The world’s largest and most influential club-based festival and conference for electronic music has completed its conference program, with numerous globally renowned artists and industry leaders added to the line up. Among them are Hardwell, speaking in depth about his recent comeback after a three year hiatus and the topic of mental health, Martin Garrix in conversation with Joseph Capriati, a special edition of RA Exchange live with Peggy Gou, and a live NFT minting masterclass and demonstration by Richie Hawtin.
These additions join an already impressive line up for ADE’s 27th edition, which includes keynotes and discussions with industry leaders at Warner Music, Coachella, TikTok, Q-Dance, Billboard, FUGA, shesaid.so, YouTube, Meta and more, with young producers also able to take part in masterclasses and sessions at ADE Lab with artists such as Carl Cox, Ellen Allien, Nicky Romero, Van Anh, KiNK and many others.
Futuristic innovations
The conference also hosts a series of futuristic initiatives as part of ADE’s focus on the future of live events, including ADE Blendrealities, transforming home base Felix Meritis into a hybrid VR space, where discussions are hosted on artificial intelligence, Web3 and the Metaverse. Speakers include Nick Adler, responsible for transforming Snoop Dogg’s Death Row Records into the first ever major NFT label, ex-Google Senior Engineer Blake Lemoine on the impact of AI, Warner Music’s Chief Digital Officer Oana Ruxandra, artist and futurist Don Diablo, Coachella’s Sam Schoonover and Lightyear CEO Lex Hoefsloot.
Other key topics and themes covered at ADE Pro include sustainability for the live scene, mental health, inclusivity and social change, with Ukrainian artist Nastia and Lesia Vasylenko (Ukraine Parliament) in the discussion ‘Ukraine: How Can We Help?’, as well as talks on circular event management, gender representation in dance music and more.
ADE Lab masterclasses
Next to the ADE Pro conference, this year marks the inaugural edition of ADE Lab, focused on masterclasses, Q&As and studio sessions for the next generation of producers. Artists taking part include Peggy Gou, Carl Cox, Nicky Romero, Ellen Allien, Van Anh, KiNK and others, and visitors can obtain inside knowledge from global platforms such as TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, Armada Music, ID&T, shesaid.so, KNTXT and Spinnin’ Records.
