As record sales stagnate, the players in the electronic music industry are looking ahead to the future and the possibilities presented by MP3s and music downloads.

Since the early days of Napster in the late ’90s and early 2Ks, wired Americans have been acquiring new music quickly, easily, and often for free, at the touch of a button.

Today the original Napster is no more, and consumers can pay to download legitimate copies of tunes.
Some of the key players in the electronic music industry — record store owners, the artists making the music, DJs and the record labels — are feeling the shift.

For the most part, electronic dance music is a fairly niche market populated by smaller independent labels, many of whom still press music onto vinyl (and sometimes CD) for DJs/music fans to purchase. Because of this, the number of units sold by electronic artists is usually substantially lower than most Top-40 artists.

But MP3s and music downloading are impacting the way electronic music is currently distributed, and the number of units sold by electronic artists. Making electronic music available to buy in MP3 format makes it more accessible to consumers, both in terms of price and usability.

However, this could be a positive or negative thing for electronic music artists/labels depending on whether music fans are actually paying for the MP3.

“I think that there’s a lot of people that did give up [buying vinyl] because it’s really cheap to get MP3s,” says Brian Bobroff, owner of Toronto-based 2theBeat, a conventional/online record store selling vinyl and CDs, and 2thebeatdigital.com, an online store selling MP3s. “When you are buying a record you have to pay for taxes for every country that it’s been in, you have to pay for the shipping, and you’ve got to pay for all the various costs. With an MP3, the cost is reduced … so you might be paying two bucks for a track when you were paying $14.99 before [for vinyl].”
Because MP3s are cheaper to buy and more accessible to the buyer it is a logical assumption that unit sales figures will be higher with MP3s than vinyl.

With 2theBeat digital being a relatively new venture, Bobroff is optimistic about the opportunities it represents.

“I think what the MP3s will do is give us an opportunity to be there for people who wouldn’t buy records, because with records you have to have a turntable … and everyone’s got a computer now, or at least the majority of people [do],” he says.

Chris Goss, one of the masterminds behind UK-based Hospital Records, explains that his label has recognized the positive aspects of paid music downloading, and the opportunities this form of music distribution brings. “Early on we were confronted with the negative aspect,” he says, explaining that sales of records went down by 20 to 30 percent. “[But] it’s crucial that we’ve evolved instead of turning our back on it.”

Hospital has invested much time and effort into preparing a comprehensive digital version of its 550-track catalogue, employing a full-time staff member for the past 12 months to do so.

In addition, Hospital has made its catalogue available for download from top paid download sites and even set up its own digital store on the Hospital Web site.

“MP3s, have basically helped out [because] it’s easier to get your music out there, to show it to people and to get your stuff played,” explains dnb producer Gabriel Au, a.k.a. Gremlinz, who has tunes released on top labels such as Renegade Hardware, Metalheadz, Architecture, Universal Project and Horizon Music among others.

“[But] people can rip off your tunes easily,” he adds. “All it takes is one person to leak an MP3, or rip it off CD, or rip it off vinyl, and it’s basically free reign. And why would people go and buy your music if they can just get it for free?”

Chris Barlow and Matt Simmers, a.k.a. Chris Crisis and MrMatt, own Trainspotters Music, an online record store located in Boston, and run their own record label. As producers, DJs, label owners and record store owners, they see the issue of downloading from multiple perspectives.

For them, MP3s and music downloading have both positive and negative implications for electronic music and specifically dnb.They believe that MP3s lower the barriers for new players entering the electronic music market.

“Anyone can start a record label and sell MP3s,” they say in a co-written statement. “Also, sites like MySpace and Demostreams make it easier for new artists to get their music out there and get a fan base.”

From their multi-faceted perspective they see potential negatives of MP3s and music downloading arising mainly from illegal downloading of tracks. “Illegally downloading music is taking money out of the store’s pocket, the label’s pocket and the artist’s pocket,” they say.

“It’s tough enough to make money in dnb or electronic music as it is. If a DJ cares about the scene, they will pay for all of the music that they spin, or at least get permission from the label or the artist to spin the music without paying for it.”

But the fact remains, systems such as Serato Scratch by Rane, Final Scratch 2 by Stanton, and a whole new generation of CDJs that also play MP3s and other digital formats are making it easier than ever for DJs to go digital.

“I typically play CDs now, and vinyl sometimes, but when travelling it’s just much more of a convenience to carry CDs only,” explains Jeff Malcolm, a.k.a. Psidream, a respected Vancouver-based producer/DJ.

“I don’t think that enough labels and artists are utilizing the MP3 format at all, though.”

But will vinyl ever really die?

No, according to Lindsay Mullaney, Digital Download Manager of GrooveSource.com, an online store and digital distribution arm of Dust Traxx of Chicago.

“We acknowledge that on the surface it seems like digital downloads will rule out people spending money on vinyl and while that may have happened slightly, it really looks like people are just buying both,” she says. “People who love vinyl, love vinyl, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.”

However, as the number of digital download sites rise, GrooveSource says it has optimized its soon to launch site with competitive download prices and usability as well as access to promo releases for top-tier DJs and producers.

For Toronto-based DJ Rollin’ Cash, of Hotpie Records and Just Cause, music and file sharing levels the playing field for DJs.

“Now that everyone has access to all the same music, it becomes purely about technical skill and selection,” he says, “which is what DJing is really about.”