We asked six promoters how to start a successful party in Ibiza

I started promoting student events in Leeds back in 2002. I think the worst thing that ever happened to me was that I made money on the first three shows I ever did! Then I got my student loan in, staged a party during Freshers’ Week and lost the lot on one party. I was probably being cocky, going up against other big promoters that had worked in the city for years. But I didn’t think about that at the time. I just thought, “okay, I’ve got some money, I’m going to book all my favourite DJs and I’m going to smash it.” Instead, I woke up the next day with no student loan, knowing that I would have to get a full-time job, even though I was studying full-time at uni. But I looked at it as a learning experience. After that, it was at least 18 months of little losses or break evens until I started making a profit.

Ibiza is a great place to start your journey as a promoter. For five months straight, every artist, agent, manager and journalist worth their salt will visit the island at some point. And there are parties every night of the week rather than just at the weekend. If you are there, if you are enthusiastic, if you have ideas, something will happen.

Be sure to tap in to the worker base. If you’re selling tickets, you can always say to people, “make sure you pop down to this bar beforehand.” You’re not going to be able to charge entry for bar parties, but you might be able to negotiate a drinks offer with the owner. But even so, thinking back to when I first started, it wasn’t about the money; my primary concern was looking for somewhere to hold a party. If you’re approaching this purely from a financial perspective you’re probably not going into it with the right frame of mind. If you’re going into it because you love music and you want to put a party on for your friends then you’ll have more success. So come up with a brand, speak to people, pack out a shitty little 50-capacity bar in the West End, then people at the larger bar across the street that holds 150 people will hear about what you’re doing and offer you a spot. That’s when things really start to snowball.

I came out to Ibiza in 2013 with ambitions of becoming a DJ. There was a place called Viva in the West End that really suited my music. Every time I played there all my friends would come along and support me, which made it look like I had a bit of a following. I started DJing more and more. Then the manager asked me to return the following summer to run events. That’s how things started. There’s so little money at the bottom end of the DJ world that I literally had to start throwing parties to survive.

When I went back in 2014, I was very ambitious and did everything I could to make it work. We did a really good job and in 2016 we got hold of the main room at Eden. When it comes to booking DJs there, we always try to find people who are ahead of their time. Some DJs are obviously a little bit in front of what’s going on in the West End and you just know they’re going to grow into bigger venues. DJs like Will Taylor at Abode, for instance. I could see right away that he was really talented and destined for big things. Spot those kinds of DJs early on in their career and they’ll look after you further down the road.

And don’t forget social media; it’s absolutely paramount. You can put posters up and hand out flyers, but social media is more immersive. People can’t interact with posters and flyers. A FaceBook post, on the other hand, can be liked, shared and tagged.