In one fell swoop, Beatport has announced their embrace of digital currency, joining the red-hot NFT game in a groundbreaking partnership with industry leader Crypto.com.
The world’s largest music retailer for DJs has made a bold decision to begin accepting Bitcoin as a payment option effective this June. Beatport’s acceptance of Bitcoin makes the company the first institutional music retailer to recognize cryptocurrency as a viable medium of exchange. In a statement to EDM.com, Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels suggests this is only the beginning as the company is likely to expand its list of acceptable digital currencies in the future.
“The decision to start accepting Bitcoin, and likely a few other cryptocurrencies, is part of an overall long term strategy to embrace and develop new technologies that allow music creators to engage with each other and with fans,” says McDaniels. “For the past 17 years, Beatport has helped connect the global DJ community by providing a platform for them to share and sell their musical productions, and we have spent the past few years focusing on ways to expand and enhance those connections.”
Along with the announcement came news that Beatport has additionally entered into a partnership with Crypto.com to bring an intriguing NFT venture to market called “Music for Future Dancefloors.”
Available now, the audiovisual digital collectibles feature unreleased music from some of the world’s most recognizable names in techno and house, including Charlotte de Witte, Sasha, and Boys Noize. Newcomers Sold As Seen, a duo between street artist Alec Monopoly and producer Nic Fanciulli, are also featured. Collectors will receive a copy of the respective artists’ unreleased track at the time of their NFT purchase.
Crypto.com‘s new Global EVP of NFTs Joe Conyers III explained that Beatport’s reputation for empowering artists with emerging technologies made for the ideal partnership. “Beatport’s core ethos of empowering artists to share their work directly with fans digitally is a shared mission here at Crypto.com,” Conyers says. “We’re excited to collaborate with them on this drop to expand what’s possible in the world of NFTs.”
Read our intimate interview with Conyers about the growth of the NFT space here.