Beatport shuts down news and streaming, suspends auction

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  • The company will refocus on its primary business—track downloads.
  • Beatport shuts down news and streaming, suspends auction image
  • Beatport will close the streaming and news services it launched in recent years to focus solely on its digital download site. The news follows reports that Beatport's owner, the embattled EDM holdings company SFX Entertainment, was preparing to auction off the Colorado-based company. That auction, which was scheduled to occur on May 3rd, was postponed. In an official statement posted on its site today, Beatport says that process will be "suspended for now." The company also says that they will shut down their streaming service, mobile app, events section and livestreaming platform by the end of this week.
    When Beatport was acquired three years ago, part of the vision was to create a broad digital platform for DJs to engage fans of electronic music wherever they may be. The original Beatport Store and the Beatport brand became the foundation for this vision, upon which we added a streaming music service, mobile app, a video livestreaming platform, and a relaunched news and media property. We have learned through this process however, that in our effort to be so many different things, we lost focus on bringing the best possible service and capabilities to our most loyal customers: the DJ community. As such, we have determined to invest in what is most important to our business and our customers, rather than adding yet another choice to a sea of streaming services. This means we will be shutting down the Streaming service and mobile app, Beatport News, the Video livestreaming platform, and the Events section effective May 13, 2016. Additionally, while we plan to continue considering offers for Beatport, the previously detailed auction process will be suspended for now.
    It's unclear how many employees will be laid off as a result of the reorganization, though RA has reached out for a comment from Beatport.
RA