If you’re a Beatport user, you may have already clocked the email that landed in your inbox recently. The platform — already the go-to for buying and streaming electronic music, and home to its own built-in DJ software — has quietly added another string to its bow: Beatport Tickets.
On the surface it sounds like a straightforward move into the ticketing space, but the more you think about it, the more sense it makes. Beatport already has the audience. It already has the artists. Now it’s giving those artists a place to sell tickets directly to the people most likely to come through the door.
The setup looks genuinely useful. Artists can promote their events alongside custom playlists and even accommodation options, all housed in one place on their Beatport profile. For anyone who’s ever tried to join the dots between finding a DJ you like, tracking down their upcoming dates, and then navigating three different websites to actually buy a ticket — this kind of joined-up thinking is well overdue.
There’s also a flexible payout structure on offer, with options ranging from daily to weekly to monthly — which, if it works as advertised, will be welcome news for promoters juggling cash flow.
One interesting detail: Beatport have chosen to launch in the UK and European Union ahead of the United States, with the US rollout planned for the coming months. Make of that what you will, but it suggests the European market is being treated as the test bed rather than an afterthought.
Perhaps most encouraging is what Beatport already does well through Beatportal — shining a light on new and emerging DJs and artists. If that same ethos carries over into how events are surfaced and promoted through Beatport Tickets, it could be genuinely valuable for artists who don’t have a major PR budget but do have a loyal, music-savvy fanbase.
Worth keeping an eye on.