The company notes it is also in talks with major labels to offer their catalogs as fully approved and licensed DJ edits by April.
Beatsource, the joint venture between Beatport and DJ City that services open-format DJs, has signed deals with independent distributors Empire and Create Music Group to create fully licensed DJ edits of some of the most popular tracks in their respective catalogs, it was announced today. The exclusive edits will be available beginning on Feb. 15 via Beatsource LINK, the streaming service launched by the company early last year.
Under the agreements, Empire and Create Music have assembled extended edits of hits by artists including Fat Joe, Rich The Kid, Busta Rhymes, Anderson .Paak, Robin Thicke, DJ Chose, Funkmaster Flex, Tory Lanez and the Insomniac Records catalog, with more to follow.
The open-source DJ community that uses Beatsource depends upon extended edits, which add 15-to-30-second instrumentals to the beginning and ending of songs to avoid clashing vocals between tracks during performances. Though these types of edits have previously been provided by “record pools” like DJCity as a promotional tool for DJs and labels, the new deal allows labels to fully monetize the extended versions under existing licensing agreements, exercise more control over their approval and garner more robust data on a track’s uses by the DJ community.
