The 2026 Winter Music Conference (WMC), the world’s longest-running electronic music conference, took place at the Kimpton Hotel in Downtown Miami and was the ultimate gathering spot for the electronic music community. EDMTunes was there to bring all the highlights from the 36th annual event.

Keynote Spotlight: Trance icon Armin van Buuren chatted with Apple Music about an AI masterclass on brand longevity, diving into the future of DJ mixes and the role of human curation. He shared that Apple Music invited him to create the first classical music DJ mix, which is now available to stream on the platform.

Sara Landry joined Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels to discuss the explosive rise of hard techno and its dominance in the 2026 market.

The A&R Pop-Up Lounge (via LabelRadar) was a chance for aspiring producers to meet representatives from Spinnin’, Ultra, and Experts Only, who gave real-time feedback on tracks on the spot.

Spatial audio was a big talking point at this year’s WMC, as L- Accoustics premiered new technology on the 16th-floor EPIC Pool Deck. A curated 3-day series in partnership with Beatport Live using a DJ spatial system. DJs Laidback Luke, Cedric Garvais, and Joachim Garraud, along with the L-Acoustics team, explored the future of the immersive DJ performance in L-Acoustics-presented panels “Beyond the Booth: DJs as Spatial Composers” & “Shaping the Club Experience with L-Acoustics”.

Additional artists that spoke at WMC 2026 included the likes of Radio Slave, DJ Minx, Doc Martin, Junior Sanchez, Lizzy Jane, Arielle Free, OOKAY, Virtual Riot, Nostalgia, Sydney Blu, Sippy, Sandflower Dyson, and Eli from Soulclap.

All in all, WMC 2026 was an outstanding event, giving attendees an up close and personal look at not only the artists, but the people and the brands that make up the whole dance music industry. If you have any interest in getting involved in the business of dance music or live events, you need to add this to your list.