Two days ago, it was reported that Robert Sillerman's SFX Entertainment purchased Beatport for $50 million, which is part of what seems to be his takeover of EDM properties, already buying up Disco Donnie Presents, Life in Color, and ID&T (in North America, anwyays). Many were wondering how they would capitalize on this acquisition, and it looks like Beatport, which is already a hub for EDM DJs and fans alike, will help push business out to those other ventures:
“We’ll use the Beatport platform to help promote events, and the event audiences to help promote awareness of Beatport,” says Chris Stephenson, CMO of SFX
“It’s interesting speaking to brands and advertisers; they really want to connect with this audience, tens of millions of 18-34s, but there’s no real platform for them to do so,” says Stephenson, who headed up Sillerman’s social TV app Viggle before his SFX appointment. “One of our goals is to be able to provide a really elegant platform solution from both the digital and analog side of the business to advertisers. It’s a really exciting thing that doesn’t exist right now.”
Stephenson also hints at monetization opportunities for artists and labels, leveraging the Mixes product to distribute event sets; say, Fedde Le Grande’s headlining set at an SFX-backed, ID&T-produced Sensation event, available for paid download on Beatport.
They got into more detail in this Billboard article, but it feels like the playing field will be leveled between what fans of other genres of music are being given and what could potentially be done for EDM lovers. Expect to hear more formal outlines about their plans in the near future.
