Become a part of the TranceAddict community!Frequently Asked Questions - Please read this if you haven'tSearch the forums
TranceAddict Forums > DJing / Production / Promotion > DJ Booth > How To Use Beatport (Properly)
Pages (5): [1] 2 3 4 5 »   Last Thread   Next Thread
Share
Author
Thread    Post A Reply
SYSTEM-J
IDKFA.



Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Manchester
How To Use Beatport (Properly)

Almost every single week on TA, I see someone expressing their frustration with Beatport, someone who clearly does not understand how to use Beatport. In fact, I would say this is the single biggest problem in the digital era, not just for DJs but for listeners in general: how to pick the good music from what increasingly seems like an unscalable virtual cliff-face of digital shit. I think the root of this frustration is that people have still to adapt to the relatively new idea of The Long Tail. Summarised briefly, this is the theory of Internet sales models that posits that unlimited choice means extremely low sales numbers of an extremely large variety of products. The consequence is that things such as music will no longer appeal generally to large numbers of people but appeal very specifically to extremely small numbers of people.

In other words: someone out there is making exactly the music you want to hear, but that music will only sell about 100 copies to the people with exactly the same tastes as you. Beatport sell millions of MP3s but the sales of each individual track are really, really low. Interesting music is no longer going to be easy to find. The best song in the world for you is somewhere on Beatport, but it's only sold the same number of copies as every one of the other 50,000,000+ tracks on there.

But you don't care about all that. You just want to know how to find that one song. Well before you can do that, you've got to accept it involves a fundamental change of approach. It's going to take a lot longer to find tracks. A lot of people get burned out because the hour of searching that would have yielded a lot of good music in a ye olde vinyl record store has revealed maybe three or five decent tracks at most. That's because you're listening to a hell of a lot more music. It's going to take longer. You can also throw away those old-fashioned aids such as DJ charts or store recommendations. Beatport is not your local small-business vinyl store. The guys behind the counter do not give a fuck about helping you out, because they have a billion other customers. This is a different paradigm of music shopping to the good old days, and here are some tips to get you started:


  • Tip 1: Do not listen to Beatport. Your mindset should be: if Beatport are pushing it, it's shit. So stop reading their emails. It makes me laugh when Beatport mail me saying "Use these secret weapons for your set!" You mean the same secret weapons you've just recommended to hundreds of thousands of other DJs? Stop reading their charts. Their charts are a generalised summary of what thousands of people are playing. They are not going to appeal to your tastes. Anyone who has wasted an hour of their time listening to an entire Beatport Top 100 in any genre or section and has then gone on a forum to complain about said Top 100 is doing it wrong. Stop clicking on their front page. Nothing on the front page that I didn't directly put there has ever been of any help to me, ever.

  • Tip 2: Use the features. What people don't seem to realise is that Beatport is actually a fantastic search engine, especially now they've rebuilt it. I do 90% of my trawling on Beatport, but only buy about 50% of the tracks I find from Beatport itself. Use the My Artists and My Labels feature. Build up a roster. If you find artists or labels you do like, get Beatport to deliver their tracks to you. It saves so much time, and once you've built up a good roster you can easily have 100 relevant tracks by musicians you are interested in, every single week, without even having to trawl.

  • Tip 3: The Hold Bin is your best friend. Seriously, put everything in your Hold Bin. I know people who have filled their Hold Bin, made a second account just for more storage, and then filled that Hold Bin as well. If you happen across a great track amidst an hour of absolute shit, save it straight away into the Hold Bin. Do this with every good track you find, regardless of whether it fits what you're currently looking for. Don't just buy stuff because it sounds good after an hour of shit. Queue up half your bin and listen to these good tracks next to each other. This is a much more effective way of deciding if a track is genuinely good.

  • Tip 4: Cross-reference everything. Found a good track? In a couple of clicks, Beatport can show you everything that artist has made and everything that label has released. Play all of it. No artist has a 100% win rate and some really are one-hit wonders, but usually an artist will have a few more interesting tracks. Likewise with labels - if a label has released one track that's up your street, they'll probably have some more. Listen to everything on that label, and then when you find some more interesting artists, listen to their entire discography and everything on every label they've ever released as well. Then do that with everyone who they've remixed and who has remixed them.

  • Tip 5: Get better at spotting the signs. If you're really good at buying you music, you can pick up a record you've never heard of before and buy it completely blind (or deaf) based entirely on the information found on the cover, safe in the knowledge you've made a good purchase. Buying music online is exactly the same. From the cover art, the artist names and the track titles it's possible to discern an awful lot about how the music will sound. The better you get at reading the signs - about finding the little trends in the music you like - the easier it is to stare at a wall of new releases and click on the one you know will be relevant to you.

