Mixcrate

Last updated
Mixcrate
Mixcrate logo.jpg
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
 Social networking service, music website
Founded2009 (Bay Area, California, United States)
Headquarters
Alameda, California
,
United States
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s) Chris Yee
URL Mixcrate.com
RegistrationRequired
LaunchedNovember 2009
Current statusInactive

Mixcrate was an online audio distribution platform based in California, United States that enabled its users to upload, promote and share their DJ mixes to a worldwide audience and to help DJs promote and grow their careers as professional DJs. It was a community-based platform designed for DJs mainly aimed at promoting their mixes and for fans to follow the work of their favorite DJs. It also catered to music listeners, club promoters, radio stations and event organizers looking to discover new talent.

Contents

The service has been described as "the premier platform to enable DJs to share their talent with a worldwide audience while connecting with their peers and fans" [1] and "one of the best known DJ mix hosting sites in the world" by Digital DJ Tips. [2]

On October 20, 2016, Mixcrate shut down. A message posted to the site and to its Facebook Page read: "Unfortunately, Mixcrate received a letter from a respected entity in the record industry. While Mixcrate does not believe the site violates any laws, we do not have the means to operate under current conditions. It's with deep regret that we must shut down the website." [2]

History

Mixcrate was founded and launched by Chris Yee in November 2009. The idea for Mixcrate came about after Yee mentioned the idea to Genghis Mendoza while at their Silicon Valley tech job. Both Yee and Mendoza are from San Francisco and grew up within the mobile DJ scene of the Bay Area. [3] They realized their passion for DJing and web development could create a user-focused destination that would build on the idea of a community. After the development of the site, it was launched to twenty DJ friends and family members to help test. The site gained international viewership from many countries around the world even during the testing period. [4]

Mixcrate was the most trafficked social network for DJ artists in the United States, according to Comscore. [5]

Though now defunct, Mixcrate's official Facebook and Twitter accounts are still active.

Features

Mixcrate allowed users to browse and listen to DJ mixes on the site. Registered users could "like", download (if enabled and logged in), save a mix to their playlist, and comment on a mix. Users could also "follow" other users, both DJs and listeners, to be notified of their recent activities on the site such as newly uploaded mixes (by DJs), recent likes and comments etc., which is displayed on the activity feed on the homepage. Registered DJs could upload an unlimited number of mixes, with a file size limit of 190MB for each mix.

Users also had the option of directly sharing mixes via Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Impact and recognition

In a Vice magazine interview with culture writer, record collector, music journalist, author, podcast host, DJ and Professor of Sociology Oliver Wang about the history of the San Francisco Bay Area's Filipino American mobile DJ scene, when asked if there was "Anything cool you can point our readers to online?", he responded: "Mixcrate.com, for example, is one platform where quite a few mobile DJs from this scene have posted up old mixes." Notable Filipino American DJs such as Qbert, Mix Master Mike, Shortkut and Apollo had posted their mixes to the site. [6]

Mixcrate has been included in many lists of top/best alternatives to SoundCloud by publications and websites such as in the following:

Bobby Owsinski, writing for Forbes magazine, included Mixcrate in his article "Why SoundCloud's Demise Would Hurt Indie Artists" as a "competitive service similar to SoundCloud." [24] Mixcrate was also included in "best sites" lists such as in "The Best Places to Host Your DJ Mixes Online" by Trackhunter [25] and "Best Sites to Share Your DJ Mix Online" by Digital DJ Hub. [26]

TopSitesLike.com produced a list of 13 sites similar to Mixcrate. [27]

Similar services

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coldcut</span> English electronic music duo

Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, which featured cut-up samples of hip-hop, soul, funk, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia. According to Spin, "in '87 Coldcut pioneered the British fad for 'DJ records'".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disc jockey</span> Person who plays recorded music for an audience

A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.

iTunes Apples media library and media player software

iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating systems, and can be used to rip songs from CDs as well as playing content from dynamic, smart playlists. It includes options for sound optimization and wirelessly sharing iTunes libraries.

Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used for remixes. It also operates a specialized music streaming service oriented towards DJs.

Traktor is DJ software developed by Native Instruments. It is also used as a sub-brand for Native Instruments' associated DJ hardware products.

Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. Depending on edition Google Workspace may also include the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard and an option to purchase add-ons such as the telephony service Voice.

Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MediaFire</span> File hosting service

MediaFire is a file hosting, file synchronization, and cloud storage service based in Shenandoah, Texas, United States. Founded in June 2006 by Derek Labian and Tom Langridge, the company provides client software for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10, and web browsers. MediaFire has 43 million registered users and attracted 1.3 billion unique visitors to its domains in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Songza</span> Free music streaming and recommendation service

Songza was a free music streaming and recommendation service for Internet users in the United States and Canada.

A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommender system to help users discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history and other factors, as well as the ability to create and share public playlists with other users. It may also include customized radio or social media platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SoundCloud</span> German audio streaming service

SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. The service has more than 76 million active monthly users and over 200 million audio tracks as of November 2021. SoundCloud offers both free and paid memberships on the platform, available for mobile, desktop and Xbox devices. SoundCloud has evolved from a traditional online streaming platform to an entertainment company.

