Mixcrate was an online audio distribution platform based in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States that enabled its users to upload, promote and share their

DJ mix A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically mixed together to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as turntables, CD players, digital audio players ...

es 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 A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

mainly aimed at promoting their mixes and for

fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

to follow the work of their favorite DJs. It also catered to music listeners,

club promoter A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s and

event organizer Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. ...

s looking to discover new talent. 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" and "one of the best known DJ mix hosting sites in the world" by ''Digital DJ Tips''. 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."

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 Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

tech job. Both Yee and Mendoza are from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and grew up within the

mobile DJ Mobile disc jockeys (also known as mobile DJs or mobile discos) are disc jockeys that tour with portable sound, lighting, and video systems. They play music for a targeted audience from a collection of pre-recorded music using vinyl records, cas ...

scene of the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. 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. Mixcrate was the most trafficked social network for DJ artists in the United States, according to Comscore. Though now defunct, Mixcrate's official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

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

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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 The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

'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 Michael Schwartz (born April 4, 1970), better known by his stage name Mix Master Mike, is an American turntablist best known for his work with Beastie Boys. Life and career Born in San Francisco, California, Mix Master Mike is of German and Fili ...

Shortkut ''Shortkut'' (also known as ''Short Kut: The Con Is On'') is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Neeraj Vora and produced by Anil Kapoor under Anil Kapoor Films Company. The film stars Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao ...

and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

had posted their mixes to the site. Mixcrate has been included in many lists of top/best alternatives to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that 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 se ...

by publications and websites such as in the following: *"SoundCloud Alternatives: The Best Websites for Mixtapes and New Music If SoundCloud Shuts Down" – ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' *"4 Alternatives to SoundCloud for Hosting DJ Mixes" – ''Digital DJ Tips'' *"Best SoundCloud Alternatives - Top 5 Apps Like SoundCloud to Try" – ''PhoneWorld'' *"Six Alternatives to SoundCloud for Hosting DJ Mixes" – ''

Fact Magazine A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' *"Every Good Alternative to SoundCloud for DJs" – ''DJTechTools'' *"Best SoundCloud Alternatives" – ''

Techboomers Techboomers is an educational website that teaches older adults and inexperienced Internet users how to use various websites and Internet-based applications. The site was founded by current CEO Steve Black. Prior to Techboomers, Black had run Su ...

'' *"Top SoundCloud Alternatives" – ''APowerSoft'' *"5 SoundCloud Alternatives" – ''TechShout'' *"Four Soundcloud Alternatives to Discover and Share Great Music" – ''

Lifehacker ''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft W ...

'' *"SoundCloud Is Now, But What's Next? Five Great Alternatives" – ''Trax Magazine'' *"6 Alternatives to SoundCloud" – ''TuExperto'' *"Top SoundCloud Alternatives to Get Your Music Heard" – ''GuidingTech'' *"Six SoundCloud Alternatives" – '' 5Mag'' *"SoundCloud Alternatives for DJ Mixes" – ''OnTheRiseAcademy'' *"Best SoundCloud Alternatives" – ''CompsMag'' *"Best SoundCloud Alternatives - Top 5 Music Apps like SoundCloud" – ''iTubeGo'' *"Best SoundCloud Alternatives" – ''

BestReviews Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 tele ...

Bobby Owsinski Bobby Owsinski is an American audio engineer, producer, musician, and author based in Los Angeles. He is best known as author of over 20 books in the field of music, music recording and social media, and for audio engineering, especially in sur ...

, writing for ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine, included Mixcrate in his article "Why SoundCloud's Demise Would Hurt Indie Artists" as a "competitive service similar to SoundCloud." Mixcrate was also included in "best sites" lists such as in "The Best Places to Host Your DJ Mixes Online" by ''Trackhunter'' and "Best Sites to Share Your DJ Mix Online" by ''Digital DJ Hub''. TopSitesLike.com produced a list of 13 sites similar to Mixcrate.

Similar services

Mixcloud 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. In April 2018, Mixcloud announced that it raised $ ...

Play.fm Play.fm is a free music streaming platform and social networking service for DJ and club culture. DJ sets, radio shows, and live recordings are collected and uploaded by registered users and can be listened to on demand. The platform was started 200 ...

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...

References

External links

* * * {{Music digital distribution platforms Internet properties established in 2009 Internet properties disestablished in 2016 American music websites DJ mixes Internet audio players Music streaming services Companies based in San Francisco 2009 establishments in California 2016 disestablishments in California