5 things we learnt at IMS Ibiza 2017

There are not many better ways to spend your week than on the beautiful island of Ibiza, discussing the hottest topics in dance and electronic music with the crème da le crème of the industry.If you missed this year’s IMS Ibiza, here are five of our top takeaways.1. The global electronic music industry is as strong as it has ever been.With the Global electronic music industry up 3% over the past year to $7.4 billion (IMS Business Report 2017), growth across all markets for dance’s share of record sales and streams and leading DJ manufactuer Pioneer, expecting sales in excess of 4 million units (their highest ever), it’s same to say the electronic music industry is the strongest it’s ever been.2. Gender inequality is still a huge issue.When the IMS founders invited a group of around 20 individuals to introduce IMS to the delegates on Wednesday morning, DJ/producer Nicole Moudaber was the only female on stage. Couple this with the fact that Thump quote only 17% of artists on electronic festival lineups are female and it is clear that, although the problem has been identified and was actually debated in a dedicated session at IMS this year, the issue still needs to be addressed.3. The industry needs to consider how it’s ambition can negatively affect the island.Seth Troxler was quick to raise that with ever increasing development on the island, the cost of living for resident is becoming impossible to keep up. With excessively inflated winter rental costs and landlords requiring large amounts of money up front, homelessness is on the rise.It is clear that the electronic music community gives a lot to the Ibizan economy, however we need to dig deeper.4. Online ticketing is really beginning to take hold. With selling tickets on the streets now illegal in Ibiza and Amnesia’s announcement that they will not be selling any hard stock tickets, we are taking steps towards the wider acceptance of online ticketing technologies on the island.5. There’s no place quite like Dalt Villa…