Beatport Link in Pioneer DJ’s rekordbox (Source: Beatport)

Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels recently spoke with Music Week magazine about the future of the company. The Q&A coincides with the latest issue, which looks at the progress of Beatport Link, Beatport’s new streaming service for DJs.

On Beatport’s transition from downloads to streaming:

“We are still fully committed to downloads. We think it’s a growing business for us and so five years from now there’s still going to be DJs that want to download and use USB sticks, just like there are DJs now that play vinyl. We are committed to the DJ as our customer, however people want to DJ. I’m not saying we are going to start selling vinyl, but in the digital world we are committed to providing multiple, different ways to obtain music.”

On the global opportunity of streaming for Beatport:

“[China, India, South Africa, Russia, and Latin America] are all massive markets all with their unique attributes. We’ve got to be thoughtful about how we do it with pricing challenges. But also if you think about the expense of DJing, the hardware and everything else that goes along with it and learning how to do it is a pretty big barrier to entry. Our hardware and software partners create those entry-level products and we can deliver a content solution that is price competitive. I absolutely think that’s going to be a big part of our future.”

On how Beatport isn’t a competitor to platforms like Spotify:

“You have to remember with Apple and Spotify, their user and license rights with the labels and publishers are limited to personal consumption only. The nature of our business is it’s supplying music to DJs for public performance and for for professionals. From what I understand, the big music streaming companies are not looking at this because it opens up a whole new host of issues with labels and publishers about licensing. This is what we’ve been doing for 15 years, so we are in this very unique position.”

On if vinyl will survive as a DJ format:

“I think so. I love it. It’s still a pain in the ass to carry around those records everywhere. The shift from vinyl to CD, CD to download was a pretty big shift. Streaming is the access model. Not only do you not have to bring anything to the club, but you can curate everything beforehand at home. And then all of the data and information you get by performing, it’s just going to be amazing. It’s a huge leap forward for the DJ community. I think people that may have been holding out are going to make that leap forward.”

Related Post: Beatport Announces Beatport LINK Subscription Service for DJs