WORLD-RENOWNED DJ Fatboy Slim will appear at a free virtual conference as the music and events industry continues to struggle due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The award-winning Brighton Music Conference begins tomorrow and will continue on Friday as a free virtual-only event, streamed live and on-demand.

Organisers decided to provide free access to the event due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the current financial state of the electronic music industry.

The largest electronic music conference includes over 60 talks, online workshops and DJ sets from Brighton DJ Norman Cook, alongside Hannah Wants, Sister Bliss and Rich Nxt.

In March, venues across the country were forced to close their doors, putting them under huge financial pressure.

A spokesman for Brighton Music Conference said: “It’s been a very difficult and frustrating time with the constantly changing government guidelines, but we are determined to deliver content that will benefit DJs, venues, promoters, artists and everyone working in our industry during this turbulent time.

“BMC is committed to uniting the electronic music industry as everyone is struggling just now and we’ve decided the best way we can help is to share our content for free this year.”

This year’s event begins after landmarks across the city, including the i360, Brighton Palace Pier and the Amex stadium lit up in red to raise awareness for the struggling events industry.

The spectacle was part of #WeMakeEvents Global Day of Action aimed at highlighting the event sectors need for support in order to survive the Covid-19 crisis.

Fatboy Slim, who lives in Hove, tweeted his support for the campaign.

He said: “The UK events sector looks unlikely to reopen until next summer at best.

Hundreds of thousands of people that work in the industry need government support to survive the crisis.”

The original conference was scheduled to take place fromApril 22 to 25 at the British Airways i360. Thousands of experienced music industry professionals, DJs, producers and electronic music enthusiasts usually descended on the seafront for the two-day conference.

For virtual passes and a full list of programmes visit www.brightonmusicconference.co.uk