot is hitting the road this summer, bringing drum & bass parties to a handful of Dave & Buster's locations across the country.

A focused celebration of the genre, DNBNL has become one of the beloved electronic music event organizer's most recognizable series. They've taken over Dave & Buster's in the past, tapping into the nostalgia of arcades and providing fans with a setting that feels both unexpected and wildly fitting.

The choice of venue reflects the team's ongoing push to activate rave culture in unique venues, like laundromats, abandoned zoos and even random elevators.

Mike Banuelos

Celebrating the four-year anniversary of DNBNL, the mini-tour begins June 18th in Brooklyn and continues the following night in Orlando before heading cross-country for a West Coast leg, which kicks off July 10th in Seattle prior to a finale in Irvine.

Each stop will feature a different secret lineup. While the tour's talent remains under wraps, the energy is all but guaranteed, considering past DNBNL shows have featured performances by drum & bass heavyweights like Chase & Status, Sub Focus, Netsky, Koven and Dimension.

Those interested in attending the upcoming DNBNL tour can RSVP here.

Brownies & Lemonade

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Darude is ringing in 25 years of "Sandstorm" by turning Helsinki into a real-life playground for fans of the track that defined a generation. 

The event, simply dubbed the "Sandstorm Run," invites participants to jog, sprint or stride along a six-kilometer route mapped directly through the sites made famous in the track's iconic turn-of-the-century music video.

Scheduled for August 31st, just under a week before the Finnish leg of Darude's "STORM 25 World Tour," the run starts and ends in Kaivopuisto, a coastal park that locals and longtime fans will recognize from the video's early chase scene. From there, runners will make their way through southern Helsinki, including a pass by the steps of the Helsinki Cathedral.

Darude himself will be onsite for the event, cheering participants on and serving as a judge for its costume contest, which encourages runners to dress in the spirit of the "Sandstorm" video. Prizes for the best outfits—awarded in individual, pair and team categories—include a meet-and-greet with Darude, group photo and tickets to the "STORM 25" concert at Kattilahalli.

“It’s amazing to celebrate my career right where it all began," Darude said in a statement. "The 'Sandstorm' video is still watched around the world, and it’s incredible to see it come alive again through the runners. I hope as many people as possible join us to have fun and get moving."

The event is being organized by Vauhtisammakko, a local fitness services company. Early-bird registration is available through June 30th for €39, with standard pricing kicking in July 1st at €59. 

You can find more details about the "Sandstorm Run" and register here.

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The coffeeshop rave craze, a current Gen Z favorite, is springing up in cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto and Zurich. These caffeine-fueled day parties are now getting a tail-wagging twist: dogs on the dancefloor.

On May 17th, the Doglateria café in Sydney, Australia teamed up with Spotify to throw the inaugural "Woof Doof," the country's first-ever rave designed specifically for dogs. The eatery serves what they call "doglato," an all-natural gelato for canines with no sugar, preservatives or additives.

Of course, no rave is complete without tunes, so the "Woof Doof" event featured a live DJ who kept the volume between a dog-friendly 55 and 60 decibels.

While the future of Australia's rave culture remains uncertain, this unique pop-up could mark the start of a new (and adorable) trend in the region.

"Cafés in the area and around the world are playing rave music, so we thought we shouldn’t miss this opportunity," Doglateria owner Oscar Vallejo told Today.

The free event ran from 9am to noon, with the first 50 pups in line receiving Spotify-themed doggie merch and a gelato treat. Early arrivals also got to enjoy a special take on the classic açaí bowl made with coconut cream, muesli, peanut butter, honey and carob powder.

According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, authorities in Clark County are investigating the deaths of two men following separate incidents connected to the EDC Las Vegas festival over the weekend.

Azmi Atassi of Flagstaff, Arizona, and Opkar Mahal, of North Las Vegas, both died on Sunday, per the Clark County coroner's office. The causes of death remain pending.

Mahal, 39, suffered what police described as a "medical episode" while attending the festival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was reportedly transported to University Medical Center, where he later died. Atassi, 33, was found deceased in his room at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on Las Vegas Boulevard South. Officials believe he was in Las Vegas to attend the festival.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced Tuesday that they would be reviewing both incidents. They have not yet released additional information about the circumstances, including whether the deaths are related to drug use, heat exposure or other factors associated with large-scale festivals.

