Beatport 3.0 launches today

Doh! Have trouble finding my arse with both hands sometimes

try this one;-

http://www.beatport.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=7255&an=0&page=0#7255

 

Has anyone noticed they don't seem to have updated their "Top 10" in about a month?

 

Only the prices... That they can update. For U.S. Customers, they converted everything to Yen and now the U.S. is paying Dollar For Yen! Our $1.99 Tracks just went up a bit. The conversion takes us to ~232. Since we are number matching and using local currencies, That Djumma Soundsystem Monster is now USD$232.00. 8-0

Phil

 

Well as a regular customer, I don't think I've even made a purchase in over a month, but I check the site several times a week.
Searching through New Releases is kind of a drag. I guess I'm the only DJ who wants emphasis to be on the artist's name instead of the title or label. I also don't agree with a lot of their genre categorization, so searching through them doesn't do much for me either.

They should also do something to highlight new additions to their catalog that aren't necessarily new releases.

And I have to commend everyone who's posted on the forum their about the pricing. I didn't see any rude or unreasonable posts on the topic, just firm statements that they won't/can't abide by the unfair pricing for UK customers.

 

I have stopped almost buying there. Unfortunately, i'm almost in love with that site and others are not filling me as it does yet so i keep on watching the news, however, i don't buy from home, because i'm being billed as european.

A few days ago i realized that connecting from work, prices are still in dollars (Thanks god :')

Anyway, i'm still concerned about their silence about all this issue, and won't be buying as i did. Automatic replies are likely they don't exist for me. I want somebody explain what's acually happening here.

Meanwhile, i've been buying in kompakt (great prices!) and other shops i did but not in big measure as i did in beatport.

Simfy is a GREEEEEAT discovering. Thanks Phil for sharing it with us. I hope more and more shops' content get listed in there, and soon we'll have an open and competitive market putting together big and small digital shops. I was trying to figure some time ago how much could cost to develop a site like this, due to the fact i had likely 30 digital shops found and search for a single track in them was a pain in the ass, but i finally droped the idea due to lack of time and funds.. nice to see needs generate similar ideas in diferent heads around the world

 

There's a guy from Denmark who's just posted on the Beatport forum thread, who says he still has the option to pay in dollars.

 

Yep... £1.99 is a lot more than $1.99. They will lose a lot of business from me because there are normally several alternatives I can use that are much better priced.

 

So Denmark paying in $ and Poland paying in Euro's a right old FUBAR then???

 

That's true, but you're not comparing like for like. $1.99 is the standard "new release" price, which currently exchanges to £1.07. The standard "new release" price in the UK is £1.49, not £1.99, but even that is approximately 40% more than the Americans are paying.

 

I was curious about how iTunes handles this. I think that the standard price is £0.79 in the UK and $0.99 in the US.

Now, by my calculation, that equates to the UK paying about 49% more than the US, which is worse than the discrepancy at beatport.

 

Yup and what makes it even harder to swallow is v3 seems no different from 2 apart from a more annoying interface and higher prices. Will give the competitors a chance to catch up i suppose

 

There is absolutely no question of the advantages that (for example) FLAC offers over WAV, however, I get the impression that "most content providers and labels" view it as still a fraction too new, as in not widely enough supported or understood, to begin using just yet. Strikes me as somewhat of a catch-22; someone should take a bold lead and drive acceptance, and I hope that beatport will do so (after all, they've offered DRM-free AAC from the very beginning, whereas most sites only offer mp3).

It's not often I think such rants are justified, but in this case I totally see where you're coming from - there IS too much greed in the music industry. My opinion is that in the industry in general the board level employees won't care about user backlash at raising prices, they'll only be worried about the bottom line - if their simulations show the increased prices more than compensates for the loss of buyers, they'll do it.

 

I can assure you it has been read, and I've also asked beatport to post a response to that and the other points raised in the same thread.

See my previous post about iTunes. I'm not an iTunes user, but do you know whether that allows you to buy in Euros? I'm not trying to duck the question, I'm just interested in what precedents exist to support your argument.

 

allofmp3.com

That's a precedent. Russians know how to do it... check by yourselves.

This shop was created much before than beatport, djdownload, etc.

It has been on-line mp3 seller for more than 6 years, and when you choose to buy something, you can select which format you desire it, you can choose between FLAC, AAC, MP3, WMA, WAV... they encode it almost on the fly.

Not to forget, mention that for those formats that have possibility to be encoded at diferent bitrates, can also be choosen to fit your need.

Note also that as it does not clarify very well how rights are being handled, i have used it just to get the tunes i already had in vinyl, instead of making a not good enough vinyl rip by myself. I'm not going to judge if they are acting right or not, it doesn't matter to me since as i said, i have already bought the tracks before in vinyl.

Let's say i have a russian mate that rips vinyls for me for less than $0,20 each one

The original currency is rupees or dollars, and they sell to the whole world at the same price rates, acording to the format/bitrate you choose.

 

Russian download sites are notorious for not paying artists or labels a dime and not being signatories to any international copyright agreements. Basically you're paying for pirated stuff. You want to give those guys your credit card info?

 

You may think whatever you want, fellow...

I've explained what use i do about that, and i am confident that they do not have my credit card details.

It is payed via secured payment, and no action can be done without my authorization. Anyway, i check everyday my account becuse i don't want to be robbed, either by russians or americans or whoever.

