We’ve got all the details and an exclusive interview with the Beatport CTO on the launch of a brand new service they call Mixes. Mixes allows DJs to upload and sell their mixes legitimately and legally, with Beatport handling all of the payment to labels and performance rights organizations. What’s in it for you, the DJ? Find out after the jump.
Beatport continues to expand into the DJ space, with Mixes being the latest of a recent wave of DJ related services (DJs, Play, and Sounds were all introduced in the last year). Mixes promises to clear the way for legitimate mixtapes to be sold online from any DJ, assuming that they’ve purchased those tracks through Beatport. While for now, Soundcloud and Mixcloud allow users to upload mixes without worry, Beatport is betting on a future in which labels and performance rights organizations (PROs – you might better know them as ASCAP, BMI, and other similar organizations) will start actively pursuing users on these sites and doling out takedown notices.
That’s where Mixes comes in, allowing DJs to upload mixes with tracks they’ve purchased and put them on sale for a relatively low cost. It’s the first service that actively pays out labels, PROs, and DJs for the purchase of a mixtape (Mixcloud is partnered with SoundExchange, a PRO- but doesn’t pay money directly to labels).
HOW TO CREATE A MIX
The steps to getting a mix on Beatport Mixes are simple enough:
- Purchase Tracks
- Record Your Mix
- Upload To Beatport
- Build Tracklist from Purchase History (manually)
There are three key requirements when uploading a mix. First, you have to already have an account with Beatport DJs. Secondly, the tracks in the mix that you upload have to have been purchased with a Beatport account – this is used for tracklist and paying out labels/PROs. Finally, the mix has to be no larger than 500MB, in 320 MP3 format only.
The tracklist process feels fairly similar to Mixcloud’s required tracklist, in that it allows DJs to set their tracklist with specific start times for each song. Unfortunately there’s no auto-detection of tracks here, so you’re still going to have to figure out when you mixed what track yourself. Beatport does automatically pull your purchase history – because again, their model works around the idea that you’re uploading mixes with only Beatport-purchased tracks in it.
WHAT ABOUT NON-BEATPORT TRACKS?
You can upload mixes with tracks that were not purchased off of Beatport and sell those mixes but non-Beatport tracks will not get a cut of the revenue. Beatport told us they will not actively work to take this content down, but they will comply with any takedown requests received from performance rights organizations or labels. The terms and conditions also make allowances for uploading mixes with your own content.
SHOW ME DA MONEY
The price breakdown of mixes works like this:
- Mixes cost $5.29 to purchase
- DJ will earn 10%
- Label gets 60%
- PROs get 30%
If you add those numbers up, you’ll noticed that there’s no percentage points left over for Beatport. Beatport’s CTO Peter Siciliano noted to us in a short interview on Mixes,
“We’re not going to make a lot of money off of this. This is ‘Let’s find out what it actually takes and what the cost is to do a legal mix, and then carve out the space however it makes sense’ “
WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS?
You might be asking yourself what the advantage of charging for a mix when you can upload for free on Soundcloud with minimal chances of getting taken down. Part of the equation is the legal dilemma of the future that mentioned earlier: that Performance Rights Organizations like ASCAP and BMI will, in Beatport’s eyes, not continue to allow podcasts and mixes to be distributed for free.
“It’s possible PROs will never crack down on anybody else and we will always have free mixes forever, but I don’t see that being the true future.” – Peter Siciliano, CTO at Beatport
But why put it up on Beatport? First off, money goes directly to labels – something that Mixcloud doesn’t do, since there’s no established relationship with labels like Beatport has. Secondly, building your identity through Beatport has a larger potential of success in their eyes – with millions of eyes seeing Beatport pages on a regular basis, if you promote and land a mix that gets featured in the top 10, it’s a quick way to potentially get noticed.
WHAT’S NOT SO HOT
While Mixes breaks into previously uncharted territory for mixtape distribution, there is one element that we’re a bit hesitant about. Most DJs have large collections of music from a number of different sources. Even if you’ve legitimately purchased a CD, record, or even just a track off of iTunes in the past, it’s technically against the rules to upload it to Mixes. Smaller artists who don’t distribute their music on Beatport might still be perfect for inclusion in an incredible mix, but they’ll receive no recognition in the tracklisting or in the final payout of the royalties.
Beatport is absolutely one of the few major players in distribution of music for DJs, but other legitimate sources exist – and we’re not ecstatic about the idea of re-paying for a track that we already own just to include it in our mix.
Additionally, we couldn’t help but notice the above little message that appeared when we went to upload a new mix – apparently Beatport’s massive library of tracks is not 100% eligible to be included in the service – something that we think absolutely should be pushed for in order to see this service a success.
For more information, visit Beatport Mixes. It’s still in invite-only Beta for uploading new mixes, but you can check it out and purchase other DJs’ mixes starting today.
What do you think – is the pay-to-play model the way of the future for mixtapes? Will you upload your future mixes onto Beatport’s new service?
[…] Beatport Launches Mixes: Sell Your DJ … – We’ve got all the details and an exclusive interview with the Beatport CTO on the launch of a brand new service they call Mixes. Mixes allows DJs to … […]
[…] Beatport Launches Mixes: Sell Your DJ … – We’ve got all the details and an exclusive interview with the Beatport CTO on the launch of a brand new service they call Mixes. Mixes allows DJs to … […]
[…] Beatport Launches Mixes: Sell Your DJ … – We’ve got all the details and an exclusive interview with the Beatport CTO on the launch of a brand new service they call Mixes. Mixes allows DJs to … […]
This is fully Crap! if it was not for the Dj’s Artist too wont make a sell unless they go to club and play for themselves which will be quite funny having over 100 artists at one particular club. The same reflected on the Dj side we play what artists sing point is we need each other to servive so their is no point of exploiting Djs because its just a matter of time and we too will retaliate. If i play your bomboclaat tune you will pay plus interest 20 times of what i paid for your song. #Typical
I think most of the people on here have a simple misconception about why Beatport does not allow tracks not purchased from Beatport to be sold.
This is a direct quote from Beatport”
“You can sell your mix on Beatport if it contains tracks you have purchased from Beatport or your own productions. If you are publishing a mix that contains tracks not purchased from Beatport, please choose the second option below. Your mix will still be available for your fans to listen to, but it cannot be sold or downloaded.”
So, yes you can have your tracks and tracks not purchased on Beatport in your mix. But they cant be sold you say? Yes, because Beatport does not have the rights to, legally. Any self produced material is the same. Without going through a label, Beatport would need to be responsible for any samples, loops etc contained in your track in order to sell it. This is now some dark ploy, is simply the law.
The only grey area is tracks purchased from another site that you already own. But how would they know you even purchased them, and didnt simply torrent them?
And in the end you want to make your mix downloadable for people from Beatport, add a link to the mix on Soundcloud in the description. Ta da
I did some calculating & found out with the 10% cut DJs make, DJs would make about $8 per mix (including tax)! What a rip off! You’d get a better deal working for minimum wage!
I’m a dj but there’s no way in hell I would make a descent enough money on $8 a mix. But hey, if that’s what you want, go for it. Honestly I think its a cheap deal. If you want to make a good profit for mixing, become a mobile dj for weddings, concerts, etc., or become a club dj.
