Is Dance Music Finally Done Selling Out?

For years, the industry sold us the story of freedom on the dancefloor while quietly cashing checks from private equity, fossil fuel firms, and streaming giants. The mantra was simple: keep politics out of the party. But in the past year, that illusion collapsed.

From festival boycotts to artists pulling their music from Spotify, dance music is in the middle of a reckoning. The scene is asking: what does it really mean to protect the right to party — in peace?