[Global Power] Why DJs' Go-To Site Beatport Is Excellent [YouTube Channel Recommended]

Here is the largest online distributor of dance music tracks: Beatport.

Most people who have DJed probably have an account or have bought something there at least once.

Lately Beatport has been actively uploading videos, particularly live videos, which is great.

Beyond that, I have long thought Beatport is very good at business.

This time I would like to explain that in geeky detail, with plenty of personal opinions.

When Did Beatport Begin?

Beatport reportedly started operating in 2004.

In 2004, ADSL was the standard internet connection. Clubs had Pioneer CDJ800s and CDJ1000s.

International DJs played with both records and CDs, gradually increasing the proportion of CDs.

Computer DJing was practically nonexistent, and you could not play from a USB drive.

You burned tracks downloaded from Beatport onto CD-Rs, made your own tracklists, and played them like records.

Looking back, it was quite a chore, but still far better value than the era of records alone.

When my first live DJ performance was confirmed in 2005, I bought a Pioneer CDJ200 on installment, so I have been relying on Beatport ever since.

↓ Tracks I downloaded back then. Some nostalgic names here and there, haha.

Subscription Services Available Since 2019

Previously, it offered a service like the early iTunes Music Store, selecting tracks you liked and buying and downloading them individually.

In 2019, it launched a subscription service called Beatport Link, providing all tracks from the cloud, although limited to Rekordbox DJ and WE DJ as of August 2019.

After all, Spotify making tracks freely available undeniably made selecting and buying them individually outdated. A paradigm shift occurred in the value of music tracks.

Still, shifting value to being able to access every track was impressive.

Subscriptions must also have made the company's revenue easier to forecast.

Recently, Relentless About Sharing Information Through Video

Beatport reads changing times well and operates strategically, and lately it seems to be focusing on communicating through video.

This is truly excellent. However you look at it, going forward almost all online content will shift toward video, so communicating through video strengthens connections with users.

Beyond live DJ videos, it covers the standard video marketing genres thoroughly, including interviews and how-to videos. Impressive.

Incorporating Big Data and AI into Workflows and Marketing

Anyone familiar with the latest technology should immediately notice from Beatport's site that its operations make full use of data science.

An obvious example is its highly accurate recommendations. Just that alone

Incidentally, it probably uses BI tools that collect, organize, and analyze all kinds of big data, so recommendations likely reflect not only Beatport's site data but YouTube and Facebook data too.

Recommended Videos

Below are my recommendations from Beatport's YouTube channel, which puts effort into video marketing.

Incidentally, the live videos are almost entirely House or Techno!

ANNA DJ set – ReConnect: #TogetherForBeirut | Part 1 | @Beatport Live

Peggy Gou DJ set – Lost Horizon Festival | @Beatport Live

La Fleur DJ set @ Creamfields 2019 | Beatport Live

Shouldn't Local DJs Share Some Kind of Content Regularly Too?

With today's information overload and excessive choices, the best way to differentiate yourself from the crowd is to share information actively.

I am not currently DJing, but thanks to daily posts through my blog and LINE@, even complete strangers learn about what is strange in Japan's dance music scene and the reality of the international scene. Readers sometimes message me too.

In other words, I can gradually cultivate fans who share my direction.

By posting online, people you have not met learn about you, and by entertaining them, you encourage them to come see you play.

From an international perspective, you will notice DJs, events, and festivals do this as a matter of course.

Tomorrowland's live video broadcasts, for example, are entirely aimed at that.

MIYABI also reportedly succeeded in getting overseas bookings by uploading live videos to YouTube.

Yet many Japanese local DJs do not even try to share information, beyond social media posts promoting events.

Worse, some exchange cozy insider banter on Twitter. Just create a LINE group chat and do that there, haha.

If you are going to do it, I recommend abandoning the MLM-like grassroots customer recruitment characteristic of local DJs and using the internet's leverage instead.