Beatport Tips

[Bezerk]

Does anyone have any tips for finding good tunes on Beatport?

I've recently started using this with recordbox and a DJ controller after selling my pioneer/technics setup almost 20 years ago.

I'm looking in the top 100s say progressive and deep house and most tracks are 'meh'.

Are people filtering by artist and record label or DJ charts?

The stuff I Iike must be in there, just buried deep.

For info, a good tune to me is Eli by Ficta.

Thanks

Edited by Bezerk on Friday 8th August 11:24

[zb]

You're going to have to do the legwork.

You've already got an artist you like, find what labels they are on, then pore through those labels, see if you can find any other artists you like, find what labels they are on, and repeat.

Use bandcamp, youtube and discogs to aid your search.

Keep an eye on those artists and lablels; facebook, insta etc.

Find what DJs play the artists you like, check out other artists on their tracklists.

I've found Beatport search is dogst, and even if I put an artist exact name, it'll often not display what I am after (when I know the track is out and available), that's when I go to the label and manually search for the artist (by most recent), same issue with track titles, and don't even get me started on trying to find remixes.

I've actually had some luck searching for a track via google, this applies both to beatport and bandcamp.

If you find a YouTube channel you like (artist/DJ/label or just a muso), they'll often put direct links to beatport in the description.

Edit: oh yeah, beatport genres are a million miles away from reality. You might think you like progressive house, beatport reckons you are into tribal knob juggling or something.

Edited by zb on Friday 8th August 19:48

[Bezerk]

Thanks. I find the Beatport app fine, but the interface into recordbox is awful.
As you say, the search is terrible.
It's also laggy on search and loading tracks.

Could be a recordbox issue though.

[Freakuk]

zb said:

You're going to have to do the legwork.

You've already got an artist you like, find what labels they are on, then pore through those labels, see if you can find any other artists you like, find what labels they are on, and repeat.

Use bandcamp, youtube and discogs to aid your search.

Keep an eye on those artists and lablels; facebook, insta etc.

Find what DJs play the artists you like, check out other artists on their tracklists.

I've found Beatport search is dogst, and even if I put an artist exact name, it'll often not display what I am after (when I know the track is out and available), that's when I go to the label and manually search for the artist (by most recent), same issue with track titles, and don't even get me started on trying to find remixes.

I've actually had some luck searching for a track via google, this applies both to beatport and bandcamp.

If you find a YouTube channel you like (artist/DJ/label or just a muso), they'll often put direct links to beatport in the description.

Edit: oh yeah, beatport genres are a million miles away from reality. You might think you like progressive house, beatport reckons you are into tribal knob juggling or something.

Edited by zb on Friday 8th August 19:48

Pretty much this.

James Hype did a video on this subject in fact and a lot focused on the labels the artist were signed to, his thoughts were if you like funky house and a song you like is on X label, they probably sign loads of artists of that genre and so on.

[vacant-100]

Most of the above covered, but my tips are

Check the DJ charts. Not all DJ's do them, but if you find someone you like you can get a feel for what they've been playing.
Label profiles are invaluable. Beatport is the only major DSP that does them and they're a godsend.
Charts just reflect what's popular. Fine if you're playing bars and stuff and need to keep the punters happy, but digging for your own tracks is what's going to make you happy.
Genres: Take these with a pinch of salt - Beatport choose their own genres rather than rely on what the label submit. They're often wrong, and rarely change them. However if you can see a label you like is mostly putting out a certain genre that's a good place to look.
Hype Chart: This is good for discovering up-and-coming labels and producers. It gives them decent visibility.
Shazam: Almost everything on Beatport will be on Apple & Spotify too, and if it's on Apple then Shazam should identify it. It's not perfect for dance music, try not to Shazam a track thats already in the mix as it probably won't get it accurately.
Spotify/Apple Music: These both have fairly well curated dance sections and sometimes get in guest editors/curators to do playlists. Browse these, find things you like, go from there. You can then download them from Beatport.

Worked at a house music label and in the music industry for almost 20 years.