Producing Your Mix
Before the onset of modern consumer technology kicked the breath out of everyone, there were mix tapes. That was the usual way for DJs to make their name big on the scene, churning out a couple of costly tapes with their original mixes on it and hoping that they'll be good enough for their friends to pass on. Success meant that you could produce more tapes as per your listeners’ request and enjoy the unbelievable number of dozens of tapes circulating your local scene.
But that’s a past only music historians dwell on, as today we have near unlimited access to cutting-edge CD burning technology and digital distribution system that reaches across the world! Sharing your mixes has become a matter of choice, not accessibility or even ability.
Post your mixes online
Both using your own site and someone else’s, there are numerous ways to distribute your music on the Internet. Online radios and podcasts are all over the place, waiting for someone to send them a fresh mix track to play. When you do that, make sure to send a whole playlist, along with additional details and contact information. If you have some original tracks with a big enough fan base or a feeling that your music is just that good, try your luck with iTunes as well ! Once your music is out there, tell all your friends and fans to download it immediately. After all, that’s exactly how today’s top music artists make their living.
Burn lots of CDs
Regardless of your success rate online, you need to put out a lot of actual, physical CDs to be given out to your fans, new and old. After all, it’s still the cheapest way of storing digital music. You might end up spending more time than money on burning CDs, as the process can seem slow and tedious when the count is in the hundreds and little specialized hardware is available to you. When the lack of specialized tools becomes unbearable, go ahead and invest your money into a CD burning tower. It can cost just under a thousand dollars, but will save you money in the long run. Just make sure you’re in the music business to stay!
Give them away
You may want to make money, but selling mix CDs is rarely the best way to do so for an aspiring DJ. Giving them away to as many people as possible, on the other hand, increases the number of your fans and will benefit you in the future, when you’re negotiating an event contract with a venue or attracting attention from promoters.
Put quality right next to quantity
As you can see, burning CDs nowadays is (mostly) a cakewalk. Creating a quality mix, on the other hand, can be harder. Once you’ve done working on the music itself and it seems like the best you can do at the time, don’t just skip over the most important things you need to do to the CD itself. Make sure it’s tracked and don’t let bad mixes anywhere near your CDs. It’s better to replicate an older, but better mix in your next set of CDs, than to settle for a low quality mix you’ve made recently.