On a breezy Karachi evening last January, in what seemed to be a massive warehouse, spanning almost 600 square feet, close to a 1000, mostly but not exclusively young people were witnessed bobbing their heads, swaying their arms, and some even busting out complex dance moves to music. The kind of music our mums would describe as ‘beep boop robot disco’ or just ‘banging pans in the kitchen’. This scene is from the South Asian diaspora music festival Dialled In’s first ever show in Pakistan and the crowd was dialled in to say the least. The untz untz untz music is formally known as electronic dance music (EDM) and believe it or not, it is slowly taking over the world.
According to a New York Times May 2025 article, from Ibiza’s billion-dollar dance floors to TikTok’s 13.4 billion views on electronic music, the global electronic music industry is booming, not just in size, but in influence, reach, and revenue.
In 2024, Ibiza saw a record €3.964 billion ($4.47 billion) in tourist spending, up 30% from 2019, largely driven by club tourism. Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas attracted 525,000 attendees over three days, dwarfing Coachella’s 200,000 over two weekends. DJs like Fred Again have gone from small clubs to selling out 75,000-seat arenas with just days’ notice. In the streaming economy, Adam Port’s 2024 track “Move” racked up over 542 million Spotify plays.
Platforms like Boiler Room have democratised the scene, allowing bedroom DJs to build global followings overnight, while tech has lowered touring costs to just a USB stick. Major financial players are taking notice, private equity firm KKR now owns a swath of major festivals and Boiler Room itself through its portfolio company Superstruct. Meanwhile, mega-clubs are scaling up. Ibiza’s new UNVRS will be the world’s largest, with a 15,000-person capacity. As dance music overtakes guitar-led rock in venue bookings and draws more mainstream artists like Beyoncé and Drake into its orbit, it’s not just trending, it’s transforming the cultural and economic landscape of music.
Against this global backdrop, Pakistan’s own rave underground is stirring, but can it carve out space in the worldwide electronic renaissance? The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
