Yesterday I was alerted to the presence of BeatPort, a legal mp3 download site dedicated to underground dance music. While it’s solely dedicated to this genre and doesn’t have the breadth or the scope of iTunes, they’re well on their way to capturing a niche market. I found several labels that I recognized, the music was easy to sample, and the quality is excellent. It’s mostly independent European and underground domestic labels thus far, but rumor has it Peter Rauhofer and Victor Calderone are soon going to put their catalogs online here as well. We shall see.
