Paris Hilton serenaded by Afrojack at DJ Awards. |
What a pile of self serving, back slapping, smug and pretentious poo, the Ibiza DJ awards have become. The 2012 “winners” were announced yesterday and it reveals an industry out of touch with real dance music and more interested in promoting its own commercial agenda. The influence of the powerful Pacha brand was evident to see as the event is now, very much a celebrity driven VIP affair. Last season Paris Hilton presented the awards. What that lady has to do with dance music is beyond me. The nominations this year smacked of industry politics and cronyism. The omission of a dedicated House Music category just goes to show how they now think.
The Ibiza DJ Awards promote all that is wrong with the current dance music scene. Its mission statement is to promote DJ’s as an “art form” and to tell the world how “important and respected” this “craft” is. These guys have a big enough ego as it is, to tell them they are important and respected planetary artists, will ensure that certain heads will not fit through the door, next time they enter a building. In my opinion its all utter bollox and the sooner these overpaid and over the hill celebrity DJ’s disappear, to allow fresh, new talent to emerge, the better it will be for music. It should always be about the music, not the individual. Thanks to these celebrity DJ’s peddling the same sound and robotic performance gig after gig, the music scene in Ibiza has now gone stale. New talent is being suppressed, in favour of big names that attract a premium ticket price. Evidence of industry manipulation to reinvent and try to prolong its clients careers, was found in the list of winners. Carl Cox it seems, is now a Techno DJ, as he beat Adam Beyer (a real techno DJ), to win the Techno award. Tiesto, who left his trance roots to find himself musically, has suddenly become an “Electro House” DJ. Such is the artistic skill of his new craft, he was able to win the “Electro House” award in his first season playing that style of music at Pacha, beating the likes of Afrojack and Guetta.
Armin Van Burren trys to figure out what it is |
Other “awards for the boys” included an award to Lenny Kravitz to promote the Rocktronic 123 Festival. I’m sure Lenny will be delighted to know that he won the Best Live Performance of the year Award for his packed gig in San Antonio this summer. Biggest shock of the night was when Pacha Magazine beat nobody to win the Media Award. As there were no nominations, a panel of wise and independent judges were responsible for that one, as they most probably deliberated their tough decision over dinner at Lio. They also decided that Vagabundos (at Pacha) was worthy to share the “Best Night” award with Enter at Space. Im sure Richie Hawtin considers himself fortunate to share that prize. The Chill Out award is now been marketed as the “Downtempo” award and the best newcomer seems to have morphed into the “Cutting Edge” Award which Soundcloud won. Also one would suggest that as its an Ibiza driven promotion, the Award for Best Dance Nation should go to Spain and not Australia…..Are Pacha opening a Club there soon? Ushuaia were conspicuous by their absence…..their invitation to the ball mislaid in the post most probably, as we are told they are the best of friends normally.
Jose Pascual&Lenny Krarup in happier times |
The DJ Awards have now become a sad and tacky affair, whose only aim is to massage the ego’s of expensive DJ’s and promote a brand driven commercial industry that is more about selling overpriced tickets and merchandise than it is about the music. DJ Awards co-founder Lenny Krarup (aka Lenny Ibizarre) who always promoted what is real about Ibiza, is no longer associated with the event, having departed the fold last year over a dissagreement with Jose Pascual. The Ibiza DJ Awards are little more than an X-Factor show now, over produced and there only to promote its brand and buisness assoiates inside its own tent. The Blog will announce its own awards very soon. My budget is less than five euros so unfortunately, I will not be able to afford the inclusion of certain celebrity DJ’s. Here is a link to my nominations dannykayibiza.blogspot.ie/2012/09/dannykay-ibiza-awards-2012.html
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