Goa-Head Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 After having received today the sweet Sakura I felt I had to share something which has been baffling me since long. Why is it that after 2000 dj mixes (psy-goa) became so rare? How many dj mixes can you count in the 'latest' years? Me, except for Sakura and the other Suntrip 'Warming Freeze' from 2008 can't remember. I understand psy-goa vinyl is no longer existent and this had certainly an effect on the official dj mix CDs. Gone are the DAT days. Times have changed in the sense that 'today' everyone wants to release his tracks in full on various compilations and full-length albums but I (still) think dj mixes would be nice if there were labels ready to get tracks licensed for the purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolmot Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 On CD? Probably because even artist albums and exclusive compilations only sell a few hundred copies despite having all new, full length tracks. Meanwhile, there are boatloads of homemade mixes floating around on the "promotional licence", that is, free of charge or even guilt. With forums, soundcloud, mixcloud, youtube, net streams, podcasts etc. at our disposal, good luck selling any more than a nominal amount of mix CDs. Warming Freeze was a free extra. Sakura is 100 freebies and 100 low-price CDr copies. Demand like that hardly encourages proper pressing and licensing. It may be a different story if you're on Djmag top 100, but goa DJs rarely are. Besides, music consumption today tends to rely on single tracks, custom playlists and heavy use of the skip button. Mixes may get streamed but purchases must be in a shufflable/selectable format. Buy a mix and you're stuck with that track order forever or it sounds like crap. There's no shortage of mixes, though. In the 90s it was a small luxury to own discs, decks and good recording equipment. Download speed was 28 kbps, not Mbps. Your average mix copy was a big name CD or a cassette recorded from radio. Today anyone can cobble together a mix on a $200 laptop using an endless supply of torrented mp3s. (You don't have to but you can.) There are so many mixes that you must actively push your stuff to get a few dozen plays. It went from "oh boy, a psy mix!" to "sigh, yet another psy mix". Another thing that largely vanished are compilations of already released stuff. I guess YSE still does them, but otherwise the expectation for compilations is all exclusive content. You don't need samplers because everything can be sampled online. Labels won't bother with singles collections either, because today a "single" is an mp3 everyone has already, not a 12" owned by a handful of DJs. But hey, at least you won't feel silly any more for buying the same track five times on different albums, compilations and mix CDs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotwang Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Another thing that largely vanished are compilations of already released stuff. I guess YSE still does them, but otherwise the expectation for compilations is all exclusive content. I think compilations with exclusive content are good. But personally I'd like it if more of them were mixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technosomy Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Interesting question. I think it's partly has to do with the digitalization of the music, now we can (and want) to listen to track one track we like instead of listening through a whole mix. It was different when there was vinyl and CDs whom only came in a physical package and it took time to change the records. I personally like a good mix once in a while. Shout-out to Draeke @http://goatranch.com/2014/02/05/dj-draeke-veni-vidi-vixi/ i reckon! listening to it now...... talk about golden oldies! gee there is some acid in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technosomy Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 i think the last one i got besides sakura was the awsome soumi mix on 6 dimension! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoebis Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Interesting question...First of all, the reason why we released the Sakura mix, was indeed more out of promotional purpose... (hence the price) but once we were working on it we realised the feedback was more then originally expected... because of that we included some "unique" tracks in it, so it became even more interesting for everyone The most "shocking" about the mix, is that it sold better then E-Mantra the first 2 days after it was released! (actually, it was sold out almost immediately) So this means, there is clearly people that are interested in this.I, myself, like mixes a lot. Like said here before there are 1000 of mixes allover the place, but only few of them have a good story/mixing/quality. Because of that I only check the ones I KNOW I will like. Maybe limited prints of the best are interesting... After this successtory we were thinking we can maybe ask the Suntrip djs to make a good mix, and release it as limited mix-cd prints on Suntrip. Like a series. For instance, Ine makes one, next is Stevo, next is Lord Flames,...Only problem: you need to have the rights of all the music, and that is less easy as people think, but ok, that's our problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyborg Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 The most "shocking" about the mix, is that it sold better then E-Mantra the first 2 days after it was released! (actually, it was sold out almost immediately) So this means, there is clearly people that are interested in this the answer for this is very easy..! there were only 50 copies of Sakura, so ppl wanted to get it a.s.a.p. before it will disappear! while Nemesis can be bought next months without any "out of stock" issue :-P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoebis Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 the answer for this is very easy..! there were only 50 copies of Sakura, so ppl wanted to get a.s.a.p. while Nemesis can be bought next months without any "out of stock" issue :-P Well, 50 more which will be available via discogs... but it has probably to do with it indeed... still 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyborg Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 if i may ask, how many copies of Suntrip releases do you print? (each) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoebis Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 if i may ask, how many copies of Suntrip releases do you print? (each) Depending. The "real" Suntrip releases which are spreaded allover the distribution channels 1000 (but we'll go to 700 after the Ra cd and the compilation), and the limited prints are 300 or 500. