Defected has announced the end of its seminal Virtual Festival series, with a closing party to be held on Friday 22^nd May with DJ sets from dance music luminaries Carl Cox, Idris Elba, MK, Boys Noize, Sam Divine and Nic Fanciulli. This will be the ninth and final event in the live stream series, which has been viewed by a total of 14 million people from an average of 91 countries per week, since it began just before coronavirus-induced lockdown in the UK. Google has pledged to double the amount donated to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund during the streams, bringing the total raised to $1,200,000. Throughout the last two months Defected has continued to impress with state-of-the-art digital production and community interactivity, leading Facebook to describe the series as having ‘defied the woes of coronavirus’.  

This Friday’s closing party

A legendary DJ who needs little introduction, Carl Cox will make his Defected Virtual Festival debut this Friday, bringing his matchless dance music legacy to ravers around the world, along with plenty of Ibiza nostalgia. An A-lister with strong musical roots and DJ sets for Radio 1, Coachella and a royal wedding under his belt, Idris Elba will be streaming from his slick studio in London. They will be joined by Grammy nominated producer and DJ Boys Noize ahead of the release of his Defected single ‘Mvinline’, as well as Defected favourites MK, Nic Fanciulli and Sam Divine, the much-loved host of the Defected Radio Show. 

Alongside Defected’s six world-class DJs in this week’s closing party, two of the most promising undiscovered talents from its global community will perform, courtesy of Defected’s DJ For The World competition. The first pair of worthy winners, Selena Faider from France and Soulmajestik from South Africa, each played a half hour set during the festival on Friday 8^th May. This week, it’s the turn of competition winners Aline Rocha from Brazil and TQ Grant from the US.   

Looking back on the series 

On Friday  March the first Defected Virtual Festival was streamed live from London’s empty Ministry Of Sound club, in anticipation of impending lockdown restrictions which were announced by the UK’s Prime Minister just three days later. An instant success with 1.5 million people tuning in, international press responded with overwhelming positivity, hailing the series as a much-needed antidote to dramatic changes in the industry, and to Defected’s fans, a welcome moment of escapism. While events and music venues were facing inevitable closures and cancellations, Defected was one of the first music media platforms to react, offering dance music lovers alternative access to festival-quality programming. 

Each week (with the exception of a one-week hiatus on 3^rd April), the Virtual Festivals, including three courtesy of Defected’s sister label Glitterbox, have broadcast 71 international DJs’ and artists’ performances from their own homes and studios. Lasting between 8-10 hours the festivals have seen an average watch time of 33 minutes. Picking up unstoppable virtual momentum, social and streaming platforms around the world were keen to partner with Defected, which has counted Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, VKontakte, Twitch and now Beatport as its supporters.