Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is a global genre born of disco and underground club culture, evolving into several subgenres, including dance-pop, electro, house, riddim, techno, and trance, each with its own stylistic characteristics.
Today, EDM dominates festivals and charts worldwide, with artists such as Martin Garrix and Calvin Harris leading the scene.
The origins of EDM go back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, rooted in disco, synth-pop, post-disco, and house scenes in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
The term Electronic Dance Music became popular in the 2000s as an umbrella label for club-oriented electronic genres. DJs and producers often distinguish between specific styles, such as house, techno, and trance, rather than using the broad term. When it is used, it is usually abbreviated EDM.
Characteristically, EDM's structure consists of repetitive beats, build-ups, drops, and breakdowns designed for dance floors. Its instrumentation includes synthesizers, drum machines (Roland TR-808, TR-909), sequences, samplers, and DAWs. DJs mix tracks seamlessly into sets, and producers may perform live with controllers and software.
During the 1970s and 1980s, disco and synth-pop laid the groundwork for Chicago house and Detroit techno. Raves and underground clubs spread EDM globally in the 1990s, as trance and Eurodance gained popularity. The EDM boom came in the 2000s and 2010s, with festivals like Ultra and Tomorrowland, as well as a mainstream crossover with pop. Beginning in the 2020s, EMD experienced hybridization with hip-hop, pop, and experimental electronic styles, and streaming platforms accelerated EDM's global reach.
Subgenres and their branches include dance-pop, which originated in the late 1970s and 1980s, blending pop with disco and synth-pop. Its subgenres include Eurobeat, diva house, vocal trance, and Italo disco.
House originated in Chicago in the 1980s, with its four-on-the-floor rhythm (120-130 BPM). Subgenres include acid house, deep house, progressive house, tropical house, tech house, and electro house.
Riddim originated in the United Kingdom in the early 2010s, derived from dubstep and Jamaican dancehall. Its subgenres include future riddim, melodic riddim, riddim garage, and tearout.
Originating in the 1980s, electro was influenced by funk and hip-hop. Subgenres include electroclash, electro house, freestyle, and nu-electro.
Trance originated in Germany and Netherlands in the late 1980s to 1990s, featuring hypnotic melodies (125-150 BPM). Subgenres include acid trance, progressive trance, uplifting trance, psytrance, big room trance, and Goa trance.
Many of EDM's subgenres were developed before the umbrella term Electronic Dance Music was coined.
Modern EDM repertoire emphasizes continuous processes like filter sweeps, pitch slides, and crescendos to create immersive dance-floor experiences. Current tracks often blend genres, such as future bass with house, or techno with trance, reflecting EDM's adaptability in the streaming era.
Popular EMD artists include Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Marshmello, Tiesto, Deadmau5, Alok, Porter Robinson, Steve Aoki, and Disco Lines.
From disco clubs in the 1970s to massive festivals today, EDM continues to evolve.
Recommended Resources
EDM House Network is an online magazine covering the latest electronic dance music releases, festival news, artist interviews, and a weekly "New EDM Friday" roundup, along with timely festival lineups, release highlights, and editorial features. Its content is organized into categories such as "EDM News," "EDM Artist News," "Interviews," "EDM Festival News," "All Music," "New EDM Friday," and "About Us," facilitating easy navigation. A site search feature is also available.
https://edmhousenetwork.com/
A dedicated electronic-music magazine and blog, Electronic Groove covers a wide range of scenes from techno and house to downtempo and melodic electronic. The website publishes news, reviews, mixes, premieres, interviews, and a recurring e-zine series featuring guest artists and label spotlights. Included are timely announcements about releases, festival changes, and artist activity, as well as a curated e-zine series with guest mixes and artist-focused issues, and dedicated pages for premieres.
https://electronicgroove.com/
Dedicated to house music (new and classic), House Groove Radio features live DJ shows, archives, chat rooms, Twitch streaming, and membership options. Users can listen, join shows, and subscribe to the site's newsletter on the site. The site maintains a continuous focus on house music, both new and old, and highlights recent DJ shows and archives on its homepage, linking to live chat rooms and Twitch for real-time listening and interaction, as well as scheduled shows.
https://www.housegrooveradio.com/
The annual outdoor house-music festival in Atlanta, Georgia, is held on the Sunday before Labor Day. Times, locations, tickets, and partnership information are presented on the official site. It is a one-day outdoor celebration of house music that brings together fans from across communities and backgrounds for a day of DJs, dancing, and community energy. The site summarizes what attendees can expect, including start times, entry points, the general event flow, and ticketing information.
https://www.houseinthepark.org/
An online repository and community for DJ mixes, radio shows, and podcasts focused on electronic music and adjacent genres, House-Mixes is a DJ mix archive where users can stream and download thousands of free house, techno, and related mixes, hosting over 350,000. The website emphasizes user uploads, community sharing, and free listening and downloads, positioning itself as a place for both established and emerging DJs to publish sets and for listeners to discover mixes.
https://www.house-mixes.com/
The free music portal and netlabel focuses on electronic music, including psytrance, downtempo, and techno, serving as a label and digital distributor, offering releases for free download and promoting events and artists. The website emphasizes sharing music freely, with some albums and tracks available for free download, copying, and listening, positioning the project as a free music portal and netlabel under a Creative Commons-style distribution model. An informational blog is also available.
https://www.neurotrance.org/
Presented as an Internet radio platform focused on techno, Techno.FM is dedicated to techno music, offering live shows, podcasts, and streams of recent episodes from DJs and labels around the world. Users can browse featured episodes and shows directly on the site, which includes navigation elements such as "Home," "Shows," "Radio," and "Login," making it easy to find live streams, archived mixes, and podcasts. New labels and promos can be found through "PROMO" and "PREMIER" tags.
https://techno.fm/
The online magazine focuses on techno music, offering news, interviews, mixes, festival coverage, and weekly podcasts and playlists. Its navigation highlights sections labeled "Home," "Magazine," "In the Mix," "Techno Festivals," "Entertainment," "Contact Us," and "Advertise." The site runs recurring formats such as podcasts and playlists, magazine-style features like "Underground Corner," artist-focused lists, and long-form interviews. Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook links are included.
https://www.technostation.tv/
TranceLocation is a free online radio site focused on electronic and trance music, offering multiple genre-specific streams, including trance, psytrance, vocal trance, house, chillout, Goa, dubstep, and related electronic club and dance styles, all available to listen to live without registration. Featured are multiple genre channels, DJ mixes, and tracks across these genres, and a simple, radio-first experience. No account is required, and genres are listed prominently on the site.
http://trancelocation.com/
"YourEDM" is an online publication covering electronic dance music news, reviews, festivals, and culture. Based in Seattle, Washington, it has grown into a major EDM media outlet with millions of monthly visitors. Launched as a dedicated EDM news site and positioned as a fast, widely read source for electronic music coverage, the site focuses on artist news, releases, festival lineups, interviews, and scene reporting, and it has built a staff of journalists, photographers, and videographers.
https://www.youredm.com/
