How Marco Carola and Music On conquered Ibiza

The foundation of Marco's status as Italy's techno titan is thanks to his legion of fans from his home town of Naples. The southern Italian city is renowned for its hard partying culture and devotion to techno, and its fans follow home-town heroes like Carola or fellow Music On resident Joseph Capriati with the devotion of football fans following a favourite team. Counting on one of the island's most formidable army of ravers only a stone's throw by plane away to turn up in their thousands gave Carola some space to breathe.

"I was nervous from February!" says Marco, remembering the run-up to Music On's opening night back in June 2012. "Ibiza is a great party island, but not many people know it is also very difficult to start something there. Promoters are scared of change and of the success of other parties, afraid that a new event that could change the balance on the island, so a new event is never really accepted well. That makes it difficult. I focused more on doing it well rather than listening to what other people said about it. To be honest, on the third week of the first season I was still nervous. It was probably after that when I started to really relax because I saw the club full and a really good atmosphere."

His partners provided the second master-stroke. Fellow Neapolitans Ernesto Senatore and Roberto Postiglione earned their reputation as two of the island's key promoters in the mid-1990s thanks to their beginnings throwing free parties. Rather than fight them, the powers that be decided to employ them, and the pair found themselves promoting at Pacha, where their Zenith parties became hugely successful. At Pacha they developed a masterful knowledge of the bottle service crowd that was to become Music On's second key to success.

Thanks to EDM and the explosion of dance music culture in Miami, New York and Las Vegas, dance music has found itself a new elite of ravers. This small but tight-knit group of party people spend their weekend hot-footing from one date on the socialite calendar to another: Cannes one week, WMC the next, with money and distance no deterrent. Fridays at Amnesia provide the optimum opportunity to park a private jet in Ibiza straight from work, party like crazy and still be back behind a desk in New York, Paris or London come Monday morning. "We have a group of fans who fly from New York to Music On every single weekend in the summer," says Luca, Marco's manager and the founder of Music On. "It is unbelievable how dedicated they are."

Luca is one of Marco's right-hand men, starting first as his graphic designer before founding Music On with Marco and becoming his first partner. He insists that the majority of fans aren't just Italian, with strong contingents of fans from the UK, Spain and The Netherlands. "Music On is a religion to many people, and the variety of fans is very organic," he adds. That religion includes an impressive set of celebrities who are no doubt also regulars at Music On's two main residencies outside of Ibiza: bottle service-friendly super-clubs Story in Miami and Marquee in New York. "Naomi Cambell, Paris Hilton, Neymar and Leonardo Di Caprio are all big fans," says Hector. "Marco is really good at creating an atmosphere, a lot of the VIPs probably hadn't a clue about techno before Music On, but Marco has made them feel like they belong."

The power of the VIP clubber is firmly on display tonight as even at 7am the top deck area reserved for high rolling table jockeys is packed to the rafters. Even during some of Amnesia's other biggest underground nights, the VIP posse rarely come out in arms like they do for Music On. Luca is tight-lipped about how much money an event like Music On costs and profits, but an anonymous Ibiza club business insider is adamant that Music On is Amnesia's biggest earner thanks to its VIP credit card spend and loyal underground pound.

But while the VIP crowd and Italian patriotism no doubt benefit Music On, it's the appeal of Marco's music in this venue, on this soundsystem, that is the real key to the night's success. It's the music that packs out the dancefloor, and the music that allows everything else to happen. On the lower floor the Terrace is still a sprawl of people from across Europe. A Scottish twenty-something bounds past us in blue shorts and vest to hit the dancefloor after recognising a favourite tune, while a dehydrated team from Belgium plead with the bar staff for ice to avoid having to buy a bottle of Amnesia's overpriced water. As yet another round of dry ice pounds the crowd a bedraggled crew clad in designer clothing reach
down to wave at Marco.

Some of the people here arrived by private jet, some by disco bus, but all are united in adoration
of an Italian techno icon and curiously distant soul: Marco Carola, who meanwhile stares blankly ahead, reaches for his effects unit, and unleashes havoc once again.

Catch Music On every Friday at Amnesia, Ibiza