IMS Ibiza unveils new home for 15th edition
IMS Ibiza has revealed a new destination for the 15th edition of its electronic music summit.
Co-hosted by BBC Radio 1 broadcasters Pete Tong MBE and Jaguar, the annual conference will be held at the newly opened Mondrian Ibiza and Hyde Ibiza hotels in Cala Llonga from 24-26 April 2024, with programming to take place across both venues.
In a rare keynote, Tomorrowland founder Michiel Beer will share insights into the festival’s evolution in Tomorrowland: 20 Years of Innovation, which will also look at the impact of the Tomorrowland Foundation.
Other panel highlights announced so far include Ninja Tune: Unveiling The Wizardry Behind One Of Electronic Music’s Greatest Independent Labels with the label’s co-founder Matt Black, while Rebuilding Our Community: How To Bring Back Peace, Love, Unity & Respect will examine how the industry can respect and restore its values.
Elsewhere, Amplifying Amapiano: The Journey of a Genre From The Township to the Global Stage will unpack the genre’s cultural influence as it transcends borders, and Defected Records CEO Wez Saunders and founder Simon Dunmore will reflect on the journey of the label in 25 Years of Defected: Life After An Acquisition. IMS is also bringing back its Market Focus format to take a deep dive into the scene in Germany.
“Now that the industry has (mostly) enjoyed its bounce-back, this is the real test of stability as consumer habits settle down”
“IMS continues with our third and most important edition since the pandemic, but also our 15th event in Ibiza,” says IMS co-founder and lead curator Ben Turner. “Now that the industry has (mostly) enjoyed its bounce-back, this is the real test of stability as consumer habits settle down. It is also a moment where global events have impacted the unity of our scene, presenting many with challenging decisions to make.
“IMS also moves to a new property in Cala Llonga, a stunning part of our magical island that is now home to the new Mondrian Ibiza and Hyde Ibiza hotels, and now IMS. We can’t wait to host everybody again and continue to help set and drive the conversation.”
Delegates will also be able to experience parties and events on the island, including the IMS Dalt Vila closing celebration.
IMS Ibiza is partnering with climate action partner EarthPercent, with 1% of all IMS Ibiza 2024 delegate badge purchases to be donated to the charity. The levy will also be applied to all event sponsors.
“We’re delighted that IMS have made the pledge of 1% contributions to EarthPercent,” says artist and EarthPercent co-founder Brian Eno. “The funds will go towards some of the most impactful climate and environmental solutions around the world.
“We’re in the middle of the most challenging crisis we will ever face and the music industry has an amazing opportunity to champion action. It’s hard to know what to do but we know that uniting voices, values, and funds can make a huge difference so we’d love others to join IMS in the movement too.”
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Agent vs Promoter: the presidential debate
IMS Ibiza resurrected its “presidential debate” at this year’s conference to pit Wasserman Music agent Tom Schroeder against leading promoter Richard McGinnis.
Schroeder represents artists such as Fred Again.., Disclosure, FKA Twigs, The xx, Raye, Kaytranada, Nia Archives, Overmono and PinkPantheress, while McGinnis served as head of talent at MAMA Festivals for nearly a decade and is a founding partner of Warehouse Project and Parklife Festival.
Their conversation, held at Ibiza’s Destino Pacha Resort in May, explored the ever-changing dynamic between agents and promoters. Moderated by the Association for Electronic Music’s interim CEO, Finlay Johnson, it can be revisited in full below.
“The way I see the industry is it’s much more collaborative… We have to look after each other a little bit more”
Here is a selection of some of the panel’s key talking points:
The agent/promoter dynamic…
Tom Schroeder: “I think it’s changed. The way I see the industry is it’s much more collaborative, it’s much less secure. We have to look after each other a little bit more. We need everyone to win. Yes, I am here to represent my clients. But that means to make a success of a festival, it doesn’t mean just to take the most I can get out of it. Live music, particularly electronic music, was built [to be] quite combative, but I think everything’s changed and we’re here to make this ecosystem good again.”
