Yann Pissenem is the Founder and Artistic Manager of Ushuaia Beach Hotel. From what started out as a small beach bar and restaurant, Yann has been a dominant driving force in growing the Ushuaia brand to a globally renowned name. Now Ushuaia is one of the most highly regarded beach clubs in the world, offering an immense outdoor open air clubbing experience, with regular appearances and residencies from some of the biggest DJ names in the industry.

Yann has been the creative mastermind behind much of Ushuaia's success, and also behind the venues latest venture, a 2CD mix album Ushuaïa Ibiza Summer Edition 2014. Here, we talk to Yann about his earliest experiences in Ibiza, the recent changes to the White Isle and the compilation itself.

How did the concept for Ushuaïa first come about?

I always dreamt about having a beach club on an island, so after working in the clubbing industry for fifteen years in Barcelona I opted to follow my dream and decided to relocate on a beautiful island and to look for a nice location on the beach. I came to Ibiza for the first time seven years ago, as I had a few friends living here already, so my first beach club was in Ibiza. Back then I thought that Ibiza was about open-air parties and soulful people dancing under the sun, the moon and the stars with great vibe and great music, although Ibiza turned out to be something completely different than what I had imagined.

What I actually found when I landed on this island were seven clubs, playing loud music in dark and smoky environments mostly crowded by the younger generation. Everybody was partying from 2am to 7am and sometime after-partying, so the original idea behind my concept was that if I had to create something for everyone; it had to be something that interested the adult crowd, as well as the teenagers and younger generation. I had to come up with a slot perfect for everyone, something which allowed everyone to enjoy the soul of the island during the day with their friends and families at the same time as being able to enjoy the parties taking place during late afternoons and evenings.

The 5pm-12am was a slot of time of the day that had not been exploited and seemed like an ideal time of the day to capture a mixed and wider crowd to listen to great electronic music in an environment and venue that was going to embrace the youth on the dance floor and the adult crowd in a more comfortable space such as the VIP areas. So the original idea was to build a small place on the beach serving drinks and playing great music, but my unexpected discoveries led me to embark in the development of an afternoon/evening time open-air concept, the concept went really well and grew organically during four years to what it is now.


You’ve had an amazing few years since 2011, with the brand expanding at a great rate. What would you attribute this success to?

I think it is due to a combination of different factors, as I said before the slot of time during the day offers something different compared to what the clubs offer, Ushuaïa is not the sort of place where you come and dance looking at your feet, it is more of a daylight electronic show, a place where we focus on creating great productions, special effects and a great line-up I think. We also put a lot of effort into effective marketing and social media campaigns. I simply think that it is a concept that people love, a concept, which takes a huge amount of hard work and efforts from our team and crew to achieve by the way.

Many people have said that it’s not only the crowds, but also the musical direction of Ibiza that has changed in recent years, what’s your take on this?

I think the music is in constant evolution, always. We came across some moments in the last few years when we thought that underground was rapidly growing, to the extent that we all thought that underground events were taking over the more commercially orientated promotions. Then we discovered that, yes there was space for underground parties, but not enough public to fill all of them. I think that EDM grew a lot in the past few years and turned into a proper concept, all electronic music genres grew a lot worldwide, so everything is about electronic music now: advertising, movies, TV, cinema. The DJs are gods and there is a big aspirational culture around the DJ artists who have a huge following and are becoming great pop stars. EDM is currently the fastest growing genre of music and all its facets are well represented in Ibiza and projected worldwide. I believe it is a normal evolution and yeah I think it is normal that we see constant changes and movements in the music scene.


You’ve had some of the biggest names in dance music play at the hotel, have you got a favourite overall party from over the years?

I think we love them all. Each party has its own identity, DJs, productions, show; we try to create innovative productions for all of the different parties. We also have our own baby right now on Saturdays, an event called ANTS. It is our brand, conceived two years ago, so we have been working a lot towards the image of ANTS, but we love them all, I have not got a favourite party, I have a lot of respect for all the artists that are playing at Ushuaïa now and we enjoy every single one of them truly.

We’re also big fans of the ANTS parties at Ushuaïa; do you have any other plans to add other party brands in the future?

Yes we are always working on new projects. There are only seven nights per week, this summer we are occupying six nights, so maybe something new will happen next year on Fridays, plus we are working on a new brand with Nic Fanciulli and Joris Voorn called La Familia, which we are going to launch soon and push for the next few years.

Are there any key artists you are particularly watching at the moment?

There are a lot of emerging underground DJs and artists that we love and that we are working on for next season at ANTS and there are a few commercial talents which have been growing a lot in the past couple of years and that are soon going to be able to have their own brand and party, but I am not going to mention any names because we are still in the process of organising and finalising next summer’s programming.


Moving onto the compilation… it’s great to see another compilation coming out from Ushuaïa, what was the thinking behind Summer Edition 2014?

We wanted to create a fresh and diverse compilation this summer; Defected has always been a great collaborator so we thought it would be an ideal label partner for the album project. The idea was to produce a dance CD and a cooler CD, the second one being more underground. I think the result is great and I hope everybody will enjoy listening to the compilation.

There are two distinct CD selections on the album; The Club, and The Afterparty. What’s your ideal after-party?

It depends when and where we are. If we are talking about a summer afterparty I would prefer to be on the beach and in the shade, so it is not too hot. I love organic great venues for after-parties, I used to run them in Barcelona during ten years so I have been to a lot of suitable places during my career, I think after-parties are the best places to live unforgettable moments and there is nothing better than experiencing an after-party with great DJs playing, happy people and warm vibes.

Finally, what plans do you have for Ushuaïa next year?

I can’t reveal all the secrets for next summer, but my premonition is that next year’s programming will probably be quite similar, all the parties went really well this summer, so I think that we are going to keep all the artists that we have had playing this summer plus some new projects that we are working on to be announced in the near future…

Ushuaïa Ibiza Summer Edition 2014 is out now – buy from iTunes