A small techno label uploads its fourth release. The tracks are good, the artwork is right, the date is set.
Then it lands on Beatport next to a few thousand others that week, and nobody at the store ever hears it.
That's the problem Beatport Hype was built for. Launched in 2018, it's a $9.99-a-month subscription for independent labels, and its central promise is unusually specific. Beatport's own marketing states that Hype guarantees its curators will listen to the music released on your label.
Here's the sentence to hold onto for the rest of this article:
$9.99 buys guaranteed consideration at the listening stage. It does not buy editorial placement, a chart position, or marketing support.
Everything else is detail — and the detail lives in Beatport's Hype Terms, not on the marketing page.
Price and eligibility
Price, from the Hype Terms: $9.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP / $14.99 AUD, currency depending on where you buy. Fees exclude applicable tax, billed monthly. The subscription month starts on the day of purchase and renews on the same day the following month.
Eligibility. Note the wording, because the marketing pages and the Terms differ slightly. Beatport's FAQ says "less than $25,000." The Terms are more precise:
Hype is available only to those labels that have grossed up to, but not more than, $25,000 USD in the trailing calendar year, from the date of sign up.
So exactly $25,000 still qualifies. The trailing year runs from your signup date, not from January.
Two more conditions: your label must currently be releasing music on Beatport, and your registration is valid only for the specific label on the registration. Run three labels, buy three subscriptions.
The $25,000 rule is not absolute
This is the part almost no article about Hype mentions, and it's directly in the Terms.
Beatport can lower the threshold. The Terms reserve the right to reduce the $25,000 amount for certain genres.
Beatport can reject a technically eligible label. From the Terms:
Beatport reserves the right to disqualify any label from Hype if it believes that label does not fit the spirit of this program. For example, if a well-established artist creates a new label for a new project featuring that artist, or artists of similar stature, the label will not qualify for Hype.
So spinning up a fresh imprint around an established name to slip under the sales limit is explicitly anticipated and explicitly excluded.
Sales manipulation gets you removed. Hype charts are based on authentic, organic sales, and Beatport reserves the right to exclude sales it believes exist only to inflate a chart position — and to disqualify the label from future participation.
And if you outgrow it: if a Hype label exceeds $25,000 in the trailing calendar year, Beatport reserves the right to disqualify it from the Hype platform — not merely from the charts — at the end of the subscription month in which sales were exceeded, or when Beatport is made aware of it. Monthly fees already paid are non-refundable, and any termination takes effect at the next renewal date.
Worth planning for. If Hype works, it eventually stops being available to you.
Eligible genres — and one documentation conflict
Beatport's Hype Terms list the eligible genres as:
Techno (Peak Time / Driving) · Tech House · House · Deep House · Melodic House & Techno · Drum & Bass · Minimal / Deep Tech · Trance (Main Floor) · Progressive House · Psy-Trance · Dance / Electro Pop · Indie Dance · Mainstage · Afro House · Electronica · Organic House / Downtempo
One flag: Beatport's "Who is eligible for Hype?" support page lists the same genres except Psy-Trance. The two official pages disagree on exactly one genre. If you're a psy-trance label, don't rely on either page — attempt the subscription and let Beatport's eligibility check decide.
If your label delivers across several genres, only the content identified as one of the eligible genres takes part in Hype. Beatport also notes additional genres may be added later.
What the subscription actually gives you
It helps to separate three very different levels, because Beatport's own pages blur them.
1. The guarantee
Beatport's Hype page states plainly that Hype guarantees its curation team will listen to the music released on your label, and lists "Get heard — guarantees your track will be listened to by the Beatport curation team" as a benefit. That's the one thing described in absolute terms anywhere in the Hype material.
2. Eligibility you gain
- Hype Top 100 charts — an overall chart plus genre charts, running alongside the main charts, that only Hype labels compete in.
- Reserved areas on home and genre pages set aside for selected Hype releases.
You become eligible to appear in these. You don't become entitled to.
3. Discretionary promotion
Everything else — Hype Picks, homepage and genre-page features, Beatportal editorial, Hype Release of the Month, Label of the Month, Best of Hype playlists across the Beatport streaming ecosystem, feature-notification emails — falls under this clause in the Terms:
Beatport will provide select marketing or promotional support for Hype participants. Promotional and marketing opportunities may change. Labels selected for Beatport marketing and promotional opportunities are solely at Beatport's discretion.
That's not a criticism of the program. It's just the accurate frame: the promotional list is a menu of things that may happen, revised at Beatport's discretion, not a schedule of deliverables you've purchased.
What counts for the charts
Two rules shape whether a subscription can produce a chart result.
The 365-day rule. Subscribing does not make your back catalogue chart-eligible — Beatport states that Hype charts only include releases published within the last 365 days. Note the scope: this rule is about chart eligibility specifically. It does mean Hype suits labels with an active release schedule, since only recent records can chart.
