​Beatport has acquired a majority stake in the International Music Summit

The Beatport Group announced that it has acquired the majority stake in the International Music Summit, known colloquially as IMS, which is the music industry’s most revered and impactful music conference.

The annual flagship event takes place in Ibiza and is hosted by Pete Tong alongside BBC Radio 1 dance presenter Jaguar. This year’s summit will be its 14th and kicks off on Wednesday, April 26, running for three consecutive days with satellite events happening all over the island in tandem with the event. The 2023 event will continue to run under its founders' direction but with Beatport's full support.

Previously, IMS hosted events around the world as well, including in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Singapore. The partnership promises to reenergize this global footprint once again while enhancing and securing the growth and expansion of the IMS business platform.

Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels said of the acquisition, “IMS has become one of the most impactful gatherings for the global DJ and dance music industries, and everyone at Beatport is excited to take this brand to the next level.

“We look forward to partnering with Pete, Ben and the entire IMS team to broaden the IMS footprint as a major component of our plan to expand the Beatport brand around the world through community, education, and thought leadership initiatives.”

IMS founders Ben Turner, Danny Whittle, Mark Netto, Pete Tong and Simeon Friend jointly said, “Aligning with Beatport, who have been supporters of IMS from our inception, will enable us to action many of our ideas on how to continue to grow the platform all year round; to further educate and mentor the next generation; and to help focus the industry’s attention on the issues that matter. It will help increase our ability to have more impact for the genre.”

Looking beyond the conference itself, the IMS brand is also credited with being an educational, inspirational and motivational thought-leadership platform centered around an appreciation and love of electronic music. Through live seminars, keynote interviews, technology masterclasses, performances and industry networking opportunities, it drives conversations around topicsc crucial to a healthy and diverse music industry, including mental health, sexual harassment and gender equality. It also publishes an annual business report that examines the data, analysis and annual valuation of the global dance music industry.

Founded in Denver in 2004, the latest acquisition by The Beatport Group follows several in 2022, including Ampsuite, which is an all-in-one platform for managing a digital business, and demo-submission platform LabelRadar. Beatport itself continues to grow and expand beyond its online music store to include editorial, events and more, always under the guise of being a worldwide home of music for DJs, producers and their fans.

IMS Ibiza 2023 will take place from April 26–April 28. Pick up a pass here.