RS: How are you making the site easy to use for the average consumer?
Hosh Gureli: The layout makes the site very easy to use.
Mindy Hamilton: The tabs on the left-hand side are the search mechanism, where
you can browse by genre, artist, remix or labels - the basic areas of
dance that you might do a search under, kind of like the library. It's
really easy to use. Then in the middle section we have new releases
and artists that we're featuring.
Hosh Gureli: We pride ourselves with having the A&R knowledge to
pick the records we feel have the most potential to sell in large numbers.
We will use our Spotlight and Featured sections for those selections.
I'm not thinking that our top ten is going to change every week like you see in some of these other
download sites. Big tracks are big tracks. You've got a big Rihanna
remix and you've also got a big underground mix like Pete Tong
and Dave Spoon mix of Robyn/Kleerup "With Every Heartbeat." Both are
amazing records that have mass appeal. Part of it goes
through a little A&R in your head, – this is not just an
underground record. The “Heater -Samin" record is not just an underground
record - give it some focus and it you can blow up more than just its
limited underground audience. You will see people responding to this
record who are not dance aficionados.
Mindy Hamilton: The site will also have all kinds of charts. We're looking to have lists
from Sirius, mixed shows, dance stations and DJs. The idea is that you hear
a dance mix on one of the these various outlets and now you can buy it immediately
Hosh Gureli: We will concentrate on some of the very hip underground cool
DJs, but we're not going to be limited to that. We want to know what
the playlist is of Joel Salkowitz's original hot 97 internet station
as well as the Billboard top fifty club chart so we can make those charting records available for download
on Masterbeat. Solid partnerships with key members of the dance and electronic industry
are a cornerstone of our business.
Let's face it, there are ten times more mainstream clubs than there are super underground clubs and that’s not including the thousands of mobile DJs out there. This is going to bridge the gap. I think if we can show that there is growth in selling this kind of music by getting the word out that Masterbeat exists and that it's functionally easy to use, Dance Music wins
RS: So the site is live?
Hosh Gureli: We are live! This is just a pre-launch beta site with
the labels that we've been friendly with over the years. It includes
Ultra, Tommy Boy, Strictly Rhythm, Nervous Records, Cutting, JVM, Dave
Aude's Audacious, and Robbie Rivera's Juicy label among others.
Look at Masterbeat as an all encompassing dance and electronic site
that includes pop dance, classic freestyle, old disco, urban dance, alternative,
underground house, etc.
Mindy Hamilton: One of our many unique dynamics is that unlike the other
dance-specific sites, we will have the majors involved. We're also
hoping to bridge the mainstream and underground gap by discovery.
When people do a search on Google or Yahoo for Maroon 5 or
Annie Lennox, Masterbeat will appear in the top search selections,
leading the consumer to our site and thus discovering a remix by that
favorite artist of theirs. While they're on the site, they'll be exposed
to more dance music and fall in love with the genre like we all have!
We're aiming for discovery on both ends – for the top remixes as well as
for some of the underground labels.