CLOUD redownloads don't count. Under Beatport's CLOUD Terms, redownloads of previously purchased tracks aren't applied to the Top 100 global and genre charts, and that explicitly includes the Hype global and genre charts.
Chart placement still comes down to real sales in a smaller competitive pool. The subscription only puts you in the pool.
How to sign up
- Go to gethype.beatport.com
- Log in with your beatport.com account (create one if needed — you may have to confirm your email first)
- Find and select your label → Continue
- Choose the monthly plan → Subscribe Now
- Add credit card or PayPal details
Beatport's support documentation says Hype status is active within 24 hours. The Terms add a related detail: Hype refreshes every 24 hours, so it can take that long before eligible label content appears on the Hype charts.
If your label isn't in the list, that's your answer on eligibility step one — you need a release delivered through your distributor first, and the label page has to appear on Beatport. And if you're unsure whether you qualify, just attempt the subscription. Beatport will notify you if you don't.
What Beatport's curators actually want to see
This is the most useful and least-quoted part of Beatport's documentation, and it changes how you should plan a release — regardless of how the music reaches a curator.
Worth being precise about the routing first: Beatport's guidance points labels toward their distributor, noting that distributors have a dedicated label manager at Beatport who can discuss feature options. Processes differ from one distributor to another, so ask yours what's actually available rather than assuming a form exists. There is no universal public pitch route for labels.
Either way, the evidence below is what strengthens consideration. Hype already guarantees a curator listens — what you control is what they find around the record when they do. Assemble this whether or not a pitching channel is open to you.
What Beatport counts as strong supporting evidence:
- 3–5 big-name DJs supporting the track;
- links to those DJs actually playing it;
- magazine and blog premieres;
- radio coverage;
- a precise marketing plan explaining when and what will be posted where — and any money to be spent, which Beatport calls very important;
- your social media reach, if you're posting on socials.
And what Beatport explicitly calls weak evidence, which is rarer and more useful to know:
- DJ feedback that reads "downloaded for…" — Beatport treats this as evidence that someone's promo handler downloaded the track, not that the DJ liked it. Beatport's own example of good evidence: a DJ like Richie Hawtin whose feed shows what he actually played.
- Marketing campaigns described "as usual." They need specifics.
- Full promo campaign sheets. Beatport says these take too long to read — send the good parts.
And the closing line from the same page, which fits the theme of this article: all of this makes a feature request stronger, but will not guarantee a feature. Those decisions are ultimately down to the genre curator.
A CREWPORT planning framework
To be clear about what follows: this is our recommended operating rhythm, not a Beatport-published deadline. Beatport doesn't publish a required lead time. But the constraint is real — your label page must exist on Beatport before you can subscribe, and that page is created when your distributor delivers your first release.
- Week −8: masters finished, metadata locked, genre and subgenre decided.
- Week −6: release delivered through your distributor.
- Week −4: label page live on Beatport; subscribe to Hype.
- Week −3: evidence pack assembled — DJ support links, premieres, radio, marketing plan with spend.
- Week 0: release day.
The common failure is subscribing during release week and finding there's nothing left to pitch into. A record that's already out is a far weaker pitch than one that's coming — and DJ support, premieres and radio all need weeks to accumulate before you can put them in front of anyone.
Prepare the release before you prepare the pitch
Beatport is a store built for DJs, and the metadata expectations follow from that:
- Genre and subgenre chosen honestly. Mislabelling to reach a bigger chart backfires twice: you're compared against records that don't sound like yours, and it can put the release outside Hype eligibility entirely.
- BPM and key correct. DJs filter on these. Wrong values make a track unusable in the exact context where it would have sold.
- Version titles in the version field — "Extended Mix," "Original Mix," "Radio Edit" — not stuffed into the track title.
- Remixer and featured-artist credits in their proper fields, so profiles link correctly.
- Artist name spelled identically to your existing Beatport profile. One inconsistent spelling creates a second profile and splits your catalogue.
- ISRCs correct, with a new one for any materially different version.
A curator listening to a badly labelled release is doing work you skipped — and a track filed under the wrong subgenre can chart nowhere at all.
Do the maths
At $9.99 a month, Hype runs about $120 a year regardless of how much you release. Cheap next to a PR retainer — but only if you use it.
Work out how many releases you'll actually put out during the subscription (only the last 365 days chart, so a quarterly label gets far less from a monthly fee than a monthly one); your average revenue per release against $120; and whether the same money does more on mastering, artwork or promo.
One correction to advice you'll see elsewhere: there's no pause function. Beatport's Terms confirm monthly billing, non-refundable fees once paid, and termination effective at the next renewal date. A label with an irregular schedule can cancel through a long quiet period and subscribe again when releases are coming — subject to still being eligible then.
And budget for the honest scenario: you subscribe, curators listen, nothing gets featured, nothing charts. That is a legitimate outcome of the product exactly as described.
