Beatport’s new streaming player to pay artists for each play

EDM online music store Beatport has launched its own embeddable music player – and promises that artists and rights holders will be paid for each play.

The player will play across websites, blogs and social channels to stream songs from its service, Billboard reported.

Its Executive Creative Director Clark Warner said "Supporting artists has been a core value at Beatport since day one, and that mission remains as we expand to serving fans with our new streaming service.

“Our embeddable streaming music player not only helps artists promote their music by making it available wherever their fans live online, but we are also taking the necessary steps to pay rightsholders for each listen so artists get paid."

Beatport is up against SoundCloud (which does not pay artists) and Spotify whose embedded option requires an account to play.

News of Beatport’s streaming player surfaced last December. In March it introduced a streaming service for mobiles.

Beatport was set up in 2004 with 79 EDM labels. In 2013 it became part of the SFX Entertainment dance music empire for a reported US$50 million. It has moved from an online store for EDM professionals and fans to a free music streaming service and online community with festival and artist news, curated playlists and EDM charts.

The store was rebranded as Beatport Pro, and moved to a different web address. The streaming service is free and ad-funded for fans leaning to the casual listener, while DJs (who have to download tracks from the site for their live sets) have to subscribe.