Where do new DJs breakthrough in 2025?
It’s a pretty rough landscape. In January 2025, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) released figures that “showed a 32.7% decline in the total activity of the UK’s nightclub sector since March 2020,” it said. That’s 405 UK venues lost in less than five years.
The reasons are many. Rising rent and energy costs, a COVID hangover still being nursed all these years later and changing customer demographics all tell a part of the story. But while a myriad of factors continue to shutter venues across the UK, it’s easy to forget that these spaces are more than bricks and mortar. Venues create genres and birth superstars. But perhaps more importantly than that, venues are hubs for community.
This is something that Beatport’s Live & Interactive Team are looking to tap into. The team, headed up by Ed Hill, Beatport’s SVP of Media Services, are aiming to provide a new way for artists to break out.
In their own words, the Beatport Live & Interactive Team is a full, 360 service that incorporates live events, streaming, content creation, documentaries, and more. But right now, their entry into live music comes in the form of The Block, a touring shipping container and stage that contains everything a DJ needs to thrive. That means top tier equipment and probably a few complimentary refreshments. But most importantly, it brings an audience.
The idea only came to Ed and his team in January. What he calls a “small, nimble team” have been quick to create what may become an invaluable outlet for new, emerging DJs and producers. Not just in the UK, but globally.
The Block are testing the waters at London’s Junction 2 festival from 25-27 July, before heading to Creamfields. Beyond that, they will take up residency at Bristol’s The Prospect Building.
Here, we speak with Ed to learn more about The Block, the changing nature of club culture and the urgent need for new venues.
Why is now a good time to launch The Block?
“A huge amount of our audience are grassroots and up-and-coming artists, and we want to try and give them as much space as we can. But we also want to facilitate events with some of the bigger artists and labels that we work with. The Block seemed like a logical place to give the artists who don’t get to play on a weekly basis or a monthly basis.
As there are so many club closures in the grassroots scene, there are less and less places for people to play. That’s one of the main reasons why we’re doing this. We’ve got a custom built container with the latest Pioneer CDJs, mixers and a banging sound system that a lot of artists don’t normally get to play on.
There’s only so many times that you can play in front of your partner before you bore them. You have to have an outlet to play, and we want to provide that for the grassroots artists.”
What are your summer plans for The Block?
“We’re launching with festivals, such as Junction 2 and Creamfields, and we’re doing a fixed install at Bristol’s The Prospect Building.
With the festivals, the people who apply will get a few free tickets to come down, but in Bristol the idea is to make the programming much wider. We’ll be doing DJ workshops, tutorials and discussions. It’s going to be a content hub but also a community hub for people who can’t necessarily afford to go to a festival but still want the experience of playing live and learning. The Block is a space to facilitate that.”
What was the thinking behind The Block structure itself?
“We’ve found that the younger generation don’t want to be staying up all night, so we wondered whether it was better to have smaller experiential activations for four or five hours where people aren’t losing their entire weekend.
People are looking for experience, as well as going out to clubs. There’s a balance that can be made there.”
Working within electronic music is not just about being a DJ anymore. People want to learn about the business, or about how to promote yourself. How is Beatport Live facilitating that?
“The Block is a community hub, where people can learn about different elements [of the industry]. There will be a lot of DJ tutorials through The Block, but you have to learn about the trade to be able to come through as a DJ.
You’ve got to become business savvy and learn how to navigate all the different things to be able to propel yourself into the next stages of your career. That’s quite invaluable for people. But we want to create something where you can meet like-minded people in a safe space. In the electronic music scene, you meet a lot of people backstage or in the toilets. It’s those spaces where you build your connections.”
Club closures are a major blow to dance music, but are there opportunities in DJs and audiences being forced to embrace newer ways of reaching audiences?
“We’ll be streaming everything online on Twitch, where we have over 200,000 subscribers. But we’ll also be there ourselves and creating those important connections. It’s about building relationships with new artists, and hopefully we can help them where we can in the future.
DJ streaming has been around for years, but platforms like Twitch are similar to us. They give people an audience who you can DJ to online. It’s giving different opportunities to artists to find new channels for growing their audience, community, and revenue. It’s all part of a mix that people should be thinking about.”
Does it take for initiatives like The Block to fill the gap that’s left behind when clubs and community spaces in the UK continue to close?
“It’s not just venues. It’s also places like record stores. Where do you find that community? Where do you find the people that are playing the same music, or people who have the same passion as you? I’m hoping that we can create these spaces where DJs come down, meet each other, meet their mates, and create a new movement of artists that are really excited and passionate about playing. We want to foster that as much as we can.
Dance music has an amazing ecosystem with a lot of really sound people. It’s about tapping into that and making sure everyone’s focusing on the next generation.”
What are your long-term aspirations for The Block?
“The idea is to do this in the UK this year, and then hopefully put one in the US next year. The ambition is that within two or three years time, there’s a container in different countries around the world that we can tour. The beauty of this [The Block] is that it’s built and we can move it anywhere.
When we did a Beatport Connect event in Johannesburg, it was amazing to see how many young and passionate people out there who want to DJ and learn about the industry. The vibe was amazing, and it felt really special to be there. We want to keep creating that and giving people a place to come, hang out, play their music and meet people.”
Find The Block at Junction 2 [25-27 July], Creamfields [21-24 August], and later this year at The Prospect Building for its Autumn/Winter season of events.
