Beatport has launched indie tech as a standalone genre category with its own Top 100 chart, separating the heavier, club-focused strand of contemporary indie dance from the broader indie dance category, according to a report from Attack Magazine.
The digital music retailer said the decision followed outreach to artists and labels across indie dance and the wider electronic music community, who supported the split. Beatport describes indie tech as built around punchy drums, prominent basslines and bold synth hooks, arranged for peak-time sets, citing influences from tech house, melodic house and techno, bass house and mainstage.
Artists the company associates with the sound include Adam Ten, Mita Gami, Vintage Culture and Max Styler, along with labels Maccabi House, Stil vor Talent, Diynamic and Higher Ground. The new category has its own genre page, a Top 100 chart and a dedicated space for featured tracks and releases.
Genre placement on Beatport carries practical market consequences. With a separate Top 100, indie tech releases are ranked against each other rather than within the indie dance chart, changing the competitive field for artists and labels on both sides of the split. For DJs, the category gathers the sound in one place for browsing.
Beatport has reorganized its genre taxonomy before, including dividing techno into peak time/driving and raw/deep/hypnotic categories. The announcement did not say whether existing indie dance releases will be recategorized. The indie tech genre page and chart are now live on Beatport.
For more information, visit attackmagazine.com.
