Dance music download site Beatport has struck an international licensing deal with EMI that covers the label’s dance and electronic music and mixes. The deal covers North America, Europe and Australia.
The first release through the partnership is “Open Your Eyes” by Alex Metric with Steve Angello (of Swedish House Mafia) on the Positiva imprint. An instrumental mix of the track is currently available exclusively at Beatport.
In addition to Positiva, EMI’s dance music catalog also includes DFA and original and remixed tracks by David Guetta, the Chemical Brothers, Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, Gorillaz and Kylie Minogue.
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Beatport, based in Denver and Berlin, Germany, launched in 2004 and is a leading source for dance music downloads. The site offers high-quality, DRM-free MP3, MP4 and WAV formats suitable for DJs.
The company has expanded its presence over the years. In 2007, it launched Beatportal, a resource that includes a blog and a publicly editable Beatwiki database. In 2008, the company launched the Beatport Music Awards for which customers vote for artists in a variety of categories. Last year, the store debuted a free iPhone app that allows users to browse, listen and add tracks to a shopping card (for purchase at the full, online site).
When Billboard covered Beatport in October 2010 , the company claimed 2 million monthly unique visitors and total royalties paid to rightsholders of over $100 million since its 2004 launch. “We’re the biggest digital music company no one ever heard of,” said CEO Matthew Adell.