On May 22nd, the Parliament of the Balearic Islands published an official bulletin forbidding disc jockey performances under an interpretation of present COVID-19 guidances. Owing to an online protest campaign, the government reversed the decision on June 1st.
According to original version of the government document, a DJ set “cannot be considered either background music or live music” – two categories of entertainment allowed in the current phase of reopening guidelines. Following efforts spearheaded by Ibiza DJ Anna Tur, the passage was amended to define it as “a cultural activity of live music.”
Tur suspects that lawmakers took advantage of the COVID-19 crisis to deliberately impose measures that would hurt Balearic nightlife.
“The reality is that the Balearic Islands have been trying to change the tourism model for some years,” she told Resident Advisor. “In the beginning, in the ’90s, it was fine because everybody was making money in Ibiza, but now the people with money forget how we were before this movement started on the island. The new generation is less open to this kind of tourism and way of life.”
“They want to take advantage of the situation to put an end to electronic music,” another DJ told Diario de Ibiza on the condition of anonymity. “They have put their foot on our neck and they do not stop pressing.”
After much back and forth, Spanish officials announced in March that adopting the EU’s Digital Green Certificate system would allow the country to host an estimated 40 million tourists in the summer of 2021. As of May 23rd, the nightlife curfew has been pushed back from 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM and most establishments can open their indoor areas up to 50% capacity.
At the time of writing, 21.3% (10 million) of the Spanish population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
