EDM hub Beatport soft launches free streaming service

EDM specialist Beatport has finally launched its no-cost ad-free streaming service.

It takes over the name Beatport, with its download store now rebranded as Beatport Pro, which is also the name of its desktop organisation system and media player.

The idea is that 50 million professional DJs and EDM-heads who use the site can now browse and discover new tracks and remixes. Previously, since the company launched in 2003, they had to listen to two-minute samples before they bought.

The new streaming service is part of the strategy by SFX Entertainment, which bought it in 2013, to make it the only-site-to-go-to. It makes sense: despite the EDM explosion, fans have complained that they have to go to entirely different platforms for discovery, downloads and ticketing. The major streaming services seemed unable to cope with full live DJ sets. Estimates are that this consolidation will bring the number of Beatport’s users to 80 million. The site, which will not have ads (as first thought) now includes EDM news, videos and tickets to SFX’s global array of shows and festivals.

Rumours of the service surfaced last December. At the time, Beatport Executive Creative Director Clark Warner said the service was not about competing with the likes of Spotify, Pandora and Beats. It was to make it easier for their EDM consumers to enjoy an across-the-board experience and to complement the download section.

“We’re not aiming to be a jukebox in the sky,” he told Billboard. “It’s not supposed to be this major cloud experience. We’re aiming to be a single sign-on, which we’ve worked on with SFX for a long time.”