Amsterdam Dance Event is using its 30th anniversary to show how far electronic music has moved beyond the club.
Alongside a second wave of more than 1,500 artists and DJs, ADE 2026 is building out a wider programme around AI, music technology, immersive sound, artist development, publishing and startup infrastructure.
Running from October 21–25 across Amsterdam, the event is expected to feature more than 3,300 artists across 200+ venues by the time the full programme is complete.
The latest additions include Âme, Ben Klock, DJ Stingray 313, Eric Prydz, HAAi, Maceo Plex, Max Cooper, Miss Monique, Paul Kalkbrenner, Scooter and Todd Terry, alongside a growing Arts & Culture programme.
That crossover is becoming a bigger part of ADE’s identity.
Boris Acket will present the installation EINDER, while Het Nationale Ballet and ISH open the event with Swan Lake Remixed for ADE. Dome Concerts also returns with performances involving Max Cooper and Colin Benders, while the new ARTIS Aquarium will host an immersive 4DSOUND experience.
The industry programme pushes further into the systems shaping electronic music behind the scenes.
An Artists on AI: No-BS Roundtable will bring together Boys Noize, BT, Dave Clarke, Mathame and Portrait XO, while Google DeepMind will examine music’s future in the AI era.
SoundCloud joins the conference with a session on breaking independent talent, Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie will discuss local artist development, Troy Carter will address next-generation artist management, and Warner Music will explore the future of music and publishing.
Jean-Michel Jarre and Lady Starlight will also appear for Music & Machines, while Marcel Dettmann and Luciano discuss more than three decades of electronic music culture.
ADE Startups returns too, selecting eight music-tech companies for its Chorus founder programme: nowon, Smash, Sonura, AIDAR, Groovian, Exibeat, EventSynth and zig~zag.
Elsewhere, the festival programme continues to scale through promoters including Awakenings, SPIELRAUM and Audio Obscura, with major shows planned across venues including Gashouder, SugarFactory, Club RAUM and Ziggo Dome.
For FM PRO TECH, the bigger story is what ADE has become after three decades.
The event still depends on clubs, artists and live performance, but its role now extends into startup development, AI debate, immersive systems, publishing, artist strategy and platform discovery.
That shift matters because electronic music increasingly moves through more than scenes and venues. It now moves through tools, companies, rights systems, software, founders and new creative infrastructure.
ADE 2026 is starting to look less like a festival with a conference attached, and more like a temporary operating system for the electronic music industry.