“You can upload mixes with tracks that were not purchased off of Beatport and sell those mixes but non-Beatport tracks will not get a cut of the revenue. Beatport told us they will not actively work to take this content down, but they will comply with any takedown requests received from performance rights organizations ”
I remember in the old days you had to contact a label for track licensing and get them to sign a contract and pay them a fee for their consent and license fee’s in order for it to appear in a DJ mix to make it legit. From what I understand it seems Beatport has introduced a new method where non beatport tracks that are distributed and sold do not need the prior permission or agreement? I don’t think its fair if some content is paid royalties if it is purchased on beatport yet other content is not.
Who gets sued for distributing the unauthorised copyrighted material in those mixes? surely people uploading mixes that contain non beatport music and making money of it is illegal without obtaining the proper permission to license those tracks? Again the artist gets fucked…..
“what the advantage of charging for a mix when you can upload for free on Soundcloud with minimal chances of getting taken down. ” The “advantage” is to actually do the right thing and pay the sources of the music in the mix.
Honestly, this system works great, it’s a great idea and very nicely implemented. It’s a wonderful way for everybody, DJs and artists, to share in the coin. And yes, you can listen to the entire mix including the transitions between tracks to hear if the DJ can mix. I say kudos to Beatport, hope this idea takes off and keeps going. http://mixes.beatport.com/mix/id/59417
This is a joke.
I love that beatport is doing this! Knowing the artists and labels (AND ME) get paid just makes it that much sweeter to share! <3 http://www.djredsonya.com/2013/03/dj-red-sonya-new-dawn/
Wonderful, use only tracks that everybody and their mom already has access to on beatport….yes, there are a tons of tracks that you won’t find on beatport…the only difference is that these tracks actually sound really good to most people….The same cannot be not said about most of beatports tracks….
Personally I like the idea. I have just start using Beatport mixes now, there are numerous advantages to this: I pretty much buy 100% of my music for djing from Beatport and I create mashups and mixes with these tracks. I have tried to upload them to SoundCloud but SoundCloud blocked it and put me up for review so I had to contact the legal team to explain that I had been mistakenly led to believe that by legally purchasing the tracks I could use them in mixes etc, but, I can’t.
However, with Beatport mixes I can upload these projects to Beatport legally with a chance of sales (not possible on SoundCloud) and ok it may only be 10% but its 10% more than I have earned online so far.
Then I can still share these projects in the same way I would with SoundCloud because all my accounts are interlinked so I can pass the same messages out onto my Twitter, Facebook etc and generate listens that way.
I agree with what is being said over the fact that people can buy individual tracks but unless I misinterpreted the terms and conditions, don’t you receive 10% of these as well because you’re effectively promoting this music to an audience and probably new listeners and potential buyers?
so now that the mixes are 9.99 (rather than 5.29) is the breakdown still what’s listed above – 10% to DJ, 60% to labels and 30% to the artist? or has beatport increased the price to 9.99 and is taking $4.70 per mix?
pure house music
https://soundcloud.com/afrosizzle-welkom/afro-sizzle-mega-mix-75-1
As someone who has spent years DJing, and going from an analog to a digital environment. I really think this is crap by Beatport, yes it might help the big players make a few bucks by someone wanting the next Tiesto “Beatport” mix.
Lets face it back when Records where popular it took a lot to get a record out, people paid 12.99 or so for a track, now its 2.99, but on top of that Beatport wants people to mix stuff that they bought on their, so that the label gets another 60% cut of something you paid for, and then used your mixing skills (Assuming you have any?) to then promote the tracks on beatport.
This was the art of old school mix tapes, seriously if labels which honestly NOT many on Beatport are considered HUGE labels, there is no Sony, ect. If those labels started going after DJs for using their tracks in mixes, then they really are killing the very soul of what EDM was about, and believe you me, about half the labels really get any samples some DJ used clear for copy right. EDM and Hip-hop both are very much influenced by “Sampling”
This is what made it underground, and now that it’s so “MAINSTREAM” every Tom, Dick, and Harry is trying to cash in. No offense but this just seems like a crappy reason to try and sell DJ Mixes. Everyone trying to make a buck, just like all these “producers” in the digital age, now think they are actually DJ’s. Pretty soon you’ll have to pay someone to mix that track at a show, for all we know.
nice
is there going to be downloadable jewel case art and cd printable art work as well?
the buyer should get every pennies worth.
Quick is right. Who really will pay 5 bucks for a mix when there are so many other ways to get fresh, exciting mixes for free on blogs and other mix sites. Beatport says that they will not make money but I could see plenty of new dj’s clamoring to buy new beatport tunes to put in their mix. DJ’sploitation.
Interesting points in the article and in the comments below… Yes, it’s quite a long-shot, but it’s better than no monetized outlet at all, and there is room for refinement. For the naysayers saying “Beatport only caters to DJ’s; noone else will ever hear the mixes,” I know I’m just a newb at this stuff, but didn’t Skrillex basically make his mark, and launch from obscurity to megbadillionaire, on Beatport?
GJ
I think it is an interesting step to see what the possibility is for this in the future. Not sure it will work out. Some people are saying “Why not just buy the tracks you want?” Why did you go buy mix CDs in the past? Some people still wanna here a great mix, not just grab tracks from that mix to play for themselves. $5.29 isn’t asking much but, it seems to me that for an industry where there is rampant stolen music by fans and DJ’s, this might be a hard sell unless the whole industry moves the same direction.
Well it is all up and running whether we like it or not and of course the only Dj’s getting the headlines are the major players. Now there’s a big surprise. Just looking down Fedde le Grand mix set as an example and it reads like a promo mix for himself with nearly half the tracks he has had a hand in remixing or writing. I will guess that he is also involved in some way with the other label whose tracks he is using 😉 but I could be wrong. This is a great idea that is unfortunately going to get raped by the major players on the Dj scene. If it is not bad enough that they get the producers music for free in the first place then go make money off your back by touring around the world and making silly money for it but they can now build a mix of everyone’s music and get 10% for that as well. What chances do the smaller labels have now. This idea should have been limited to up and coming Dj’s as an incentive and help new artists through those promo mixes gain a foothold in the industry and the recognition they deserve. That would be a true chart. A pity we all slept in and let this happen!
You would have to be a fool to believe that the labels are not going to give a kickback to beatport for this…
They definitely have a lot of work to do here. They should partner with Amazon and iTunes for verifying if you obtained songs legally.
Meh, I’ll stick with Mixcloud. There’s an actual community that does it for the love and enjoyment of it.
Yeah, stick with Mixcloud, they really doing it for the love (of money) ……You do realise, putting up a Mix, on Mixcloud is Illegal!…You do know that it was primarily for Companies, who are already Licensed to present music, (Radio/TV etc) As I pointed out, this whole “Beatport Mixes” is an attempt at getting in their “first” on a legal framework. The Mixes that Djs are putting up on Mixcloud are Illegal…….working on a presumption that because “everyone is doing it, so can I” This is just all leading to heartache, Within the next 12-18 months Mixcloud, will be in court by the respective Collecting organisations, to pay royalties (much the same way as Google/Youtube was only a year ago) (And Beatport KNOWS this) whereby they were forced to pay royalties on the tracks that “are licensed by a remunerative collection agaency. This is & was to protect the Artist.
hmm not sure about this?
