Ibiza needs more music & less hype

B

beatpusher

New Member
This is from an excellent ibiza-voice article that I agree with. I think its time for new blood to be introduced to the scene and less commercialism hypoing it up.


http://www.ibiza-voice.com/story/news/2335
Ibiza is gearing up for summer 2010 and the ticket-flogging race is already on. Bang out of the gate is Pete Tong's Wonderland with news that Bryan Ferry is appearing at its 25 June opening party.

To which the vast majority of Wonderland's potential audience can only reply - "Huh? Who?"

Bryan Ferry fronted a band called Roxy Music, best known for an album called Avalon, released in 1982. He is a famously dapper dresser who appeared in a Marks & Spencer ad campaign in 2006. His son, Otis, was arrested for invading Parliament to protest the fox hunting ban. None of which makes him remotely interesting to the 16-to-22-year-olds who descend on San An every summer to get off their nut on cheap cider and bad narcs. So why do it?

Quite simply: publicity. Google "Bryan Ferry Wonderland" and you see that music sites and publications that would never otherwise bother with an Ibiza club opening have snapped up the story - Britain's NME, for example. The trade-off is clear: hire a "big name" (for what is undoubtedly a bloody big fee) in order to generate UK media attention and pre-publicity. Presumably the gamble is that the upfront PR will give Wonderland an edge in the name-recognition market: that is, the holiday-makers who fly out to Ibiza without any fixed plans and pick clubs at random, based on what names they recognise. This approach might have worked in the boom years, when the island was full of clubbers flush with cash, but that's not the way things are in 2010.

Ibiza isn't recession proof and it has two main competitors: inexpensive sunshine spots and more exciting music destinations. Since it long ago priced itself out of the cheap-and-cheerful beach holiday category Ibiza's best selling point is the music. So why, in the name of all that is holy, has the island gotten so boring? Booking antique gentleman rockers like Bryan Ferry will grab a few headlines, sure, but it does precisely nothing to enliven the island music scene. What Ibiza needs is an aggressive commitment to new talent. Instead of emailing their buddies and rounding up the usual suspects promoters should be hunting for the most gifted underground artists in electronic music and giving them a platform. Imagine - a night where you don't recognise any of the DJs before you go into the club, but you come out with a new favourite artist. Wouldn't that be exciting?

Ibiza used to be a watchword for amazing music. It has become the place where aging jocks come to fatten up their pension plan. If Ibiza wants to be remotely relevant promoters need to get it together. They need to resist the crushing pressure from venue owners to churn out instant profit, and start putting together nights based purely on musical merit. More than ever, being a "name" DJ has nothing to do with skill and everything to do with having a good marketing team. **** fame. Ibiza needs to get a grip and get back to the music. Otherwise, what next? Paul McCartney at Pacha? Page and Plant opening Ibiza Rocks? I wouldn't be surprised.
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Whilst I agree to a degree, Brian Ferry has been the voice to a few dance tracks recently, so I'd hardly say he was booked as a 'rocker'.
 
SpikeyM said:
Whilst I agree to a degree, Brian Ferry has been the voice to a few dance tracks recently, so I'd hardly say he was booked as a 'rocker'.
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Aye I said as much in the comments below.

And the phrase "emailing their buddies and rounding up the usual suspects" seems so out of place in article where the main example used is in fact a very unusual booking.

Clashes with Prosumer and Dettmann at Space though so I probably won't be going now :D
 
article is spot on and obviously he's right - but it's all been said before.... not least by myself on this forum in 2008 and, no doubt, others before me.

I've belatedly realised in life that if you want to avoid the dinosaur clubbing establishment and the vile industry around it, you just have to dig deeper and go off the beaten track...
 
all the new, fresh talent is there, it's just not obvious.

if it was hyped in the same way as the big brands, it wouldn't be as fresh/cool/different

you can't win really. book bryan ferry and get slated for being old hat, book nobodies and people want big names/legends...
 
I DJ to that agegroup thesedays (recession :rolleyes:) and the fact is that they dont want to know about new music.

They are the reality tv generation, X Factor and the like leading them along and telling them what to listen to.

They have been weened to marketing and commercialism and just go with what they know. Try and play something different or leftfield and they look at you as if you had 2 heads.

That is why publicity and marketing will always work with them. They want it packaged, wrapped and delivered in one easy to use bundle.

Whats written on the Tin is exactly what they want.

The girl who wrote that article is typical of the person in the 30-38 agegroup who complainins that Ibiza is "not the same as it used to be" and "Ibiza is Dead " "too commercial" etc. I bet there was a Roman centurian who complained in a similar mode about the Island not suiting his tastes anymore.

I think its more the person that is affected.........not the Island.
 
Bez said:
I DJ to that agegroup thesedays (recession :rolleyes:) and the fact is that they dont want to know about new music.

They are the reality tv generation, X Factor and the like leading them along and telling them what to listen to.

They have been weened to marketing and commercialism and just go with what they know. Try and play something different or leftfield and they look at you as if you had 2 heads.

That is why publicity and marketing will always work with them. They want it packaged, wrapped and delivered in one easy to use bundle.

Whats written on the Tin is exactly what they want.

The girl who wrote that article is typical of the person in the 30-38 agegroup who complainins that Ibiza is "not the same as it used to be" and "Ibiza is Dead " "too commercial" etc. I bet there was a Roman centurian who complained in a similar mode about the Island not suiting his tastes anymore.

I think its more the person that is affected.........not the Island.
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so on the one hand you're saying the kids are brainwashed but on the other that it is old farts who are the real problem?
 
Olly said:
so on the one hand you're saying the kids are brainwashed but on the other that it is old farts who are the real problem?
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Yes from a musical point of view that the article refers to........kids (16-22) are brainwashed.

No, im Not saying that all old farts are a problem...........its the Victor Meldrew attitude of their prose that I find repetitive and boring.
 
Olly said:
so on the one hand you're saying the kids are brainwashed
but on the other that it is old farts who are the real problem?
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Everyone know's everything was better in the old days.

Jesus, you guys sound like the old lady that is adimant there was no crime in her day.
 
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