Richard McGinnis: “I think the days of drum and bass agents ringing you up and threatening to burn your house down because you’ve not paid the deposit on time have passed! Certainly, pre-Covid, the merging of a lot of the agencies, and the professionalism that the American [companies] brought to the table, alienated a lot of that kind of culture. That kind of street level agency behaviour has slowed down, it’s not as prevalent as it used to be. It certainly used to be a problem.”
“I think it’s good as a promoter to go to an agent who’s given you a headliner and offer them up X, Y, and Z slots”
Leveraging support acts…
TS: Different strokes for different folks. At my company… we don’t really do that. Or I like to think we don’t do that. I don’t want to leverage acts on to Parklife that aren’t suitable for Parklife and are going to play to no one – no one wins.”
RM: “I think it’s good as a promoter to go to an agent who’s given you a headliner and offer them up X, Y, and Z slots. That’s basic etiquette in terms of, if someone’s giving you a big act, you should look after them. But equally, from a promoter’s perspective, that can work both ways. [There are] acts that we’ve booked for a couple of grand as a favour for a big agent, and they’ve played an early slot and hated it. And then 18 months later, they’re the biggest act on the planet and you want to offer them [a slot] and they’re just like, ‘We’re not going back.’ That favour that we did ended up biting us in the bum, because they didn’t have a great time. In the old days, independent UK-based agencies might have tried to shoehorn every single act of theirs onto a lineup. That doesn’t happen [anymore], because the agents rep the acts on a pan-European or a global level, they’re not just reliant on this small bit of England. So it’s definitely changed.”
“When you have 100 acts on a bill, billed A-Z, you’re not getting value for money as a promoter”
A-Z artist billing at festivals…
TS: “When you have 100 acts on a bill, billed A-Z, you’re not getting value for money as a promoter if it takes me a long time to see a headline act. And actually, promoters need to stand up to these idiots and say, ‘This is what’s going to sell my tickets for my festival, this is how my artwork has to work. If you don’t want to buy into that then come off the bill.’ I would support people 1,000,000% doing that. From my end, I can lay out my stall from the start and say, ‘I would only consider it in this position. If you don’t want to book it, you don’t want to book it.’ But this A-Z thing is hurting everyone, and it’s a cop out.”
RM: “It’s a cop out, I completely agree. The human brain looks at the poster and reads the first line from left to right. Those acts there are going to sell the tickets. That is the basics. Once you lose a big act to an A-Z… you might as well not have them on the bill. No one’s read that far.”
“What promoters expect of acts in terms of promoting a festival is not working”
Marketing collaborations…
TS: “I think what promoters expect of acts in terms of promoting a festival is not working. Where it works is when an artist explains to their fanbase why they’re playing a festival and what to expect, so that there’s some ownership. These artists don’t have a lot of ownership of the festivals and I’m telling really important people, like Rich, to watch this for the next few years because it’s a problem. My artists want to play festivals, but they’re not as desperate to play them as they might have been a few years ago. The rite of passage thing has slightly come away as we’ve come through Covid and they don’t want to spend their entire time plastering one poster – of which they’re A to Z with 100 acts – on their socials. And you know what? Their fans don’t want to keep seeing that poster appear. So we’ve all got to work out a much cleverer way of my artists helping to sell your tickets.”
RM: “There are so many shows that we’ve worked on together where the artists who’ve created the show, from Annie to Disclosure… And the symbol of authenticity that comes from that is undeniable. Where I see the difference is, it’s all right if you’re Fred Again and he’s on this path that he’s on, but what about the kids in the mid tier? Those kids that are grafting doing three shows a week for £2,000 need to start pushing these shows. Their shows need to be busy. They haven’t got all these opportunities like the big acts have, so there’s another side of it.”
As part of IQ‘s enhanced coverage of the electronic music business, check out DJ Mag editor’s Carl Loben healthcheck here, or in our latest issue.
