Last year, IMS brought its famed conference from its home in Ibiza to Los Angeles for its first stateside edition bringing together prominent figures from the music business including Skrillex, Diplo, Patrick Moxey, Matthew Addell, and Troy Carter for relevant conversations about the growing industry. On Wednesday, April 16th, IMS Engage will return to Los Angeles for its second iteration with an all-star roster of speakers including Moby, Hans Zimmer, Steve Aoki, Guy Gerber, and Diddy. We had a chance to catch up with IMS' Danny Whittle ahead of the conference to chat about some of his highlights from the 2013 edition, some of the challenges he faced bringing IMS to the States, and some of the other projects he's currently working on.
IMS Engage successfully debuted in LA last year. What were some of your personal highlights from the 2013 conference? Overall, the event was awesome for me. It was year one and I was very nervous but it came together really well. The fight between DJ BL3ND's manager and Diplo's manager was very memorable for me if only for the fact that most people thought it was staged, but it wasn't. Skrillex was also great for me as I had badly founded preconceptions and I was proved totally wrong. He is cool and super smart.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced bringing IMS to the US? The fact that we aren't American was the first challenge, but it became very obvious that Americans don't care about that; they care about quality content from wherever it comes so that was a breath of fresh air for me.
The first two pairings of speakers for this year have been announced with a focus on the film industry. What was your motivation for going in this direction this year? To prove that electronic music is not just about clubs or dancefloors. It can excite a movie audience also.
You’ve been named as one of the experts for Emerging Ibiza, a new platform for artists to be discovered with a Break-Thru Festival set for May. How did you become involved in this new concept and can you explain more about it please? I became involved because I believe the future of music (all kinds of music) is about discovering new talent. I think long gone are the days of bands or artists lasting decades. We owe it to the music industry to keep finding new and diverse talent and presenting it in the best way. What the internet has done has inreased potential, but shortened lifespan (unless someone is extremely special) so we have to embrace that.
In your own experience, how has the White Isle evolved over the past few years with commercial EDM becoming more prominent? Where do you see it heading? EDM is having its day, but I see that as a passing phase like most phases in electronic music and music in general. Underground has broken through already - just look at the DJ's fees. Ultimately, Ibiza is about presenting and creating the best there is and pushing it out. This year's underground is next year's cheese. We just have to stay ahead of the game. It's the level of creativity that makes me love Ibiza.
What else is on your horizon for the coming months? We teamed up with Marcel Avram and are presenting three 90,000-capacity festivals in Turkey, Israel, and Switzerland. I am very excited about this as it's helping to spread the success of electronic music around the world.