Cell Phones in Clubs?

[Bettty]

Nothing wrong with capturing memories I love taking pics when I'm clubbing some people will stand all night making videos and taking pictures, sometimes moving people out of the way who are dancing, that's whats really annoying

Completely agree, its a real bug bear of mine when your trying to dance and theres some muppet holding their phone or camera up in front of you, not even dancing - enjoy the night and stop blocking my view

 

[kimajy]

Mykonos. St Trop. Ibiza. All the same ... an ever-growing pool of posing-central tourist traps. He's right to self-examine in terms of his capabilities behind the decks (certainly based on the last time I saw him a few years ago !) - but in this case I have every sympathy for him because I fear there is nothing he could have done with that crowd.

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I think Christian Len makes some very good points below about the spectacle side of things ... turn a night into a show and you'll get people who are basically there to gawp. Like the average American at a nudist beach. The danger is crowding out clubbers - or the absolute worst, charging them a fortune to be one of the 'extras' for a huge area of VIP tables to sit there watching. A bit like the monkey enclosure at the zoo. You'd really have to be off your face to block out the reality of that whilst sipping your 15 euro water.... or perhaps relish thinly veiled exhibitionism.

Apart from a short period in the early '90s when the novelty of a nice venue was something different after hangars and cloddy fields, for dance and atmosphere I've always preferred clubs to either be rustic or rough & ready, dark, gritty and quirky. The spectacle thing has just become so commercialized there's nothing novel about it any more. I'd never go to London to watch a West End show either - saw Starlight Express as a kid and that was enough to get the curiosity out of my system.... but it's obviously big business.

Like cruise ships, all-inclusive is the scourge of many tourist destinations. The "Matutes model" of clubbing is built on similar principles in terms of "sewing up" revenues from the lion's share of the island's 'mainstream' nightlife by corralling it through controlled venues (although there's nothing 'all-inclusive' about it obviously). Unvrs is the latest addition to that strategy.

As long as they leave the non-mainstream scene alone and don't try to stamp it out completely, in principle it might work. But I am guessing price cartelization has been an unwritten condition of that. Offer people a more affordable alternative for a more authentic experience which gains any traction and you'll soon get shut down. It's evident in reports of prices soaring across the board. That's likely not all down to inflation and smacks of pressure that is top-down. As far as the island's 'roots' are concerned it's a case of a culture having been 'buried alive' - barely surviving with both air and food and running out now.

[Translated from noudari] : https://www.noudiari.es/local-ibiza...y-en-ibiza-es-equivocada-no-somos-el-enemigo/

Christian Len, president of the DJs at DIPEF: “The image of the disc jockey in Ibiza is wrong, we are not the enemy”​

By Laura Ferrer

August 24, 2024

in Local

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Christian Len, president of DIPEF. Photos Joan Costa
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[kimajy]

It is not unusual to see videos on social media comparing Ibiza's partying years ago with that of today, read articles that talk about the 'death of Ibiza' or listen to podcasts that analyse whether the island has lost its charm due to prohibitive prices, VIP tables, reserved areas and mobile phones invading the dance floors of nightclubs, "where fewer and fewer people dance".
We talked about this and many other things with Christian Len , who has been the president of the local disc-jockeys association DIPEF (Association of DJs and Producers of Ibiza and Formentera) since November 2022, which was founded in 2021. They currently have a hundred members and no small number of difficulties in getting the administrations to get involved in the training activities they propose. They believe that it is because of the stigmatization of the profession that they continue to suffer. In these more than three years they have worked on a roadmap, which includes proposals for teaching, training and professionalization of the industry, but they need “more institutional support”, more “collaboration with Ocio de Ibiza ” and to advance in a trade in which the majority are “workers” and not superstar DJs, says Christian Len.

There is no denying that there is a rumour that Ibiza has lost its spirit. With an offer increasingly geared towards posturing and visitors from the luxury sector, are the nightclubs doing well?


The clubs are doing at the same level as last year or even better. Pacha is doing better. For Marco Carola there is a real craze with VIP tables. Cova Santa, which became fashionable in 2015, is setting records. Amnesia is also doing very well… It depends on the day and the party, but, in general, the clubs are doing well. And one very important thing: You can't always be going up. It's impossible to keep growing in terms of people and turnover every year.
But the question is: What is the atmosphere like? Are people dancing, enjoying themselves, living the party or are they just feeding the posturing on social media?
Obviously, the trend has changed since we started using smartphones and social networks on a massive scale. People are much more focused on their phones. It's a sign of the times.
So what do you think about the policy of some DJs or parties of banning mobile phones on the dance floor?
We think it's a good thing if it's done to recover what a club should be: dancing, concentrating on the music, feeling it... A mobile phone takes you out of that internal and collective journey. I think putting stickers on mobile cameras is a good thing, as long as it's not used as a marketing pretext, because then you're deceiving people.
What do you mean by that?
It is being used to boast about having parties like in the old days , and in many cases it is a question of marketing. I will never tell people what to do with their cell phone, or whether they can use it or not.

