Beatport acquires majority stake in Ibiza's International Music Summit

Electronic music-focused digital store Beatport has acquired a majority stake in International Music Summit (IMS) Ibiza, it has been announced today (Jan 31).

Founded in 2007 by five partners including legendary DJ and BBC Radio 1 host Pete Tong and industry executive Ben Turner, IMS Ibiza is an annual platform and summit dedicated to promoting electronic music and opening dialogue within the industry.

The next event will take place between April 26-28 later this year at Destino Pacha Ibiza, and will be hosted by Pete Tong and fellow BBC Radio 1 presenter (and former Mixmag Lab LDN host) Jaguar.

Previous years have seen topics such as diversity and sexual harassment in the industry been focus of discussion, with IMS working closely with shesaid.so – the network of women, gender nonconforming people and their allies in music – to curate panels and line-ups.

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Beatport has a long history of partnership with IMS Ibiza, supporting the event since its very first iteration.

Speaking about the acquisition, Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels said: “IMS has become one of the most impactful gatherings for the global DJ and dance music industries, and everyone at Beatport is excited to take this brand to the next level.

“We look forward to partnering with Pete, Ben and the entire IMS team to broaden the IMS footprint as a major component of our plan to expand the Beatport brand around the world through community, education, and thought leadership initiatives,” he continued.

In a statement, the five founding partners of IMS – Ben Turner, Danny Whittle, Mark Netto, Pete Tong and Simeon Friend commented: “We are very proud of what we’ve built at IMS over these past 16 years, driving the narrative and agenda of the culture forward from the genre’s spiritual home of Ibiza.

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“Aligning with Beatport, who have been supporters of IMS from our inception, will enable us to action many of our ideas on how to continue to grow the platform all year round; to further educate and mentor the next generation; and to help focus the industry’s attention on the issues that matter,” they continued.

“It will help increase our ability to have more impact for the genre.”

Access for 2023’s International Music Summit Ibiza start at €320 for Early Bird Delegate Badges. To purchase or for more information click here.

Isaac Muk is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter