The TED Talks Of EDM: International Music Summit Comes To Singapore

We need to talk about dance music.

There has been a sudden increase in the number of dance music events in Singapore in the recent years involving international names such as Freqender and the upcoming Future Music Festival Asia, which has set the stage for the International Music Summit (Pacific Asia) to be held in Singapore at the W Singapore – Sentosa Cove on the 11th of December.

Created in 2007, IMS has become “The Premier Platform for Thought Leadership in Electronic Music”. It will be a will be a series of panels, interviews, speeches, workshops and tutorials. Speaker include dance music legends like Paul Oakenfold, Richie Hawtin, Pete Tong and industry figures like Zouk’s owner Lincoln Cheng. Come night, Paul Oakenfold will man the decks at Attica for the IMS after-party, and not just any after-party.

We will see the superstar DJ take part in a digital experiment with Google that aims to reimagine live performance. 150 lucky guests will be equipped with Google+ integrated Lightwave bioreactive wristbands. Debuting for the first time in Asia, the wristbands and the crowd’s energy will fuel immersive real-time experiences – transforming audience engagement, movement and temperature into reactive art on the night and then subsequently, through Oakenfold’s ‘Planet Perfecto’ YouTube channel.

The party will also be streamed on Youtube and Google + to the entire world.

oakenfold

Bar the after party, how does this concern you dear reader? You, party-goer, dance addict, demon of the night. Why the need for this, you might ask. To intellectualize and debate party culture would be antithetical to the concept of a party itself, to mindless fun.

But let’s not kid ourselves.

This is not about the intellectualisation of dance music, this is a gathering of stakeholders to discuss business and industry. For us audiences – this is essentially the Party Planning Committee.

So yes, this concerns you – as above, and so below. Whatever gets discussed here is the result of your choices and tastes, and will decide what you listen to and party to in the resulting days to come.

This might disappoint all you underground types and party purists – but yes, Electronic Dance Music is an industry. Same with Rock and Punk and whatever was once “underground” and “cool” – all controlled and sometimes manufactured by the filthy capitalist swine you hate so much. Every aspect is carefully discussed and crafted (although that doesn’t mean we cannot enjoy it).

What revelations await us at IMS? We’ll see.

Learn more about IMS here.

Photos: International Music Summit & Less Than 3

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