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Serato Whitelabel.net has soured me on Serato.
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Serato Whitelabel.net has soured me on Serato.

CHILI BANKS 10:33 AM - 18 March, 2010
First off let me say I've been a big supporter of Serato since day one. One day I stumbled upon the whitelabel service and thought hey I'll sign up. Ever since then I get a couple of emails a day with free tracks. Since most of it is outside of my genres of interest I check out maybe 2 or 3 a month. I thought it was a great service though allow the producers who use your product to distribute a tune or 2 for promo. I mean Serato sells well the company makes money, what a great way to give back to their loyal users. I guess I thought that this was an integrated part of their overall business model. It probably takes one guy to format a release and hit the send to all button.

So despite the fact that it's mostly house releases that hit my in box I (a small Drum & Bass label owner) thought hey I've got an album coming out why not give the Serato guys a shout send them over a tune and get some promo. Now don't get me wrong I wasn't naive enough to think that everyone's every tune would get released through the service. I thought Maybe there was some sort of selection process. Maybe everyone who bought Serato gets 1 release. I'm not sure exactly what I thought tbh. What I however did not expect when I contacted Serato was that giving away a tune would cost $500.

When I got that response I nearly fell off my chair. This is the digital age distribution through message boards etc is free! Even digital distributors only take a cut of sales, most have little to no start up costs.

I find this $500 fee to be insane. I get 1-4 releases a day so lets just call it 2 a day. 2x$500 x 365 days = 365K that Serato is reigning in for basically sending a mass email.
What cash grab. I'm probably going to get slagged for posting this but I think this is really poor form on Serato's part.

I used to talk up Serato to people who would ask about it at shows or in general discussion. Word of mouth advertising goes a long way. I've swayed a couple of people from going with Traktor or other similar products over the years because of my satisfaction with Serato and the company (for giving the free updates etc.) This whole thing has left me really quite soured.

I'm sure no one over there gives a flying fuck but I'll no longer be endorsing Serato, a company who I once thought was about innovation, and music. It's all about $ all the time. Kudos Serato keep that $ rolling in.

Yours Truly,
Chili Banks

Former Serato Supporter.
Serato
Brigid 2:19 AM - 19 March, 2010
Hey Chili Banks,

Thanks very much for your feedback on Whitelabel.net. The fee you got is our standard rate card charge for a worldwide release. I don't know if you noticed in the email, but it also said "We can also create a custom delivery package based on your budget and volume of releases."

There are many independents who use our service and pay for it, most of whom we've talked to and worked out fee schedules to suit them. We would be happy to do the same for you if you wanted to talk about it.

It is no secret that we charge for releases on Whitelabel.net, just as many similar distribution services do. Our unique DRM and our database are of great use to some labels, and we charge accordingly. We have employees here running/developing/maintaining the site and its clients, and need to pay their wages.

We appreciate your opinion and apologise for any bad sentiments we may have caused.
CHILI BANKS 10:48 AM - 19 March, 2010
I appreciate such a candid response.

I however still think you costs are amazingly high. $2 a person for a selected DJ list I mean even if every single person waited anxiously for their whitelabel.net email every day this would still be a very high charge. At 2 bucks a shot you could release and distribute physical product.

RE: Your company has employees. I doubt highly that you're paying 350k in wages to maintain a mailing list.

As for your unique DRM model, I'd have to say DRM is a dead concept. If I wanted to give away music (pay to give away music) why would I want it to be device specific??? Wouldn't the point of giving away a track be for as much exposure and as many people as possible to have it to play and share freely thus maximizing artist exposure?

Since you're being so open with your response I'd like to ask what is the reach of your "worldwide" distro, how many people are on this list. Is it possible to get a genre specific break down? How many Drum & Bass DJ's are on this list. How much bang does my $500 bucks get?
dj cubicle 5:53 PM - 22 March, 2010
*files this under "This should be discussed in private"*
DJRodrigoSM.br 6:40 PM - 22 March, 2010
+1 on the private thing, but I gotta say you guys get some credit for transparency, honesty and not dismissing a user / costumer.
KMXE 4:27 AM - 23 March, 2010
i work in a similar enviroment where advertisers pay to reach an audience

thats essentially what you are paying for - the opportunity to reach a highly targeted audience.

Quote:
Since you're being so open with your response I'd like to ask what is the reach of your "worldwide" distro, how many people are on this list. Is it possible to get a genre specific break down? How many Drum & Bass DJ's are on this list. How much bang does my $500 bucks get?


this is a great question and certainly something I would ask - and this will determine whether its a good deal or not. If you are able to target D&B DJ's who use Digital Dj systems and these are active Whitelabel downloaders - then i would think this is worth looking into in more detail.
kraal 4:53 PM - 28 March, 2010
it quite simply marketing... i am also an illustrator you would be surprised how much it cost for me to have my illustrations in and annual publication geared towards 'art buyers'
CHILI BANKS 12:34 PM - 30 March, 2010
Krall - Key word being "buyers".

I'm still interested in knowing more about the demographics. I mean you're selling a service maybe I'm wrong in my thinking $500 could be a good deal if the numbers are right. Can someone please get back to me here or privately with the details please?
kraal 3:46 PM - 30 March, 2010
chili banks--- maybe i am reading this wrong but i can tell you this in my area i know atleast 20 working dj's and we all use serato and whitelable i can say on a given night when we drop something new we have at least one person asking me what that was, which is a potential new fan for the artist so in theory here is cincinnati you just may of added 20 new fans you may of never reached.

also i have to admit there are styles of music and artist i would of never played if it were not for whitelable. I also purchased many full albums due to the DRM of white lable
Serato
Brigid 6:34 PM - 30 March, 2010
Hey CHILI BANKS,
The questions you've asked are all answered in the sales pack you were linked to in the original reply that you got from us. Have a read, and if you have any further questions, you can email us at whitelabel@serato.com.

That goes for anyone else too. I'm more than happy to answer anyone's questions about sales.