Since its launch early last year, Volumo has emphasized that it is an artist-oriented store with a democratic policy towards emerging, little-known artists.
In practice, this means that Volumo can become a “blue ocean” for all those young artists and labels who have difficulty getting through to the audience due to the dense competition on Beatport or Traxsource.
There are a lot of such artists, and they all want to have not only distribution but also affordable promotional options right inside their existing stores. It may come as a surprise, but according to IMS, there are almost 10 million sound producers on the global electronic scene today who not only write music but also want to sell it. And although only one million of them make music professionally, this is still a vast number.
That is why Volumo combines the model of a classic online music store with elements of a social network. And in addition to options such as following your favorite artists or labels or the ability to adjust the price of a release yourself (which, by the way, is not possible on Beatport), Volumo has now rolled out its vision of the must-have DJ Charts option.
To create your own chart, you simply register on the site, build your collection of favorite records, publish it, and share the link to the chart on your social media or inside the store.
“This is another step forward in our curated store concept,” says Volumo CEO Oleksandr Dzyubenko. “In the beginning, our team made the selection and recommendations manually. Now we have numerous professional DJs to help us with this. The more charts there are on the site, the more likely it is for a genuinely cool release to find its audience.”
Denys Borysov, one of Volumo’s founders, adds: “Some people ask how the concept of a curated store combines with Volumo’s accessibility for young artists. It’s simple. Unlike the larger stores, we can afford to be flexible and focus not only on the number of sales of a particular artist, as this is a false marker. An artist who has millions of sales does not always go on to make cool releases. And even more so, you can lose sight of true gems if you don’t pay attention to those with modest figures. Everyone had to take off and make their breakthrough first track once.”
Anton Severynenko, the third co-founder of Volumo, also chimes in with his opinion: “We are now ready to give feedback to everyone. Getting onto Volumo and receiving quick feedback and customer service is more accessible than in Beatport, Juno, or Traxsource. It is our advantage. But we are well aware that this is only half the battle. Next, you need to promote your music inside the store. And here, only the best will take the spotlight thanks to our curatorial work, algorithms (of course, everything relies on those nowadays), and now, thanks to DJ Charts.”
