Mixcrate was an online audio distribution platform based in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 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 beatmixing, mixed together by a Disc jockey, DJ to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as Phonograph, tur ...

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 mainly aimed at promoting their mixes and for fans to follow the work of their favorite DJs. It also catered to music listeners,

club promoter A promoter works with event production and Entertainment industry, entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and Sport, sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of Promotion (marke ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

s and event organizers 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 is 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 area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

tech job. Both Yee and Mendoza are from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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, ca ...

scene of the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

. 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 Comscore, Inc. is an American-based global media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, advertising agencies, brand marketers, and publishers. History Comscore was founded in July 1999 in Resto ...

. Though now defunct, Mixcrate's official

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

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+ Google+ (sometimes written as Google Plus, stylized as G+ or g+) was a Social networking service, social network owned and operated by Google until it ceased operations in 2019. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challe ...

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, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

'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, Mix Master Mike is of German and Filipino desc ...

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 is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

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

SoundCloud 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 ...

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 ''Fact'' is a music publication that launched in the UK in 2003. It covers UK, US, and international music and youth culture topics, with particular focus on electronic, pop, rap, and experimental artists. Having started as a bi-monthly pri ...

'' *"Every Good Alternative to SoundCloud for DJs" – ''DJTechTools'' *"Best SoundCloud Alternatives" – '' Techboomers'' *"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 31 January 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is owned by Ziff Davis. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including Microsoft Windows, M ...

'' *"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'' Bobby Owsinski, writing for ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' 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 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 $11.5 mi ...

* Play.fm *

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

References

External links

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