The Best Electronic Music Industry Leaders of 2024
Editor's Note: EDM.com proudly publishes four installments of annual year-end coverage: Industry Leaders, Performances & DJ Sets, Music Producers and Songs.
More often than not, year-end coverage published by the music industry's vast pool of media outlets is limited to its artists and performers.
To honor the extraordinary work of the industry's unsung people and brands, EDM.com annually recognizes a group of leaders whose contributions redefined dancefloors and helped shape the future of electronic dance music.
Record Label: Experts Only
Forged in the crucible of a late-2023 rebrand, John Summit's Experts Only imprint emerged with a clarity of vision that few could match this year.
From releases like Max Styler's "Lights Out" and Chris Avantgarde and Kevin de Vries' "Killa," the label was a primary driver of the conversation about the ever-evolving boundaries of tech house music. Summit's own debut album, Comfort In Chaos, arrived mid-year as a tour de force of emotion and experimentation, bolstered by standout remixes like Cassian's stunning take on "Shiver" and YDG's transformative remix of "Go Back."
The label's ambitions also extended far beyond its music, with the Experts Only Ski Weekender in Vail curating a groundbreaking fusion of slope-side adventures and dancefloors. Inspired by Summit's own passion for skiing, the event brought the label’s ethos to life: bold, unflinching and deeply connected to its audience.
In one short year, Experts Only emerged as a creative force that respects the roots of house music while fearlessly carving out its own future, setting a high bar for what it means to lead with vision and purpose.
Words by Cameron Sunkel.
Honorable Mentions: Memory Palace | HypnoVizion | Defected Records
Experts Only
Club: Club Space
A cornerstone of global club culture, Miami's Club Space isn't an ordinary venue—it's a rite of passage.
In 2024, the venue's ethos of "the party never ends" was tested and proven when it closed for three months of structural renovations. Even in its absence, the Space legacy loomed large as Factory Town held down the scene while fans restlessly waited. When the fall finally arrived, Space's reopening party, headlined by Peggy Gou, reminded us why this 2,000-capacity spot holds an outsized influence in the dance music community.
From a marathon 36-hour Miami Music Week closing party featuring Carlita, Marco Carola and more to a 24-hour Art Basel closing party with 23 DJs from 13 countries, Space was a seedbed of club culture. The venue isn't just about major festival weekends—it snaps into action for cultural events like Formula One Race Week, when Black Coffee and MEDUZA dazzled behind the decks. Now, Tiësto is primed for a rare "Sunrise" set in January 2025.
Club Space's significance transcends its size, earning its place as a destination where DJs from around the globe gather to create something extraordinary. And in 2024, its organizers continued to live up to their prevailing tenet: whether it's 3am, sunrise or mid-morning, they've got your back.
Words by Cameron Sunkel.
Honorable Mentions: Cloud 9 Fiji | Ushuaïa Ibiza | Drumsheds
Music Company: Vita Motus
For the idealistic minds behind the producers of music festivals, one question often gnaws like a spider in the brain: can a stage be more than just a platform? For Vita Motus, the design studio behind Coachella's groundbreaking Quasar stage, it's a resounding "yes."
Led by its ambitious founder and CEO, Heather Shaw, Vita Motus has executed phantasmagoric stages for EDC, Electric Forest and Lightning in a Bottle, among other major festivals. But she found herself in a three-month pressure cooker ahead of Coachella, where the studio was tasked with building a universe unto itself.
The stage's monolithic LED walls, Shaw told EDM.com back in April, were designed "to push the boundaries of what's possible at music festivals." Her team ultimately delivered, establishing a bastion of iconoclastic festival design within Coachella's hallowed desert metropolis.
The stage became the epicenter of EDM at the nation's most iconic music festival, which in 2024 teemed with unforgettable rave moments. Fans willingly plunged into the rabbit holes of innovative three-hour DJ sets by RÜFÜS DU SOL and a cancer-free Michael Bibi, among other influential electronic acts. Eric Prydz and Anyma, two of the industry's most subversive creators of visual displays, also performed together for the first time as the sun set.
To that end, Quasar dissolved the boundaries between electronic music and performative spectacle, reimagining the inert concert stage as a living, breathing organism.
Words by Jason Heffler.
Honorable Mentions: End Overdose | Playtime Engineering | WavMaker
Music Executive: Cindy Charles
Cindy Charles didn’t just change how we hear electronic dance music this year. She changed how we feel it—both together and apart.
Charles tragically died in October following a traffic accident during the Amsterdam Dance Event, the world's leading electronic music summit. But before we lost Twitch's trailblazing Head of Music, she led the development of the platform's pioneering DJ category, a breakthrough that established it as the first to provide a long-term home for DJs to legally livestream.
Charles, a visionary agent of change in the intersection of music and technology, redefined how artists and creators engage with audiences online. She remains revered for leading Twitch's label relations and music licensing operations, fostering an ecosystem that enables DJs to build fanbases and achieve financial freedom on the platform.
In addition to fiercely championing rave culture, Charles was also an unshakeable advocate for women in the music industry. She co-founded the San Francisco chapter of She Is The Music as well as Women In Digital, a community of over 1,500 members with a mission "to help women define a limitless future for all by shining a light on careers in digital and technology."
Words by Jason Heffler.
Honorable Mentions: Christine Thomas (Dolby) | Adam Russakoff (Ultra Worldwide) | Jeff Abel (Excision Presents)
Twitch
Event Organizer: Breakaway Music Festival
Breakaway didn't just host music festivals in 2024—it created destinations at scale.
Breakaway lived up to its name in 2024, leaving competitors in its dust as it became the nation's preeminent traveling EDM festival. The event's organizers are now poised to expand to a bevy of new markets in 2025, swelling to a staggering 12 cities.
That kind of growth was a white whale for independent festivals in 2024, a time when inflationary pressures hiked operating costs to prohibitive levels. Nevertheless, Breakaway managed to become the fastest-growing music festival brand in the country, due in part to their knack for blending high-profile headliners with undiscovered talent in lineups that felt both elite and accessible, a rare feat in a crowded market.
Breakaway's influence, however, is greater than the sum of its dozen parts. The brand supercharged its sustainability efforts by partnering with Zero Waste Event Productions, a leading provider of recycling, composting and waste management services, to divert from landfills over 25,000 pounds of recyclable materials, including harmful plastics.
Breakaway's proprietors also recently announced that all of their 2025 festivals will accept cryptocurrency as payment, mirroring its ethos of progress and inclusivity to foster a new kind of freedom on and off the dancefloor. "As the music industry continues to evolve, we’re committed to adapting to the needs of our fans and staying ahead of the curve," said co-founder and CEO Adam Lynn.
Words by Jason Heffler.
Honorable Mentions: DEF | House Calls | FIVE Music
Visual Artist: Tobias Gremmler
Tobias Gremmler's larger-than-life artistry was impossible to ignore in 2024, imbued with an almost intangible quality that connected deeply with Afterlife's broadening global audience.
His work with Anyma on the superstar DJ's tour and sophomore album, Genesys II, transformed towering LED screens into portals, immersing fans in haunting spaces where the boundaries between performer and participant disintegrated. Blending Afterlife’s iconic dual themes of robotics and nature, Gremmler's awe-inspiring visual concepts captivated audiences in high-profile venues from Los Angeles to Miami to Amsterdam, threading an ineffable emotional connection amidst the grandeur of stadium-scale productions.
Anticipation is now building for Anyma's historic Las Vegas Sphere New Year's Eve show and residency, "The End of Genesys," which will see Gremmler's transhumanist visual designs envelop the record-breaking venue for its first-ever electronic music shows. His creative direction is ambitious by all accounts, and it's reshaping how we experience and engage with EDM's most transcendent performances.
Words by Cameron Sunkel.
Honorable Mentions: DR01D VISUALS | Wesley So | Neurite
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