Why is this post even here?
When the pandemic first hit, my life was a cascading loss of work. Thankfully I qualified for Pandemic Unemployment assistance, because suddenly I found myself jobless, workless, and with a small child who no longer had a school to attend, either, so I picked up a pandemic hobby. Along with that hobby came some edu about artist royalties and software platforms.
Pandemic hobbies
Like many people, staying-home isolation and entirely too much free time meant finding ways to pass that time (unlike some people, I just didn’t have it in me to build elaborate marble mazes and such). We had our share of jigsaw puzzles, movie nights, and Zoom group activities, but I also decided to try something I’d wanted to try for years. A DJ controller, some software, and a basic beginners’ course online and I was ready to go (in case you’re wondering, I went with a Traktor S4 MK3 (purchased used on Reverb.com) and Traktor Pro 3 software, and I signed up for Beginner and Intermediate Traktor courses on Crossfader).
Mixcloud or Soundcloud?
I’m a perfectionist, so it would be two years before I’d even think about posting my first mix online but when the time came, I had a decision to make: Mixcloud or Soundcloud?
A LOT of DJs put their mixes up on Soundcloud because it has some DJ software integration features, and the platform is more well-known and thus, gets more traffic than Mixcloud; the problem is that technically, posting DJ mixes on Soundcloud isn’t entirely legal. Supposedly, Soundcloud is for you to post music you make yourself, or to listen to or DJ with tracks made by artists who’ve posted their work to Soundcloud. Soundcloud doesn’t seem like it’s ever really bothered to check up on that, however, so people keep rolling with it as they have for years. Sometimes, a DJ will post a track list to a Soundcloud mix but usually, the only way to find out what’s being played is to leave a comment and hope the poster responds.
Mixcloud, however, was made for DJs. When you upload a mix to Mixcloud, you include a track list and Mixcloud takes care of licensing and royalties for artists – meaning that when you choose to use Mixcloud to post your mixes, you’re also supporting the artists who made the tracks you’re using any time anyone listens to your mix.
Like Soundcloud, you can sign up for free as either a DJ or a listener, though there are pro and upgraded listener options on Mixcloud that allow you do more.
So what should you do?
I am not in denial about what kind of world it is we live in. Artists want and need to be noticed, so the obvious choice for most DJs is to head to the place with a larger audience. Most DJs, however, rely on music made by other people to make their art, so ethically, Mixcloud should be the choice. Most DJ tracks cost between one and two dollars to purchase (that’s not a lot, especially if you aren’t some famous electronic music producer who can easily sell a million copies of a track). There are a lot of people producing amazing tracks from their little bedroom studios, however, and I want to encourage them to keep going. For me, that means making sure they’re compensated appropriately.
I’ve found also found Mixcloud users to be really community-oriented: we follow each other, take the time to listen to each other’s mixes and leave comments. Mixcloud could make some improvements to its UI, for sure, and its phone app leaves a bit to be desired (some of the genres I really love, like UKG, are impossible to get to via the app, for example, making it hard to discover new artists at random when I’m on the go), but ethically, it’s where we’re supposed to be, and we can grow it organically.
I can’t suggest that you post your mix to Soundcloud because it wouldn’t be an ethical suggestion, but if you’re at a professional level and needing to get the word out, I will suggest that you make sure you have an account on Mixcloud no matter what, and post your mix and tracklists there along with anywhere else you post so that you’re doing the ethical thing to make sure the artists you’re working with get paid for their work. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.
Hopefully sites like Beatport, where I get some of my music, will also get with the program and allow users to add a Mixcloud URL to our profiles (because as you might have guessed, there’s one for Soundcloud but not Mixcloud).
Let me know if you have thoughts about this!