EDC is one of the largest electronic dance music festivals in the world, regularly drawing over 500,000 attendees over three days. The 2025 edition took place May 16-18.

CRSSD is returning to San Diego's idyllic Waterfront Park September 27-28 with an electric lineup to celebrate the festival's 10-year anniversary.

Known as the crown jewel of techno and house music in Southern California, CRSSD's fall edition features global superstars, genre-spanning innovators and rare B2Bs. Headliners include John Summit, Claude VonStroke, Cloonee and Empire of the Sun.

The Palms Stage will host house music favorites like Purple Disco Machine, Dombresky and Chris Stussy, along with a b2b between Jamie Jones and Adam Ten. Techno fans can gather at the City Steps Stage for sets from Boys Noize, Brutalismus 3000, Eli Brown and KETBOI69, the high-energy alias of KETTAMA and Partiboi69.

Other can't-miss highlights on the lineup include Cassian, Ben Böhmer, Elderbrook, Sultan + Shepherd and EDM.com Class of 2025 inductees Beltran and Max Styler. 

You can check out the lineup below and purchase tickets via the festival's website.

c/o CRSSD Festival

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When the world was opening back up after the pandemic, Christian Smith, better known as Crankdat, found himself considering walking away from music altogether.

At that point, he'd been touring professionally since 2017 after dropping out of college to pursue music full-time. But after being dropped by his agency and watching bookings slow in an industry still adjusting to life post-global shutdown, he found himself questioning everything.

It was 2022 and the electronic dance music industry felt like it had reset. Momentum was hard to come by.

"I think my time's up, maybe it's time to just look at what's next for me in life," Smith recalls thinking in a candid interview with EDM.com. "Maybe I don't want to do anything in entertainment at all anymore. Maybe I want to go do something completely different."

c/o Press

An inflection point came that summer after a pivotal conversation with his manager, Mike Lisanti, who challenged him to commit to just six more months and give it everything he had. "You've been giving it a hundred percent this whole time," he said Lisanti told him at the time. "But give it 110%. Give it 120%."

So he did. "If you’re going to quit, who gives a shit anyway?" Smith recalled hearing. "Just throw everything you have at the wall and let’s see what shakes. So that's pretty much what I did."

That mindset shift was a turning point for the rising dubstep superstar, who stopped worrying about what others in the industry might think. He instead started taking creative risks, and they started to pay off.

With perfectionism no longer looming, Crankdat's early comeback was in full force. TikTok, once a platform he avoided, became the key that reignited everything. He launched a remix video series, posted weekly content and stayed constantly visible on the platform "until people couldn’t get away from me," he jokes.

The experiment worked as his channel ballooned to over 1 million followers, growing his fan base organically while reintroducing him to the EDM community. “It felt like I was starting over, but with experience this time," Smith says.

By early-2023, the Crankdat project exploded with "STFU," a dubstep smash currently on the precipice of 10 million Spotify streams. The viral hit helped transform Smith's burnout into the feeling of forward motion.

His cult following began translating over to the live music arena, culminating in a sold-out doubleheader at the famed Hollywood Palladium and a landmark set at North America's largest EDM festival, EDC Las Vegas, which became the most-attended performance in the history of its beloved bassPOD stage.

Marcus Dossous

Since then, he’s been on a tear: a sold-out North American tour, "GET CRANKED!"; a surprise appearance to close out Coachella's storied Do LaB stage; a coveted night-time slot at Ultra Music Festival's 25th anniversary; and a pair of DJ sets at EDC Las Vegas.

Smith is now rolling into a jam-packed summer of festival sets at Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, Tomorrowland and HARD Summer, among many others. However, the North Star of his resurgence hasn't been the high-profile gigs, but his deep connection to his fans.

"We talk about it every single week," he says. "I say that line more than any other sentence in my entire life: fan experience is the number one priority."