“The 'no cell phones on the track' policy is being used as a marketing strategy. To boast about having 'old-fashioned parties'.”

 

[kimajy]

This week, famous DJ Bob Sinclar uploaded a video on social media in which he directly said: Stop using cell phones on the dance floor !, and he did so after a gig from which he left frustrated because people were frozen on the dance floor, recording with their cell phones.
When what we have done is turn the disc jockey into a superstar at the centre of everything, into a show with incredible visuals behind him; into a rock star who attracts attention with his own body language… we get people to dance less and pay more attention to the stimulus and to recording. Are we feeding one thing and now we want to stop it? Well, don't feed it, friends! Now we have to jump on the bandwagon of 'no mobile phones', because that's what has to be said, when you yourself have created the monster?


The videos of the visuals of the Afterlife party have gone viral , with the whole dance floor lit up with phones. And people compare this party with images of the old Ibiza, 15 years ago, with the dance floors full of people, dancing.
Of course, if you have such spectacular visuals, like Eric Pritz's, for example, people are going to take photos. There is no clue: people are paying attention to what is happening.

Would you bet on a more discreet DJ , so that the dance floor becomes the centerpiece again?
This is a personal opinion. One has to be consistent. Yes, for me that would be ideal, but it is not always possible. I will always advocate that the disc jockey makes the dance floor move and that the protagonist is the people. But, to get all the market volume that we have in Ibiza, we need an audience that does not only dance. People who do not usually go to clubs but who come to Ibiza and what they want is to see a show. These people do not even know how to dance and I do not say that in a derogatory way. They come for something else: Fireworks, a big stage, mega visuals…

Christian Len, president of DIPEF, shortly before starting a session in a Sant Antoni venue. Photos Joan Costa
Who pays for a VIP table demands that?
We assume that someone who is at a VIP table is not on the dance floor.
Sure, but these reserved areas are taking up more and more space…
Yes. What happens on a dance floor? There is a movement, an energy is generated and that is where that feeling of community is generated, that magic, that beautiful thing that happens on the dance floor. The person in the VIP area does not participate in that energy directly, but he needs that energy for the party to be cool. What I find worrying is that there are some parties where there are more VIP areas than dance floors… and it works.
Why does this happen?
My theory is that going to a party becomes a question of status. “I go to this party because the VIP tables are very, very sought after. Because I can afford it.” We are no longer talking about club or disco culture, we are talking about something else. Has club culture or the desire to dance disappeared in Ibiza? No, not at all. I think it still has its share. The thing is that there is more and more of a share for that public that is looking for something exclusive. If prices continue to rise, we are obviously going to kill off the clubber . The average clubber, like the middle-class tourist, is disappearing.
Has Ibiza lost its musical risk? I understand that in the 90s it was the first place where songs were heard, a place of discovery…
I don't agree. It wasn't like that. Obviously, years ago, Ibiza was home to a lot of new things and a lot of avant-garde in some things. But Ibiza has never been such a risky place in terms of electronic sound. It has increasingly leaned towards the commercial. Maybe it has been ahead in some things, like the way of marketing parties, turning them into a product, into a lifestyle ...
Why do you think there is this feeling that the 2024 season is going poorly?
There are many reasons and they are intertwined. The first is that the season is longer and more spread out. The other is that tourists who came for a week now come for two days and have a set list of things to do: One day in Pacha, another day in Ushuaia, a sunset and two beaches. Those who are outside this circuit do not work, unless they have become fashionable. Outside this circuit there are companies that are suffering. I know people who do charters and who have worked very little in July, probably because that experience is not on the list.

