House Is A Feeling

Anyone else noticed a sudden jump in Beatport’s territory restrictions?

I spoke to a friend about this recently and he said he was getting stopped from buying things all the time as a result of these. But up until about 2 weeks ago it had only ever happened me once in 2 years of frequent use.

Then SHOCKING AND DISTURBING CHANGES took place. First I couldn’t buy Marcus Worgull’s remix of the Juan Maclean on DFA (which is annoying, as it sounds great.) Okay I thought, it’s an American label so perhaps that explains it. No need for a Michael Douglas style meltdown.

But today I can’t buy Langenberg’s new 12 on Drumpoet Community! That’s a Swiss label! The EU is a lie! Charles De Gaulles, Jacques Delors, your straightened bananas  just a front for a utopian Europe which Beatport has now stolen! My European pride has been shaken, with the Ryder Cup just weeks away.

Erm, seriously though I’m well used to buying DPC stuff on Beatport. I mean, how annoying is this? Anybody from Beatport or any label owners want to explain if restrictions have changed or what the story is? What is the thinking behind territory restrictions? How long do restrictions last?

The worst part is it seems so vague, you’ve no real idea when you’ll be able to buy the release. And what I find personally silly is that now I’ll probably end up asking for promos of records I would have bought. I’m sure I’m not the only person working as a dance writer who ends up buying things on Beatport cos it’s less hassle than asking a label for a free digital copy. (And costs only marginally more!)

I also feel I might as well put some money into the industry especially when tracks are so cheap. Plus who enjoys sycophantically emailing a label for free music?

Of course if you can’t ask for a promo with any legitimate excuse it’s doubly annoying. I think above all I’m keen to know what’s changed to mean I can no longer buy labels I used to be able to buy? Is it a change in the way the labels are releasing music? Can we blame something like “the credit crunch”?

Or is it just that stuff is appearing on Beatport at the same time as the vinyl release, but only on sale in certain territories, where before it would only appear 3 weeks later? If that’s the case then that’s fine, but the full release date needs to be advertised or included by Beatport. If something is never going to be released in my territory, people want to know so they can set about illegally downloading it buying the vinyl.

(Countdown until someone says “this is highly symptomatic of the quick fix society! we need to have our music NOW, society is in the gutter and feral youths roam the streets by night robbing pensioners of the right to die a lonely isolated death.” Yes I want my music now, just as I want to put my shoes on now, have breakfast now, turn on or off the TV now, where now is a moment in which I want to do task X, Y, or Z I have set out to do eg I want this track now because I just played it now on a website where when I want a track now I click and buy it now)

So many questions! Anyway, what’s your name, where are you from, and what tracks can’t you buy?