With Beatport seeing exponential growth over the last few years, it was just a matter of time before the dance music giant was purchased by an even larger entertainment company. As of Thursday, we can make it official, as SFX Entertainment acquired Beatport for slightly more than $50 million, according to NPR.
Being one of the most popular online retailers of electronic music, Beatport is certainly a major addition to SFX. By its own account, the site attracts approximately 40 million users per year, many of whom have become loyal customers and huge supporters of the site.
“[With this purchase] you now have a great one stop shop for customers of dance music,” said SFX Entertainment CMO Chris Stephenson.
Even with its recent growth, we can still understand why Beatport would want to sell, as it reported a $2 million loss last year, despite generating an estimated $15-$18 million in revenue.
The sale is good news in many ways for EDM fans, who now know that their beloved Beatport is in the hands of a capable and profitable parent company. SFX has actually become more heavily involved in the dance music industry in recent years, as it also acquired popular promoter Disco Donnie Presents, a company that puts on more than 100 of the biggest concerts and festivals in EDM each year, including the Electric Daisy Carnival.
And SFX, which also owns Life in Color, plans to continue expanding in dance music, as its founder Robert F.X. Sillerman announced plans to invest a billion dollars in the electronic music industry.
“We have some of the best festival brands in the world and now we have the number one digital destination for fans of this music,” said Stephenson.
There is no word on how or if Beatport will change, but SFX has plenty of reasons to keep Beatport’s already large and faithful following happy. The site’s top 100 list, its popular blog and its massive collection of available downloads keep EDM fans at the center of the scene, but just because the site has “sold out”, the acquisition shouldn’t affect how we find and buy our favorite EDM tunes online. At least, let’s hope not.