Visa details are everywhere, and accidents may happen buying everywhere.

I know my bank will bring me back any payment that i argue i have not made.

This way i could get all my Depeche mode singles i have in vinyl as mp3, in good bitrate, without wasting time and for a very affordable price.

 

And also, i am not sure if the rights management from this site is actually as you describe.

They may have diferent laws, but it's hard to believe, that they do not pay anything and keep alive for so many years as tey've done.

I was reading some about them, and until the date, only one international organization as tried to stop them: this is the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. No artist has actually claimed anything about these sites, that i know.

The most important factor is that one US dollar is worth lots of rubles. In Russia CDs cost about 100 rubles ($3). So to Russians Allofmp3 is in fact almost as expensive as iTunes to Americans.

I tend to think that artists are receiving their fee, but not the intermediate involved entities, i mean: the creator of music, has done his job and is receiving the corresponding fee for that, but there's no Phonographic manufacturing involvement in a digital file, so they don't receive anything. This is what comes to my mind when i read that only International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has tried to court them.

Read that extract from their terms of use:

Copyright

The availability over the Internet of the ALLOFMP3.com materials is authorized by the license # LS-3М-05-03 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and license # 006/3M-05 of the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). Under the licenses' terms, MediaServices pays license fees for all materials downloaded from the site subject to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights". All these materials are solely for personal use. Any further distribution, resale or broadcasting are prohibited.

If you're still thinking that this site is ilegal, check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllOfMP3.com

I may be misunderstanding some things here because i'm not a lawyer, however, i don't make anything near a bad use of this service. I just use it to get what i already have in vinyl, have payed previously, and have right to make a copy for my own use.

 

In my opinion it sounds like an extremely impressive system, although I have never used it myself because I am suspicious of its legallity. Even if it turns out to be completely legal, my personal choice is to pay more elsewhere in the hopes the artists will benefit more and continue to produce more music I love. But that's rather off topic I guess, sorry...

 

It's your choice, and it is respectable. I don't need to justify my acts to nobody, however, i would like to specify that I have spent there $20, while i've spent in beatport more than $500, and another $500 in other shops in the last year. And i've been spending lots of money during the last 10 years, in vinyls and cd's, i own more than 1500 vinyls, and about 200 of them, were not payed to $10 but at more than $20. And i still look like a pirate to the industry... as they are billing me anytime i buy something, for the wrong acts of others.

The good point here, appart from discussing the legality or not of this site, is the way the shop is built, and the services it offers. Also, the customer service is way much faster than other "legal" shops. You won't find here fresh electronic music, as i've said, i've only used it to buy songs i already had in vinyl, most of them, 80's tunes.

I hope nobody may think i'm making apology of indiscriminate usage of this sites. This is not what i meant.

And it also is a point to reinforce the fact that a MP3 can't cost the same as it would the same release in vinyl. It sounds obvious to me, although it seems, as others pointed before, that the industry thinking goes in other direction. The industry thinking it to bleed customers that have choosen this way of buying music, to pay all what they are loosing by other sides due to piracy.

Piracy would dissapear in the moment everybody could buy what he/she wants at a reasonable price. Reasonable means no more than $0.99 for ANY track, and give the user a choice to get packs, for those that buy a lot, give them the chance to benefit about discounts.

This may be why itunes has became so popular, although all this DRM stuff they want to impose to users is rubbish. This is mainly the reason why i don't buy there. I don't want to be suspect of going to gift what i buy in advance, and that's what they promote. "We sell it to you but we're not sure if you'll make more copies than what you're intended to, so in case you even think about it, we already stop you, and make you pay more just for this presumption."

The essence of it all is that for the music industry, every single person is not a customer but an alleged pirate, and those that buy have to pay for that.

And we are the ones following the rules, we are buying!!!

Later on, you have a guilty conscience that they are imposing to you, that if you break these rules anytime, you are ****ing the artists a lot. WTF... you aren't ****ing them so, actually THEY are! Since artist gets the smaller part of it all, but the shame is not ours, it is from THE INDUSTRY.

... isn't it?

Will we ever be the ones that have to open our asses and let them come in with a big stick that they place in there, and also be thankful for that?

 

It doesn't have sense to me. Let's imagine for a while, that it becomes as you say, completely legal. I can't believe you'd choose to pay more "for the artist" in other shops - how do you know the extra amount of money you are paying for the same good will go to the artist?

History teaches us that it has never been like this. Third parties, mediators, get the biggest part of it. It had "sense" before, since nobody had a studio in his home, but today... what's happening today? The industry can't keep on justifying its existence this way.

So following that sentence you say, i may think you have unlimited budget. You can choose where and how do you spend it. You would be lucky!

Many others would not. Would they have less rights to access to culture than you for that?

Governments, entities, industries... should think about this. This may be applied to any discipline, not just music but also literature, education etc. But as always, they just think about how can they become more rich, by ****ing customers, artists, etc..

Today, thanks to the internet, we have an opportunity to bring down all these barriers, and it could be done also respecting the rights of the artists, creators, etc.. as well as giving us the chance to participate in a balanced way. But it seems that industry's greed is still more powerful than our opinion.

That's my opinion. But as i read myself i realize all these thinkings are a little bit uthopic, according to our reality.