Why cant most of the younger “DJ’d” not get to grips with this following fact. ALL OF YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT IT WAS ILLEGAL TO COPY A CD YOU BOUGHT< AND SELL THE COPIES DOWN THE LOCAL FLEA MARKET. You all knew this, you all understood it was ILLEGAL………….Even your Mums & Dads knew it was illegal. what most of you are scruffling on about here in your inadequate postings,and brainless mumblings about "I bought my mp3 – so I can do what I like with it…(stick a mix together and horse it up on Mixcloud/Soundcloud etc) NO YOU CANT….CANT……CANT……its AGINST THE F@ucking Law! (GLOBALLY)
I like where he is trying to go with hos “vision”, but He knocked te nail on the head when he said the music industry in the hardest to deal with. Bang in..the porblem with Music 2.0 is that the industry has been UNABLE to get too ny agreement, too many rules, copyright issues, streaming,collection organiostaion,rights organisations, publishers ALL HAVE TO AGREE….sorry but it aint happening….NEVER.
The major reason the music industry worked so well, was that they had the money behind them to make quality music, using professional studios & all the established people that worked in the industry (Sound Engineers/Mix Engineers/Songwriters/ Session Musicians etc) That was why the quality was HIGH, and also the amount of revenue people were willing to pay was HIGH…nowadays a doughnut, using a crack Ableton copy, chucking souless unmusical garbage upon the worlds ears on mass, is the major reason PEOPLE by and large will NOT pay for what they used too…..never mind the “free music generation”……. Heres teh paradox…millions of yong wannabe Dj’s trying to get into the industry, when there is NO industry to get into?
I made this very easy for ALL of you who fail to comprehend HOW the music industry works, and the legal frameworks that are INPLACE and have been for 40 Yrs……Im made this easy to understand. This framework is THE REASON that Beatport are doing this. as then they have a vested interest to EITHER force Soundcloud/Mixcloud to start paying royalties, (which they wont, I already have that information from Berlin).
so what IS going to happen is the US collecting agencies and their representatives (along with Beatport) will start to ENFORCE the law on a very hard handed level.
Below is the punchline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS THEN LEAVE BEATPORTS MIXES THE ONLY PLACE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GET DJ MIXES LEGALLY.
Do any of you lot not see the penny dropping? A lightbulb going off above your head?……….please ….dont all give us a bad name of being THICK!
This is why music business is went 75% down in last 15 years! The industry wants to exploit the artists and the consumers while the ordinary guy wants to get the music with no friction streaming or to download with normal cost. Today nobody wants restriction and distraction, so why would I pay 4 mixes? I’m uploading my mixes 4 free and they are well listened and downloaded at various sites!
We need a completely new business model where big players such as cell phone providers and other multimedia providers offer a flat rate for stream and download music for which they pay a licence while they receive a revenue from advertisements. Such service could be offered for free with the cell phone package.
FUCK beatport, with its stupid commercial attitude, “being a dj is trendy” philosophy, fuck hawtin and his stupid boring music, fuck all this extreme digitalisation everywhere, and specially fuck this stupid “buying mixes” idea. you want to buy mixes? buy fabric mixes, dj kicks, if you want. there’s soundcloud, with all types of sets, old 80’s, 90’s sets, recorded sets from actual nights, or just some mixtapes trying out some tracks.. and there are plenty of weekly podcasts with good music, for FREE. but beatport mixes? what’s special about them? who would be so stupid to buy a dj mix from beatport??!? it makes sense if you pay for listening to a mix in a real PARTY. also, fuck dj charts, really! find your own music, go to a record shop! if you can’t then buy it online, but end this celebrity madness! there’s no love for music…
And non for Beatport either it would seem lol!
I think many of you here as (Djs) overlook the business acumen, and lack the knowledge of HOW the music industry should & does work, by some of the stupid comments here.
When a track gets played on radio, the radio logs the track, submits to the Prs, and also pays for your track, depending on the time of day etc……This same model has now been implemented on Youtube, with PRS (UK) artists entitled to a royalty depending on the number of plays…….Where the large oversight here is…EVERY TRACK HAS TO BE REGISTERED WITH A PERFORMING RIGHTS ORGANISATION to be credited for the tracks play. That excludes a LOT of tracks from your favourite Labels Guys….I could name names, but I can assure you a LOT of the many many lables that exist, & put tracks on Beatport, DO NOT legally register their tracks thru a performing rights agency. They Lose (well they win,as its unregistered Income, the Artist loses,as He gets no revenue from Sync, or Radio Plays etc.
DJs, are simply that, a playback mechanism, DJs also break many of the rules that were impemented to sustain the Music industry. (Ive been jocking professionally since 1985) I understand these rules, MANY of you dont. I also produce Music, Im registered with a Collection agency, I have a CAE number, If my tracks are played around the world, I get money for that right and you would be surprised just how much……… DJ’s simply have to step back & realise that you are given the right to EARN your income from someone ELSE’S product at the expense & cost of the buyer (Club/Wedding etc) If you undertsand this business, that many of you striuve to be in , LEARN where the money comes from, where it goes, & Who & How it is generated. A Dj earns from the “Buyer” of his services, NO MORE, NO LESS. The business structure & the way the Music industry is setup in the UK. (& Europe et al) If everyone did his job properly.
Club promoter with his Performance Licence – % of that Money goes to the Artists.
Dj – If legally licenced – % of that goes to the Artist. (He also is remunerated for his performance on the night form the Club – Bar – Wedding etc)
Artist – receives income form his tracks being Legally played in Clubs & on Radio etc.
Label – receives income from Sync Licenses, Performing rights Income/Mechanicals & Publishing Income.
Soundcloud/Mixcloud etc SHOULD PAY for ANY or ALL tracks that are posted on their Site, same as Youtube………….. with a definitive section for Unregistered works.
Djs moves the goalposts ALL the time, Many of you havent a clue, about the business you “work/Scam” in , young wannabe’s, putting up their “Remixes” which are completely Uncommisioned work, If you have any decency, put the word “BOOTLEG” on your new Avicci mashup, rather than try & KID the world you were “ASKED” to do the work!!. The New breed of talentless button pushers, who want to leave the Bedroom to the Bigroom, LEARN your trade, Play by the Existing rules. as you mostly are to BLAME for teh current misnomer, in what or who earns from you.
DJ’s however small minded you can be, IF you play by the rules, buy a DJ licence to be legally able to play music in a club (90% of YOU are NOT ENTITLED to play music legally, If you have NO licence (A Dub Licence or similiar) . Also HOW many of you pay tax on your income from Djing, (15% tops) So do teh industry a favour, pull your socks up, Learn your trade, learn how teh current business model operates, before spewing nonsense about We deserve this, and should earn that. Total B$it, constantly moaning about the state of an industry that many of you should really learn about from a fiscal point of view of how the industry has went down the toilet, by overlooking YOUR own responsibilities. So I suggest We all try & get on the right side of Law, b4 asking for MORE money for putting together other peoples music. Promo?…..A god given right?……Nope doesnt work like that Guys. Every one else gets paid from the music produced & performed, IF everyone sticks by the rules. I mean not so long ago, Even Labels paid for DJ’s to do a Mix for them!.
