DEEP MEDi, Juan Forté, Foundation Audio, Cutcross Recordings, CNCPT Collective, FOTO Sounds and Next Level Dubstep are just some of the 30+ new labels to add their catalogues to 140 Plates this week as the world’s only dedicated dubstep/140 download store continues to carve its own unique lane.
Established December 2021 by Pieter Grauwels – the founder of consistent and super-respected dubstep platform / label DUPLOC – 140 Plates has become a beacon for many dubstep and 140-based DJs this year as it focuses fully and exclusively on underground bass music.
Proudly stating that they charge the customers less and pay the artists more, as impressive as the platform’s launch has been so far, this is still a nascent phase for 140 Plates as they reveal further plans to launch a Bandcamp-style self-release function that allows independent artists to sell their music directly plus plans even further ahead in the future to expand beyond the 140 tempo realm with a 170 Plates concept!
1 More Thing briefly caught up with Pieter to check how his plates are spinning.
It’s been nine months of 140 Plates so far… How’s it all gone?
It’s going really really well! In a short amount of time we have built a really strong core of loyal customers with very little social media promotion. We are getting orders every day and the dubstep community has been very supportive of us.
What inspired you to launch the platform when you did?
It was the idea of having a dedicated place for people to discover and buy dubstep and 140 music and for that music to be properly pushed and promoted via the homepage, something I saw as lacking with other digital download stores. I also wanted a place where artists and customers get a better deal when it comes to buying and selling music, which is why we charge the customer less and pay the artists more.
What’s been the biggest surprise or success or inspirational situation that’s come of it that you couldn’t have anticipated prior to launching it?
When we first launched the store, we only had a fraction of the labels on board that we have now and aim to have in the future, so it didn’t make much sense for us to go in hard with the promo, a few newsletters here and there but quite minimal online presence. Despite this, we not only see orders coming in each day but some of the orders are really big with many tracks, also we now have over 1000 DJs signed up to the site and more distributors wanting to get involved which is really great to see.
Tell us about the new additions to the library of labels you have…
Yes we have taken on well over 30 new labels which we are very excited about. These include the likes of DEEP MEDi, Juan Forté, Foundation Audio, Cutcross Recordings (by Sicaria Sound), CNCPT Collective, FOTO Sounds, Next Level Dubstep and many more. All these labels are releasing seriously high-quality music and really pushing the scene so to help get the music out there is a real privilege and we’re super happy to be a part of it.
How else do you plan to develop 140 Plates?
Our long term goal is to start a sister site called 170 Plates, dedicated to drum and bass, jungle and other higher tempo genres, this will of course take time to develop so in the short term we want to improve the store and expand the features. One particular feature we are excited about implementing is a ‘self release’ feature whereby artists can upload their own releases, much like Bandcamp. So with this combined with all the releases from label via distributors we should have the largest discography of dubstep and 140 music available to buy anywhere online.