 

[kimajy]

Christian Len defends the musical character of Ibiza where, for example, music to accompany the sunset originated. Photos Joan Costa
Do DJs have a collective agreement?
No. It is one of the things we are fighting for. We need something regulated. It is a bit complicated, but we believe that there should be some minimum regulations. In fact, another of the proposals is that the venues opt for having a resident DJ and hire him, so that he has a secure seasonality and then has unemployment and can use the winter to train in marketing, booking courses , hiring, music production…. The venue can thus create a resident DJ who is its image and then in winter he goes off the island and takes that image abroad. Try to make us all row in the same direction.
How do you view the Canviem el rumb movement and other movements that have emerged in Ibiza against mass tourism and the housing problems it causes?
I defend the interests of the association and the work of the DJs and what I have to say is that the image of the disc jockey in Ibiza is a wrong image . We are constantly trying to change this.
Almost all of the actions we do have to do with trying to make the image of the disc jockey cultural and to make people understand what music brings to our daily lives. Music makes a moment more intense, more special. Sunset music is something genuinely Ibizan and special.
But what do you think about their overall goals?
We are against rampant tourism and the fact that everything is becoming more and more expensive. Or 10,000 people getting off three cruise ships at the same time at the port. I am not going to confront this type of protest, unless the protest has to do with limiting music or sound in the bars even more. Because, I repeat, I believe that this is a musical island and that is its idiosyncrasy. If I can confront these movements at a given moment, it is if they advocate prohibiting music.
Now, illegal parties in natural places? No. It is something that the association has condemned and we will continue to do so. The important thing is that everything is well regulated and on the island it is not. Starting from the fact that what is regulated here [Sant Antoni, where the interview takes place], is not regulated in the same way in Sant Josep or in Ibiza or in Santa Eulària.
We have been warned by the City Council about illegal parties. We have nothing to do with illegal parties in villas. If there are parties like that, you have to control them, trying to ensure that the owners do not rent out the villas for this activity, putting more control on the disc jockeys who play there, who are mostly from outside. The rich pay a fortune to have DJs in their villas, who in the end are creating unfair competition for the clubs. This has nothing to do with the association.
We should not be the enemy of Caviem el rumb. I want to protect the island and the natural magic that this place has. The issue of exorbitant prices, mass tourism... all this is not good for us either. The vast majority of the members of the board will agree with protecting the island.
This is a complicated subject because the figure of the DJ is associated with the discotheque, the discotheque with drug use, drug use with the mafias and all the crime that this brings to the island.
We don't play in clubs, we're not in the line-ups of the big clubs. People think that DJing means partying, hands in the air and getting paid a lot of money, but DJs here play in restaurants, small bars... they earn a living day by day.

The president of the Ibiza and Formentera DJs, photographed by Joan Costa in Sant Antoni.

What relationship do they have with the Consell, town councils…?
I am beginning to get tired of DIPEF's relationship with the administration. We have met many times with the Consell, town councils... we have presented projects. Projects that are, above all, workshops for teenagers, professional talks like the ones we organised last year at the Standard (hotel in Ibiza)... We have ideas for the revitalization of the local industry; things that I believe are done for the good of the island and that have nothing to do with having parties. All these proposals have always had a "yes, yes, of course". But then, "no".
So you don't support them?
No, except for a couple of exceptions (he mentions some workshops in Sant Antoni next autumn), and we have worked very hard, we have started projects to revitalise areas in winter, supporting local businesses, workshops to train young people in a trade that is as beautiful and respectable as any other, a vinyl market... but no.
And is this reluctance due to the fact that the administrations do not want their name associated with DJs?
You're doing well there. People tell us "we like what you're presenting," but in the end it doesn't work out. I think we DJs have been quite plagued and we're trying to change that image.
And we have to think about something else: the big parties in Ibiza's clubs have a lot of people in artistic production, booking, management, communication... who are not from Ibiza because there are no professionals in the sector on the island. In other words, you have a lot of jobs that can be filled by professionals who are on the island. Let's train them here! Ushuaïa and Hï need this staff and if they don't hire them on the island it's because there are no professionals, not because they don't want to. And Hï and Ushuaïa are not going to cease to exist.
Speaking of which… What do you have to say to those who say that Ibiza would be better off if mega-clubs didn’t exist?
This is a personal opinion: I would prefer that there were something else, that all those people, those thousands of people who go there every day, were distributed in other places on the island and everyone had more wealth. One of the reasons why the port is dead is because there are surely 7,000 people crammed into one place from six in the afternoon to twelve at night.
The island is attracting more and more luxury, but at the same time, there is more social exclusion…
I do a lot of marketing and communication work and I always say that using the word exclusive is ugly. When you use the word exclusive you are not talking about yourself, you are talking about what you leave out. It is the opposite of inclusive. What a shitty adjective we are using to give value to something: The important thing is not that I am there, but that the others are not there . It is ugly.
More information about DIPEF Ibiza and Formentera at this link.