''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the computer ...

that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as a podcast and its

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

generator.

History

Originally called ''Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven'' and hosted on

GeoCities GeoCities, later Yahoo! GeoCities, was a web hosting service that allowed users to create and publish websites for free and to browse user-created websites by their theme or interest, active from 1994 to 2009. GeoCities was started in November 1 ...

, the webzine moved to its current domain in 2001. ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' is a featured reviewer on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. The writing staff is composed of volunteers who often use pen names (such as "Wolfman," "Mango Starr," "Chizzly St. Claw," and "Filmore Mescalito Holmes"). Some contributors, like Rebecca Armendariz and Alex Brown, go by their real names. Its cofounder and

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

-resident Marvin Lin (who writes as "Mr. P"). The music reviews, features, news, film, comics, and the "DeLorean", "Cerberus", and "Automatic Mix Tapes" columns are edited by "Jay," "Gumshoe," "Dan Smart," Benjamin Pearson, "Keith Kawaii," "JSpicer," "Trillian," and "Pliny the Elder," respectively. They have been cited by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', among other publications. On January 6, 2020, ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' announced it was taking a "much-needed hiatus".

Content

''Tiny Mix Tapes'' offers news, music reviews, movie reviews, and columns. The "DeLorean" section reviews music released before ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' began that may no longer be popular, albums that the writer believes are "classic" or influential, or older music that is significant to the writer. Similarly, "Eureka" consists of reviews highlighted by the site as particularly noteworthy or exciting. There is also a features section devoted to interviews, articles, festival reviews, as well as a "Live Blog," in which writers review live music shows. In 2009, ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' added a "columns" section. As of 2008, ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' started reviewing films and now has a section devoted to it. This section also includes features on filmmakers and other numerous subjects within the medium.

The Automatic Mix Tape Generator

The Automatic Mix Tape Generator, or AMG, was created to offer two-way communication with the website. Started in 2002, readers may submit a title or the theme for a

, and a group of volunteers (called the "Mix Robots") will compile a track list. Due to the large volume of requests as well as request redundancy, not all requests are filled. The "Mix Robots" produce and submit track lists fulfilling the request as they interpret it. Mixtape track lists are then available on the website. Most of the songs on the mix tapes come from indie or underground bands/musicians. In 2008, Trillian, the AMG editor, was on '' Talk of the Nation''

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

program to discuss

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

mixes.

''Chocolate Grinder''

At the beginning of 2009, ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' began a feature podcast called ''Chocolate Grinder''. Published approximately twice a month, each installment sees a writer collecting ten brand new tracks they want to shed light on and mix it as a continuous stream or download. The tracks are posted for stream or download in a single continuous file with a unique name. Currently, ''Chocolate Grinder'' remains a staple of ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' daily media content, which includes videos, music streams, internet premieres, interactive websites, and the like.

Benefit compilation

In April 2009, the site began selling a benefit compilation CD/ LP to benefit the victims of the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

. It featured 11 exclusive songs.

Humor and politics

On March 30, 2007, ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' announced it was hosting a festival in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. At this festival, long-since dissolved indie band

Neutral Milk Hotel Neutral Milk Hotel was an American band formed by Jeff Mangum in Ruston, Louisiana, in 1989. They were active until 1998, and then from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psy ...

were billed to be "reuniting all over your Cheerios" as the headlining act. Amidst a blog flurry, and articles disputing the legitimacy of the event in ''Billboard'' and ''Prefix'', the festival was revealed as an early April Fool's Day joke later the same day.

Album of the Year

References

External links

Tiny Mix Tapes website
*''The Guardian'': "The Guide: www.tinymixtapes.com/amg", by Johnny Dee, June 4, 2005 *'' Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC)''
"The mix has been nixed!"
by Alexander Morrison, February 13, 2005 *''Concord Monitor (NH)'': "Mixtape madness", by Vanessa Valdes, June 16, 2006 *''Malay Mail'' (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): "Playlist", September 21, 2005 {{Authority control Online music magazines published in the United States Music podcasts Magazines established in 2001