This is a great comment and one that should give the wannabes something to think about… Dj’s just play music, i understand this as iv been a Dj myself for over 20yrs, we are not gods, we play music that people want to dance to, ok we can beatmatch, we can use a mixer and fx pads etc, we can match tunes to create an atmosphere, but lets face it if the clubs rammed it aint that hard ffs. As to artists being grateful for promotion, get a grip, if you are sent a promo by an artist, you should feel very priveledged and respect the fact that someone has given you a little piece of them expressed through music. It does not give you the right to share and blog the track to gain views on your blog, or make money through a filesharing site. And if you have downloaded illegally material to create a mix for your own egotistical promotion…or breaking through as a few people have labeled it, then you have no right in gaining any popularity from it. The thing is most big industry players can spot the genuine article now, they know who they have sent the tracks too, they kow if your downloading from illegal sites before a release date, so you are not going to get any kudos for your set. As for Dj’s hoping to get spotted through a mix on soundclound or mixcloud……it aint gonna happen FACT . the only way to get noticed is to run club nights and contribute to the scene… that or write your own fucking set!!
Bang on the money!
Agreed, being a good DJ is not how you get noticed now. Okay Eddie Halliwell was an exception as he could do 10 years ago what most people can do on Traktor these days. The only DJ I can think of that is currently where he is based on his mixing ability recently is Jaguar Skills. there are always exceptions, but the majority of the time it’s about making music that people love to hear, and keeping something back as a reason to book you to play your up front material.
Finaly someone who knows what they are talking about. I shouldn’t have assumed that everyone here knew about the PRS/MCPS. My bad.
Here in the UK, in legal terms, there is a difference depending on whether you can download the mix or just stream it. Not that the law is remotely enforced. It needs to be and I really applaud this experiment, which must be costing beatport money. Has to be in the spirit of “let’s see where we can take
this” due to the roadblock issue of using non-beatport tracks. I guess it’ll
eventually have to work in the same way radio stations pay royalties.
Incidentally a mix of mine was automatically deleted when soundcloud recognized a track in it. I was stunned – are they really claiming they prevent mixes with published tracks? That protection is so pathetic it is an insult to the industry that feeds it imho.
What’s the legal reasoning behind taking down mixes on soundcloud etc? I’ve paid for the music so why can’t I share it? Just like if I played music in my lounge others can hear it. Is there really a problem with people using mixes to rip music they would have bought? I doubt it.
The thing that stands out to me is a poor copyright law for digital music. And remember the law can be changed, rather than having a strange market for mixes.
I agree Seb that buying the tracks at a premium of up to £1.30 each should allow you to be able to share it in mixes. the labels will argue that your licence does not grant you this though. it’s just like DVDs which officially you should not lend to friends, but everyone does.
The thing is if you are making a mix of tracks that you purchased and uploading it to soundcloud for your “fans” to hear with the download option enabled you are giving away someone else’s efforts for nothing. How do you see this as fair? What makes you think that because you purchased the track/s you have the right to share it in any form with a lot of people on soundcloud, or where ever, and deny the original artist who makes it possible for you to do these mixes in the first place further sales because you “shared” their music?
Also …..please try & learn about HOW the music industry works before deciding your own rules about (I paid a little money, so I can whatever the fuck I want with the track.scenario)//// em NO YOU CANT do whatever you decide to, with the music you bought………just the same way EVERYBODY was aware of you NOT being able to Zcopy a cd and sell it down the local market!..
Any move away from DJ’s giving away other people’s music just because they joined the songs together is a good thing
Personally I think this is quite cool.
I frequently check out mix albums by DJs/Artists I like on Beatport. Often you can buy the individual tracks and the mix, but disappointingly you have to buy the whole album to get the continuous mix. For me, if I like a DJ, but there are only 5 full tracks I want to buy, it’s a waste for me to buy the 15 other tracks (or whatever the number) to get the continuous mix.
This new system takes things from the opposite angle. I can buy the mix, audition the tracks on it, and buy my favorites without being forced to fill up my library with tracks I won’t play. $5.29 is an okay price for a mix in my opinion, considering I used to pay $20 for a mix CD back in the day.
????
What exactly don’t you understand in my post?
The basic idea is decent. However, there is NO justification for the original labels getting a percentage. They have done nothing to earn it. Technically, in this case Beatport is acting as the label (distribution & advertising) so THEY should get a decent percentage.
PRO’s should get more, maybe 50%, because that money goes directly to the artists / or the publishing owners.
– But if PRO’s are involved, then ANY content should be allowed, as long as the mixer includes a full list of content. The fact that they required Beatport-purchased content makes it clear that this is basically a money-making scam for Beatport. “Scam” might bee too harsh a word, but we all know what time it is.
Last, who the heck is gonna’ pay $5.29 for a mix? Maybe $2, I guess.
Here’s an alternative: Make a list of all content, then contact the Harry Fox Agency, and license the stuff yourself. Then you can upload & sell it anywhere, and no one can touch you. That’s the standard model that’s been in place for decades.
Started off with a great comment then it turned to utter crap. Sry :).
You cant license music that you dont own! To give this advice is just a sign that you and many others think that because they purchase music on the internet or where ever have the right to do what they like with it. That has never been a standard model m8. Where the fook do you get your info from?
Why should the DJ earn money from the efforts of the artists he is mixing? This system just makes the current one even more flawed than it already is.
Dj should get paid by the labels and the pros, because we are the ones that help them get noticed!!
sooooooo many times people come to me and ask me for the name of a song! do i get paid for that? nope! did i have to pay to be able to play the song and to tell the name of the song? yes when i bought it!
FREE MUSIC FOR DJS let the crowd and audience pay not the dj!
What utter bullshit man. If there was no music you would barley get noticed if at all. Take away you and the music is still there.
And to add you bought the tune so that you would have the right to play it, not make money from it.
Shit idea. No one wants to pay for mixtapes!
What I’m most frightened of right now is that Beatport will actively try to take down soundcloud & mixcloud… it now has reasonb. Then the PRO’s will also be able to say that the DJ community thinks the same way… and U.S. congress will believe it becuase they see the largest DJ cimmunity (Beatport) as a better, more money making alternative.
If Beatport porimsses to actively try to keep the SoundClouds and MixClouds alive by setting up some kind of cross-the-board-DJ-community-lobby group, then great… otherwise. I sadly don’t trust them enough anymore*
*due to each time promissing things to me, the customer, and always falling short.
BTW: people ty out Trackitdown Pro – yes it costs 10 GBP per month – but the discount on high end Wav’s is good enough to do it (cost for each track in wav = same as low cost tracks at beatport in 320 MP3)
Yes it’s wicked and I usually only find one or 2 out of my selection that I can’t get on TID, which I then use Beatport for.
I agree with that Eric, but I think you’d see some kind of reaction from Soundcloud or Mixcloud to voice back the opinion of DJs who don’t see a point in selling mixes as they are simply trying to get discovered. Then watch a huge Beatport boycott from DJs that get their mixes taken off Soundcloud and Mixcloud as an indirect result of them applying pressure to the governing bodies.
