Beatport is under new ownership. Up for sale since the spectacular demise of its parent company SFX Entertainment, the online dance music and production sample store now moves into the stable of LiveStyle, a company that’s been formed from the ashes of SFX Entertainment.
This development – reported in today’s New York Times – would seem to be good news for Beatport, which by all accounts suffered horribly under the ill thought-out ambitions of SFX Entertainment, and which since the bankruptcy has been sat on the books waiting for a buyer, adding to the uncertainty about its future.
Beatport’s new owner LiveStyle is still aiming to be “the world’s largest electronic music event producer”, but this time is led by Randy Phillips, a former chief exec of AEG Live, with no involvement from SFX founder Robert FX Sillerman. Based in LA, LiveStyle has had its debt load reduced by $400 million and will also continue to control Tomorrowland, Electric Zoo, and the Paylogic ticket service.
This should see Beatport finally out of the other side of all the uncertainty of the past year and able to push forward debt free once again, although of course how the new parent company performs and what influence it exerts over Beatport are things that remain to be seen at this time.
Larry Solters, a spokesman for Beatport, told us: “Beatport is a platform that services the DJ world. Over the past several months, Beatport has focused its efforts towards is core audience and developing strategies for future growth. While Beatport will be under the umbrella of LiveStyle, they operate independently and expand their business and consumer offerings.”
Are you glad to see Beatport’s next chapter evolving? What do you think this means for the brand? Do you have anything to add? Please do so in the comments.
Phil Morse
