Full Summit Program announced for IMS Ibiza 2024

IMS Ibiza, the thought-leadership platform at the intersection of culture, education, industry, and wellness in electronic music, announces today the full program for the fifteenth edition of the summit. Across 60+ discussions and sessions, 125+ speakers will come together with thousands of delegates to explore exactly where the electronic music industry is in 2024 and set the agenda for the coming year.

Across three days, IMS Ibiza will unite innovators, creators, visionaries, and disruptors from across the global electronic music ecosystem all in one destination, presenting opportunities for delegates to explore best practices and innovation across core pillars of music, technology, diversity & inclusion, education, and health & wellness. Co-hosted by leading BBC Radio 1 broadcasters Pete Tong MBE and Jaguar, the summit will deconstruct the topics and issues that really matter to the global electronic music community, plus unveil the much-anticipated IMS Business Report and its widely quoted annual industry valuation figure, which has become critical to the industry’s positioning and success.

The pivotal session of day one of the summit focuses on Rebuilding Our Community: How To Bring Back Peace, Love, Unity & Respect which will examine how we can respect and restore the values of the industry when our community becomes fractured – as it has done with the impact of recent world events. Moderated by the Association For Electronic Music’s Culture & Campaigns Manager Georgia Taglietti, the discussion will feature artists DJ Pierre and Madame Ghandi, In Place of War’s Ruth Daniel, leading agent Maria May and Author & Professor Timothy Morton, the Rice University professor will introduce the discussion with a keynote address titled Can you feel it? What I Learned About Belonging To Earth Since 1988.

A platform for leadership and visionary thinkers, IMS Ibiza will host keynote addresses from two of the most respected leaders in the music industry: AlphaTheta & One Through Music: A Company’s Search For Meaning & Finding A Higher Purpose, an opening keynote address from General Manager EMEA Mark Grotefeld plus a rare 90 minute keynote speech from Tomorrowland founder Michiel Beers, which will share insights into the festival’s evolution and the significant impact of the Tomorrowland Foundation, which supports vulnerable children through the building of music + art schools.

Keynote interviews from across the spectrum of the electronic music industry and beyond will feature at IMS Ibiza; Amapiano superstar Sarz will be interviewed by Abantu Founder and NTS resident Charisse C, Brazil’s hottest export Mochakk and rising talent Chloe Caillet will feature in health and wellness-focused discussions presented by The Art of Areté in partnership with AlphtaTheta, Abel Matutes Prats, a scion of one of Ibiza’s most fabled families whose lineage can be traced back to the 14th century, will feature in a conversation with Pete Tong, Liberty Ross, the creative force and Co-Founder of Flippers will reveal the musical history of the brand in Flippers: The Story of the Roller Boogie Palace, Matt Black, the visionary co-founder of the label Ninja Tune, will guide us through the labels’s storied past revealing the magic behind its success, Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim and the team behind Southern Fried Records will discuss how they have maintained longevity and tell tales of hits, misses, and dramas along the way, Defected Records Founder Simon Dunmore and new CEO Wez Saunders will be interviewed by IMS co-founder Pete Tong on life after an acquisition, plus the new CEO of Pacha Group Aloki Batra will reveal some of his plans for the iconic brand, plus and a special guest closing keynote interview, to be announced!

IMS Ibiza, alongside Ballantine’s True Music, is set to celebrate the sounds of South African Dance Music and Amapiano’s incredible journey with a curated selection of the genre’s most influential and profound figures. It will explore its vibrant evolution and trace its roots from the townships of South Africa to its meteoric rise on the global stage, including Ibiza. Amplifying Amapiano & African Dance Music: The Journey of a Genre From The Township to the Global Stage will unpack the genre’s cultural influence as it transcends borders, leaving an empowering mark on the music industry. Presented by Ballantine’s, the world’s second biggest-selling Scotch whisky, True Music platform, which celebrates its 10th Anniversary in 2024 – around their longstanding commitment to representing, supporting, and promoting global inclusive music culture, celebrating local and diverse music communities and the people that make them thrive.

Other sessions focusing on the global electronic music scene include Market Focus: Germany –  From The Dancefloor to The Data Room, Breaking The Stereotype: Challenging The Assumptions of SWANA’s Electronic Music Scene and Borderless Music: How Emerging Genres Break Barriers, which will look closely at how the boundary-defying fusion of world music genres within electronic sounds is igniting dancefloors across the globe, from East to West.