Mixcloud probably can’t be taken down as they have contracts in place with the PROs, which is why mixtapes on mixcloud are legal while they’re merely tolerated on soundcloud.
The latter fact is also why you won’t be hearing any outcry or “voicing of the opinion of DJs” from Soundcloud. Soundcloud is already operating in some kind of grey area by hosting content the uploaders don’t hold the rights to and not actively pursueing the uploaders (if anybody doesn’t see where I’m going: think megaupload…)
And I’m not sure about that Beatport boycott either… Sometimes, people are just lazy, and as long as they can find some way to post their mixes, they probably won’t care too much…
I’d never underestimate the power of an aligned community, especially not one that has a huge reach through social networks. Piss enough DJs off or get in the way of them becoming successful (have their accounts barred from a site that they’re popular on) and a company could be the first in line for where their anger will be directed.
It’s a step in the right direction, but the cost per mix is too high. At best this should be a monthly subscription like Spotify, with the benefit that you are getting underground tracks in your mixes rather than the commercial end of any genre. At the end of a subscribers month, their fee should be divided up to pay the labels who’s tracks were featured in the downloaded mixes that they have in proportion. And DJ’s should earn a better cut. jut like a 10% discount, you don’t care about it. If you want to make a DJ work to make money, then it needs to be worth it. 30% to the DJ, 30 to the label, 40 divided by the one’s
Also the DJ should be able to upload non-beatport tracks and their own edits and tell Beatport in their track listing which label should get the money for it. Edits of a track should got to the original label that initially signed the track. Beatport is not the cheapest site at the end of the day, but most of the labels that people will buy from will be on there somewhere.
Labels need to look at DJ mixes as ways of getting their music out there (a few smart one’s on this thread seem to get that). Once labels actually come forward and say ‘You know what, DJs mixing our records promotes our label and keeps our signed artists popular and getting booked for club gigs’ then the sooner everyone can just get on with their lives. No mass of DJs are getting fined or banged up for releasing mixes that have tracks that aren’t theirs on it, and never will.
DJs should be responsible and buy tracks at a reasonable cost, I don’t care to pay 70p to £1.30 for a track I like, it’s fucking peanuts compared to what vinyl costs were. Clubbers seldom buy mixes and will continue to download for free, end of story. Where there’s a will there’s a way, and the general will is that people want free music.
Face it, if labels really forced it in some way that the ONLY way you could hear one of their tracks was through a mix your paid for or a single download, then they (with a possible exception of the big cheeses) would go out of business because they would be getting such minimal promotion.
I’ve often wondered if DJs boycotted the labels that kicked up such a stink and supported the labels wanting the free promotion just how long the big labels would carry on. Especially when they started to see that DJs can find plenty of good music out there and that the small labels were growing in popularity.
FREE MIXES = FREE PROMOTION OF YOUR LABEL and happy clubbers and DJs.
THAT is what you call win, win.
Oops that should have said 40% to the one’s that sit on their asses bellowing they deserve money because they ‘oversee’ the industry.
I don’t even like buying mixes. I only get mixes that are free. Then I go buy the tracks I like. The same thing is gonna happen here, although I guess some of the boring superstar (pop flirting) DJs will be able to sell some mixes.
Could be a fun little avenue but for now it’s busted / won’t let me start an account. Might be a fun way to work my guitar & electronica resume up a bit further. Mixing tracks is one thing, but as the other article kind of points out, it’s almost impossible to be an EDM Rockstar. Better to take my route and be a Rockstar who walks into the EDM room and can throw down just fine.
lets do some money.
do a lebel, buy your own track on beatport, mix it, sell it….
shiet, I need to sell 4,3 mix, 500MB at 320BMP to get 10 dollars for me….
not a good thing…..
could have been really awesome… oh well.
Wow..just change the name from beatport to ching ching.
now that everyone is a dj or a producer..they hurt you.
This what is called the digital dj world…
For most DJs mixtapes on soundcloud etc. are for promotion/getting exposure. If you want people to listen to a mix of a DJ they don’t know it absolutely has to be free…
Who would possibly pay more than $5 to listen to a mix just to see if DJ nOObieXY is any good?
This will only be a way for well known DJs to make some extra cash with their mixtapes.
Besides it’s another example of beatport’s totally over the top pricing policy.
$5.29 for a DJ mix, maybe from a completely unknown DJ? Yeahhh, sure…
Then again, for someone who charges $1 (even better €1) for a lossless upgrade, that makes perfect sense…
I built a system with this exact same workflow 6 years ago. Beatport will have to make a number of changes with this before it will be successful.
This is a move in the wrong direction. First of all i disagree with the model of selling tracks for profit in the first place. I feel as though musical works should work as a promotion to sell tickets to your live shows and secure bookings. I also agree with selling rights to music for commercial use in movies and commercials etc. I won’t be uploading any mixes on this site. I have mixes on soundcloud that have over 22 thousand plays. www.soundcloud.com/andrewnorthern
Yikes, you think all the artist you remix feel that way too? Considering how much work it is to make and produce an original track maybe you should ask them how they feel about “selling tracks for a profit” before splashing your (and their) music all over the internet for free.
I do reach out to quite a few artist who do bootlegs prior to putting them out on a mix. I sent Kiyani a message yesterday asking him if he cared weather or not I included his “Link get the Rupies” edit on a new non commercial mixtape im putting out.
I also have found quite a few of my own remixes on Youtube uploaded with incorrect title information. I started to write a hasty note to one of them asking them to correct it or to take it down but then i stopped my self and thought. “He does have my facebook and soundcloud info on their and it is getting views…so why not.”
WHAT? So producers should sit in their studios day in and day out, night after night so you can take their efforts and put together a dumb mix and share it out so you can have your ego boosted. 22141 Plays and only 3 comments in the timeline is bullshit m8. You only have 200 odd followers and the rest of the stuff you have up there rarely exceeds the 800 mark so it all looks a little suss to me bro.
Its not suspect as it took off on stumble upon.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/content/1O68BH
49K views
Liked by 1,736 people
A lot of people are talking in absoloutes here, but why does it have to be one or the other?
If you have bought a stack of tracks from beatport why NOT put up a mix and hopefully get something back, if you’ve got a stack of music from elsewhere then do the mix and place it on mixcloud/soundcloud/selfhost you have choices why not exercise them instead of one size fits all?
I don’t why something like this that benefits al parties is a bad thing, mixcloud make money from your mixes, so do soundcloud, why shoudn’t you? Yes there are rules and regulations but so what, if they don’t suit you find a different route.
The music is not yours to make money from. You think because you mixed it with other music you should get paid?
So many better free alternitives. And why they believe you got more views on your page on beatport? Every Dj has his own blog/website where they put an embed player in to listen to their tracks.
And if you really want to earn money with it, do some research on google, and start a paypal webshop where you get 100 procent of the money.