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IMS’ Ben Turner on the future of electronic music
International Music Summit (IMS) co-founder Ben Turner has urged the business to look at the development of artificial intelligence in music as an opportunity rather than a threat.
The debate has dominated the conversation since a song that simulated the voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming services due to a copyright claim.
The complexities of AI will be a leading topic at the 14th edition of electronic music conference IMS Ibiza, which returns to the White Isle’s Destino Pacha Resort from 26-28 April. And Turner believes the rest of the industry could learn a thing or two from the genre’s willingness to embrace technological innovations.
“The reason electronic music seduced me was its independent spirit and culture. That spirit of independence has been a big part of what we do,” Turner tells IQ. “Electronic music has always been about embracing new technology by its very definition, and it’s had first mover advantage quite often as technological shifts have happened because of that independence: Web 3.0, metaverse, NFTs and now AI.
“Electronic music has never shied away from embracing technology when a lot of the music industry just pulls the shutters down”
“Electronic music has never shied away from embracing that technology when a lot of the music industry just pulls the shutters down, like we’re seeing now with the Drake and Weeknd thing. It’s just remove-remove, takedown-takedown, block. And I get it, I understand that millions are invested in these artists, but AI is going to eat us all alive unless we learn to play with it and we learn to control it, and collaborate, experiment and educate.”
He adds: “There are many people within electronic music playing with AI and enjoying it. So I think the rest of the music industry should learn a lot from what the electronic space is doing. Equally, I’m also nervous about what this means on many levels.”
IMS’ Understanding The Unstoppable: AI and Music Unravelled… panel will seek to demystify the issue by bringing music executives together with “some of the best brains from the AI world” – including lawyers.
“There’s a big saying around the music industry now about AI, which is that the lawyers are going to make all the money for the next few years and have fun trying to stop it,” explains Turner.
“People are not booking these artists trying to tick a box, they’re booking them because they sell tickets and are bonafide headliners”
Speakers at IMS will include Grimes, Warner Music Group’s Max Lousada, Tap Music co-founder Ben Mawson, YouTube Music’s Dan Chalmers, CAA’s Maria May, UTA’s Hannah Shogbola and Tom Schroeder of Wasserman Music, with around 1,500 delegates expected.
The summit, which will also see the unveiling of the annual IMS Business Report, will conclude on 28 April with seven-hour open air party IMS Dalt Vila, which marks the opening of Ibiza’s summer season. Acts will include CamelPhat, Anna, BBC Radio 1’s Jaguar and IMS co-founder Pete Tong. On a related note, Turner suggests that mainstream music festivals’ attitudes towards booking dance acts have evolved over time.
“I feel like there was a long period of time where festivals felt, ‘Okay, we need a DJ on the stage. Who shall we book? We need to show some recognition of DJ culture at big festivals,'” he reflects. “But now, I don’t think people book Calvin Harris because he’s a DJ, they book Calvin Harris because he’s one of the biggest and best artists in the world, and I think that’s the shift.
“People are not booking these artists trying to tick a box, they’re booking them because they sell tickets and are bonafide headliners. It just happens that they’re a DJ, but they’ll put on as big a show and as great a show as any other act headlining the festival. It’s become so immersed into mainstream culture now that it’s a less marginalised genre, it doesn’t really work to keep it in a corner anymore. It’s just what young people expect to see as part of the blend of going to a crossover festival.”
“Africa and the Middle East are the final two parts of the world that are only really beginning to truly embrace this music in a huge way”
In closing, Turner identifies the Middle East as a key emerging market for the dance music scene.
“The Middle East region is fascinating, inspiring, and exploding at a high speed in terms of events and festivals and now production,” he says. “There’s just so much excitement and energy coming out of that whole region. What you’ve seen with the festivals in Saudi Arabia is this huge growth of young people embracing this music and hearing DJs for the first time in their lives.
“We used to say the final frontier was Latin America, and then the final frontier was Asia, but actually, Africa and the Middle East are the final two parts of the world that are only really beginning to truly embrace this music in a huge way.”
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