Turntable.fm, was a social media website that allowed users to collaboratively stream music. In 2011, Billy Chasen as CEO, Joseph Perla as VP of Technology, and the team at Stickybits, together developed and launched the first version of a social music service named Turntable. Turntable was created as a pivot after the company's first product, Stickybits, failed to gain sufficient traction. The service allowed users to create "rooms," which other users could join. Designated users, so-called "DJs," chose songs to be played to everyone in that room, while all users were able to talk with one another through a text interface. The service opened to the public in May 2011, and by late June had already reached 140,000 active users. The company used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to license the music that was played on the website; because of this, only individuals from the United States were allowed to use the service. The site shut down in December 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8tracks.com</span> Internet radio and social networking website

8tracks.com is an internet radio and social networking website revolving around the concept of streaming user-curated playlists consisting of at least 8 tracks. Users create free accounts and can browse the site and listen to other user-created mixes, as well as create their mixes. The site also has a subscription-based service, 8tracks Plus, although this is currently only available to listeners based in the United States and Canada.

Mixcloud is a popular British online music streaming service that allows for the listening and distribution of radio shows, DJ mixes and podcasts, which are crowdsourced by its registered users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NTS Radio</span> Online radio station based in London

NTS Radio is an online radio station and media platform which launched in Hackney, East London. The station was founded in April 2011 by Femi Adeyemi "for an international community of music lovers". NTS broadcasts from its studios in London and Los Angeles, as well as remote worldwide broadcasts from its mix of resident hosts and guests. NTS produces a diverse range of live radio shows, digital media and events. The station's tagline is "Don't Assume".

plug.dj was an interactive online social music streaming website based in Los Angeles, owned by Rowl, Inc. The site was "dedicated to growing positive international communities for sharing and discovering music". It was a free service with microtransactions, and had over 3 million registered accounts. The website was launched on February 29, 2012, by Steven Sacks, Alex Reinlieb, and Jason Grunstra.

Weird SoundCloud, or SoundClown, is a mashup parody music scene taking place on the online distribution platform SoundCloud. The scene has been described by its producers and music journalists to be a satirical take on electronic dance music, and useless, throwaway internet content. One critic, Audra Schroeder, categorized it as an in-joke that is "deconstructing and reshaping memes and popular music, recontextualizing the sacred texts of millennial chat rooms."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr Brainz</span> Musical artist

Gregory Morris, known as Mr Brainz, is an English electronic music DJ and producer from London. He currently has a radio show on popular underground internet radio station Sub.FM which is broadcast every two weeks. Mr Brainz is the founder of several websites including UK garage community Slick n Fresh and social DJ promotion tool TunePushr. He exposed SoundCloud's close relationship with Universal Music Group after the story of his paid-for SoundCloud account being terminated went viral in 2014.

Rock My Run is a mobile running/fitness app founded in 2011 that provides running and workout music in the form of DJ mixes. It is owned by Rock My World, Inc., a health and fitness technology company based in San Diego, California. The app allows users to listen to these professional DJ mixes on their smartphone while running or working out to enhance and motivate their performance.

References

  1. ↑ "Group Test: SoundCloud VS The Best Of The Rest". DJWORX. March 17, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Lessons For DJs From The Death Of Mixcrate". Digital DJ Tips. October 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ "History of Filipino-American DJs at mixcrate.com". 8Asians. November 18, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Attention All DJs: MixCrate.com Has Arrived For You! - Old School Scholar". Old School Scholar. March 4, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  5. ↑ "Kochava Media Index - Mixcrate Advertising Mediakits, Reviews, Pricing, Traffic, Rate Card Cost". Kochava Media Index.
  6. ↑ "How The Bay Area's Filipino Mobile DJ Scene Turned High Schoolers into Future Turntablism Stars". Vice Magazine. 30 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Soundcloud might be shutting down - here's the best alternatives" . The Independent. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on 2022-05-15.
  8. ↑ "4 Alternatives To SoundCloud For Hosting DJ Mixes". Digital DJ Tips. March 17, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Best SoundCloud Alternatives – Top 5 Apps Like SoundCloud to Try". PhoneWorld. January 24, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Six alternatives to SoundCloud for hosting DJ mixes". May 16, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Every Good Alternative to Soundcloud for DJs". September 4, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Best 7 Sites Like SoundCloud: Try These Great Alternatives!". TechBoomers. December 4, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Similar Sites to Soundcloud - Best SoundCloud Alternative". APowerSoft. September 3, 2013.
  14. ↑ Maria, Joanna (June 6, 2013). "5 SoundCloud Alternatives". TechShout.
  15. ↑ "Four Soundcloud Alternatives to Discover and Share Great Music". Lifehacker. 7 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "SoundCloud is now, but what's next? Five great alternatives". Trax Magazine. March 17, 2016.
  17. ↑ "6 alternativas a Soundcloud". TuExperto.
  18. ↑ "Top SoundCloud Alternatives to Get Your Music Heard". Guiding Tech. 22 May 2015.
  19. ↑ Matthew, Terry (April 17, 2015). "Sorry SoundCloud: It's Not Us. It's You".
  20. ↑ Cunningham, Jay (January 2, 2016). "Soundcloud Alternatives For DJ mixes".
  21. ↑ "Best SoundCloud Alternatives". CompsMag.
  22. ↑ "Best SoundCloud Alternatives - Top 5 Music Apps like SoundCloud".
  23. ↑ "Best Soundcloud Alternatives 2017". October 13, 2016.
  24. ↑ Owsinski, Bobby. "Why SoundCloud's Demise Would Hurt Indie Artists". Forbes.
  25. ↑ "The best places to host your DJ mixes online". Trackhunter.co.uk.
  26. ↑ "Best Sites to Share Your DJ Mix Online | Digital DJ Hub".
  27. ↑ "13 Sites Like Mixcrate.com – Top Sites Like". Topsiteslike.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.