IMS Engage: Quincy Jones In Conversation With Pete Tong
One of the most celebrated and decorated producers, arrangers, musicians, and music visionaries of our time, Quincy Jones, joined Pete Tong in conversation at IMS Engage at the W Hollywood. The engaging dialogue captivated the room leaving us with some memorable quotes.
"A great song can make the worst singer on a planet a star. The best singer on the planet can't save a bad song." -Quincy Jones
"Know your music first. If you don't know music, you work for Pro Tools. If you know music, Pro Tools works for you." -Quincy Jones
"If you go into the studio to make music for money, God walks out of the room." - Quincy Jones
Two of nightlife’s biggest forces come together in a one-on-one conversation at IMS Engage on April 15th at the W Hollywood, California. Jason Strauss, partner at TAO Group (Tao, Marquee, LAVO) joins David Grutman, MMG Nightlife CEO (LIV, Story Nightclubs) for a fascinating discussion about the inner-workings of nightlife and a rarely heard perspective on the rise of electronic music in America.
The duo joins previously announced pairing of Seth Troxler and Chuck D, as well as Jake Udell and Lyor Cohen.
IMS Engage returns to Los Angeles for its third consecutive year on April 15, 2015 at the W Hotel Hollywood, for a series of conversations between leaders from the worlds of finance, technology, music and media to address the growing influence of electronic music.
IMS Engage 2014: Steve Aoki 'In Conversation' with Chad Hurley
Hurley got his break working on the start-up of Paypal and likened the tech world with the music world with the common denominator being curiosity. He states: “Musicians want to create something that doesn’t exist and make it theirs. Its not there but you know it could be. I’m the same.”
A founder of Youtube, which he started from his garage, Hurley changed and revolutionized the online world as we see it today with the first online platform to share videos making musicians, actors, comedians etc famous over night. His next project, MixBit, is an app that is set to take video sharing to the next level.
Steve Aoki is a Grammy nominated DJ / producer and owner of Dim Mak Records. His label is hugely influential in the electronic music world, as are his crazy party antics, to his huge fan base built through intelligent and humorous content plays through social networks.
The conversation demonstrated both worked hard at their concepts, saw a niche in their fields, and found a way to fulfill those. Aoki paid homage to Daft Punk as his creative spark after seeing two robots control the masses at one of their gigs through their production. On his cake throwing he states: “I look out to the crowd and look for the one guy who’s not having a good time and he gets caked. All of a sudden it’s the best night of his life. I just want to make everyone happy.” A must see!
IMS Engage 2014: Hans Zimmer 'In Conversation' With Junkie XL
Hans spoke about the evolution of electronic music from attending every Kraftwerk show which ultimately paved his way into the genre and then into film scoring, which then followed onto Junkie’s story of leaving the world of Djing to focus on film. With the meeting of Hans, he was the latest artist / composer to be taken under his wing and the rest is history.
Three quotes stole the show and drove home the passion and commitment both have for electronic music which made the pairing all the more beautiful and fitting:
“Electronic music lends itself to an abstract way of storytelling, so it keeps evolving. There's a whole movement truly driving music further and there is no other music innovating as much as film music” - Hans Zimmer
“There is a history of film composers dying literally on their last cue, you know... but fuck it, that’s rock and roll!” - Hans Zimmer
“The stress and the pressure mounts but the moments of joy -- I have never felt so strong as I have in film. The lows, when you can't deliver, those are new lows and I have never felt that low as when I was just Junkie XL, an electronic artist.” - Junkie XL
We will stop expressing our joy of this convo and let you watch the video.
IMS Engage 2014 - David Lynch 'In Conversation' With Moby
The presence of Lynch at a music summit was special in itself, and Moby came armed with a set of questions which were well prepared - as you would expect from a man with a huge history with the director (remixing each other, sampling the music from ‘Twin Peaks’, sharing similar interests in art). The discussion was thought-provoking, funny and gave an intense insight into the mind of Lynch's genius.
Moby chose to not ask many questions about music, entertainment or electronica, focusing more on God, death, maggots, painting and Transcendental Meditation. We also learned more about Lynch's love of factories, his favorite being in Poland.
Moby opened up about his up-bringing, himself living in an abandoned factory, which spawned inspiration for his career.
Lynch asked Moby his theory on life after death, to which Lynch's response to his answer was: ‘That's the worst theory I've heard.’
IMS ENGAGE: DIDDY “IN CONVERSATION” WITH GUY GERBER
Diddy talked about his own fascination with electronic music by reminiscing about early trips to Ibiza and its famed DC10 Club, his own first collaboration in this space (‘Let’s Get Ill’) with Stuart Price, Deep Dish,Nellee Hooper and Felix da Housecat, and dancing to Junior Vasquez at the Sound Factory in New York.
“It’s all about the spiritual aspect of this music,” he said. “Playing from the heart and experiencing true emotions. I am always looking for DJs/producers without a set format, who aren’t afraid to clear the dance floor, who are fearless. I thought it would be cool to work with Guy after hearing him.”
On the same day as IMS Engage at W Hollywood, news broke that Diddy topped the rankings in the Forbes Entertainment list with a net worth of $700 million. Diddy, when questioned by Pete Tong on how he managed to reach this, replied: “You all have the same 24 hours a day I do.” Probably the most memorable quote of the Summit.
IMS ENGAGE: STEVE AOKI 'IN CONVERSATION' WITH CHAD HURLEY
This series of summits, presented by music legend and recently confirmed speaker, Pete Tong, is widely considered one of the most important music-related gatherings in the world. It began in Ibiza in 2008 and, since expanding to the United States, has only further gained momentum. Not only does it provide a ‘platform for labels, agents, managers and brands to debate, announce and explain new initiatives’ but it also captivates audiences in an engaging, interactive setting.
Steve Aoki is an esteemed, Grammy-nominated DJ and producer within the American electronic music industry. He founded Dim Mak records back in 1996, and since then has worked with notable fellow musicians like The Bloody Beetroots, Infected Mushroom, and Mystery Jets. As a prominent club promoter and DJ, his work has involved collaborations with the likes of Lil Jon, Chiddy Bang, LMFAO, will.i.am, and others in his most recent solo album, Wonderland. His reputation has also led to cameo appearances in the video games NBA 2K8 and NBA 2K9, as well as CW’s series Arrow.
He will pair with Chad Hurley, who built his reputation as one of three original founders of the video sharing site Youtube, as well as MixBit. He served as CEO before selling the company to Google in 2006. Previous to this, he worked in eBay’s PayPal division, in which he designed the original PayPal logo. His achievements earned him the privilege of being recognized as #28 on Business 2.0’s “50 People Who Matter Now” list in 2006.
IMS strives to maintain its reputation as a forum for technological music collaboration. These last two pairings are the final two of six unmoderated conversations with leaders from various industries related to the rapidly expanding influence of electronic music. These notable speakers will engage in dialogue with participants and forge a platform for conversational dialogue. Of the four previous pairings, the speakers have included producer and DJ musician Moby with legendary film director David Lynch, world-renowned film music composer Hans Zimmer with rising scoring star Junkie XL, DJ and BBC Radio 1 broadcaster Pete Tong with Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder, and Israeli DJ and producer Guy Gerber with music icon and mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Steve Aoki and Chad Hurley will join this reputable cast of peers to reinforce IMS’s proven ability to bring together the biggest musical talents and industry leaders for one grand event.
This partnership is yet another example of IMS’s evolution with the W brand’s burgeoning music programming.
