DISCOGS DIGITAL

Said to be the fifth biggest music site on planet earth, chances are small you've never visisted Discogs. But if you didn't, Discogs - short for Discographies - is a user built database containing information on artists, labels, and their recordings. Discogs also incorporates a Marketplace where you can buy and sell the recordings. Many die hard vinyl lovers consider Discogs vinyl heaven, thanks to its immense catalogue.

Record stores may be slowly dying off, but according to a publication on leading dance music website Resident Advisor last month, Discogs Marketplace is healthier than ever. "Discogs has become an online phenomenon within the music world, providing a detailed and searchable catalogue of nearly two million releases that currently attracts four million unique visitors, who managed to rack up a staggering 100 million page views between them during January of this year."

The article also says more and more record sellers are making the switch from eBay to Discogs. "The site has gone from selling 76,000 items in the marketplace's first year (October 2005-06) to almost 1.2 million items in the past twelve months - a fifteen-fold increase in under five years."

Given the fact Discogs earns a commission from each sale realised, that's healthy business indeed!

While vinyl probably still is what Discogs' Marketplace is most popular for, music collectors and music lovers alike can also find plenty of interesting CD releases in its catalogue.

And since recently Discogs teamed up with Juno Download to offer digital downloads as well. Discogs Digital has integrated Juno Download’s complete back catalogue of more than 1.5 million tracks. The site, which launched on March 31, is hosted at discogs.com, but all content is stored by Juno.

Resident Advisor and Juno are said have close bonds already, and adding Discogs to their circle of friends will only make them a stronger combination.

  Discogs Digital