SFX Entertainment has had a tumultuous year thus far, but it seems some of the recent decisions around its Beatport brand have had positive impact. The company opted to take the EDM specialist off the auction block in May and removed the streaming components of that brand to focus on the download store.
“Our renewed focus on the Beatport Store, following our announcement of platform changes in May, 2016, has been well-received and successful,” an SFX rep said in a statement. “The changes we implemented have laid a strong foundation for Beatport that have dramatically improved its profitability.”
The response is intriguing since so much of the broader U.S, music industry is trending toward access via streaming over ownership by downloads. Beatport’s success with downloads could be stemming from its focused audience of professional or hobbyist DJs, who have different needs from their libraries.
Nah …. dramatically improving profitability means just that and nothing more. Investing in streaming would have cost money. The bondholders did not want to spend the money. SFX is (still) in Chapter 11. Simplifying the model is all they did. Loads of folks were laid off; offices were closed; and the “business” of Beatport was scaled down. Profit therefore – it’s simple math – is a much more attainable goal. When you fire people, spend nothing on new tech development and rest on the short-lived laurels of appealing to DJs and EDM you’ll have dramatically improved profitability. $5 is more than $0. Beatport will be left in the dust at some point. There is ONE person who could actually buy it and turn it into something, but I doubt he’ll give it another run. It’s just not an interesting business and it has very little growth potential at this point. They’re a cheap version of iTunes. Beatport Pro for Desktop? What year is this? It’s SOOO over.