Robert Sillerman on Beatport and the buyout — what comes next?
You've probably heard by now that Beatport was bought out by Robert Sillerman's SFX Entertainment for a reported $50 million earlier this week. It's a major move for a company that has acquired several key electronic music promotion and live event companies over the last couple of months. Beatport, however, is the first stake SFX has claimed in the realm of digital music sales and other media-focused ventures.
Robert Sillerman buys Beatport, expands his EDMpire
According to the New York Times Media Decoder, SFX Entertainment has just purchased Beatport for "a little more than 50m." The move is just another step in CEO Robert Sillerman's plans to build a billion dollar EDMpire. With a history of acquisitions like Disco Donnie Presents and Life In Color, as well as, his recent investments into Miami nightlife and the festival circuit, the move comes as little surprise;
Tomorrowland announces TomorrowWorld, expanding the festival on a global scale
When news first broke about SFX's partnership with ID&T and supposed worldwide expansion, it was met with both excitement and hesitation. Could the Tomorrowland experience be replicated on a global scale? Only time would tell. This weekend, after selling out over 180,000 tickets in mere seconds to residents of 214 different countries, Tomorrowland became the largest international gathering in the world, beating out the Olympics in London.
UPDATED: Tomorrowland organizers plan to move festival worldwide, including North America
In 2012, Tomorrowland drew 180,000 dance music fans from over 75 countries around the world to the small municipality of Boom, Belgium. With international demand booming every year, festival organizers, ID&T, decided to give Belgians an exclusive pre-sale, selling all 80,000 tickets in one day. The worldwide sale took place two weeks later, with the last 100,000 tickets selling out in 43 minutes. To meet the overwhelming demand from abroad, the festival organizers are now thinking about hosting the festival at locations across the globe.