Simon Cowell and Patrick Moxey’s long-awaited DJ TV talent show, Ultimate DJ, will arrive in spring 2016.
The news was confirmed today by Moxey during an on-stage interview with Pete Tong at IMS in Ibiza, where the Ultra Music founder was presented with this year’s Pioneer Award after celebrating 20 years in business.
First revealed back in 2012, Ultimate DJ was dubbed the “X Factor for DJs”. After seemingly lying dormant for over two years, it was revived in 2014 thanks to a partnership with SFX Entertainment, before going quiet again.
Now, directed by Hamish Hamilton, who worked on The Oscars and Beyoncรฉ’s Super Bowl halftime show in 2013, the show is being put together by Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, Yahoo and Ultra Music.
The idea is to “give a massive global platform for new and emerging artists,” said Moxey. “When you think about the underground music that Ultra started with 20 years ago, and how it’s now become a global lifestyle phenomenon today, to me, this is the next step in the evolution of this phenomenon.
“[The] show will take contestants, people with fantastic talent, and put them out to a mass audience. It really made sense to team up with Simon Cowell, Yahoo and Hamish Hamilton, who is probably the top entertainment director in Hollywood at the moment.”
When asked if he thought Cowell’s name might divide potential fans of the show, Moxey said the Sony exec’s reputation is “a big misunderstanding in a lot of ways”.
“In his own way, [Cowell] is an incredibly creative man. When it comes to the show, he wants it to be respectful of the space and he wants us to have the most edgy and the best artists. It’s the same way you would approach trying to have great singers, we’re going to have great electronic artists involved in the show.”
