Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is arguably the hottest genre in music. But the big difference between this and other genres is that there aren’t that many mainstream (traditional media) outlets for the music. The U.S. took a while to catch up with Europe and other parts of the world, but the growth in the last couple of years has been phenomenal.
Signs of EDM’s impact on the mainstream are appearing everywhere. EDM star performers (Skrillex, Calvin Harris, David Guetta, etc.) have been teaming with pop artists to produce some of the biggest hits of the last couple of years. And now mainstream media are starting to provide outlets for EDM. Meanwhile, a number of terrestrial radio stations have added EDM specialty shows. And WHBA-FM in Boston switched to an all-EDM format in December 2012.
There has been much talk in the media about the need to unite the millions of different EDM fans around the world online into an effective community. Recently, Seth Goldstein, Chairman of Turntable.fm co-founded DJZ, a new site that strives to be “the destination for EDM fans.” This week, a major deal for an EDM site has been turning heads. Robert F.X. Sillerman, through his company SFX Entertainment, purchased Beatport, one of the most popular sites for EDM downloads.
Beatport, which was a pioneer in the digital revolution among DJs, boasts over 1 million tracks and almost 40 million users. SFX is a company focused primarily on live events, and has recently ventured into the nightclub and festival space. While no official number on the deal was released, several anonymous sources close to the deal have said that it was for little over $50 million.
In announcing the purchase, Sillerman said, “Beatport gives us direct contact with the DJs and lets us see what’s popular and what’s not… It gives us a massive platform for everything related to EDM.” The deal is also an opportunity for Beatport to enter the live events space – CEO Matthew Adell expressed his interest in growing the company, saying “We are already by far the largest online destination of qualified fans and talent in the market, and we can continue to grow that.” It should be interesting to see how SFX continues to accomplish its goal of creating a “$1 billion empire centered on the electronic dance music craze.”