Why Tracklisting Ruins A Mix Experience

Today I read something interesting about mixes. A well respected EDM journalist with the name Terry Church, describes how a tracklist can ruin your listening experience. He claims that in today's industry, supply and demand has never been so noticeable as it is now. People want to hear the unique separate tracks and not the whole mix experience.

"The digital age has changed the way that we consume dance music. Digital downloads – legal and unlawful – have replaced, for the most part, 12-inch singles and EPs (certainly not in revenue, but perhaps in volume).

Podcasts too, have replaced the humble DJ mix tape and ipso facto, the CD compilation. Whilst it’s hard to argue against the consumer benefits of the mass proliferation of free DJ mixes online, I can’t help feeling that along the way the art of the DJ mix has been lost somewhat.

When Global Underground’s mix albums – the most commercially successful DJ mixes of all time – hit the peak of their popularity in the late 1990′s and early noughties, there seemed to be both respect, credibility, and serious money surrounding the DJ mix compilation market.

DJs and labels took great care to ensure as upfront a tracklist as possible and mixes were programmed with microscopic precision for the ultimate benefit of the listener. The same cannot be said of the DJ mixes situation today.

The mix CD, unlike live recordings from a club as so many podcasts tend to be these days, are designed to create a unique listening experience each time they are listened to."

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