Published
Tue, Feb 14, 2017, 12:00
- The category, which features labels like Frustrated Funk and The Bunker New York, is part of the digital outlet's separation of commercial and underground dance styles.
Beatport has a new genre category.
The introduction of "Leftfield House & Techno" is part of an ongoing shake-up of the digital music retailer's content, after its parent company SFX entered administration last year (it is now known as LiveStyle). Beatport itself has entered and exited Chapter 11 proceedings. Launching "Leftfield House & Techno" further separates commercial-leaning electronic music from more underground dance styles. As such, the section contains music from labels like Dutch electro outpost Frustrated Funk, American techno imprint The Bunker New York and Bristol's experimental No Corner label. Les Points, Unknown to the Unknown, The Nothing Special, Trust and Dum Records are also available.
In a statement, Beatport General Manager Terry Weerasinghe said "70% of the tracks sold on Beatport fall squarely in our House and Techno genres so we wanted to do something to highlight the high-quality underground releases that people could miss amongst the 25,000 new tracks that appear each week. Beatport have worked directly with smaller, boutique labels to make an area on the site which will shine a light on off-kilter, lo-fi, avant-garde house and techno."
The announcement comes in the wake of Beatport's previous attempts to filter commercial productions out of the house and deep house categories by launching big room and future house sections after its news and streaming services were stripped during 2016.