the end of beatport
Hello again to my dearest readers,
this time I really do have something special for ya – a short look behind the scenes of electronic music business. When we talk about electronic music business then we have to mention a few strong music portals like TiD, Beatport and of course a lots more. But in my todays report I’m trying to bring more light into darkness – to whom how they call themselves “the biggest music portal in the world” – Beatport.com
Yes they are or not – well, it’s a big business and if there’s big business there’s a lot of money and this electronic market have to split the sales on to the thousands stores worldwide and yes Beatport should have the biggest and highest reputation, they get more from this electronic cake^^. The main company is located in Denver Colorado. The current CEO of Beatport is Clark Warner. The founder and owner of Beatport is Jonas Tempel.
BEATPORT LLC
1037-C Broadway
Denver, CO 80203 USA
In 2004 Jonas Tempel started a brand new concept where nobody even thought about that amazing success coming with in the last few years. When he started distributing digital downloads, I can imagine – he must have felt like Noah building the arch in the desert while everybody was laughing about him – never thinking that there ever would be a situation where the boat could be used, but faster than they could invision, the flood came up and so they where clinging to Noah full of admiration and desire – well that’s the point and the success is self-made and because of the strength and discipline they claim to be one of the biggest online distributing plattform for electronic music worldwide.
But all the things sometimes end like they have started. The more a company is expanding the more difficulties and the more is getting out of control – if the true thoughts behind this really successful concept, the soul and believe are replaced by greed, partisanship & miscast then we are at a point what nearly explains the following true story.
Beatport ist cool, Beatport is great. I’ve bought a lot of tracks, too. Vinyl is dead – long live the vinyl. Well, how true. Beatport was cool and Beatport was great until 2009 – then all the positive aspects, the spirit of Beatport has changed dramatically into negative.
In 2009 Beatport started to search a new Internship Labelmanagement Team for the city of electronic music – Berlin. Yeahh, you are right mate. Berlin seems to be the “city of electronic music”. That’s what the media is suggesting us. That’s what the partisanship is suggesting us there. Yes, Berlin had it’s big time with the Loveparade, they grew up with names like Dr.Motte, Westbam, Marusha and so on… but hello guys, that’s history, something that we can read in the newspapers from yesterday. Where are these heroes now – have you ever seen a huge track in the past years – maybe in some charts – maybe in the beatport charts? No? You are right, ouch!!! So, when someone is talking about the “city of electronic music”, yes, it was Berlin, but not today anymore.
So again, in 2009 Beatport started to search a new Internship Labelmanagement Team for Berlin and wow they found a team in Berlin and that was the time when all turned into a big ropy old chewing gum. Beatport USA transferred all the responsibility for genres, labels & promotion directly to the team in Berlin!!! The biggest mistake in Beatports history, ever. From 2009 until now the Berlin connection is supporting & promoting only Minimal acts, tracks and everything else what comes in with partisanship. It seems there’s ONE guy with ONE taste and this taste is gonna be forced all over the portal. Did you know that someone with such a responsibility is influencing the chart-djs radically and there are plenty of them!!! At least this behaviour spoils the end user to go out for dancing!!! They destroy house, they destory electro that’s a one-man big-headed show with no respect for other musicians & styles!!!! Here are some examples:
I think almost everyone who bought something on Beatport recognized two special tracks in the past 4 weeks.
Beatport TOP2 OVERALL 09/06/2010
I’m talking about Tarantula from Pleasurekraft and the remix from DirtyLoud of Aaren San’s Apes from Space. These two tracks are now over weeks in the TOP5 of Beatport and have been for over two weeks on TOP2 OVERALL Beatport charts. This is something very special. So, now you can think oh yeah that’s fine and now you should be able to get more promotion and support from Beatport – well that’s what we thought, read this email and make your opinion.
Musiclabel: We are pos#1 and pos#2 overall and we are asking Berlin, if it’s possible to get some promotion for our follow-up releases.
Beatport Berlin: Only those are getting promotion who are a) making good music or b) are interesting for the customers
Musiclabel: OMMHHH YES, we are number 1 AND number 2!!!! Does it get better or more interesting????
Beatport Berlin: You pit against the competition with all the others und let us do our job.
Believe it or not that’s how they behave since 2009 – every time – since Beatport USA transfered their responsibility for for genres, labels & promotion!!!! It’s a massive affaire!!! Do you really think a city which’s hometown is Minimal can seriously handle all the other styles??
Another example:
Musiclabel: The creator of the track which is now on pos#1 for 2 weeks wants to post a dj-chart….
Do you know where they put that dj-chart on beatport?
