In Strict Tempo, vol. 110: Ibiza Reflections

Welcome to this weeks In Strict Tempo. Apologies for no newsletter last week but I was at the International Music Summit conference in Ibiza, so didn’t find the time to get down my thoughts. Earlier this week a family funeral took me up to Scotland for three days, so apologies also for the lack of music reviews in this edition. Next week will be another bumper edition for sure.

IMS this year felt better than previous years. I’m still not too sold on the new location, but the food and drink offerings in the conference itself were more affordable and diverse, and the programming wasn’t just themed all around one flavour-of-the-month topic, although the overriding subject was on Reclaiming the Dancefloor (one question I overheard whilst passing a panel was ‘from whom?’, and that got me thinking although I wasn’t able to stick around for the answer).

It does make me wonder however, what happened to all the AI & NFT companies that sponsored the event heavily a few years ago - you don’t hear from those guys any more…

One highlight from me was making my IMS panel debut, discussing with colleagues about our labels recent purchase by Create Music Group. I hope that gave those listening plenty of food for thought, and it certainly opened a few discussions afterwards.

Anyway, overall a nice three days in the sun, a good chance to catch up with peers and friends and discuss issues, tips and tactics. Despite the pedestrian tech house, the finale at Dalt Vila remains an incredible location to reflect on it all, and I always come back from the event energised to be more creative in my own musical endeavours.

There aren’t really any hot-takes from IMS that I haven’t covered before, and sometimes it’s nice just to take something at face value for what it is.

One non-IMS bit of news from me this week: I was asked by the Association for Electronic Music for my thoughts on how artists and labels can make their music heard in a highly competitive marketplace. You might not agree with it all, but you can read the article here.

Next week I’ll be back with a lorry-load of new music reviews. Thanks for reading!