In the majestic Rosewood building, music label Armada Music packed a sold-out panel where industry heads Armin van Buuren and Joris Voorn discussed the paradoxical trend of artists simultaneously defining music within certain boundaries while genres slowly fade.


At Armada, the label has observed the trend of artists breaking with former styles for some time now. Armin himself is at the forefront of it, and doesn’t shy away from sonic deviations in his tracks. Still, the panel agreed that an artist or group must maintain a core recognizable sound or genre identity.

Hannah Laing, representing the younger generation of Trance music and sandwiched between two musical titans, found the musical merger of styles to be an interesting development. She argued that a foundational knowledge of a certain style is necessary to create truly good music. Only when an artist knows the genre's rules, is it safe to break them.


Joris Voorn, maintaining a more traditional stance, valued the return of certain younger artists to the essence of their style’s origins. Armin was quick to add that he encourages younger artists to actively seek the styles’ edges, without outright abandoning their foundation.

Although questions from the audience briefly diverted the panel, Armin noted that the power of labels like Armada comes from their ability to let artists experiment within their sonic space. And there is arguably no greater place in electronic music to meet this many like-minded producers and artists than the Amsterdam Dance Event.