Jeezes, only 10 procent on beatport? wtf? :p
But it’s always good to be optimistic beatport 🙂 keep dreaming :p
I seriously see no point in it yet
and you can’t listen to the mix, just the 2 minutes preview of every track…
how lame is this! beatport doesn’t make any money but encourage you to upload only tracks bought trough them!!!! they will not take down any illicit content untill someone complain, are you kidding me? i will go and kill their executive and not apologize untill someone complains, what a joke
Scam-a-rama! with all due respect: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Purchase Purchase Purchase… Nevermind The collapsing economic systems all over the world… Starving kids, Inadecuate medical access, etc… Engage in some cyclical consumption please!
meh!
Kids… just learn production, make your own tracks… share it with your friends… Stop supporting leeches, you got some talent? share it, be free… when you are 60, 70 years old and we no longer live under the clutches of a capitalist/fradulent system, at least you will have your dignity and sweet memories.
Truth Speak!
Peace
Oh btw? Hasn’t Beatport made enough money? They’re simply greedy vile pigs.
I run a label and I couldn’t care less about this. This kind of peanuts income won’t help my label and the artists at all. Who’s going to pay $5.29 for a mix anyway?
I rather prefer the interest in my tracks being generated by appearing in as many mixes as possible, weather these mixes are legal or not.
and how will that change? There is no reason the “other” mixes need cease, this is just one solution of many.
In case you didn’t notice, the whole “business model” in this industry has changed. 90% of the artists/labels don’t make any serious money with releasing tracks. It just helps them building up their name so in the end they might get their income from live performing.
Which is a complete fallacy. How many “live shows” & “DJ sets” can there be in one year, not enough to sustain a full business model.
The fact is only a select few will be able to make a living out of music, either selling it or live performances.
But this is not going to effect that in anyway. As I say below it’s not a game of absolutes it’s just another toolin the system, and like it or not no matter what you do if something is on the Internet somewhere someone is making money off it.
“as is said below”
Yeah and if that keeps up m8 the artists and the labels who are the ones making nothing from it all will cease to exist. Even a whore gets paid.
I agree with you there man but to be honest not all of us wanna be bothered with gigging as Dj’s just because the failing system that is in place now forces us to. I wouldn’t mind as a matter of choice being able to play our own tracks and be the one that gets paid for it.
Hitting the nail on the head m8. However I still feel that working Dj’s should be made to fill out track sheets with a percentage of the money the club earns at the door being split amongst the artists the Dj used that night. Without the music clubs would be empty. We need to connect it all with the PRS or maybe a newer alternative needs to be forged. If artists continually get paid peanuts for all the efforts they make to write music I think the music will eventually stop. Getting played by a big Dj may be a great ego boost for some Dj’s but it doesn’t get the bills paid.
Why not just pay the artist a higher percent per track sold instead of charging for mixes or at clubs? The dj has already payed for the track.. (producer and dj)
beatport is lame.
I can’t believe people’s attitude towards labels… No wonder why Vinyl is almost dead.
How about for the love of the music, and the privilege to play other peoples stuff – shut the fuck up and stop complaining like you’re something special for being a DJ. If you don’t like the concept then don’t use it. Support the labels and artists that bring you amazing music because without them you’re nothing.
yes and no….it is a double edge sword really….without them we are nothing and without us they are nothing either right…..but i do agree if you dont like it don’t use it lol
DJs are painters using sounds from Artists as colors on a canvas.
I disagree, being a DJ is special! Like Mike says it goes both ways. If DJ’s decide not to play your music then you go nowhere fast. Most good DJ’s are a filter for the tons of junk that labels put out so you the consumer get to hear mostly the good stuff. If it weren’t for DJ’s you would be listening to tons of crap forced onto you by labels. Do you really know how many songs come out a day. You would be amazed. I’ve worked both sides and I’ve seen that most DJ’s & Artists do it for the love of music where the labels do it for the love of money! So who do you think you should support?
I think it’s unfair to say ‘all labels want your money’ I know it’s been and gone but Hooj for example managed to release hit after hit spanning over many years and genres – a lot of label owners are in it for the love of the music and to a degree, do the filtering for you. Sure you’re not going to love everything, but it sounds like you have little faith in your favourite labels… I can only assume you aren’t thinking about the big wigs that sell pop, because that I can agree with…
Dj’s are great, well good to great ones are. If this system continues then we will have to wade are way through a load of shite mixes as well. Not all Dj’s are a good filter for the junk as not all of them will have our specific musical taste in mind. I am tired of Dj’s getting all the credit and the money for playing tracks that other people have written. Yeah I love writing music but to be honest not making some money from it is starting to wear me down. I know I am not alone on this.
I also produce and have tracks on beat port but have yet to see a financial return(like many others). I think producers deserve a higher return on their music without it coming from the sale of dj sets..
Well fucking said.
People are not going to pay for mixes, when they’re currently free
I honestly think it’s cool idea, it’s never been done before. DJs have always wanted to do stuff with other peoples music beyond playing it live, but have never had a completely legal platform with the Rights Org’s involved.
About 10 to 12 years ago at the Billboard Dance Music Summit, there was an attempt to setup a methodl to legalize mixtapes with a clearing house model, the results ended in shouting , drama, and an attempt to confiscaste mixtapes that all went nowhere
So this model has rules, sure. It’s business. DJs haven’t normally played by rules. That’s cool, then dont use their system. Don’t know if this will be successful, but it’s a huge step in the right direction for both parties.
I think the service is going to lend itself to be very similar to how i view their dj charts, which is to pick out the best tunes.
Whether or not anyone buys the mixes is anyone’s guess, but remember that for it to be legit, the music must be purchased off beatport ($ 4beatport). As well, if what i said above about the dj charts is true, then djs will likely skip on the mixes (no$ 4beatport), and instead purchase individual tracks ($ 4beatport). See what i’m getting at?
Now in no way is this a bad thing. It can really broaden any beatport user’s music range (there’s more than the top 100), as well as promote a more community based feel to the site.
It is a clever business move that benefits both the company and user. I’m only skeptical about whether or not there is money to be made by the djs themselves.
HA! 10% f+ck off beatport. So nice of you to exploit the dj.
The Dj is not being exploited man. The labels and the artists are. Take the music away from the dj and the only noise his decks will make is mains hum.
This is
exactly How to exploit DJ … beautiful capitalism !!
They know
DJ select good tracks from thousand of shit tracks u can find on beatport…so
let’s work the DJ for us !! haha what a joke !!
People
can’t listen to the mixes, only track by track..so they don’t know if it’s well
mixed or not..
Also,
People will NEVER BUY any mix but only some tracks they like !!!! because there
are always tracks they don’t like in a mix !!!
But
beatport will receive $$$ from the DJ & from the people…
DJ’s
followers will become new customers for beatport….. the only winning is beatport….and labels
….. DJ will work for free to grow rich beatport……… you must be an idiot
to do that… but we know there are thousand of idiots…that’s why beatport
will earn a lot of $$$$
Mixes must stay
FREE… DJ are not radios to promote tracks but DJ exist to make the people
dance !!!!!
