yeah I'm aware of all the problems with publishing. Frankly I think it's all outdated, it was great back when there was only radio, film and TV, but imo the rules need updating to work with web. However, that's not our battle. We don't want to become a streaming service, we are OK leaving that to spotify/apple music etc.
I guess we would like to be closer to bandcamp by still selling downloads, however, there are a lot of other ways to add value to a service like that (speaking as someone who has run an independent digital record label).
For example, an electronic label will either directly or via a promotions company, send out a bunch of exclusive pre-release "promos" to well known DJ's and taste makers. They use this to gather feedback on how well the release will do. This was important when printing vinyl as it could tell you if you have a potential hit, or a flop before choosing how many copies of the vinyl to get printed, or gave you the chance to cancel it if the feedback was all bad. That feedback loop is still in affect, however, it's lost it's value, it gathers mostly useless feedback like "downloaded for R.Hawtin" and it goes no further than the label, or the labels facebook page. What if I wanted to follow my favourite DJ and actually be able to see what he is rating pre-release, so I could pre-order and or pay the label directly, via our service, a premium so that I could also get early "exclusive" access.
The DJ audience is a big one, and DJ's still have to download the file to actually DJ out at a club or whatever. I don't think that will change for a long time if ever. Just the security of being able to carry on performing if the internet goes down.
I also think a lot of DJ's would like to have their virtual record box, backed up at least, online. Imagine taking a flight half way across the world to DJ and having your laptop/USB keys stolen. you want to be able to buy a new USB and reset it from any internet terminal ideally and carry on the show.
So yeah, without carrying on and writing a novel, I think there are lots of areas to add value without becoming a Streaming service. I also think Soundcloud went wrong when they decided to become a streaming service.
I think Beatport does a lot of what you're talking about - it's the go-to store for DJs and there are DJ charts that are pretty robust and well respected.
Regarding the early "exclusive" access - I think services that provide value for superfans or early champions are a big area of potential growth for the music business. Pledge Music has a great business built around this idea. Coupling that with the taste maker endorsement of DJ feedback etc is a great idee. The challenge - like all music services - is how you find an audience big enough to make it a viable business.
yeah beatport tried and failed to get into streaming a while back too.
Pledge music and indeed Patreon are both doing good things for unsigned artists and I see potential for some crossover.
One of the major problems with beatport, is as they are the biggest and oldest store for electronic music, they take 50p on the £ and will only deal with "distributors" who generally take another 30% or so just for uploading your music. which leaves the label with roughly 35p in the pound to split with the artists. which is a terrible deal.
Also they don't offer any kind of promotion except for the charts. which are rubbish too. if an artist has a release, they will make a chart and put a few of their friends tracks in, it doesn't help with discoverability for most independents. the only thing which really helps sales on beatport are a banner. and that is curated by a person who works at beatport. which is flawed.
So yeah, in my opinion nobody out there has nailed it yet and there is still opportunities in this area. I'm confident that if you offer a service which is beneficial to independent labels and DJ's then they will use there social media influence to push fans to buy from you rather than beatport/itunes/etc. It's not a unicorn, but I believe it could easily be self sustainable (I'm hesitant to use the word profitable, as I'd rather it was profitable for the labels & artists than the platform, as long as the platform didn't lose money of course).
