SFX President On Beatport Cuts: “We Were Spread Too Thin”

Tim Crowhurst, president of SFX Entertainment, has spoken to Billboard about the reasoning behind the slew of layoffs at Beatport’s offices so close to the holiday season. SFX acquired Beatport in February, and earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that at least 88 engineers were cut from offices in San Francisco, and Denver – news that was not received well by many, with one source even referring to it as a “bloodbath”. In the interview, Crowhurst refutes the rumours that the layoffs were made in order to lower costs and bring up the price of their stock. Rather, he stated that the cuts had to be made to compensate for the hiring they have done for their recently acquired companies:

“The hard conclusion we had to make on Beatport is that we were spread a bit too thin. We had to make some hard choices, frankly, to restructure the team and get everyone focused on one vision…This shift is more about product vision than it is cost savings”

He then went on to say that the company does, in fact, have plans to modify Beatport, as they would like to improve it and make it more comprehensive. Crowhurst also curbs rumours that SFX is planning to stop offering some of Beatport’s services, such as Beatport Play, and the DJ social network, Beatport DJs. With all of SFX’ acquisitions, and their efforts to restructure the corporation, it is inevitable that we will see some changes in “electronic music culture” in the very near future.

Read the full article on Billboard.

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