There has been plenty of talk on the forums here, and indeed, everywhere else, about the impact of MP3 culture on the music industry. There’s no denying its presence and whilst many labels and business are on the attack against the inevitable, others are embracing the change and adjusting their business to suit the market.
The last few months have seen a swath of digital download companies try and corner this crucial market niche, and the most recent of these is London’s reputable Above The Sky Records who have just launched ATS Digital at www.atsdigital.com
I’ve been a fan and a customer at Above The Sky for many years, the main reasons being the depth and quality of their stock, excellent high quality service, and, in their early days at least, their specialisation in trance. So, I was more than excited to hear about this project of theirs!
ATS Digital has an "uncluttered nature"
How ATS Digital works
First impressions of the site are its uncluttered “straight to the point” nature. You need to be registered with the site to buy anything, regardless of whether you were registered on http://www.abovethesky.com. If you just want to look, or, once you have registered, you can pick a genre from the navigation panel on the right hand side of the page. Say for example, “Trance”, which will then list all MP3s available for that Genre…at the time of writing…some 425 tracks were available for download!! So you might find it easier to pick a label that you like and go from there.
Once you have picked a release that looks interesting, click the Download / Info button. Every MP3 listed has a full length end to end stream available, which, using Windows Media Player, you can skim though- to get a really good idea of what the tune is like before you buy. And this is the cool bit, in most cases, you can pick 128, 192 or even 320kpbs quality downloads, meaning that you can pick the quality of the mp3 you wish to purchase, depending on what your needs are. It is also important to point out that all the mp3’s are encoded from the master recording. I haven’t seen any competitor websites offering audio quality as high as 320kpbs so this will be a major benefit to the true professionals out there.
Track info screen showing 128, 192 and 320kpbs options
Once you have made your selection, add it to you shopping cart, and then “check out” when you are ready. The site works on a 'credit' system. Where you buy credits as you do for 'pay as you go' mobile phones. When you make the purchase, you can either buy just enough credit for your shop, or “top up” with a bit extra for next time should you choose. The benefit of this is that you only have to pay a one off 'transaction charge' instead of paying one each time you buy a track from the site. In some cases on competitor’s sites this is as high at 55p. A large fee when you consider a download can be as little as 99p!
Another nifty little feature is that you are allowed 3 attempts to download the tune, 24 hours from your purchase. They have done this so that is something goes wrong the first time you try and download, like you’re internet connection breaking, you get a 2nd, or 3rd go.
Site Content
What I’m most impressed with on the site is the content. Looking at the trance section alone, there are tracks, brand spanking new from such highly respected labels as:
020 Records (Exclusive)
A State Of Trance
Above The Sky (Exclusive)
Afterglow
Armind
ATS Limited (Exclusive)
Captivating Sounds
Captured Music (Exclusive)
Discover
Recover
Somatic Sense
To name but a few personal favourites and I'm told trance giants Bonzai will soon be available as well as plenty more. And don’t be lead by my one sidedness into thinking this is just a trance catalogue, there are also sections available for:
Ambient / Chillout
Breaks
D&B / Jungle
Funk / Nu Jazz
Funky House
Hard Trance
Hardhouse
Hiphop
Leftfield / Downtempo
Progressive / Tribal House
R&B / UK Garage
Tech / Deep House
Techno
Support the Music Industry
I'd by lying if I said I'd never touched P2P sharing applications. But there are two things bugging me about the whole system:
1/ You Never Know What You Gonna Get. There’s no guarantee that what you download is complete, and good enough quality to play out. Often the tunes are ripped from vinyl, or other DJs Recorded sets! The download may sound fine on your tinny computer speakers, but drop it on a big system and all of a sudden its imperfections are revealed!
2/ The original artist(s) get nothing for it. For me, this is a major issue. If you as a listener like the music someone is making, and want them to be able to continue to make it you have to take on the responsibility of supporting the industry. Its only £0.99p so, if you have the opportunity, do your bit for the music scene!
Finally
Above the Sky having been in the business of selling music on-line for over 5 years, successfully, and as DJ/Producers on the International Circuit these guys know their stuff!
There is plenty more to come too with the release of Above the Sky’s digital label over the coming weeks. To kick things off: Paul van Dyk favourite and 020 Record’s very own Kuffdam & Plant. Definitely something to look out for!
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