Ibiza has been making the headlines of the international press in the last few weeks as the speculation over wether or not the big clubs which are so integral to the nightlife economy will open. The clubs have always been a huge draw for tourists from all over the world so it is a newsworthy and pertinent question. Recent interviews with politicians in local news outlets like Diario De Ibiza have suggested that the government have been discussing keeping the big clubs well into next year. Whilst many will look at this as a drastic blow to Ibiza’s club scene some have taken the measures as an opportunity to highlight Ibiza’s home grown talent, focussing on the local artists and working with the local scene.
Social Local is an initiative by Ryan O Gorman, a twenty year resident of the Island. The former We Love Space resident runs Island based label Vitalik Recordings and is currently resident dj for Pikes and Zoo Project. “The nightlife scene in Ibiza has become very commercial in recent years, the big venues are all vying for the same artists, there are only so many top tier artists who can fill a five thousand capacity venue and that inflates the prices of those artists massively, the result of this is that ticket prices are inflated too and what you see is less variety in terms of music, you see overcrowding in the clubs as venues need to pack in customers to cover booking fees and people feel ripped off as this vicious circle perpetuates itself. There are very few independent promoters left on the island what you see now resembles a leisure industry more than something driven by culture as Ibiza’s club scene once was. Ibiza exported that culture all over the world but the Balearic dream has faded a little as the same big international artists that play every festival in the world have come to dominate the club scene here, there’s very little of what is uniquely Ibiza left in the current club landscape here. We are hoping Social Local can counteract that in some way, now is the perfect time to implement this initiative as it offers a safe and responsible way to start introducing events on a smaller scale with local artists. Things may never go back to exactly how they were and maybe that’s not a bad thing, there is a wealth of talent here in Ibiza that doesn’t get highlighted enough, perhaps curating line-ups with local talent with lower booking fees will allow clubs to operate with lower ticket and bar costs and people can actually get a feel for what the contemporary Balearic experience is.” O Gorman commented.
Social Local launched their podcast series last week with artists like Alfredo, Mark Broadbent, Camilo Miranda, Karlos Sense, Andy Wilson, Milou, 2Vilas, Simon Morell, Phat Phil Cooper, David Phillips, Jon Sa Trinxa, Andy Baxter, SIDD, Cici and many more already lined up. It gives a good insight into the eclectic roster of artists being represented by the project. With partnerships with local promoters like MTM, Homies, Eivissa Sound and Unity Social the upcoming event announcements look promising too.
Social local Facebook / Soundcloud / Instagram
https://soundcloud.com/sociallocal/social-local-ibiza-001-jaime-fiorito
