User-built music database and online marketplace, Discogs, has announced the official release date for their hotly anticipated iOS app. The app will available in the iTunes Store on February 29, with the site promising an Android beta test to be available in spring of this year.
Back in September, THUMP beta tested the app, and in the review found it to be a work in progress, offering a sales-oriented, stripped-down version of the Discogs site. It also came equipped with a barcode scanner, yet was a little disappointing in the cleanness of its browsing interface, lacking the site’s beloved Forum section and requiring you to use a PC browser to actually make sales.
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We reached out the company to see if they had addressed these issues, and their Marketing Program Director, Ron Rich, offered the following: “Just like Discogs, the app will continue to evolve,” he said. “The Discogs community has been asking for an app for so long that we aimed to provide them with one that covers what they mainly use Discogs for; managing their collection and wantlist. The early users of the beta echoed this use case asking for more sorting and filtering of their releases, these are a top priority for future development of the app.”
He added, “Until users are asking for a marketplace focused app, it’s a smooth transition from the app right to the mobile site, where you can make and manage your sales. As the user base for the app grows so will the official Discogs App, we look at all the comments on the forum and emails for feature requests, ultimately this app is just a reflection of what the community wants to see.”
Today the site also released a comprehensive analysis of its marketplace and database results for 2015, “State of Discogs.” Considering all the hubbub about vinyl resurgence, it’s interesting to see that the Portland-based company clocked a 31 percent increase in vinyl sales between in 2015. Put in context, though, the marketplace’s overall growth of 31 percent in the year was distributed “relatively [equally]” across the vinyl, CD, and cassette formats, so vinyl didn’t do better than other formats.
We also learned that 93,234 cassettes were added over 2015, a significant 39 percent change from 67,260 the previous year. Argentina got really into the site in 2015, with the number of releases added in the country growing 1146 percent, while Mexico came in second with the highest growth in that category at 243 percent. In 2015, classical music contributions grew by a staggering 41 percent, while the somewhat obscure category of Brass & Military (as in music for armed forces events) grew by 35 percent.
The site also set a new record for most expensive release sold, with American hardcore band Judge’s Chung King Can Suck It LP selling for $6,048
You can see the highlights here, and the in-depth version here.
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