Well, it seems that pos#1 overall tracks are deserving this on Beatport – they putted it on page 4 with the actuall timestamp, behind all the other charts. Pleasurekraft was really happy with that ;( Does Beatport wants to earn money or not? Where’s the problem if the number #1 OVERALL is posting his DJ Charts – is it not in Beatports mind to support that chart because the track is selling more than well??
Another example:
Who’s DJ Alex Kid?? I’ve never heard about him, BUT he’s gonna be pushed by the Berlin connection on Beatport, perfect.
More examples:
You are opening the first page of Beatport and BAAAANG! what’s the first picture – MONIKA KRUSE – huuäääääää who the fuck is Monika Kruse???? Have you ever seen here somewhere in the charts on beatport???? Sorry, fire in the hole!
last fuckin example:
You are uploading new releases for the genre electro house – where did they put this release? Well, into proggressive house! It took more than 7 days until they have fixed their failure!!!!
and lot’s more – so I can imagine that you are experiencing similar problems. But in my eyes the pos#1 & pos#2 issue makes no sense to me and shows me how the Berlin connection is destroying the music culture worldwide!!!!! Shame on you and on your ignorance, shame on your disrespect to all other musicians. That’s the course Beatport’s heading rightaway to it’s own created END!!!!!
If you like to listen more from the Berlin sound ,I’ll take you to a journey on a very special music portal initiated by WORDANDSOUND from ———> yeahhh what else Berlin^^ I don’t think that they are selling any vinyls anymore, maybe because they killed their own market. Listen to yourself, listen especially the TOP100 of Electro, Dubstep/Breaks, Dance/Soul+Funk, click on this link => - http://www.whatpeopleplay.com well, that’s the future sound of Berlin and to be honest – if this is the future sound of Berlin, the “city of electronic music”, then I’ll start painting pictures of colored horses somewhere in the arctic while listening to natural sounds. So far, if Beatport USA endures this strange behaviour of the Beatport Berlin connection – this will lead them rightaway to the END.
Beatport is cool, I’m happy to have the possibility to share and to get new and fresh music – but not under those conditions!
So far guys. Comments are welcome!
We hope, that Beatport USA will solve this offensive problem here in germany as soon as possible. Again I’m trying to explain the deficits here for Beatport Germany or Beatport BERLIN!
My last message is BEATPORT rocks – but – they have chosen the wrong people for germany and it makes me sad to know that good musicians are treated like dust in the wind.
Tags: aaren san, Beatport, berlin, Clark Warner, colorado, denver, dirtyloud, Jonas Tempel, pleasurekraft
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 pm
you’re so damn rite aaren :O
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Right on the money aaren! No respect for other artist & genres especially ELECTRO!!! fuckers….
July 5th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
hey there,
it seems your information is way off …..
seriously, if i were you i would do a little more research before making a post like this!
BECAUSE, you actually could make a great argument-
but the way you have chosen to write and the fingers you are pointing, wont have any impact.
you have obviously never been to berlin, and know very little about the European scene.
i propose, next time you wanna make a point, especially one that is worth making (ie. the fall of quality control at beatport.com) do more research, open your mind a little more, and then write it.
there is many problems with beatport, but it hardly has to do with location on the planet,
it has to do with economy, greed, quality control, new regulations, too much music out there, and the current trend of music that lacks any creativity at all.
i also having a hard time with the current situation and sure its not fair, but you have only scratched the surface, these are corrupt times, and we need to clean up- not add to the confusion. you feel me?
btw. internet labels existed long before beatport- i had one myself, they saw the potential through such labels
July 14th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
check out Traxsource.com they have a very wide selection of all genres.
July 14th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
You are right man, and by the way I love your tracks. Awesome. I have several of them and they rock. Keep it up.
July 21st, 2010 at 9:32 am
Djeezes, this post is so full of ignorance that it’s making me cringe. Who’s Monika Kruse? Oh I don’t know, only one of the A-list dj’s in techno for about a decade or so. Berlin is a thing of the past? Yes, that’s why just about everyone professionally involved is connected to that city in one way or another and they have the leading clubs, labels and dj’s. Replace “Berlin” with “Detroit” and you might be on to something. Word And Sound still sell vinyl- they are even the leading dance vinyl distributor for Europe, so again, wrong. WhatPeoplePlay is a great site with enthousiastic people running it, they DO have quality control and their selection of house and techno is simply brilliant, with lots of stuff that is not on Beatport (and therefore a gem for dj’s that don’t just want the stuff everyone plays).
Calling Elektro the sound of Berlin is simply the dumbest thing I’ve ever had to read. But you probably think that Ibiza and your last bought mix cd of Ministry Of Sound is the wave of the future.
