By José Gandue @Gandour
Let's be clear on one point: From a business perspective, the most interesting independent music scene in Latin America is the Chilean one.. There is a collective of musicians, producers, labels, ventures and investors who, despite the difficulties of recent times, their geographical location and the political inconveniences experienced, have found striking solutions to the structural and daily problems that arise in the development of their economy. The last example is Portaldisc. This Chilean music download portal has just celebrated its 12th anniversary, having been created during the era of pirated MP3 downloads and the beginning of the decline in physical album sales. Over time, it has become the largest digital catalog of Chilean music., with more than 130,000 songs, belonging to more than 300 labels and 7,000 artists from that country. And now, with those numbers on their side, They have decided to launch their own app, For Apple and Android, a streaming app with content that is, for the time being, primarily local. The app is now available. to be downloaded anywhere in the world, And it has two versions: A free one, which will allow the customer to listen to 50 songs per month, or one with unlimited access to its collection of tunes, at a price similar to what you pay for Spotify.
To find out more, we contacted its director, Sebastian Milos, who has given us more details about the present and future of his company:
Where did the idea to create the app come from?
Exactly 12 years ago, we created PortalDisc, a digital download portal for Chilean music that has become a highly relevant platform for the Chilean music industry and a project beloved and respected by Chilean artists, labels, and institutions. This enormous catalog deserved a new platform, and so the idea for PortalDisc App was born—a streaming application specializing in Chilean music. It's been five years in development, but we believe it's been worth it. This first week of operation has brought only positive signs.
You were already planning to launch the app last year under the name Suena Chile, what happened?
The pandemic dealt us a major blow. The Chilean company handling the technological development, with whom we were quite far along, halted operations due to the loss of most of its clients. Their main projects were in the sports and entertainment industries. This meant first postponing the launch and then needing to change providers. Along with all these changes, we also decided to change the name, to better reflect the brand positioning PortalDisc has maintained for the past 12 years.
What responses have they received so far from the music industry in their country?
The reception has been excellent, both from artists and labels, as well as from users themselves. Undoubtedly, there will always be details to improve, but the app already has users from every continent and has performed very well technically. It currently has a catalog of over 130,000 songs from more than 300 labels and 7,000 Chilean artists. Now we will begin to forge relationships with brands and institutions that will help us sustain and promote the app both in Chile and abroad.
What makes your app different from other platforms, apart from currently only having Chilean content?
For anyone who enjoys or is interested in Chilean music, this is a wonderful platform. Besides finding a wealth of music that, for various reasons, isn't available on other platforms, you'll find a music classification system perfectly tailored to Chilean music. For example, you can access music from each of Chile's 16 regions or specific Chilean musical genres, including Mapuche, Rapa Niu, Patagonian, and Cueca music. Furthermore, it's a platform that pays artists better per play, and where musicians can upload their music directly for free. It's an excellent way to discover, share, and support Chilean music.
Do you plan to expand your catalog with material from other Latin American countries?
Yes, it's a possibility soon, just as we did at one point with the download platform. But on the other hand, we believe that the music of any country deserves its own dedicated distribution platform, with its own codes and territorial identity. In Chile, for example, more than 1,000 albums are released annually, which generally get lost in the vast catalogs of international platforms. PortalDisc App is a more personal, customized, and human-scale platform for local artists. And we want to maintain that characteristic.
More info:
Web page: app.portaldisc.com
Download for Android: https://bit.ly/3qavWSy
Download for iPhone / iPad: https://apple.co/31SNIjc
Proposal for Artists / Labels: https://www.portaldisc.com/portaldisc_app.pdf