Ten years after Martin Garrix launched STMPD RCRDS, the label is returning to the city where its story began for a celebration that feels less like an anniversary party and more like a reunion of an entire generation of electronic music.
On October 22, 2026, STMPD RCRDS will take over AFAS Live in Amsterdam during Amsterdam Dance Event for 10 Years Of STMPD RCRDS, bringing together artists from across the label’s first decade for a six-hour celebration running from 17:00 until midnight.
Garrix will headline a lineup that stretches from the label’s established names to a younger generation now carrying its identity forward.
For an imprint founded by one of dance music’s biggest artists, the anniversary is ultimately about something larger than the founder himself.
It is about what happens when an artist decides to build a home for other artists.
A Decade Built Around Independence
When STMPD RCRDS launched in 2016, Garrix was already one of the most recognisable young names in electronic music.
The label represented a significant shift in how he approached his career. Instead of simply being the artist at the centre of an established industry structure, Garrix began building infrastructure around his own music, creative direction and long-term ambitions.
Ten years later, that decision has become one of the defining elements of his career beyond the DJ booth.
STMPD RCRDS has developed into a recognisable name within contemporary dance music, providing a platform for artists with different approaches to electronic production while maintaining a connection to the energetic, festival-facing sound with which Garrix became synonymous.
The anniversary therefore offers an opportunity to look beyond the records themselves.
It is a snapshot of what an artist-led label can become when it survives long enough to develop its own identity.
The STMPD Family Takes the Stage
The ADE lineup reflects that history.
Garrix will be joined by longtime STMPD-associated artists including Julian Jordan, Justin Mylo, Mesto, DubVision and Matisse & Sadko, names that have been connected with the label throughout different stages of its development.
R3HAB, Third Party and Curbi add another layer of established dance-floor experience, while a newer generation arrives through artists including Citadelle, Lavern, Merow, Nova Blue, NOME., Skytech and Vluarr.
The lineup is significant because it does not present STMPD as a label frozen in the sound of its earliest years.
Instead, it shows an imprint moving between generations.
The artists who helped establish its identity now share the same stage with names representing where that identity could go next.
And, appropriately for a Garrix celebration, the poster still leaves room for the possibility of more.
Amsterdam as the Final Piece
There is a reason Amsterdam makes sense as the centrepiece of the anniversary.
ADE has become one of the most important meeting points in the international electronic music calendar, bringing artists, labels, promoters, technology companies and fans into the same city for several days every autumn.
For STMPD, however, Amsterdam is more than an industry destination.
It is home.
Garrix’s message accompanying the lineup emphasised exactly that, inviting the STMPD community back to the city’s celebration and describing it as an opportunity to bring the “STMPD family” together.
That language matters.
After ten years, the label is no longer simply a company releasing music. It has developed an audience and an artistic community capable of gathering around a shared identity.
AFAS Live becomes the physical expression of that idea.
From Artist to Architect
The anniversary also provides an interesting perspective on Garrix’s own evolution.
His early career was defined by extraordinary speed. A breakthrough hit, global festival stages and a rapid ascent to the top of electronic music established him as one of dance music’s defining young stars.
Building a label required a different kind of ambition.
It meant thinking beyond the next single or festival season and creating a structure capable of supporting other artists.
That shift from artist to architect is one of the more important parts of the STMPD story.
The label has allowed Garrix to participate in the industry from another position: not simply as the person performing the music, but as someone helping determine which voices receive a platform.
Its ten-year anniversary therefore marks two timelines simultaneously.
There is the story of STMPD RCRDS.
And there is the story of Garrix learning how to build something that can exist beyond the immediate momentum of his own career.
A Documentary, Then a Homecoming
The anniversary has already unfolded as a year-long celebration.
In June, STMPD premiered a 10-year documentary in Ibiza, looking back at the label’s development and the people involved in its journey.
Bringing that retrospective narrative back to Amsterdam during ADE creates a natural sense of completion.
Ibiza represents the international side of dance music: the island where careers are amplified, communities collide and electronic music becomes a global spectacle.
Amsterdam represents the roots.
The October event connects the two.
It takes a story that has travelled around the world and places it back in the city where the label’s journey began.
What Ten Years Really Means
A decade is a meaningful milestone in an industry where musical trends can change almost overnight.
Electronic music moves quickly. Sounds emerge, peak and disappear. Artists reinvent themselves. Labels evolve or disappear altogether.
Surviving ten years is therefore not simply a matter of longevity.
It suggests adaptability.
STMPD’s anniversary lineup makes that particularly visible. The event brings together artists associated with different chapters of the label rather than attempting to recreate a single moment from its past.
That makes the celebration feel less like nostalgia and more like a statement about continuity.
The first ten years established the foundation.
The next decade will determine what STMPD becomes after the generation that created it begins to change.
The Sound of a Label Becoming a Legacy
On October 22, AFAS Live will effectively become a living archive of STMPD RCRDS.
Every set will represent a different part of its history, from the established names who helped shape its early identity to the newer artists now pushing that story forward.
For Garrix, there is something particularly fitting about celebrating the milestone at ADE.
He launched STMPD as a young artist determined to have greater control over his creative direction. Ten years later, he is returning to Amsterdam not simply as a performer, but as the founder of a label with its own history, artists and audience.
That is perhaps the real significance of the anniversary.
A superstar can have a hit that lasts a year.
A label can create a culture that lasts much longer.
And when STMPD RCRDS fills AFAS Live this October, the celebration will offer a glimpse of what Martin Garrix built when he decided that his career would not only be about making music.
It would also be about creating a place for the next generation to make theirs.
Comments are closed.