Since November 2023, we've partnered with the Beatportal team. Together, we are developing a membership community platform, designed to be the ultimate club for music creators worldwide. This initiative is a huge part of Beatport's ongoing commitment to support DJs, producers, and music creators at all stages of their careers with the best tools and services to elevate their craft. With the new membership community, it’s our aim to cater to the needs of the next generation of DJs, producers, and creators.
In March, we launched the first MVP version of this platform, marking just the beginning of this exciting transformation. This new platform represents a significant shift from an editorial-driven approach to a community-driven model, empowering creators to engage, collaborate, and contribute like never before.
As we continue on this exciting journey, Laurien, our Strategy Lead, had the opportunity to sit down with Charles Morgan, CMO of The Beatport Group. To discuss our collaboration, relevant industry insights in the DJ and Producer market, and what motivated him to onboard an extended product team for this digital transformation.
Charles, how long have you been working in the music industry? What are your goals and aspirations as the CMO at The Beatport Group?
CM: I've been blessed to work and make friendships in studios alongside artists, producers, DJs and songwriters my entire career. At The Beatport Group, we're excited to keep building best-in-class tools and services to support these same music creators of all levels, all over the world, at all stages of their career.
What key industry trends or insights in the DJ & Producer market are you most excited about, and why?
CM: We're already seeing a generation of genre-fluid creators take centre stage and similarly, the emerging users don't relegate themselves to producing -or- DJing, they need tools for both. In the future, we imagine everyone from hobbyists to professionals will want to experiment with new tools to play with their music, and we want to build the best on-ramps for them into that world.
What triggered you to shift from an editorial-led to a community-driven approach and build a brand new membership community that connects music creators all over the world?
CM: Beatportal has always been community-first and will continue to serve the community, but they are evolving faster and faster. In previous generations, the broadcast model was the standard, but today the audience demands and deserves participation in the experience. Nobody can be in every corner of the globe at all times and the velocity of culture is so quick that we need to find ways to crowdsource that coverage. By unlocking access for and rewarding a wider group of contributors, we think we can provide a more diverse range of opinions in Editorial, more specialised modules in Education and a more fun experience for the Entertainment vertical. And to be super clear, we think the value of the written word will only continue to grow, which is why you can expect to continue seeing your favourite Beatportal staples every month on the platform.
“In previous generations, the broadcast model was the standard, but today the audience demands and deserves participation in the experience.”
You mentioned that the Beatport Group normally only works with in-house product teams. What made you choose to collaborate with an external agency this time?
CM: The longer you stare at something, the harder it is to find a fresh perspective. We knew that for our 20th anniversary, we'd be evolving how our products and services intersect and we wanted to find a partner that would provide a new lens to view the opportunity. Since our development teams are focused on product excellence and with so much innovation coming out in the past 12 months, and more coming shortly,, we wanted to make sure the internal team could focus on the core offering while we Beatportal's redesign with an external partner. Bravoure came to us as a recommendation in the eleventh hour, but quickly demonstrated that they knew the culture, were tapped in with the audience and had a portfolio which proved they could build something our audience would love.
“Bravoure came to us as a recommendation in the eleventh hour, but quickly demonstrated that they knew the culture, were tapped in with the audience and had a portfolio which proved they could build something our audience would love.
What did you find most valuable when closely collaborating with Bravoure as a strategic partner?
CM: We like to choose partners that we think we can enjoy the good times with but that we're certain we can work alongside in tougher circumstances. We've never built a platform like this before and knew we'd be adjusting our vision along the way, so we wanted a partner who could be agile, transparent about what was possible and realistic with a timeline to deliver and roll it out.
What future possibilities are you most eager to explore as we continue to build out this membership community?
CM: We're excited to have the community drive the conversation, sharing and surfacing the content they find the most inspiring and then rewarding them by spotlighting the most interesting stories for our global audience. As the new platform builds momentum, we think it will influence how genres are discovered, forge collaboration between unlikely participants and help to accelerate the growth of an entirely new generation of DJs and producers.
We also asked Sergio Alonso-García, who recently joined The Beatport Group as the VP of Beatportal, to share his thoughts on the future possibilities and his vision for the community.
SA-G: “As we look to the future, I see limitless potential in empowering artists to not only showcase their talent but to reshape the music landscape. Beatportal is committed to creating a space where inspiration, discovery, and collaboration spark creativity, allowing every voice—from up-and-coming DJs and producers to established artists—to be heard and connect directly with fans seeking authentic content. Together, we’re not just building a community platform; we’re shaping the future of music, and I’m excited to see the groundbreaking stories and collaborations that will emerge from this collective energy.”
This is only the beginning of an exciting journey. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to innovate and expand this community membership, shaping the future of music creation together. We can't wait to see what amazing content and collaborations emerge from this dynamic community.