Does it actually work?
Rather than invent a case study, look at what Beatport publishes. Its 2026 mid-year Hype review spotlights the independent labels and breakout tracks moving through the program in the first half of the year, and describes Hype as helping qualifying independent labels cut through a crowded release landscape by putting their music directly in front of the curation team, with selected releases gaining visibility across Hype charts, genre pages, playlists and editorial features.
Two honest caveats. First, that's Beatport reporting on Beatport's own program. Second, and more important: it shows Hype labels charting, not that Hype caused the charting. Strong records and real promotion are doing most of the work in any of those stories.
What it does establish is that Hype remains an active discovery layer in 2026 with visible results — not a legacy subscription quietly left to rot.
Where CREWPORT fits
Everything above depends on the delivery underneath it. The label page only exists because a distributor created it, and the curator only ever sees what your metadata says.
CREWPORT delivers to Beatport — your label page, releases and catalogue are created and maintained through the same workflow you use for streaming platforms. Metadata validation runs before delivery, catching exactly what breaks a Beatport release: inconsistent artist spellings that fragment your profile, version titles in the wrong field, missing remixer credits, duplicated or wrong ISRCs.
The label cabinet gives role-based access across multiple artists, which matters when several people are preparing releases against a fixed pitch window — and your catalogue stays under one label identity instead of splitting across duplicate profiles.
Hype itself is bought directly from Beatport at gethype.beatport.com. Talk to us about the release; talk to Beatport about the subscription.
FAQ
How much does Beatport Hype cost?
$9.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP / $14.99 AUD per month, excluding applicable tax. Billed monthly, and each label needs its own subscription.
What's the exact sales limit?
Beatport's Terms say labels that have grossed up to, but not more than, $25,000 USD in the trailing calendar year from the date of signup. Beatport also reserves the right to reduce that amount for certain genres.
Is Hype for artists or labels?
Labels. Your label must already exist on Beatport with its own page, created through your distributor when your first release is delivered.
Does subscribing guarantee a feature?
No. Beatport guarantees its curators listen. Features, editorial and promotional support are selected at Beatport's sole discretion, and Beatport's own pitching guidance states that even a strong pitch will not guarantee a feature — it's down to the genre curator.
Will my back catalogue become chart-eligible?
No. Hype charts only include releases published in the last 365 days. Redownloads through Beatport CLOUD don't count toward Hype charts either.
Can I pause the subscription between releases?
There's no pause. Billing is monthly, paid fees are non-refundable, and termination takes effect at the next renewal date. You can cancel and resubscribe later if you're still eligible.
What evidence should I have ready for a release?
Beatport's guidance names 3–5 big-name DJ supporters with links to them actually playing the track, premieres, radio coverage, a precise marketing plan with spend, and social reach. It explicitly dismisses "downloaded for…" feedback, campaigns described "as usual" and full promo sheets. Ask your distributor what pitching options it offers — processes vary.
What if my sales pass the limit?
Beatport reserves the right to disqualify the label from the Hype platform at the end of the subscription month in which sales were exceeded. Fees already paid aren't refunded.
Can Beatport reject a label that's under $25,000?
Yes. The Terms allow disqualification of any label Beatport believes doesn't fit the spirit of the program — the stated example being an established artist launching a new imprint for their own project.
Get the delivery right before you pay for attention
A curator sees exactly what your metadata says: the genre, the BPM, the version, the label, the artist name. Get one of those wrong and you've paid for a listen you can't convert.
CREWPORT delivers to Beatport and validates your metadata before it goes out — consistent artist identity, correct version info, proper remixer credits and clean ISRCs across your whole catalogue. So when the attention finally arrives, the release is ready to hold it.
Sources checked 28 August 2026. Beatport's Hype Terms were last updated 27 August 2026, and program terms, pricing, genre lists and chart rules change — confirm current requirements at gethype.beatport.com and greenroom.beatport.com/labels/hype before subscribing. Note that Beatport's eligibility FAQ and its Hype Terms currently list slightly different genre sets.
Sources
- Beatport — Hype Terms and Conditions (fee, eligibility, spirit-of-program clause, genres, chart integrity, promotional discretion), last updated August 27, 2026
- Beatport — Beatport CLOUD Terms and Conditions (redownloads excluded from Hype charts)
- Beatport Greenroom — Hype for Labels (guaranteed curator listen, benefits, pricing)
- Beatport Customer Support — How do I get my track/release featured on Beatport or Beatport's social channels? (pitching guidance)
- Beatport Customer Support — Who is eligible for Hype?
- Beatport Customer Support — How can I enroll my label in Hype?
- Beatport Customer Support — Will subscribing to Hype make my entire back catalog eligible?
- Beatportal — The Top-Selling Beatport Hype Tracks & Labels of 2026 (Mid-Year Review)