The Art of Areté’s signature wellness-focused area is fully integrated into the summit in partnership with IMS founding partner AlphaTheta, and will offer daily breathwork, yoga, sound meditations, morning runs & walks, conversations around mental health, sleep, nutrition, well-being, and more, including Ibiza Calm Presents: Everyone’s Addicted To Something: How It Starts and Where It Ends, Digital Well-Being in a World of Distraction, Music As Medicine with Ninja Tune’s Matt Black, and How Bad Is This For Me Really? with Dr. Zandra Palma M.D. The space will also feature daily sober un-networking drinks hosted by Ibiza Calm: Recover & Renew featuring music from Anjunadeep’s Reflections label.

New for 2024, The Brave Space, presented by award-winning collective HE.SHE.THEY. in partnership with Downtown & FUGA, will present its own curated content, including live recordings of RA Exchange podcasts featuring Smokin’Jo, DJ Pierre and Juan Atkins, in addition,Celebrating The Godfather of House: 10 Years of the Frankie Knuckles Foundation will celebrate and honour Frankie’s life and achievements plus IMS Ibiza co-host Jaguar’s Utopia Talks podcast featuring TSHA, DJ Paulette, and Smokin’ Jo discussing sisterhood and the experiences and stories of Black women in dance music.

Jaguar will also unite multiple collectives from the scene championing diversity, to discuss what it means to run a collective and share their thoughts on what we can all do to support them more, in The Champions of our Community featuring Queer House Party’s Harry Gay, Nadine Noor from Pxssy Palace and Sydney Blu from CHANGE THE BEAT.

Music’s Power In The Climate Crises will address how the electronic music industry can make positive change to help combat the environmental threats the planet is facing, echoing the summit’s commitment to lead by example through its partnership with climate action partner EarthPercent, committing 1% of all IMS Ibiza 2024 delegate badge purchase income as a donation to the charity.

The Association For Electronic Music will host a series of sessions on day two of the summit getting to the heart of key issues in our industry; The Coming Tech Revolution That Will Change Your Royalty Income, Recording The Future Past, and Ten Ways To Improve The Health of the Dance Music Industry. 

In addition, there will be a host of sessions focused on industry best practices, trends, tech, and how to develop your career, whether as an artist or behind the scenes, including; Super Fandom hosted by Music Ally, Streaming: The Good, The Bad & The Fraudulent hosted by Beatport, SoundCloud Presents Ascending, Everything You Need To Know About….Distribution featuring an introduction by Too Lost,  Gender Disparity in the Record Label Ecosystem, Two Roads Diverged: Unpacking AI for the Music Industry, The Future of Artist Deals & Contracts, Rise of the Fan-Creator/Fan-Curator and From The Bedroom to the Stage…How To! Hosted by Pete Tong’s DJ Academy.

Alongside Making of a Classic which this year dissects ‘Acid Tracks by DJ Pierre, delegates can also expect annual summit regulars including AMA’s (Ask Me Anything) Meet The Bookers, Agencies, and Agents including executives from leading talent agencies Wasserman, WME, and CAA plus Ibiza Class of 2024, featuring representatives from Club Chinois, Pacha, Amnesia, Ibiza Spotlight and more, Emerging Talent: Navigating The Next Generation of Music and a spotlight on Empire Records, both presented by Beatport. 

IMS Co-founder Ben Turner states: “These are strained and complicated times in electronic music – not a landscape this industry has had to navigate before. Now in our 15th edition, the key theme of trying to understand how to Rebuild Our Community is designed to be constructive, positive and impactful. Special thanks to the team of IMS advisors and experts for their input to this year’s program. We hope those in attendance will find something insightful and inspirational to take home with them along with new connections, new music and positive thoughts and actions for the future.”

As well as three days of carefully curated content, IMS Ibiza delegates can enjoy some of the best music and parties Ibiza has to offer, with networking events, mixers and showcases hosted by Ultra Records, Helix Records, Ballantine’s True Music, Hyde Ibiza, AFEM, Party Degenerates, The Beatport Awards at House of Wow plus opening parties at Pacha, Club Chinos, Amnesia and Ushuaia as well as IMS Dalt Vila, the seven-hour unmissable closing celebration presented in partnership with AlphaTheta, held in the old town of Ibiza at the historic 2,500-year-old former fort and UNESCO World Heritage site, providing spectacular views of the Catedral de Eivissa with panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea.