In ADE’s 30th anniversary year, we joined the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) in Amsterdam for its Annual General Meeting: a look back at the year, talks on current issues in the electronic music industry, plans for the future and the election of a new Executive Board. Hosted by AFEM CEO Finlay Johnson, the meeting brought together labels, artists, managers, promoters, rights organisations and technology companies.
AFEM shared its year in review, built around commerce, community and culture. Members also heard updates on AFEM’s growing global membership, its AI Principles of consent, credit and compensation, a new Promoter Kitemark for the live sector, and the push to make sure artists get paid when their music is played.
Paul Hamill elected to the AFEM Executive Board
Finlay Johnson announced the Executive Board election results, welcoming new members and thanking those stepping down. Our Co-Founder and CEO Paul Hamill was elected to join the board, representing Distributors & Infrastructure.
The board brings together members from across the electronic music industry, from rights holders and distributors to media, education and technology.
Our talk: what happens before the release?
She started with what we’ve always done – give labels real feedback on their tracks from DJs, radio presenters and media. “Full support” or “Will try, thanks”? Five stars, or “not for me”? Most importantly, we track who downloads and plays the music.
“Human-curated feedback has become even more valuable at a time when we’re faced with an enormous amount of AI-generated content,” she told the room.
She then introduced RADAR, our feature that uses ISRC codes to follow a track’s journey after release. Labels and artists can see who actually played their track, whether it was added to a Spotify playlist or broadcast on radios, and how it’s charting on Beatport, for example. All of it is live in the Inflyte dashboard.
“But what happens in the time between the promo and the release date?” Sylwia asked. “How can we better track the first DJ plays, at a festival for example, while the song still hasn’t been released? How can we help artists and labels monetise those plays?” she asked.
Our work with AlphaTheta shows one example of what a solution could look like. A DJ can connect Inflyte to rekordbox and respond to a promo, and the track lands in their library with all its metadata, including the ISRC code. Today, most of the industry uses ISRC codes to track music after release. The next step for us is registering plays from the very first download, together with DJ technology companies, distributors and rights organisations.
“That’s something we’ve been actively exploring, and we’re hoping to find a solution with our partners,” Sylwia said. “To build better tracking and infrastructure, for everyone.”
Mixer
After the meeting, we stayed on for the members’ mixer, with music by afro-house rising stars VUMAALA and NAAK as well as some established artists like VONDA7, Sydney Blu, Vickey Devine and a special set by KUVO Soundsystem team.
Thank you to AFEM for having us, and see you next year!
