Dear Members of the Community,

We are a group of twenty-six passionate professionals representing the leadership team at The Beatport Group. We are aware of the public comments made by shesaid.so and Black Artist Database, two organizations in our industry that advocate for the rights of marginalized groups. Although we are disappointed in their decision to sit out of this year’s International Music Summit (“IMS”) due to historical concerns with Beatport’s work culture, Beatport today is a much different company than it was five years ago and we remain committed to continuing on the path of improvement. We take full responsibility and apologize for the negative impact that cultural issues at the company have had on certain members of our community.

The primary reason for Beatport’s investment into IMS was to support and amplify the agendas of these, and other, organizations that are working to find solutions to the issues of discrimination and inequity in our industry. Historically, IMS has been a safe place for provocative and thoughtful discussion around many key issues surrounding the culture of electronic music. IMS has had a long partnership with shesaid.so that inspired many to challenge the status quo and dare to elevate consciousness, while also featuring Black Artist Database in the 2022 edition of the summit. Just as in prior years, IMS remains independently curated by the same team that has designed its programs to have maximum impact on our community.

Shesaid.so correctly acknowledged that Beatport has made progress towards our goals, and we felt it was important to provide more details on the actions taken in the last nine months that build off of the work done in prior years. We look forward to sharing the results of our work with both of these organizations and all of you in the months ahead.

After the article was published in August of 2022, the Company reevaluated its approach to solving these issues both internally and with community partners. At the forefront of our minds was the health and well-being of our current and former employees. Some of the allegations in the article were news to us as well, so we needed to conduct our own investigation to confirm the validity and, if necessary, take any required action against any current employees while providing assistance to those negatively impacted. 

The Company hired a leading Diversity, Equity & Inclusion consulting team in October 2022 to conduct an updated audit of the company’s policies and practices. This process built upon DEI work the Company had undertaken in 2019 and 2020 and, once completed, the Company’s Board of Directors began work in February with internal groups to implement several high-priority action items, including:

1. Centralizing the management of Community Partnerships into the new role of Chief Community Officer, which has now been filled by Sofia Ilyas (link) [completed]

2. Creating the Company Statement of Purpose, Values & Standards, which was published through the AFEM in March (link) [completed]

3. Providing all employees with sensitivity and awareness training by year-end, that included work on dimensions and mechanisms of discrimination and methods for recognizing and avoiding microaggressions at work [completed]

4. Prioritizing a hiring strategy that supports our efforts and investments in a more diverse workforce to better represent our customer and partner communities [ongoing]

5. Restructuring the DISA Committee to maximize its impact and effectiveness [in development]

6. Recognizing the need to invest in the consolidation and analysis of employee data, while also obtaining additional data sets to better identify ethnicity and other personal preferences to ensure a more diverse workforce and consistent pay parity [ongoing]

The Beatport Group is not a reflection of any one person. We are a diverse and global team of individuals who love our industry, community, and company. The experiences highlighted in the article do not represent who our company is today; but these allegations impact us regardless. Yet, we embrace the opportunity to be part of a movement focused on real and lasting change and are thankful that Beatport provides a platform to do the work necessary to achieve this.

Change takes time and commitment. To all those organizations that continue to stand with us and work towards meaningful change, we applaud and thank you. We are confident that together, we will make a lasting impact on our industry and in our communities.

Respectfully,

The Beatport Leadership Team

– Emilie Birks, VP, Marketing
– Alex Branson, SVP, Music Services
– Sedin Dugum, VP, Engineering
– Asher Finkel, VP, Marketing- Charles Morgan, SVP, Strategy
– Matt Gralen, CFO
– Baptiste Grange, VP, Marketing
– Adam Hansen, VP, Finance & Accounting
– Edward Hill, SVP, Media Services
– Heiko Hoffmann, VP, Global Artist Services
– Gareth Halsall, GM & VP, Producer Group
– Sofia Ilyas, Chief Community Officer
– Julia Kammann, VP, People & Culture
– Sarah Konkoski, VP, Financial Operations
– Robb McDaniels, CEO
– Edwin Paredes, Head of Global Artist Relations
– Raphael Pujol, VP, Curation
– Tina Ronchetti, VP, Customer Services & Fraud
– Helen Sartory, SVP, Creator Services
– Brandon Shevin, COO & General Counsel
– Leon Stephens, VP, Marketing & Sales
– Sean Sullivan, CTO
– Dmitry Temkin, VP, Data Operations
– Pedro Vilas-Boas, Global Creative Director
– Shana White, VP, Legal & Business Affairs
– Brian Wong, VP & GM, DJ Group