  • Tip 6: Run random searches. Every now and again, I will type a random word into the search and see what the results are. I cannot tell you how much great music I've found as a result. Think of suggestive words like "space" or "ethereal". Whatever the relevant semantic field for the music you like. This is a great way of finding stuff completely outside your usual search patterns.

  • Tip 7: Combine Beatport with other methods. Spotify, Youtube, Last.fm, Discogs, forums... The important part of Beatport is you have somewhere to start. Other places can give you information on music you like that can get you started running searches, cross-referencing and listening. It's also well worth typing in music you already know about to see what leads it throws up. The trouble with Beatport is that starting on a shit track will only give you connections to more shit tracks. You need to find that starting point.

  • Tip 8: You always have the time. So many people complain that they just don't have the time to search for music. Think of how many hours a week you spend listening to music, or practising your DJing, or just sat at your computer doing any amount of random shit. All of that time can be reassigned to queueing up and playing samples in the background while you read your emails, post on TA, cook your dinner, play online poker. If you have ever bitched on a forum about not having time to find music while not simultaneously playing Beatport samples in the background, you have no right to complain.

  • Tip 9: DO NOT SEARCH BY GENRE. It's a complete waste of time and you will just end up depressed. Trust me.

    EDIT 05/03/2014: It's now come to my attention that you can search by sub-genre on Beatport, a function I thought had been lost in the redesign. Use the Genre tab and click on the relevant genre, then you will see an option to search by sub-genre. This method is still far from perfect as:

    A) Stuff is still prone to rampant mis-labelling.
    B) A lot of labels don't bother using this feature.

    ...but it can relieve some of the genre search woe. It's mainly useful for extremely unambiguous sub-genres. "Acid techno" lets you isolate anything with an acid line in. That's helpful. "Progressive trance" means anything below 135bpm. That's not helpful.


I hope the above will get you started in being able to find the music you want to hear on Beatport. If anyone else has any tips, suggestions or thoughts to help others out, please share them. That doesn't just mean Beatport either - any profitable methods of finding music out there in the chaotic online info-nebula are much appreciated.


___________________
Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

Last edited by SYSTEM-J on Mar-05-2014 at 15:15

Old Post Nov-30-2011 05:18  England
Click Here to See the Profile for SYSTEM-J Click here to Send SYSTEM-J a Private Message Visit SYSTEM-J's homepage! Add SYSTEM-J to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
EddieZilker
This is the dance.



Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Marijuana Sex Camp

Nice!


___________________

Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012

Old Post Nov-30-2011 05:50  United States
Click Here to See the Profile for EddieZilker Click here to Send EddieZilker a Private Message Visit EddieZilker's homepage! Add EddieZilker to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
orTofønChiLd
Everything is crazy



Registered: Feb 2008
Location: Miami

pathetic


___________________
Facebook
Soundcloud


Old Post Nov-30-2011 18:00 
Click Here to See the Profile for orTofønChiLd Click here to Send orTofønChiLd a Private Message Visit orTofønChiLd's homepage! Add orTofønChiLd to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
DJ RANN
Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: May 2001
Location: Hollywood....

Nice work Jack, especially tip 1 and 2. The features are the way to avoid that sea of dross that so many of us complain about.

I think all of us who are even regular beatporters sometimes forget one or a few of these points.

Old Post Nov-30-2011 22:05 
Click Here to See the Profile for DJ RANN Click here to Send DJ RANN a Private Message Add DJ RANN to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
Brandt Slater
Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: Feb 2010
Location: Long Beach, California USA

Nice indeed. I try to set aside a couple hours a week just to search Beatport. I pick a genre usually Trance, House and just search. I myself find it more useful because you can find a lot a good stuff that way.

Old Post Nov-30-2011 23:40 
Click Here to See the Profile for Brandt Slater Click here to Send Brandt Slater a Private Message Add Brandt Slater to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
orTofønChiLd
Everything is crazy



Registered: Feb 2008
Location: Miami

theres gems out there and if i have to go the long way than fuk it, i will. Searching labels and past artists helps too. But if you only do that your missing out.


___________________
Facebook
Soundcloud


Old Post Dec-01-2011 00:44 
Click Here to See the Profile for orTofønChiLd Click here to Send orTofønChiLd a Private Message Visit orTofønChiLd's homepage! Add orTofønChiLd to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
RyanVice
Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: Dec 2009
Location: 907 biatches

Good shit J


___________________
PARTY ALL WEEKEND > PLUR ALL WEEKEND
Bring on the drugs and questionable behavior! fuck the whales, fuck global warming, fuck people named rainbow

Old Post Dec-01-2011 01:25  United States
Click Here to See the Profile for RyanVice Click here to Send RyanVice a Private Message Add RyanVice to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
chewy dragee
Senior tranceaddict



Registered: Jun 2009
Location: Your mom's house

It's exactly the same as when we used to buy from a store. You stay away from the top 10 stuffs... You actually take time and browse.