That philosophy has shaped every aspect of his live show. At the Palladium, he debuted "Middle Fingers Up" (MFU), a giant pair of flame-throwing middle fingers tied to the lore of "STFU." What started as a one-off became a signature showpiece, later appearing at a secret show at Brooklyn's Under the K Bridge Park.

c/o Press

But that was just phase one. For his 2025 tour, he retired the "MFU" stage design and built something entirely new: the ambitious "Crank Deck." With its 360° stage design, the production brings fans in as close as possible—literally.

At each show, Smith and his team hand out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-style "Golden Tickets" to diehard fans in GA, often those decked out in Crankdat jerseys or merch. The special passes grant access to an elevated area onstage so fans can experience the shows alongside their charismatic headliner.

This tour also marks Smith's first major-budget production, the development of which was "hands-on in the literal sense," he says. He flew in early to tour stops, worked alongside his crew at 9am load-ins and sometimes even built stage elements with his VJ just minutes before doors opened. Balancing large-scale production with this boots-on-the-ground energy is what makes Crankdat's shows feel personal, even as the rooms keep getting bigger.

Developed specifically with his fans in mind, the "Crank Deck" is complete with immersive lighting elements and headbang-ready railings, infrastructure he called "really complicated."

"Securing railings onto decking, because we wanted the railings to be headbang-able, we wanted the kids to be able to go ape-shit on those things," Smith explains. "And that’s actually really hard to do."

Another key addition? Lasers. Lots of lasers.

Mike Hook

Smith spent a lot of time considering how the dispersion of lasers would make his fans feel, no matter where they are in the crowd. "It is more than just seeing them," he says. They have got to be going over their head so that they can look up and they're like, 'Holy shit.'"

But the connection doesn’t end when the lasers shut down. Through it all, a few things have stayed the same: build fearlessly and never take the crowd for granted.

"That is literally my favorite thing to do," Smith says of fans tagging him in videos. "Just laying in my hotel room and tapping through all the tags I get. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to watching my own show. Phones pick up the crowd reactions, especially during big SFX moments. That's what I want to feel. That’s the version of the show I care about the most."

And there’s plenty more new music on the way.

"I have more original music than I have had basically in the past two years combined," Smith confirms. "It's going to come out this year, which is going to be fun."

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As the home of the world's leading electronic music summit, ADE, and a longstanding seedbed of rave culture, Amsterdam is no stranger to bold ideas. But closing a major highway for a rave? Even for one of the cultural capitals of dance music, it's an ambitious endeavor.

On June 21st, Audio Obscura will transform a section of the Netherlands' A10 Zuid motorway into a one-day-only rave venue, welcoming 5,000 fans to celebrate Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary. The landmark event is part of the wider Festival op de Ring, a 17-kilometer spectacle that will see the A10 closed to traffic and repurposed for a celebration of Dutch art, culture and music.

Known for curating events in unconventional venues like the Rijksmuseum bicycle passage and Concertgebouw, Audio Obscura is one of the city's foremost champions of its globally revered electronic music scene. The team is now taking over the stretch of highway near the RAI Metro Station, promising nine hours of adrenaline-fueled DJ sets from a slew of artists still to be announced.

CUPRA, the event's lead partner, has helped make the highway rave free to attend. Fans can register via the Audio Obscura website for a chance to score a ticket when they officially drop at 10am CEST on May 21st.

Check out the event's trailer below.

LIDO Festival's June debut in London has just escalated from anticipated to essential with the announcement of a b2b set between Skrillex and Jamie xx.

While not entirely unprecedented, their joining forces behind the decks remains a rarity, one reserved for moments that aim to push the envelope beyond the standard music festival playbook.

The performance will take place on Saturday, June 7th as part of the Jamie xx-curated lineup at Victoria Park. The day also features his b2b with Nia Archives, a showcase of his underground club concept "The Floor" and sets from avant-pop visionaries like Arca and Romy.

Skrillex has made a habit of surprising audiences with unlikely b2b sets in recent years, including his collaborative performances alongside Fred again.. and Four Tet, with whom he headlined sold-out spectacles at Coachella and Madison Square Garden. Presently, he's riding the wave of a disruptive new chapter following the release of his long-awaited fourth album, F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3.

Tickets for LIDO Festival, taking place June 6-7 and June 13-15 at London's Victoria Park, are available now.