I will
never upload any mix on beatport
if you read the article fully, you would have noticed that beatport dont actually receive a cut for this, also, i have already had mixes of mine removed from soundcloud for copyright so i think this service will become the only option before long
They will make money off the selection that of tracks that the listener will think is dope resulting them in purchasing the tracks. pow
hey will also make money from the tracks you allready have purcased at beatport. It will also stimulate sales of new tracks If you want to get promoted, when uploading a mix (that all consists of BP bought tracks)
You dont need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out, but why the CEO claims otherwise is suspesious. – Unless we get free tracks from beatport – which I doubt. :o)
No he never said that they wouldnt make money from the individual track sales, only from the mixes themselves.
where does it say “people can’t listen to the mixes” – and must listen to the “mix” as individual tracks?
well they can´t:
http://mixes.beatport.com/mix/582
well they can!
Most of what you said made some senses up to this line: “DJ are not radios to promote tracks”. You might want to revisit the book on what a DJ is.
Actually, this is not the case at all. You can in fact listen to the mix of the DJ. I put up a mix on Beatport and had it chart to number 1. Though I have never had a mix on Beatport, nor am I a big name DJ/producer by any means, I still managed to sell 25 mixes, and I also had over 1000 plays.
So thats a 1000 people having viewed my image, name, and listed to my mix…they also allow you to add links to Soundcloud. Though the cut for the DJ is minimal at best, its still money I would not have otherwise had in my pocket and exposure I never would have gotten (including being a ‘featured DJ’)
where can i see hoy many people have listened to mi mix i cant find it 🙁
Prove your claim…
I don’t really understand why you would think that this is some kind of exploitation of DJ’s. They are providing a way to promote yourself to a very broad audience and are taking nothing from you in order to do so. As a DJ you are doing nothing more than playing are music that someone else produced, do you really think you deserve a majority cut in that? The artists and the labels are the ones who should be taking the lions share, and if the article is true, thats exactly what they are doing.
You are completely wrong that people will not buy a mix, because I have sold mixes on Beatport (even while leaving a link to the free download on Soundcloud in the description).
I used some of your (rather odd) formatting choices to key in on some of your points.
They Know
That there are plenty of DJs who will upload mixes are all styles and all genres. One persons taste does not define ‘good’ music. I may not like it , but then I dont like most of the popular genres of music. By that logic, most of the music that I dislike, and think is ‘crap’, has more chance of being heard. They are promoting a product they sell. Isnt that kind of the point?
Your statement is completely nonsensical
People
Wrong! People can totally listen to the mixes. At least half of it anyway. Not sure where you came up with the idea that you couldnt.
But
“beatport will receive $$$ from the DJ & from the people…” Um..yeah, they are a business. But guess who also gets a cut from the money people spend on Beatport? The artists and the labels…you know, the people who are actually creating the music you play.
Let me guess, you are one of those people they downloads music for free from torrent and mp3 sites right?
DJs
followers will become new customers for Beatport? 99% of the people on Beatport are DJs. Your statement makes no sense. I dont think you have much of a clue on the whole at of self promotion. Beatport is a business, and they are in it to make money. If they werent, they would be doing it wrong. But Beatport is also a way for artists to promote themselves and their work. Think about it. Prior to Beatport (and other digital music sites) there was no way for an artist to release a track without full label support, and getting a record pressed. Now there are exponentially more artists getting exposure for their talents.
Mixes must stay free
“DJ are not radios to promote tracks but DJ exist to make the peopledance !!!!!”
Actually, that is exactly what DJs are. Im a DJ, and even I get this.
I dont pretend to be some kind of rock star, while I turn some knobs and mix other peoples tracks together. Yes there is some art to it…programming, mixing etc, but its not rocket science.
The fact that you cant upload tracks that are not purchased on Beatport is not surprising. Beatport can’t sell something it doesnt have the rights to sell, including any tracks you produced. You can include your own tracks in the mix, but you cannot sell that track, nor the mix (from what I can tell). This is all understandable (at least to those who understand the business of music), without ownership of all loops, samples, etc, you have no right to be attempting to sell it, and neither does Beatport.
But you can easily promote your track from a Beatport mix. If one of your mixes contains one of your tracks, you can add your name and track title to the section of the mix, just like any other track. Then add a Soundcloud link (or whatever promotional music site you use) in the description of the mix on Beatport.
This is a very simple concept, that allows DJ, artists, and labels to get further exposure. It may not be a perfect system, but its a start.
Lol..I have mixes recorded from Wbmx on at least 4 of the cassette tape styles shown in the above graphic. Fucking. Old.
Just wondering, Beatport ever find a way to stop all those websites that you can pay a set amount of money for a set amount of unique buys on your beat port tracks, downloads / likes / favorites (on soundcloud)
Theres a reason the Beatport charts are usually complete shit
Not sure about this, I play dark minimal and techno and most of the tracks I buy come from knowledge gained from listening to free podcasts and mixes. I think the labels and producers would loose money if they start making me pay for their mixes because I wont find their tracks and buy their music.
I think for non-commercial music of any genre mixes/podcasts/youtube freebies are the best way to get new music noticed and more importantly, purchased and while I may be naive I think most people keen on music are happy to pay for music from small labels and artists.
I’ve already had mixtapes taken down from soundcloud.
What stops me from finding someone else’s mix on SoundCloud and then uploading it to Beatport as my own? (assuming it clears all the outrageous hurdles in place!)
from what i’ve read about PRO’s, they are the organisations that pay royalties to the artists, not to the labels, as labels already make a huge cut from sales of artists’ music.
it’s checked against your purchase history.
I think PRO stands for PROducer and that is the person/s that wrote the music. Correct me if I am wrong.
Performing Rights Organisation (as noted above)?
Performing rights organisations (PRS/ASCAP, etc)
for the simple fact, If they dont keep the PRO’s happy , it wont ever happen!.
think of it as mixed compilation cd’s – I think that’s what beatport has in mind …
At first this seemed cool but the more I read the more i disliked it.
The fact that Beatport doesn’t consider all tracks on its site eligible for mixes is shady. I feel that it is a bit corrupt and allows for the front page artists to get more spins. Anyone who understands the front pages on Beatport realizes that artists and labels pay for that exposure.. And I’m sure theyll pay for tracks to be “eligible” too. I’m also curious to see if people will actually buy these mixes from anyone but super famous artists.
Cool concept on the outside but when you look close it’s disappointing..
actually, you are wrong here. nobody can buy banner space on Beatport. any features you see are selected internally.
many high profile DJ/producers have made note of this. the front page top 10/banner space can be bought like anything in the music industry.
BDUBZ, this is random, and off topic, but I own the domain http://www.bdubz.com If you are interested in owning it, please email me!
Apparently you don’t understand the front page as your comment is incorrect. You cannot buy banner space on Beatport. Any feature you see is considered internally.
I don’t understand why the money is being given to labels and not the actual artists whose music I’m mixing (unless I missed something). Plus their idea of no more free mixes is completely absurd. If you’re at a club, none of the money you pay to get in is going to the labels for the music the DJ is playing. And what exactly are these PROs doing with the money? Why not cut out the middleman and just give it to artists?
even when you pruchase a track on beatport a good amount of the money goes to the label
ASCAP (and the like) take care of paying money to the labels, which the clubs have to pay, which is covered by the patrons in the form purchasing whatever services they provide (Drinks, Bottles, Food…).
But why not just give the money straight to the labels and artists? Why all the middleman bullcrap?
