Hi guys.

I was wondering where do you actually buy your digital music (if you do), and discuss the pros and cons of various shops.

I'll start with a trivial example - lately I've been buying almost exclusively on Beatport. Why? First of all, the new html5 interface is kick-ass and couldn't be more convenient. Then, the prices are rarely higher than 1.99, and the price for wav is the same. And it has pretty much everything.

The downside of Beatport is that everybody's using it, so the "bestsellers charts" are pretty much worthless - it's mostly crap, either commercial or some bigger names with generic tracks. I also heard that if you buy there, the artist gets a tiny comission - like 20 cents - the rest goes the corporation, so that can't be too good. But the new interface is pretty much winning over everything.

I used to use Trackitdown a lot before, and still do sometimes, it has a somewhat more eclectic selection and also a decent player.

Please post your opinions on these or any other digital music online stores, or any facts/stories associated with them.

Hello mate hows it going?

I go to Beatport (best for exclusives) or Juno (much more choice than any other i've ever used) - whichever is cheapest. Juno is normally better on price especially for lossless. Yes artists get hardly anything from beatport - same applies to itunes, cd sales, everything. In the music biz you can pretty much always guarantee the artist always get screwed unless you buy direct from them. If you want to put money in their pocket go see them live (what I do) or buy some merch.

I produce electronic music myself and have come to terms with the fact that its never really going to become a viable source of income - I just do it because it want to and I like it. If i wanted to make money I'd sell out and produce cheese - popular products for the mass market - but I can't stand that so I won't. Of the few artists I know they all have part time jobs at least or are also doing something else with their lives. Because of this I got myself and education and a MA in international politics for example and plan to make money working for NGOs or charities - it would be foolish to think you have even a slightest chance of making money in the underground scene (and thats presuming you get well known - I'm unsigned and a nobody in this scene). I actually mainly took up producing as I saw it as a potential way to get dj gigs and the best clubs in the world - and it definitely works for some (not for me yet) but for some of my friends of friends who got lucky and made the right connections. However, I have become obsessed with producing music as an end in itself now - its a heavy addiction/obsession!

On the plus side many artists in underground electronic music release on their own labels so a decent portion of the money stays in the industry and often with the artist. I'd say very very few of these underground labels actually turn a profit on their releases. Most just do it for love, or use it as a platform to make money of gigs - even estabished ones like naked lunch http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2011/08/0...se-perspective/
More popular ones like Toolroom, Bedrock or Minus might be different - I'm not sure?

i use Beatport and have for about 3 years. I like how you can track your favorite artists and labels and keep up with their new releases from week to week. Beatport is a little more expensive than places like Juno but I personally hate Juno's site design. Amazon or Itunes is prolly cheapest option but I dislike navigating their sites.

Dont forget Boomkat also for the raritiys

Wow, such a lengthy monologue on the philosophy of making money by selling music. Thanks for the input, this forum needs more lengthy posters like you. You're absolutely right in what you're saying, but my point was slightly different - I heard that certain stores, like Trackitdown or Audiojelly, take less commission and transfer more to the artists. I know it's a question of few cents, but well, I'd still rather give them to the artist, so it's good to know this stuff.




Hm, never bought from Boomkat, because I don't like their habit of writing a glorious review of everything they sell - ok, it's business, but it just turns me off. Do they have some rarities? I have yet to find something which is available in digital and not available on Beatport.

Believe bruv x

boomkat has a wide variety of stuff but their preview system is unbearable. Constant beeps and noises in the preview samples.

If I'm actually buying music, which I only do when I can't find a high quality copy online, I use Beatport a lot. Beatport is great for following your favourite labels and artists. When I can't find something on Beatport either, I try iTunes at least once, they have a lot of surprisingly vague stuff sometimes. Trackitdown and Dj Downloads are both good sites as well, and have a lot of stuff that I can't find on Beatport.

Also soulseek and utorrent are good for music, lol

EDIT: Yeh bandcamp a lot too.

Being a student I don't have much extra $$$ to burn. The majority of music I buy is supporting australian artists + friends who put out releases. So generally this will be through bandcamp / addictech. But my top 3 would be beatport, addictech and bandcamp.