Mixtape 2.0

Okay, never having made either a mixtape in the sense used in this article (sure, I made compilation tapes, everyone in my generation did, I think, just not in the way that seems to be referred to here) and also never having made a YouTube video I don’t think I have a horse running in this particular race.
So I think my reasonably unbiased opinion is as follows:
the tone of this article sounds about like whining about the good old days of 8 tracks after CDs had been out for a few years. But let’s explore this a bit further and see whether or not you agree with me.

Music compilations are more popular than ever, in part because of the ease of getting the songs you want to the people you care about. On your own or with sites such as Muxtape.com, you can click a mouse 20 or 30 times and create and share your audio files with whomever you want. But as the process gets easier, the gesture becomes emptier as well. Music compilations forwarded by e-mail are only slightly less personal than that Hillary Clinton joke you forwarded to 50 friends. (”Gee, thanks. You spent three minutes on me.”) By the sheer effort that went into each one, every cassette mix tape was a big declaration - of love, friendship or even anger. A mix tape was an event.

So, difficulty and personalization appear to be what is being mourned here, right? Well, then. Let’s go for Mixtape 2.0, shall we?

Let’s say Mixtape 1.0 had the perfect 20 songs to express exactly what you wanted to say to a special person.

Now, let’s see how that translates over to Mixtape 2.0.
1.) which versions of those songs do you want to use? Do you want The same old standard version of Jimi Hendrix’s The Wind Cries Mary (to pick a single song example from a recent music videos post of mine) which you used on Mixtape 1.0 with no video to speak of? How boring is that? Let’s see what else we have. How about live from Stockholm in ‘67 with video? Now we’re talking, right? But wait… what about Belgium? Or Monterey? Or a resynched version of the French TV clip? Or live from Chicago in ‘68 w/o a true video? Or a tribute? (nah, don’t even think about it). Or just focusing on the audio aspect for a moment, one can currently come up with over 100 results through search engines for “mp3 blog” hendrix “wind cries mary”. So, which version do you choose?

2. What’s the video component? This is mixtape 2.0, let’s call it mixDVD, shall we? Do you splice and dice, make your own video or use classic video footage to accompany your songs?

3. The music itself. Do you remain faithful to the song as the original artist made it or do you do a mashup, cover, karaoke, sample or something else?

How much more creative potential is involved in seeking and creating the perfect mixDVD to express exactly what you want to say to one particular person at one particular moment in your life? I’d say several orders of magnitude more than for the mourned mixtape 1.0. If anyone still cares for the genre enough to put a mixtape 2.0 out, it may take a year or two before you receive it. So… why shouldn’t they go ahead and put their creative fruits up on YouTube or Google video for others to enjoy as well? Does that make it any less a personal statement to the intended recipient?

Tags: covers, karaoke, mashups, mixDVDs, mixtape 2.0, mixtapes, mp3s, music, sampling, video, youtube