My sense, having known a few people who try to run the financials of smaller labels all by themselves, is that handling the finances is one of the hardest and most time consuming processes. I’d suspect having someone like ASCAP to sort out the performance rights costs saves a lot of time and stress.
That clears it up a bit. I suppose larger labels like say Interscope could just do that themselves but smaller ones, like most EDM labels, don’t have the time or resources to do it?
actually PRO’s like ASCAP and BMI (and SOCAN in Canada) redistribute royalties to the artists. For a clearer understanding of this check out the “about ASCAP section on their site :
http://www.ascap.com/about/
“Why not cut out the middles man and just give it to the artists?”
most of the released artists ive spoken to, have said that EDM labels pay an artist $X amount for their tracks up front and tha’ts it, they dont get residuals from sales and licensing.
this is why you see ‘track x’ come out on one label then a few months later it will be on another label and sometimes with other remixes and such – the original label has made their money on it then they on-sell the license to another label… then the new label can do the same and the cycle continues.
Completely agree
I think this is just a way for beatport to make some more money by getting people to buy their tracks from them to be able to sell their mixes
This doesn’t work for me, the Performing DJ:
1. I purchase my tracks from everywhere, including on vinyl which gets ripped to digital for nights I am not using plates.2. I make my own remixes and edits.3. I get VIP tracks.This doesn’t work as a business model (to me) because Beatport is a website for DJ’s. They will need to do LOTS of advertising in places they don’t go normally, to grab more customers. I’m sure that they are relying on the DJ’s to bring the traffic, but I do not see this working as well as they might think.The eventual crackdown on mixes IS inevitable, as the music industry gets more desperate to re-live the good ole days before that danged internet had to come round n cause a fuss….Be a crazy remixer and performer and blur the lines even more….don’t just press play!!
how’s this going to play with the new traktor remix decks? you could potentially have dozens of tracks for every few minutes of mix…
as long as you bought them all through beatport……………..
Price point too high for consumers.
why does the label need to be paid twice? you already bought the tracks and they got the money from that purchase. I think the labels cut needs to come down some more. Like 30/30 for dj/label. 52 cents for a mix might make you a dollar or two when all is said and done.
“Because f*ck you.” -Every label ever
some of that money would (I’d imagine) filter down to the artist… seems fair to me tbh.
Because two people own the track – the DJ and the person buying the mix.
I don’t think this is gonna work well
I mean, it’s not like you need a wav file of a mixtape, you just want to listen to it for yourself to chill or learn about music
It’s going to be interesting to see how people use the service.
Personally, I’m not confident that people would ever actually BUY these mixes. When most of the people on Beatport are DJs, why not just look at the mix/tracklist and see what you can mix out of the individual tracks, instead of paying for a mix in which you can do nothing with?
I agree to an extent, but if the process works well, then I suspect out of beta, Beatport will promote the service to regular folk, clubs etc. Also, DJ’s themselves will link to Beatport to get some cheddar for a good mix.
How well could it possibly work if the whole system is on lockdown? If you can only use beatport purchased tracks, not only does it leave out a large selection but it also means that every mix is done using the same pool of tracks. Granted its a very large pool but still, it’s just an okay idea that’s too flawed to be anything but.
Well maybe they are looking to use this as a way to expand their customer base to the non DJ market.
That’s assuming that there are still people left who are into dance music that aren’t “DJ’s”
I sold 25 mixes and no one knows who the hell I am 😉
so you made about $12.5 in how long? is it really word it?
Well it was a bit more than that. In total I was able to recover about the cost of all of tracks on the mix that I purchased from Beatport originally. It took a few months to sell that many of them, and if people liked the tracks, then at least some more money went back to the original producers and artists.
Was it worth it? Sure, why not. It cost me nothing in the end. I was making the mix anyway, some people who would have never heard it, go to, and I added a bunch of new followers to my Soundcloud.
Is self promotion in any form ever really a bad idea?
in a dream, all music was free, artist made money only from merch, concerts, and other items… just a dream.. (i would offer all my music for free, in return my fans would by merch, see my sets, and true fans would buy or download the hard copy..)
considering a lot of music is being downloaded illegally and labels really rip off the artists by taking most of the profit, this model seems to be de facto 🙂 hurray for youtube to give artists free exposure.
Any one working (as in making a living,trying to pay bills etc) in the industry that thinks Music should be for free………needs to think about giving up the “desired profession” and move into something else……….The REASON many of us dont earn as much is because of the attitude “Music should be for Free!!”…pick another job Scott, I suppose our 50 grand invested in your studio, 5 yrs University Education and 27 yrs Hard graft …should be given away fro free>>> Dream on!….please read an informative post of HOW the music industry has worked for 40 yrs…then ask if music should be for free!
Maybe (in your dream) your fans would become used to being cheap and would want the merch for free also. Maybe they would just stand outside the location you were playing at and listen for free. The issue at hand is a cultural problem. EVERYTHING is not free. You want something, you pay for it! (Then you will value it.) Maybe if everyone paid for their tracks, there wouldn’t 60,000 shitty ones coming out every month, and there would be no need for 978 terabyte hard drives. Maybe, just maybe, 200 Great Tunes could get the gig done, instead of 1,879,000, 0000 crappy ones. (Just my dream)
By the way, why would an artist get paid for a t-shirt and not for a musical creation that made you want to buy the t-shirt in the first place? What kind of warped mind thinks that makes sense? Free music, just buy the shirt??? Maybe you could start selling sox that comes with your triple-album, videos & movie at Wal-Mart. The notion you propose devalues the whole institution of music, and reduces it to nothing. So go on brother, press ‘Sync’, let me hear your “Awesome” 4 bar mix!!!
While this is a cool idea, the fact of the matter is beatport doesn’t have a lot of the french/funky stuff I play…
So original tracks are out the window, unless you have it uploaded to beatport. Personal remixes also. So you actually get zero recognition for original work, unless its of course on beatport. So for people trying to get recognized for their own work, it will never actually happen. Sweet. Think I’ll stick to vast pile of crap that is soundcloud.
I was going to say the same thing. I put lots of my own material into my mixsets and I’d like recognition on the beatport tracklist.
I wonder if you can’t give credit to your own material within the tracklist, or if you have to use track information from the ones you have downloaded on Beatport…
Its simple…just get a your music on beatport and then mix it 😉
exactly, if I mix in a loop I’ve created that’s not a full blown track yet…i can’t upload? that’s crap. All those dj’s that mix original material in, say, machine or ableton, in conjunction with traktor or serato get locked out…so much for taking mixes to the next level…
where does it say this?
I read, and I quote: “You can upload mixes with tracks that were not purchased off of Beatport
and sell those mixes but non-Beatport tracks will not get a cut of the
revenue. Beatport told us they will not actively work to take this
content down…”
can you please share what you have read that contradicts this.
No , that is not the case. You can include you own track in your mix, but you cannot sell it. Neither can Beatport legally. Think about it logically. Beatport doesnt know what track you have, or what rights you have to that track or any of the samples, loops, vocals, etc therein.
You can add the name of your track to the mix, and to the section of the mix like any other track. If you would like to further promote that track, just put a link to Soundcloud (or whatever site you use) in the description of the mix. Pretty simple really.