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Beatport to start inforcing Label Quotas (pg. 3)
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| Zombie0729 |
| quote: | Originally posted by System101
Even in the era of Vinyl... there was still some being released even to vinyl... for something to be GOOD.. it has to be compared to something, therefore something BAD.. its much quicker to sift through songs on Beatport than go into a record shop and look for new vinyls, cue them, listen, put back if you dont like, etc. |
bad comparison man... when you walk into a record store there is a wall of new releases right? maybe 40-100 depending on the size of the record store.
now we're talking about 1000's being added to beatport every WEEK. while this does give you a way to be unique in your record selection it doesn't have any structure or quality control* and thats all we're looking for. |
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| Storyteller |
You could make browsing for tracks a lot easier yourself with some programming knowledge. There are some guys with their own beatport browsing interfaces. I got one. I can browse pages of 50 tracks, download a previews playlist for winamp and only have to look up the tracks I want...
Not sharing it though, I haven't written the program and have to be carefull about the server load... |
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| System101 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zombie0729
bad comparison man... when you walk into a record store there is a wall of new releases right? maybe 40-100 depending on the size of the record store.
now we're talking about 1000's being added to beatport every WEEK. while this does give you a way to be unique in your record selection it doesn't have any structure or quality control* and thats all we're looking for. |
i still think there is probably a ratio of 5:1 in terms of digital:vinyl when previewing... and if you're using a 3rd party software like Storyteller is talking about, then its probably a much higher ratio... |
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| Eric J |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zombie0729
when you walk into a record store there is a wall of new releases right? maybe 40-100 depending on the size of the record store.
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This is true, but this way was always a risk for the vinyl shops as well.
I used to order the trance and progressive for a local record shop and usually the way that worked is you were faxed a list of available releases from all of your distributors and you have to put in an order based on a description on a piece of paper. There really wasn't any way to listen to the tracks to know if it was any good, so it was a total leap of faith in a lot of cases.
Anyone that remembers having to do things this way also knows that the distributors always hyped up the tracks in the descriptions because they were trying to drive sales, so its not like you could trust their opinions anyway.
What it boiled down to for me when making purchasing decisions each week was selecting tracks off the list from labels I knew I could trust (i.e. Hooj Choons, etc.) or from artists that I knew released quality material. However, even after doing all that you still had to make some semi-educated guesses to fill out the rest of the order quota so you could make sure that you had enough vinyl in your section for that week.
This almost always resulted in decent sized chunk of vinyl that never sold and ended up in the discount bin after a month or two. You'd get an order in and realize that a few of your selections were not great tracks, and you'd just hope that they would sell.
This was a primary reason why I would order, say, 10 copies of something from a quality label or artist, and only 2 or 3 from a questionable one. This way, if the track sucked, you only shelled out the cost of 2 or 3 copies. If you found a real gem in the questionables, then you could always try to order more copies the next week (although if other stores found the same gem you did, it may not always be available, especially with smaller releases).
So in a lot of ways the Beatport-style distribution model has at least improved things to a point where you can make some educated decisions as to what constitutes a good quality release. I agree that Beatport needs to implement some type of quality control, however I think some of what they have been doing up to now may be driven by the need to introduce a certain number of releases each week, just like it was in the vinyl shops. |
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| Zombie0729 |
| quote: | Originally posted by System101
i still think there is probably a ratio of 5:1 in terms of digital:vinyl when previewing... and if you're using a 3rd party software like Storyteller is talking about, then its probably a much higher ratio... |
sorry dude your numbers are way off... i worked in a record store when i was 16 until i was 21 and now being part of the whole 'digital era' i can tell you 1st hand the numbers are much further apart than that.
while storyteller has a great application to help with the process it is a solution for a small % of people in the know, what about all the non-dj's that go to beatport to browse for music, surely that gets frustrating and great up & coming artists are lost in the midst
edit: Eric J -- i wish i hit reply about 2hrs ago when i actually wrote this, but your post is exactly what i use to go thru. I remember when the big distrubtors finally put m3u links on their website for samples, i was like ZOMG! -- i do agree with a lot of your points but what i'm focousing on here is the fact that beatport is about 10,000 times the size that any record store could be and all those problems a small record store faces(like we went thru) is infinitly harder with beatport. |
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| Nemesis44 |
I actually bet you it comes down to something more simple than all that and I don't honest to god think that they are two concerned with the amount of artists or the quality in the same way described here.
I would imagine that it all comes down to what it costs in terms of server space to host all of that music. It's also a way of weeding out stuff that doesn't sell at all. You might as well use your server space for music that will make you money.
In time you may actually see them adopt a different approach. AJ for example actually take the first 50 dollars or so for the sales of a track so if you don't sell enough copies in effect they take all the money and leave you and the label with nothing. Not great either but it's a business at the end of the day.
Do we really need more control on what gets released... hmmm I don't think so. If you love your art it's a worthy sacrifice and makes it feel so much better when you find a real gem.
Do we need to wise up and realise that DJs today have got it so damn easy it isn't even funny? Yup I think so. You can listen in the comfort of your own home, on your own system so you can truly guage what it sounds like and make an informed decision without sweating about the fact that if you don't take it the spotty wannabe behind you will snap it up if you don't.
There's too much bitching going on these days.
