Last week saw the sad news of Juno Download closing down. Almost out of the blue after 20 odd years, the popular DJ orientated music store announced on social media that it was calling time, citing the rise of streaming as too strong a competitor.
A shout out was given to Beatport and Traxsource but there’s another site you probably haven’t heard of and the strange thing is it’s been around in some form since 2022. This site is Volumo, started up by a trio of Ukrainian DJs with a more ethical and curated mindset.
Design wise, it looks similar to both Juno Download and Traxsource with a nice UI and a pleasent UX. The audio clip waveforms load up nicely in the chrome mobile browser which is a good sign.
All the quintessential features of a good modern download store are present- DJ charts, Genre pages, Curated collections, and label & artist features. Tracks can be purchased and downloaded in all popular formats at no extra cost.
All the major genres have easily accessible pages with up to date music. Clicking on a track opens a page with all the relevant details and links to labels and artists plus recommended tracks. Everything is very smooth and intuitive, it’s easy to navigate between pages, add to cart and discover new music.
The site also offers a way for both artists and DJs/Curators to earn from sales, according to the about section:
75% of every sale goes straight to the rights holders, and another 5% goes to the chart curator when the sale came through a chart.
If you wanted to be objective, it’s clear Volumo doesn’t have the massive catalogs of it’s competitors but that seems to be the point. The emphasis is on quality over quantity. Will Volumo find a place among the big names as Bandcamp did? Time will tell but there’s plenty to like about the site. Check it out here.