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyborg Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 interesting. noted with thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franki Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I love a good mix CD myself. Wish there were more psytrance ones! (Obviously bought the Suntrip CD straight away!) Psytrance's lack of mix CDs seems to be quite different to many other types of EDM. If I compare psytrance to techno - psytrance DJs took to using CDs early on and they became the norm. Many psy DJs still use CDs, so the availability of tunes unmixed in that format is important. (Although, obviously they can download tunes and burn them to CD too.) Techno DJs in the main, never embraced the CD, sticking with the 12" or going straight from vinyl to digital, so most of their music has been bought on 12" or downloaded. As far as the consumer goes, mix CDs are still popular in techno - but there the DJ commands a lot more respect than in psytrance, where they always seem to be looked upon as second string to "live" performers. I mean: think of all your favourite psy / Goa acts and it's a fair bet you think of mainly producers. There isn't really the superstar DJ equivalent in psy circles. The availability of free DJ mixes on the net has clearly had a large effect, but again - other genres with higher profile DJs still manage to move mix CDs every year and their status helps promote and give credibility to up and coming producers - I've bought SO many artist albums after hearing a track played on a CD mixed by one of my favourite DJs. My personal view (and I don't expect it to be too popular with psytrance DJs, ) is that, as a style of music, psy doesn't offer the DJ much scope for exhibiting their skills. Any kind of turntablism tends to sound wrong, where in techno it usually gets a great response. A collection of techno tunes can become so much more than a sum of its parts by being mixed - psytrance I feel doesn't benefit as much from the mixing over playing seperate tunes. Continuing this train of thought: I am quite happy to listen to unmixed psytrance albums from start to finish one after another, but I do find unmixed techno a bit boring after a while. What am I saying? Techno needs to be mixed to get the most out of it, psytrance doesn't? Maybe! Where the DJ wins over a "live" act to my mind, is in the scope of available music to play and the ability to use these tunes to construct a set that really takes you somewhere. I find a lot of DJs play more dynamic sets than "live" acts, but this isn't always the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goa-Head Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Interesting question... First of all, the reason why we released the Sakura mix, was indeed more out of promotional purpose... (hence the price) but once we were working on it we realised the feedback was more then originally expected... because of that we included some "unique" tracks in it, so it became even more interesting for everyone The most "shocking" about the mix, is that it sold better then E-Mantra the first 2 days after it was released! (actually, it was sold out almost immediately) So this means, there is clearly people that are interested in this. I, myself, like mixes a lot. Like said here before there are 1000 of mixes allover the place, but only few of them have a good story/mixing/quality. Because of that I only check the ones I KNOW I will like. Maybe limited prints of the best are interesting... After this successtory we were thinking we can maybe ask the Suntrip djs to make a good mix, and release it as limited mix-cd prints on Suntrip. Like a series. For instance, Ine makes one, next is Stevo, next is Lord Flames,... Only problem: you need to have the rights of all the music, and that is less easy as people think, but ok, that's our problem That would be nice, starting releasing limited DJ mix series. think Deck Wizards from the 90's, but 2 decades later. You shoul really consider it, getting license from other Goa labels shouldn't be a big issue if everything is done correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technosomy Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Interesting question... First of all, the reason why we released the Sakura mix, was indeed more out of promotional purpose... (hence the price) but once we were working on it we realised the feedback was more then originally expected... because of that we included some "unique" tracks in it, so it became even more interesting for everyone The most "shocking" about the mix, is that it sold better then E-Mantra the first 2 days after it was released! (actually, it was sold out almost immediately) So this means, there is clearly people that are interested in this. I, myself, like mixes a lot. Like said here before there are 1000 of mixes allover the place, but only few of them have a good story/mixing/quality. Because of that I only check the ones I KNOW I will like. Maybe limited prints of the best are interesting... After this successtory we were thinking we can maybe ask the Suntrip djs to make a good mix, and release it as limited mix-cd prints on Suntrip. Like a series. For instance, Ine makes one, next is Stevo, next is Lord Flames,... Only problem: you need to have the rights of all the music, and that is less easy as people think, but ok, that's our problem with a little bit of work i reckon you could get rights to various rare tracks and bring out a couple of mix comps, as