Beatport and Microsoft Surface Go Full-On ‘Party Mode’ With the Promise of Hybrid Livestreaming Events

Touring artists and their fans have spoken: Live, in-person events are back. Over the past two years, livestreams filled the absence left by lockdowns and social distancing. It was all about the entertainment industry mentality that always demands “the show must go on.” As the world reopens and more people are keen to return to live concerts, will livestreams lose steam? Not necessarily. According to Statista, as of August 2020, 73% of music fans surveyed said they had watched a livestream, with 60% stating they’d continue watching livestreams even after in-person events returned. Among the most exciting livestreams held by artists were the sets performed by DJ-producers in the electronic music space. With electronic music being the world’s third most popular genre with an estimated 1.5 billion listeners, the community surrounded by the music is built on unity and passion. When you couple that community aspect with the shared joy of experiencing the live performance of your favorite DJ-producer, the result is an interchange of positivity between artist and fan. Utilizing this euphoric synergy, combined with cutting-edge technology, is Beatport—an online music store that caters to DJs, producers and fans, acquired by events promoter LiveStyle in Feb. 2013, though the relationship was severed two years ago. The platform is a promoter of the Originals² remix competition along with Microsoft Surface, the software company’s laptop-tablet device. Beatport and Microsoft Surface first launched their Originals² partnership in 2021 with a set between renowned DJ-producers Jamie Jones and Loco Dice. The two electronic music titans performed using Beatport DJ’s new feature, Party Mode. which enables up to four DJs to collaborate in real-time from different locations using the touchscreen on Microsoft Surface. This tech integration allows DJs to team up from anywhere on the planet. The feature allows up to 100 viewers to witness the virtual back-to-back live within the web browser app. 'It was amazing how many mutual connections we had globally,' said Ed Hill. An evergreen partnership Beatport and Microsoft Surface brought the platform to this year’s International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza, hosting an interactive day of artist-led workshops and production master classes with stars from the electronic music realm. Attendees witnessed Berlin-based sensation Joplyn’s live setup alongside an intimate performance, followed by an inside look into the art of playlist curation using the Beatport DJ app and Surface Laptop Studio by rising house music DJ-producer AMÉMÉ. Though it appears the Microsoft Surface and Beatport partnership happened overnight, it’s been in development for a year. Ed Hill, svp, media services at Beatport and Chris Beeby, director of integrated marketing and partnerships at Microsoft, first kicked off the conversation to team up in 2021. “I think we all know that the music industry is a pretty connected space,” Hill said. “So, it was amazing how many mutual connections we had globally. Not only that, but as soon as we started evaluating our shared values and our truths, we really started to realize how aligned everything was in terms of objectives, innovation, goals and all of those aspects." The win-win collaboration between the two companies is based on three key pillars: empowerment, originality and accessibility. “Empowerment is the mission statement for Microsoft, in terms of empowering every person and every company to be able to achieve more,” Beeby stated. “But the key alignment was when we realized that empowerment was lowering the barrier to entry and democratizing people's ability to leverage technology in ways to achieve more. And their software was the perfect synergy for us to be able to heighten our brand as well.” Since Beatport has always focused on DJ culture, their next step was to figure out how to approach “millions of people who are enthusiastic but don't necessarily need to or want to be DJs,” Hill mentioned. The user-friendly Beatport DJ app and the easy-to-use touchscreen of Microsoft Surface make the optimization of both more accessible to the masses. “We want everybody to be able to create, produce and enjoy the music,” Hill added. 'Empowerment is the mission statement for Microsoft,' said Chris Beeby. Unleash your inner DJ Over a year ago, Microsoft launched a new tagline, “Original by Design.” “The meaning of ‘Original by Design’ for us was around designing original products to fuel people's originality. Originality can be a tough pillar to own, but we truly believe that we're on the cutting edge of technology in terms of innovating our products in very original ways beyond any of our other competitors,” Beeby said. “The software is such an important aspect of that experience. So, they were really pushing the boundaries as well with the Beatport DJ app and the new Party Mode feature. And so, originality was another really key pillar, which is why the whole partnership is called Originals².” The beauty of Originals² resides in the fact that anyone can now be a DJ at home. Everyone has a friend they deem as the resident “DJ” of the parties: Through Originals², that pal can go the extra mile with these tools to mix their favorite tunes. You can live in a different country than your best friend and still play back-to-back with them instead of sharing songs with a playlist. Maybe you won’t be the next Skrillex, but you’ll at least be able to have an enjoyable experience by leveling up from the generic. Italian DJ duo Giolì & Assia went live from the gorgeous seaside of Torre d'en Rovira at IMS Ibiza. The future of livestreams Early in the pandemic, livestreams were challenging to produce because of Covid-19 travel restrictions and the lack of an audience. It led companies like Beatport to improvise. “What better way to inspire people to create and realize that there's a world outside of your house and that there are these beautiful places that you can visit as soon as we're out of it?” Hill reflected. “So, we capitalize on these beautiful locations. When things started easing up, we really wanted to bring people together in real life as well but keep that livestream component to keep the beautiful locations. That’s going to be important, especially for dance music.” Beeby shared similar sentiments: “Even though we’re coming out of the pandemic, and people are craving that in-person experience, people are also craving as much content as possible. And they're not able to make it to every single event, festival and performance that people are making. So, even though live events are coming back, and festivals are coming back in force, there will always be a place for beautiful livestream content.” During IMS Ibiza, the Italian DJ duo Giolì & Assia went live from the gorgeous seaside of Torre d'en Rovira for Originals² using a Microsoft Surface. If it’s the feeling of FOMO they were going for, the duo, Beatport and Microsoft Surface successfully achieved it. Beeby added, “There is a type of audience today that loves beautiful content and stunning music; and when done so with cutting-edge technology and all those things together, it’s a powerful kind of marriage.”