A good friend came up with this brilliant acronym: V.I.T.A.L which stands for Video, Images, Text, Audio, Links…
So here’s todays VITAL for the IMS
Video:
A brief look at synch or swim… (We also have 5 video interviews to follow - Danny Whittle as he explains the IMS, then 4 of the afternoons lively panel: Andy Mckay from Ibiza Rocks, Andrea Pelino from DC10, Daniel Magdalena from Amnesia and Paco Medina from the Ibiza Consel Insular.) - we also recorded on video the entire panel session…
IMS video of the Synch or Swin panel: http://internationalmusicsummit.com/html/ppv/sinkorswim/
Images:
Images from today - (Click on any image for a larger 600px wide lightbox version) - In time order:
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Paco Medina - Ibiza Consel |
Text:
The ‘Synch or Swim’ was fascinating. I’m sure people must realise that just selling physical (or even now digital) is not what the music industry only does - whether you are an independant, major label, solo artist, music publisher etc - getting your music out in other channels other than the high street has been something the industry has been doing for years but i think most people havent really acknowledged it - but its hugely important - and everyone gets affected it by whether they know it or not. So since i used to work in that field it was fascinating and hugely interesting - even though i left the business around 10 years ago.
We had to miss the middle section of the day but the one panel that stood out was the one at 5pm - ‘IBIZA: THE YEAR OF CHANGE? HOW IBIZA WILL RE-INVENT ITSELF IN 2008. OR NOT ‘. To say it was eagerly anticipated or packed would be an understatement..
The panel had basically every club owner (or representative) except el divino but also included Andy from ibiza rocks/manumission and most importantly Paco Medina from the Ibiza Consel. It was lively…. It was the first time they all had appeared at the same table in public. There were laughs, vigourous clapping, low and high points but hopefully I think everyone came away with understanding a little more clearly what the government is trying to do and what the clubs have to…
Tomorrow the panel we’re looking forward to is ‘Digital: Digitial Darwinism?’:
This is our review:
The first Ibiza International Music Summit kicked off today at the sumptuous Atzaro country hotel near to Santa Eulalia and, fortunately, the recent rain held off so the spirits of those in attendance weren’t dampened…
The organizers’ opening speech acknowledged the fact that, for a first event, they had been amazed by the response, with music industry bigwigs flying in from all over the world.
They confided that they would have been happy with fifty at the first attempt.
The three hundred in attendance represented a sell-out, but were warned that this was a business opportunity - a rare chance to meet and exchange thoughts with some of the finest brains in the industry.
So we were all instructed to behave and pay attention till the big finale party on Friday night!
The first panel proved to be an exhibition of the collective wisdom assembled at this conference. We sat enthralled as expert publishers, music supervisors and managers discussed the future of electronic dance music in the face of the demise of the record industry, now confronted by the download generation.
Their suggestions included advertising jingles, film soundtracks and, interestingly, even video game soundtracks… like Grand Theft Auto. The picture that they painted looked very different to that familiar to Ibiza over the last two decades, and we were all left suitably thought-provoked.
The afternoon panel was the one that had been most eagerly awaited by those living on the island. It was to be a historic occasion as a representative from the government sat down with representatives from all from all of the big clubs, in public, for the first time ever!
The first speaker was the government spokesman, Paco Medina, who began by informing us all that he intended to speak Spanish, as a mark of respect to the local journalists present. Unfortunately his translator had failed to turn up, so we received a very brief resume of the government’s position on their decision to change the law on club opening hours, whilst he rambled on in Spanish clearly going into far more detail. Those of us, of the opinion that he intended to bluster on for the full hour scheduled for the panel, were escorted from the room…
Eventually the ‘Moderator’ cut him off and introduced the remaining members of the panel. Pacha, Amnesia, Space, Eden & Es Paradis were all represented, with Circo Loco and Ibiza Rocks thrown in as wild cards.
The early speakers took turns to promise publicly to obey the law, which they all agreed was good for the island, and everything appeared to be going swimmingly.
Until, totally unwittingly, Andrea Pelino of Circo Loco admitted that, in total honesty, Italians like to dance during the daytime, or as the sun rises out of the sea… which is why DC10 has been such a global success story over the last decade.
And hey! Their neighbours include a field full of melons and an airport runway?
The government’s argument that …. “the law had to be changed to protect elderly people and children on their way to school from meeting the summer guests, that have changed their island life so dramatically that many of them find themselves unusually rich” …. was beginning to look a bit ropey…
The assembled audience smelt blood and when Andy McKay of Ibiza Rocks stepped in, with a typically Mancunian slant on events, the room polarized. Whilst agreeing with the ‘party line’ that there had to be rules governing all of those in the market place to ensure a level playing field, he pointed out that the Ibiza music scene needed to change to take account of the fact that the next generation of kids don’t want to watch the DJs their parents like.
For this reason there will be illegal after-parties all over the island that will spawn the next generation of musical talent that will maintain the island’s unique musical credibility - and probably end up performing at the clubs currently throwing obstacles in there path to boot!
When the applause died down the audience cut in with a sequence of difficult questions about how the rest of the world would view these draconian changes, that cut against the free and tolerant image that Ibiza has created so effortlessly over decades?
It was, after all, a global audience entitled to ask - maybe even a little concerned with the lack of official clarification - who exactly this will affect, and how?
The applause built in direct proportion to each question, not only to the discomfort of the government representative, but also those from the big clubs, until Paco Medina, for the government, more or less admitted that they thought it might be a good idea, but at the moment it was sort of experimental - a sort of three year plan?
That, coincidentally, will be the time of the next election, by which time they may have destroyed the lifeblood of island tourism by driving away the young generation, or upset their own voters with falling revenues at their locally owned businesses.
Let’s hope that the government will continue with their brave initiative to sit around the table with the clubs and that all of the latter will be smart enough to prove that they’ve got the message from last year.
Perhaps by starting to apply respect for the law to their own activities, rather than seeking to use to prevent competition?
Then perhaps, using their wealth and favourable relationship with the new government, to further an initiative that was largely ignored this afternoon.
Paco alluded to a new government project being set up to encourage island residents of all ages to embrace and become part of the now well recognized phenomenon called ‘Ibiza artists’.
In musical terms the project involves making available the facilities and knowledge necessary to produce brilliant music. To this end the government is backing a project involving Sonica Radio alongside a number of other globally respected island icons, to generate more ‘Ibiza’ music.
Could it be that they’re not misguided after all - at the very least they’re leading by example and experimenting hand in hand with the experts that already operate in the field.
Could this be a learning curve for all involved…
P.S. The new opening laws won’t apply this weekend - lock up your daughters!
Audio:
Podcast of the closing of the second panel of the day.
the International Music Summit club panel audio(50 minutes, 47mb mp3)
Links :
international music summit
www.phreadz.com (for the use of vital 
)
and lenny cos he’s a good bloke
Here’s a link to the google map we did for the IMS
The final day featured further seminars on “Joining the dots”, “Believe the hype?” and the “IMS Think Tank”, which summed up the events of the conference, but it concluded with a touching interview with Pete Tong, the founder and flagship of this new event.
Pete’s up for a challenge: what he has in mind is changing the global perception of Ibiza from the 300euro minimum table charge in the dominant VIP area at Pacha to the more affordable delights of San Antonio - as epitomized by the new Ibiza Rocks Hotel with it’s focus on providing valid entertainment for the younger generation of potential tourists. After all they form the nucleus of the island’s tourist future.
