A Meeting of the Minds

IMS Engage sits down with Skrillex: A Recap

The annual Ibiza International music summit was held last week and hosted its first IMS engage summit  at the W hotel in LA. The order of business was to pick apart the minds of some of the leaders in Electronic Music pairing producers, managers and label executives together to discuss the current state of the industry. The highlight for me was the discussion with Sonny Moore AKA Skrillex as he sat down with Jeff Rosenthal a young entrepreneur and Summit series Co-founder. Sonny starts by talking a bit about his past and his beginnings in music as a frontman for the punk rock group "From first to Last ", where he experienced being a starving artist and delves into life on the road and his pursuit to fame in an industry that creates an environment that merges the business of making money with artistic expression and the struggle to maintain passion and creativity within this business model. 

From there Sonny describes the beginnings of Skrillex and how he was $50,000 in debt 3 years ago. He observed the evolving environment of music as the internet changed the way artists brought their work to the fans, so with that he grabbed his computer and dove in headfirst creating his first solo work as Skrillex and making it available for free!! Within months he gained incredible popularity and began touring, at that point boasting a bank account holding a million dollars and all of his debts payed in full. 

Now a household name in Electronic Music Sonny looks to make it easier for new musicians to express themselves in a non-intimidating way by revealing that he is in the process of transforming a facility he recently purchased in LA's Chinatown into a haven for the ON-The-GO producers like himself whom are constantly on the road. He explained that his emphasis lies in "Creating a multidisciplinary creative hub where collision and collaboration are the root of everything", stating "There is nothing like that for our generation."

Without revealing anymore I encourage you the readers to watch this discussion as it explores the current state of Electronic Music and it's future!! An inspiring piece that speaks to all musicians trying to create a name for themselves!!