You clearly don’t have the smallest clue about the European scene and the importance of Beatport is undeniable (about 90% of sales digitally is through BP). You sound like a little frustrated man who probably didn’t get a banner on Beatport for your music and you had to lash out in some way.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there are many problems with Beatport and their banner policy but saying that that’s a problem because of the Berlin connection is a fantasy. There are of course errors being made, which is almost a certainty when you put such vast amounts of music online on a daily bases. But you have to realize: due to its importance, everyone wants/needs to be on Beatport. And while Beatport works directly with a lot of labels, they also have deals with digital distributors who basically account for such huge amounts of money coming through BP that they can more or less push their labels through the Beatport machinery. Sites like Feiyr f.e. offer anyone the chance to get their music out, and they offer a paid option to garantuee your label on Beatport. The problem is: any label can apply and you can release anything as long as you pay the fee to the distributor. If Beatport would say no, they’d probably have to face the wrath of a huge distributor and consequently lose a big chunk of money in a market where hardly anyone is still paying for their music.
Still, I think everyone would love to see more quality, less quantity, but that’s the thing with internet: it allows everyone access to everything and everyone, and so you reach a point where everyone, talented or not, can just push their work -music, fotos, art, opinions, everything- down your virtual throat. It’s not the best evolution but I can only say: it’s going to get worse so learn to deal with it. Or in the case of Beatport: steer away from the charts and spend some time digging for the good stuff – it was what djs did in the vinyl days, and it hasn’t changed with Beatport.
Do your research next time
July 21st, 2010 at 10:15 am
dear didier,
it’s not about the music policy, it’s about the way BP berlin tries pushing BERLIN music and BERLIN djs into the market. none of the promoted and heavily supported completely unknown BERLIN minimal djs on the frontside, in the charts or in the mailout charts ANYWHERE in the BP-charts…so does MONIKA KRUSE, but they receive MASSIVE attention, because they are from BERLIN. all other music, djs, labels…whatsoever and wherever from are completely ignored…why? because they are NOT from BERLIN. most recently the 4 first main banner pages on the BP front side were tagged with BERLIN djs, none of them ever had any succes, any chart-position nor anyone knew them, but they are from BERLIN and they were MINIMAL/TECHNO djs…voilá: BANNER….that’s what i mean and when u don’t realize that i feel sorry for you…btw: ARE YOU FROM BERLIN?
and btw: check the WHATDJSPLAY sales charts concerning GERNRES…u’ll find MINIMAL even in the BREAKS and NUDISCO charts all over…for BERLIN no other music exists…
good work BERLIN!!! you push hard to destroy any music versatility!!!!!!
all main clubs in LONDON are closed coz people don’t go out anymore since london tried being like berlin and started playing minimal and tech in all clubs – PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF THAT SHIT!!!!! so does the entire VANCOUVER scene dies since the CHIQUE berlin sound was adapted most recently…all techhouse and minimal there…all events EMPTY and all clubs CLOSE…
we are not some stupid idiots thinking we knew the scene…WE ARE THE SCENE and we see what happens!!!! all over the globe!!! coz WE MAKE THE MUSIC and we are at face…not berlin!!!!!
3 years ago when the BERLIN sound was adapted in germany an INSTANT decay of CLUBLIFE and VINYL SALES appeared. where labels sold average quantities of 7000 (!!!!) records per release they now sell 200 MAX!!! clublife is like DEAD in central europe because all djs thought “i better be HIP and play BERLIN music”. do u have any idea what your so called “a-list djs” earn in germany?? they play for 600-1000€! A-LIST-DJS!!!!!! coz hardly any clubs are left so the competition forces them to charge a TENTH of what other countires pay to NORMAL djs. that’s the side-effect of your so admired BERLIN “the headquarter of electronic music”-effect!!! you wanna go on like that? electronic music will be dead soon!!!!!
September 1st, 2010 at 3:50 am
Hey. Good job speaking up about beatport. I find myself on there for hours looking for good tracks, but find everything sounding the same as if every producer bought the same sample pack and ran it into the ground. Then, if I by chance discover a track that I like elsewhere on the internet, about 70% of the time Beatport doesn’t have it, or it’s restricted and I can’t buy it in my area. The techy,minimal,endless looping thing isn’t very appealing any more. What’s more, I can’t stand those tracks that have these huge sounding breaks and then disappoint you by going right back into their uber repetitive array of copied and pasted loops.
Anyhow, I do mixes composed of tracks from all over including places like Turkey, India, Balkans, etc. if anybody knows of some outlets where I can find good tracks from international locales please post. I’m looking for some alternatives to Beatport since I’m sick of hearing the same mass-produced sound, so to speak, over and over everytime I go searching for music.
I also produce a unique blend of electronic music that is a carefully crafted blend of electronic and organic construction. so If anybody is looking for a new sound check it out here http://www.soundcloud.com/kevinvalentine
peace and keep rockin’ the beats