The best tunes in my box come from hours and hours of browsing.

Also a good tip: For every 10 tunes in your basket, choose only one and delete the other 9. It makes your collection a better one at the end of the day.

Old Post Dec-01-2011 06:48  South Africa
Click Here to See the Profile for chewy dragee Click here to Send chewy dragee a Private Message Add chewy dragee to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
Stu Cox
Supreme smackaddict



Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Southampton, UK

Good words. It is all about the trawling - and yes, it takes time.

The most useful bit is probably the Hold Bin part... there's no point in starting a fresh every time you decide you want to buy some tunes, there's so much music around that no one's going to pull you up on playing a tune which is a couple of months old, if it's the right tune to play.

I actually have my own 'hold bin' I keep separate from Beatport, which takes the form of a folder full of clips of tracks. Anything I like, I find a clip of on Beatport, Juno, SoundCloud, etc then throw it in that folder. Doing it like this simply means I'm not reliant on the track being on Beatport... it might not even be out yet, but I've still got a note of it. When I want to buy some tunes, I start there and look for things which fit what I'm after, then hunt around for a copy.


___________________
Stu Cox |

Old Post Dec-01-2011 08:32  United Kingdom
Click Here to See the Profile for Stu Cox Click here to Send Stu Cox a Private Message Visit Stu Cox's homepage! Add Stu Cox to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
Trancefxs
Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: Mar 2007
Location:

If you have a Mac there is also Beatport Pro (former Beatler app) that has just been launched to help you manage multiple bins and go beyond the limitations of the standard account. If you want to take part to the beta testing: http://pro.beatport.com/. Wish a Windows version will be available soon, although I guess for laptop djing I will have to make the jump to a Mac sooner or later.
By the way I have no clue why in the new beatport interface they removed all infos about release date, genres and so on from the crate and the bin. Very annoying.


___________________
Trance Alert: Track the best in Trance

Old Post Dec-01-2011 13:30  Switzerland
Click Here to See the Profile for Trancefxs Click here to Send Trancefxs a Private Message Visit Trancefxs's homepage! Add Trancefxs to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
Rodri Santos
Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: Sep 2009
Location: Milan

Tip 6: Run random searches. Every now and again, I will type a random word into the search and see what the results are. I cannot tell you how much great music I've found as a result. Think of suggestive words like "space" or "ethereal". Whatever the relevant semantic field for the music you like. This is a great way of finding stuff completely outside your usual search patterns.

Tip 7: Combine Beatport with other methods. Spotify, Youtube, Last.fm, Discogs, forums... The important part of Beatport is you have somewhere to start. Other places can give you information on music you like that can get you started running searches, cross-referencing and listening. It's also well worth typing in music you already know about to see what leads it throws up. The trouble with Beatport is that starting on a shit track will only give you connections to more shit tracks. You need to find that starting point.

This specially, starting point might be the top 100 of the genre, when you see a new name or a new label search their stuff they usually lead you to similar minor labels that have good music. I use youtube a lot some people upload sick stuff like a guy who uploaded his entire vinyl collection and i discovered old music i didn't know

Old Post Dec-01-2011 14:13  Spain
Click Here to See the Profile for Rodri Santos Click here to Send Rodri Santos a Private Message Add Rodri Santos to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
djdk
Nutritional Overachiever



Registered: Jul 2003
Location: London
Re: How To Use Beatport (Properly)

Excellent post, pretty much exactly how I work as well apart from this...

quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J


[*]Tip 6: Run random searches. Every now and again, I will type a random word into the search and see what the results are. I cannot tell you how much great music I've found as a result. Think of suggestive words like "space" or "ethereal". Whatever the relevant semantic field for the music you like. This is a great way of finding stuff completely outside your usual search patterns.


what a fucking good idea, why havent I thought of this before


___________________

Dave King - Tales Of The Future [Trance]
Dave King - Personal Classics
MIX ARCHIVE!!!

Old Post Dec-02-2011 10:50  United Kingdom
Click Here to See the Profile for djdk Click here to Send djdk a Private Message Visit djdk's homepage! Add djdk to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message

TranceAddict Forums > DJing / Production / Promotion > DJ Booth > How To Use Beatport (Properly)
Post New Thread    Post A Reply

Pages (5): [1] 2 3 4 5 »  
Last Thread   Next Thread
Click here to listen to the sample!Pause playbackTogether we shall live in perfect harmony [2002] [5]

Click here to listen to the sample!Pause playbackMiller & Floyd - "Colours" [2002]

Show Printable Version | Subscribe to this Thread
Forum Jump:

All times are GMT. The time now is 20:23.

Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
[IMG] code is ON
 
Search this Thread:

 
Contact Us - return to tranceaddict

Powered by: Trance Music & vBulletin Forums
Copyright ©2000-2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Privacy Statement / DMCA
Support TA!