Man I miss real vinyl stores. |
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| kitphillips |
| quote: | | What it boiled down to for me when making purchasing decisions each week was selecting tracks off the list from labels I knew I could trust (i.e. Hooj Choons, etc.) or from artists that I knew released quality material. However, even after doing all that you still had to make some semi-educated guesses to fill out the rest of the order quota so you could make sure that you had enough vinyl in your section for that week. |
This is pretty much the way that people still should shop, based off a label or artists previous stuff. I think its insane that anyone would trawl through new releases looking for stuff. That just seems a waste of time to me. I have a list several pages long of artists I'm looking into because I've heard their stuff and I like it, or I know their label and I know its reliable. If people are shopping by looking through lists of new releases, then I can see that some people may be tiring of beatport, but maybe you should just cange the way you're doing things... |
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| DJ Sound |
| only ballers make $600 in 6 months!!!!!! hahaha....producing music is ok for a 15 year old who can live off of $600 i guess....The dude sitting outside 7-11 makes WAY more then $600 every 6 months I bet.......maybe a future career to look into ... |
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| Eric J |
| quote: | Originally posted by kitphillips
This is pretty much the way that people still should shop, based off a label or artists previous stuff. I think its insane that anyone would trawl through new releases looking for stuff. That just seems a waste of time to me. I have a list several pages long of artists I'm looking into because I've heard their stuff and I like it, or I know their label and I know its reliable. If people are shopping by looking through lists of new releases, then I can see that some people may be tiring of beatport, but maybe you should just cange the way you're doing things... |
This method can be an effective way of shopping, however the danger of using this method exclusively is that you may just miss some hidden gems along the way. This is especially true in the DJ world where track exclusivity is a major factor in shaping a unique sound. If all you do is play the same big tracks that other DJ's are playing, you might have a hard time differentiating yourself from the next DJ around the corner.
I remember back in the day looking through record bins one day and coming across a record with a big picture of a man's bare chest and the words "Li Kwan: I Need A Man". I almost totally dismissed it based on the cover, thinking it was some cheesy gay house track, but I took a chance and popped it on the turntable at the store.
Of course the title track and 2 alternate mixes were absolute crap, but, as often was the case back then, there was a little B side track on there called "Point Zero". Of course for those of you who know this track absolutely f'in rules and remains one of my favorite classic trance tracks of all time (I still like the original vs the 2004 mix, but the L&M mix was great too). If I hadn't taken the time to check each and every single track, then I would have missed out on a great gem. In fact, the track went off so well at gigs, I ended up blacking out the the title to keep the trainspotters guessing. :)
IMO, part of what makes a DJ great is the ability to pick out tracks that others may have overlooked. In a lot of cases, the track itself may not even be all that great standing on its own, but used properly in the context of a well-constructed set, you can make a good track sound great. That, for me, is what DJing is all about. |
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| piku303 |
| quote: | Originally posted by kitphillips
Isn't this a fairly huge step backwards in some ways? I mean, I thought that the distribution model was moving towards cutting out the label and the artists just releasing tracks through beatport or whatever themselves. This will make that difficult or impossible and although I can see the advantages, I think that beatport may have just shot itself in the foot. Now other sites will come up to sell upcoming music and beatport will become even more a site where you go to buy the most mainstream records, meaning less diversity on dancefloors. |
i can so see in a few years all labels going digital and then beatport takes over the EDM industry and only releases the chart stuff. |
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| kitphillips |
| quote: | Originally posted by Eric J
This method can be an effective way of shopping, however the danger of using this method exclusively is that you may just miss some hidden gems along the way. This is especially true in the DJ world where track exclusivity is a major factor in shaping a unique sound. If all you do is play the same big tracks that other DJ's are playing, you might have a hard time differentiating yourself from the next DJ around the corner.
I remember back in the day looking through record bins one day and coming across a record with a big picture of a man's bare chest and the words "Li Kwan: I Need A Man". I almost totally dismissed it based on the cover, thinking it was some cheesy gay house track, but I took a chance and popped it on the turntable at the store.
Of course the title track and 2 alternate mixes were absolute crap, but, as often was the case back then, there was a little B side track on there called "Point Zero". Of course for those of you who know this track absolutely f'in rules and remains one of my favorite classic trance tracks of all time (I still like the original vs the 2004 mix, but the L&M mix was great too). If I hadn't taken the time to check each and every single track, then I would have missed out on a great gem. In fact, the track went off so well at gigs, I ended up blacking out the the title to keep the trainspotters guessing. :)
IMO, part of what makes a DJ great is the ability to pick out tracks that others may have overlooked. In a lot of cases, the track itself may not even be all that great standing on its own, but used properly in the context of a well-constructed set, you can make a good track sound great. That, for me, is what DJing is all about. |
I totally agree, exclusivity is incredibly important, but looking through beatport is not the way I'd go about it personally...
I would have thought you'd be better off looking at other sources, like the music discussion forum here for example and then cross checking that with myspace and other places like that to find the artists you like, then what artists they like and so on.
You have to remember, every DJ on the planet is going to be looking at the beatport new releases lists, so its not very exclusive. And this new idea will make it even less exclusive because the list will be shorter and (the intent is) every DJ will be able to read it in 15 minutes every day. So if your looking for exclusivity then this new policy has shot it in the foot really...
| quote: | | i can so see in a few years all labels going digital and then beatport takes over the EDM industry and only releases the chart stuff. |
Who knows, maybe in a few years people will look at this moment and say this was when trance became commercial and soulless, on the other hand maybe it'll make no difference, it is worth a bit of thought though I think:) |
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| zodiac9 |
I never even looked at the new releases page on beatport, its say 5752 new releases for today. Is that right?? Seems that can't be right, but I suppose it is, since they are all dated as released on today's date. I thought it would only be several hundred new releases per day. 5k kinda blows me away. As a producer, makes one feel very small. Without good promotion, you're sunk.
I think the Quota policy will barely make a dent in the number of new releases. Maybe only 5% of the labels won't be able to make the quota.
Just curious, for you DJs on promo lists, how many promos do you get per day? |
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