The Beatport Next Class of 2023 has been revealed by Beatport, a leader in music for DJs, producers, and their fans worldwide. Up-and-coming dance music musicians have long benefited from Beatport’s support in developing their careers. First launched in 2021, Beatport’s accelerator program for emerging artists, Beatport Next, has given numerous acts a significant career boost, providing them with the promotional tools they need to amplify their sound and introduce them to audiences worldwide.
What’s Beatport Next Class?
Beatport will offer the eight members of its Beatport Next Class of 2023 homepage features, banners, and prominent placement for new releases across its store, featured playlists, editorial coverage on Beatportal, live broadcasts, and social media assistance over the course of the next year.
Beatport Next championed the albums of eight exceptional artists in 2022: 8Kays, AMÉMÉ, Emily Nash, Jaden Thompson, Marina Trench, Nia Archives, Nikki Nair, and Risa Taniguchi through Beatport’s extensive features and promotions. The eight artists in the 2022 Beatport Next program had a 353% rise in Beatport store sales and a 213% gain in Beatport followers over the course of the program’s first full year.
After completing its extensive selection process, Beatport is thrilled to announce eight new artists hailing from all corners of the globe, all with a broad spectrum of sounds, that will make up the Beatport Next Class of 2023. The full chart is available too.
ANNĒ
ANN is a potential young artist from Thessaloniki who has committed her life to techno music and is pursuing a career as a DJ and producer. As she started raving at an early age, her love for music developed, eventually motivating ANN to make her own songs. With her tremendous sets, ANN now honorably represents the techno scene in her nation. Pumping with never ending dynamics, ANNĒ is focused on the perfect interaction with the crowd.
Closet Yi
DJ and producer Closet Yi is based in Seoul, South Korea. Her two-year stint as a resident DJ and librarian at the Hyundai Card Music Library has inspired her to explore music genres other than dance music and to deepen her love of rare archival samples, traditional and contemporary Korean sounds, and music from other cultures. Closet Yi is the kind of DJ you might hear playing to a thousand people on a Funktion-one sound system or spinning in a dingy record bar in Seoul.
Coco & Breezy
Producers, DJs, and fiercely fashionable twins, Coco & Breezy are the brains behind their diverse business. Their family had an impact on their musical development, which resulted in a profound passion for dance and the tradition of dance music. Fast forward, post moving to New York to launch their eyewear company, C&B submerged themselves into changing the face of dance music and what it means to be a technically accomplished Afro-Latina women DJs and producers: paying homage to the classic but pushing boundaries for the new.
Confidential Recipe
Confidential Recipe: Carlos, formerly known as DJ Cuyi, discovered his interest to be very near to the dancefloor and got his start in the electronic music industry as an ambassador of rave culture in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He is now residing in Bogota, Colombia, after leading the Hard Techno scene in his own nation for more than ten years. Here, Carlos found solace in a fresh sound, a fresh look, and a fresh moniker that pays homage to the key figures who shaped him as a budding raver. Confidential Recipe is the outcome of a lifetime of explorations in the raw sounds of Techno, Jacking, House, and Electro.
HoneyLuv
HoneyLuv: HoneyLuv, who is originally from Cleveland, Ohio but now calls Los Angeles, California home, has made a name for herself as a DJ. She made her radio debut with celebrity trainer Corey Calliet on Dash Radio’s Issa Lifestyle Radio. Due to her early career’s success, HoneyLuv was able to get her own radio show on iLL Donuts Radio, House of Honey, which plays house and techno music. An open format DJ with a heavy concentration in both house and techno, she can also bring together hip-hop, R&B, afrobeats and more for any occasion to keep the crowd pumped and dancing.
Junior Simba
Junior Simba is a rising DJ and producer whose work genuinely incorporates elements from his extensive musical history. Junior, a native of Zimbabwe, was raised in an environment filled with the sounds of rhumba, kwayto, and afro-house. When he relocated to Leeds in his late teens, he was first exposed to the UK electronic scene, and this is when his passion for DJing and production truly took off. These distinctive influences combined create an abundance of inspiration, merging into a sound sitting somewhere between dark, tense Amapiano and cosmic, zero-G Afrobeat, all wrapped with levels and levels of futuristic soul. Junior Simba is one of the leading figures in the new wave of house and dance fusionists infiltrating post-lockdown line-ups, having moved from Zimbabwe to Leeds, United Kingdom.
Lens
Before she made a name for herself in drum & bass in 2018, Lens was a dedicated raver and card-carrying music nerd. When Lens looks out onto the dancefloor, she recognizes herself. When the young Brighton musician is in the mix, nothing is off-limits since she connects the dots between subgenres with abrupt turns into other styles like hip-hop, grime, and dubstep. It’s why she’s rocketed up the ranks with such authority, catching the attention of major league D&B brands like Hospitality and Spearhead Records along the way. Lens is a DJ that can look a dance floor in the eye and know exactly what they need to hear since he is a raver and a music nerd.
Mala Ika
Mala Ika is a French DJ and producer who was born and raised in Guadeloupe. She co-founded the Media be strange and the record company Weirdos Records as a result of her love of electronic music. She produces hot and original music that is informed by her love of South African Afro House and Detroit techno. She is well known for being a workaholic and creative. After a few years and an intense lockdown, she is back with a vision, using her geekiness and love of pop culture to hone her new indie dance style.
Since launching Beatport Next two years ago we’ve been able to work with and support a great selection of emerging artists from around the globe. TSHA, VNSSA, Nia Archives and AMÉMÉ are among the Beatport Next alumni whose careers have taken off both on Beatport and beyond. Beatport Next is committed to help grow a new class of great up-and-coming artists and we believe that the power of our platform as a promotional tool will help them all exceed their goals for 2023. – Heiko Hoffmann, Beatport’s VP of Global Artist Services
