noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - Spring 2008 Issue # 55 - Index

their exciting new online portal
for dance and electronic music.
Masterbeat.com is an ambitious
project two years in the making and
promises to become the premier
resource for those seeking the best
in mainstream dance music.
Masterbeat has had a loyal following
in the dance world for over a
decade. But the brand is more than
compilation CDs. By throwing parties
and promoting world-class DJs,
artists, and producers, “Masterbeat”
became synonymous with quality
and a lifestyle that obviously
means a lot to everyone involved—
none more so than President and
Founder Brett Henrichsen.
hENRiChSEN AT ThE hELM
Working at IBM in the early ‘90s, he
believed no one was releasing the
kind of top-notch club tracks that
he enjoyed when he went out in a
consumer-friendly format. “I always
loved music,” he said. “I would get
the vinyl and rip it into my computer.
At that time, a CD burner
was $9,000, and a blank CD was
$120. So I was making CDs for all my
friends of all my favorite dance music.
And that’s how Masterbeat got started.”
With so much great music at his
fingertips, Brett tried his own hand at
DJing, and quickly became a fixture
on the Circuit.
Now Brett sees another gap in the
marketplace. “People go out, they
hear the new Kristine W. track and
they want to be able to go home that
night and download it. They don’t
want to wait for the CD to come out.
And if they can’t find a legal site to
download it on, they’ll go find an illegal
site. Our goal is to create the ultimate
legal site to be able to download
everything.”
Kerri Mason, who covers dance and
electronica for Billboard, said that
distributing dance music online is
“the difference between surviving
and not. I don’t even think it’s a trend,
it’s just reality. Most dance fans want
to download. I think most dance fans
do, even when it’s not legal, so you
have to rush options to them where
they can get things in a legal way.”
11
Download
and Dance