Top DJs reflect on Ibiza, underground music, and the impact of AI

While at the DJ Awards, Euronews Culture spoke to the winners and other notable DJs on some of the big questions in the electronic music scene today.

On Ibiza’s status in the clubbing scene

Sam Divine, the DJ, producer and label boss who’s been at the forefront of the House scene in Ibiza for the better part of the past 20 years after becoming the first female DJ signed to Defected in the early noughties. Naturally, she’s seen Ibiza change huge amounts in that time.

“Ibiza is my second home. I owe so much to this island on a personal level and a career level. I cut my teeth in Ibiza, met my best friends in Ibiza. I fell in love with my husband in Ibiza,” she says.

Has the island that’s still considered the focal point of clubbing changed?

“I feel like Ibiza is what you make it,” Divine says. At the DJ Awards ceremony where she won in the House category, she tells us that she’s brought her dad along for the first time. “He’s 70 years old,” she says. “How cool is that? That Ibiza, you know, doesn’t matter what age you are, colour, race, creed, background.”

While some people criticise the island for increasing prices – tickets to Amnesia regularly clear €100 and drinks prices are rarely lower than €20 inside – Divine says that’s a symptom of the global cost-of-living crisis. “That’s across the world,” she says. If you want a fun cheap time on the island, you still can. “There’s so many beautiful beaches. You can get chicken and chips in San Antonio for €5, there are still places where you can hustle on a budget. And the sunsets are free.”

On keeping the underground alive

Mega clubs like Ibiza’s Pacha, Amnesia, and Chinois – where the DJ Awards was hosted – are so profitable that they can shoulder the weight of a changing European economy. But the same can’t be said of smaller venues, hit by rising rents and audiences with less disposable income. Last year alone, 125 of the UK’s closed or stopped hosting live music.

For Luciano, winner of the Ibiza Icon Award for his long standing relationship and contribution to the island’s music scene – he’s played everywhere from local schools to prisons – the secret is that you can’t just rely on the biggest venues with the biggest names.

“The most incredible talents and the most inspiring things are not in the most wanted and biggest venues,” Luciano says. Being a good DJ requires that approach still. “You have to search, you have to make yourself a base knowledge of music.”

“The most inspiring acts, you will always find it in the small niche, in the places that are not necessarily expensive,” he adds. “It’s like looking for food. You don’t always need to go to a Michelin Star-place so that you will discover the greatest things. You will be most surprised in a street café, by travelling, by meeting different cultures.”

On the influence of AI

In every artistic medium, one of the most pressing questions has been the influence of artificial intelligence. Whether it’s AI digitally altering film scenes, reimagining classical painters’ works, or even writing news articles, the potential influence of the technology looms large.

With his reputation for using analogue technology, Mathew Jonson was surprisingly optimistic about the possibilities for AI tools in electronic music.

“I’m using equipment that was made in the 70s and 80s for the most part,” Jonson says. He still mixes on a 32-channel analogue desk to stereo tape, but doesn’t rule out how others could find AI useful.

“The more I use AI, I actually just find myself learning more because it’s incredibly easy to gain knowledge from having the ability to ask specific questions without having to study a large volume of data,” he explains.

Different AI tools include programs like Empress, which can quickly help a DJ make seamless live transitions, and Rekordbox, which streamlines music management.

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While Jonson praises the possibilities of tools like these, he still has a concern: “The only side which I might question is that, when music is easier to make for the mass public, and when people are easily satisfied by something that is passable, there’s a certain oversaturation that can happen in the market.”

“I hope the music stays special and human.”

Video editor • Theo Farrant