Beatport recently took down Laidback Luke & Tujamo’s single ‘S.A.X’ due to Mixmash Records marketing strategy of offering fans refunds for the track. By offering refunds, Beatport is accusing the label of allegedly manipulating the Beatport charts and essentially offering a “free download” through Beatport. Mixmash disagrees with Beatport and feels that it was a legitimate marketing tool like other sales driving strategies.
The full statement from Mixmash Records is below:
Mixmash Records responds to Beatport’s decision
to take down latest single ‘S.A.X’Mixmash Records is an independent record label committed to releasing quality music to our fans. We continuously look for innovative ways to bring our artists’ releases to the public, and market and promote them in ways that hasn t been tried before
With the release of Laidback Luke and Tujamo’s S.A.X, we wanted to make a big impact for a record that was already performing very well on its own – on last Friday 5pm we had already comfortably reached Nr 6 on Beatport’s chart before we began our promotion. DJ support was very strong, with support from likes of Hardwell, Blasterjaxx, David Guetta, Steve Aoki and many more playing the record in their sets.
The campaign was aimed at getting people talking about the release even more, and to that end it certainly was successful. The campaign was never intended to generate more sales, we frankly don t believe that people would be swayed to purchase a record they weren t planning on buying anyway – the total of 33 requests for refunds underlines this fact. The hundreds of records we sold that day to people that never bothered to ask for their money back proves that.
The campaign promised a refund to anybody making a purchase between 5pm on Friday and end of that day on Beatport. In our opinion not very different from other offers made over time by different labels – offering free remixes of the same record (at the same value), numerous free tickets to events, helicopter rides and so on
As the below chart shows, the campaign never affected the sales trend and therefor never affected the chart position as achieved by S.A.X; a very solid Nr 1 position and we were looking forward to prolonging that strong position with a record that is only building up momentum.
It is Beatport’s own opinion however that we have not adhered to the chart eligibility rules and they have notified us of the consequence, which is for the record to be taken down immediately. Something that we feel reflects negatively and unfairly on Mixmash, Laidback Luke and Tujamo.
Beatport’s statement on the matter is as follows:
“While conducted in the open from a reputable label with no history of artificially influencing sales, the campaign impacted Beatport policies regarding chart eligibility. Out of fairness to other labels, Beatport had no choice but to remove the track from the store as a result. The decision to remove the track in question was not to punish Mixmash Records, Laidback Luke, or Tujamo, nor should it be seen as an accusation of any wrongdoing against any of the parties involved. The track was re-added shortly after with a new track ID to reset the chart position.”
As is more often the case between friendly nations, Mixmash and Beatport will continue their longstanding successful relationship. While we disagree with Beatport unilaterally taking down the record, we will continue to work through this disagreement, for which we clearly sit on opposite sides of the argument. We hope this unfortunate situation inspires a rational debate about what constitutes fair marketing practices.
“I am disappointed that my latest single is being penalized, but look forward to the discussion it will hopefully create on new ways of promoting music for the future & how they should be treated.”
– Laidback LukeGeorges Kool and Olga Heijns – Mixmash Records
