January 1, 2008 launched not only the start of the new year but the pre-launch of Masterbeat.com, a new digital download site that aims to bring dance and electronica music to a higher level. Think of Masterbeat.com as the dance remix of Itunes, combining the hottest club tracks and dance remixes from both independent and major labels. With an easy to use search engine and a strong catalog, Masterbeat.com looks to be the next step in mainstream embracing of dance music culture.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: What is Masterbeat.com?
Hosh Gureli: Masterbeat.com is the new digital download site for dance and
electronica. It's going to focus on the mainstream consumer, basically
the Itunes of dance and electronica.
RS: Why do you think we need another digital download service for
dance and electronica with so many out there?
Hosh Gureli: Well, first of all, they're all DJ-oriented and very
underground. None of them really concentrate on the mainstream consumer.
They're all in the super niches. iTunes is such a mammoth
site that when you try to find dance and electronica
there, it's like sorting through a needle in a haystack. The
difficulty in the other various digital download specific dance and
electronic sites is that they're very complicated and you really have
to be an expert to manage to find what you want. At least this is what
we're finding as we're building the site. The other sites also have
thousands upon thousands of labels. Masterbeat.com is going to focus
on quality, not quantity. We're looking to sell the best music
and the most of it.
Mindy Hamilton: This is an opportunity to grow dance music domestically
and really up those numbers. By making it more consumer-friendly,
we also increase our exposure to the mainstream consumer and introduce
them to remixes by their favorite artist, like Britney or Daft Punk.
Hosh Gureli: That's one of the goals and why I'm very excited to be a part of
the Masterbeat team. Throughout my career I've been able to play
records on radio, make records, but at this point in the game for
dance music, in order to gain the respect of categories like rock,
pop, country, it all comes down to one thing – you have to sell
meaningful numbers. There really is not an arena currently available
for consumers to purchase dance music on the wide scale
we're talking about. There's a huge hole in between the Itunes and the
rest of the niche dance and electronica download sites, and we're going to fill it.
Mindy Hamilton: These niche dance and electronic sites pride themselves on being
underground and exclusive. We don’t want to limit exposure or sales.
We'd prefer to expose the masses to dance and electronic music.
So I guess what we're saying is, we're bringing the “underground”
above ground, but keeping it “underground cool”, if you will.
Hosh Gureli: It's like I always say, you push people to the cliff but not off it.