you know there are some amazing ones out there not many have had the chance to listen to, or not even aware of, and jos you the man to mix it and bring it to the people, love the idea though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoebis Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 with a little bit of work i reckon you could get rights to various rare tracks and bring out a couple of mix comps, as you know there are some amazing ones out there not many have had the chance to listen to, or not even aware of, and jos you the man to mix it and bring it to the people, love the idea though! Yeah, I guess so But it is a LOT of work (again), so we'll see about that The Sakura is all music licensed by me or labels who are very close to me, so that was no big deal For other mixes, we need time, and guess what we don't have enough? TIME Now let's first concentrate on the 10 years compilation tripple cd AND the Shakta & Ra album Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balance Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I always hated mix CDs that had once off or unreleased tracks because they're usually amazing tracks & it's unfair that the public will never have the chance to own them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the goa constrictor Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I make tons of mixes and used to do multiple radio shows a week. I love sharing music and introducing people to music that they may have never heard before. All of my mixes include embedded art work and, up until a couple of years ago, I would split the mix around the 75min mark if the mix was longer than 80 minutes for ease of burning onto CDs yourself. One of the main reasons I switched from CDs to laptop DJing is because of environmental waste of all of the media I was throwing away. I always burned copies of my real CDs to take to gigs because I was afraid of disks getting lost, scratched, destroyed, whatever. Then those burns get scratched or ruined in the sun and I have to burn them again. Was just a lot of waste. As mentioned above, it is real easy to post stuff online and let others burn it onto disk if they wish. That population is likely the minority though and most people probably load them up onto their mp3 players and such. I keep my DJ mixes as a single track too because I feel that the mix is like a mixed tape and I don't want to make it easier for people to pirate tracks by simply taking them from the mix. I know that it is still relatively easy to load it into an editor and take out the track regardless, but I'd rather make that person do the leg work for that. I love great mixes though and have a folder full of them. That said, I do get annoyed when labels release mixed compilations if the tracks aren't found in full form elsewhere. I didn't mind back in the days of vinyl because I DJ'd with the 12"s and the comps on vinyl would be unmixed, but then you got to listen to a killer DJ mix if you buy the CD too. Was nice incentive to buy both formats. Now, those singles and releases don't exist in the same way and if the only proper release of a track is on a mixed comp, it kind of frustrates me. If printing a disk, I like the idea of selling the comp in unmixed form and then uploading a mixed version online as a bonus gift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technosomy Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Yeah, I guess so But it is a LOT of work (again), so we'll see about that The Sakura is all music licensed by me or labels who are very close to me, so that was no big deal For other mixes, we need time, and guess what we don't have enough? TIME Now let's first concentrate on the 10 years compilation tripple cd AND the Shakta & Ra album yes lets! rest can wait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technosomy Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I make tons of mixes and used to do multiple radio shows a week. I love sharing music and introducing people to music that they may have never heard before. All of my mixes include embedded art work and, up until a couple of years ago, I would split the mix around the 75min mark if the mix was longer than 80 minutes for ease of burning onto CDs yourself. One of the main reasons I switched from CDs to laptop DJing is because of environmental waste of all of the media I was throwing away. I always burned copies of my real CDs to take to gigs because I was afraid of disks getting lost, scratched, destroyed, whatever. Then those burns get scratched or ruined in the sun and I have to burn them again. Was just a lot of waste. As mentioned above, it is real easy to post stuff online and let others burn it onto disk if they wish. That population is likely the minority though and most people probably load them up onto their mp3 players and such. I keep my DJ mixes as a single track too because I feel that the mix is like a mixed tape and I don't want to make it easier for people to pirate tracks by simply taking them from the mix. I know that it is still relatively easy to load it into an editor and take out the track regardless, but I'd rather make that person do the leg work for that. I love great mixes though and have a folder full of them. That said, I do get annoyed when labels release mixed compilations if the tracks aren't found in full form elsewhere. I didn't mind back in the days of vinyl because I DJ'd with the 12"s and the comps on vinyl would be unmixed, but then you got to listen to a killer DJ mix if you buy the CD too. Was nice incentive to buy both formats. Now, those singles and releases don't exist in the same way and if the only proper release of a track is on a mixed comp, it kind of frustrates me. If printing a disk, I like the idea of selling the comp in unmixed form and then uploading a mixed version online as a bonus gift. loving your latest mix! not bad for a sick person at the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the goa constrictor Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 thank you. i appreciate the feedback =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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