Toolroom Competitors

Armada Music is the biggest independent dance music label in the world, founded in 2003 by Armin van Buuren, Maykel Piron and David Lewis (AR-MA-DA). A six-time winner of the IDMA for ‘Best Global Label’, Armada Music boasts the globe’s biggest dance music catalog of over 40,000 tracks and a mouth-watering artist roster. Promoting dance music all over the world from its offices in Amsterdam (HQ), New York and London, Armada Music represents and cultivates the creative exploits of some of the biggest players in the electronic music game, including Armin van Buuren, ARTY, Audien, Brando, Cat Dealers, D.O.D, Ferry Corsten, Jan Blomqvist, Loud Luxury and Tensnake. Through this star-studded dance music army, Armada Music collects over 1 billion streams per month, secures weekly airplay on the biggest nation-wide broadcasting stations (such as BBC Radio 1 and Sirius XM), and frequents the top spots of the U.S. Mediabase Dance Airplay charts. Continually bringing out the best in its artists has led to various high-magnitude achievements, including Armin van Buuren’s Grammy nomination for ‘This Is What It Feels Like’, Lost Frequencies’ Diamond Award for exceeding the mark of one billion streams on Spotify and the huge success of Loud Luxury and Brando in the U.S. and beyond. A global brand outfitted with the esteemed ‘Armada Invites’ events, state-of-the-art, in-office facilities (The Club!, the radio studio and two production studios), producer platform Armada University and over 1 million followers across its biggest playlists, Armada Music can look back on many wondrous years while pulling out all the stops to ensure plenty more.

Formed in 1990 by Matt Black & Jon More (Coldcut)

Defected Records is an independent British record label specialising in house music recordings, compilation albums, an internationally syndicated radio show, events, publishing, artist booking and management. Established in 1999 by former AM:PM and Cooltempo A&R Simon Dunmore. Defected has a number of sub-labels including DFTD, Soulfuric, 4 To The Floor, Glitterbox Recordings and Classic Music Company, Defected also owns and manages over 30 catalogues for heritage house imprints. The Defected catalogue includes singles from artists such as Bob Sinclar, Kings of Tomorrow, Masters At Work, Inner City, Dennis Ferrer, Lenny Fontana, DJ Gregory, Mr G, MK and more recently Franky Rizardo, Purple Disco Machine, Amine Edge & DANCE, Peggy Gou and many more. Defected run events globally including stages at major music festivals and standalone club nights, as well as residencies in Ibiza since 2003. 2016 saw the inaugural Defected Croatia, a 6-day festival that draws more than 4,000 people from the UK, Australia, North America, South Africa and all corners of Europe, featuring 80+ artists from the Defected roster from across the years. One of the longest running independent labels of its kind, Defected has paved the way for house music in the UK and remained a well-respected constant in the music industry for 20 years. More than just a label, the recipe for Defected Records’ success has been its ability to evolve and adapt within the industry, while maintaining a robust ethos and core musical identity. One of the longest running independent labels of its kind, Defected has paved the way for house music in the UK and remained a well-respected constant in the music industry for 20 years. https://defected.com https://www.facebook.com/DefectedRecords/ https://twitter.com/DefectedRecords https://www.instagram.com/defectedrecords/