Skip to main content

Why we loved Mixcrate and Where to next?

With Mixcrate gone, lovers of music either have to pony up a fee for a variety of streaming services
or head over to YouTube
There are two types of music listeners: those who listen by artist or by album, and those who listen by top hits. The second lot of us do not care much about what other music made it to an album besides the top 2 hits.


Mixcrate served the second lot of us very well. You could search for a song title or an artist, and you would have dozens of DJ mixes to choose from which contained more than the one hit you searched for.


Listening to music on Mixcrate also meant that once you settled into a mix, you had uninterrupted music for the next one hour.



Well, to be fair, other services such as YouTube and Apple Music offer similar services too. The difference, however, is that these tend to assume you want to listen to the same artist or a selection very similar to the artist you just listened too.


YouTube, you will find, tends to return to the top pop music of today after a while. And then, there are the adverts, most of them boring.


For those who love diversity, Mixcrate was the perfect service.


I refer to Mixcrate in the past tense for it is no more. One of the record labels in the West has had the service shut down due to copyright infringement.


Mixcrate allowed DJs to upload any song in their mixes. The service was free meaning that it had no money either to pay the uploader or the rights owner of the music. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before Mixcrate found itself facing such a legal battle, which based on what has happened to other music sharing sites before, they would probably lose.


One of Mixcrate’s strength was that it had a wide selection of local music and other African music that you will not find on the Apple Music’s and Amazon Music’s of this world.


Kenyan music suffers from poor discoverability as one has to rely on radio, club DJs or perhaps YouTube to discover new music. The local music streaming services are fragmented and comparatively offer a small selection. Secondly,  few people may be willing to pay a subscription fee for such services, even be it as low as KSh. 500 like Apple Music offers.


Most other international music services such as Spotify and Google Music remain “not available in your region” in Kenya. Amazon Music too is not available,  though one can use the service if you “sideload” the app from sources such as apkmirror.com. The same can’t be said for Google Music.


For local music (Kenyan/East African hits) lovers, the top apps are Mziiki and Waabeh.


Mixcrate would have been a perfect addition to a service like Apple Music since it would allow you to listen to the same music but in a mix performed by a DJ. Apple does have playlists made by its users,  to which you can listen to, but they mostly have modern music and are nothing close to what Mixcrate offered.


It is crucial to note that US technology firms including Amazon, Apple and Google,  who also offer the top music services globally are moving towards having algorithms, or computer programs, customise music based on your taste.


However, as I have noted, these algorithms do not offer a wide diversity and tend to restrict you to a few songs that you may have listened at the start. These have been common problems faced by algorithms, for they can’t determine that if you are 32 years old and listen to Drake, you may have listened to 50 Cent or Nelly in the early 2000s. Perhaps, as technology advances, this challenge will be solved.
As for now, if looking for free music,  head over to Deezer (App) or YouTube. Other locally available alternatives are Apple Music for international music and Waabeh and Mziiki for local music.

Update - use Mixcloud
Months later, the consensus is Mixcloud has emerged as the closest alternative to Mixcrate, aith almost as broad a selection.

They even have a mobile app - but watch the battery consumption, the app appears to consume battery even when not in use.

Also, to search for specific music on Mixcloud, do so from Google or duckduckgo. Type the phrase site:mixcloud.com song eg site:mixcloud.com sorry justin bieber. This is better than using Mixcloud's own search. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of free fries. Their brisket has
Post a Comment
Read more

A to Z of Girl Pick-up Lines

Girl,  You are like a breath of fresh air , like an outstanding piece of Art in an art gallery  There are many things you and me can be, but it puts a smile of satisfaction on my face and a smile of envy on my buddies faces that you both beautiful and bootyfull  E ither your creator must have taken the greatest care creating you or your cheated your way around heaven, 'coz you clearly the prettiest girl on earth  D on't ask why my breathing quickens every time I see you; setting my eyes on you makes me feel like I am drowning in your beauty, I have to catch my breath   Exciting, Exotic, Elegant, Electrifying ; so many definitions in english , but when it comes to the human race, girl, you are the one and only definition of all the above  W hen I say you are fly , it may be due to the sensation of flying off the ground that I get when I am around you. Some girls are beautiful, a few are decent, even fewer got class; I didn't know I could find all this qualities in one gir
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenyan products: The art of punishing your consumer

This post was written in 2011. Facts may have and indeed have changed - but the conclusion has not.  Dormans instant coffee tastes better than Sasini instant coffee. Ramtons electronics are manufactured for Kenya's Hypermart Limited, yet maintain a high product quality Peanut butter used to taste so good, but you could not afford it on the pocket money that you got back in school. A few years later, you have your first real job and your first "disposable" income. You buy your first real tub of peanut butter, probably the first in your life. You feel proud that Dominion peanut butter is manufactured in Ruiru, a town that you visited in your campus days to withdraw your pocket money, it was the nearest bank ATM to your campus.  This was before Equity bank became a mainstream bank and decided to open an ATM in your campus, and before M-Pesa meant that you
Post a Comment
Read more

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every hangover you get
Post a Comment
Read more

Lusaka and Livingstone Zambia to Namibia By Road

Zambia is a pretty large country,  an exciting one and with no shortage of potholes.  For instance, take the direct route from Lusaka - Livingstone to Namibia through the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo border crossing. Typically, roads are either good or tend to have potholes here and there. However, the last 120 kilometres of the Livingstone to Sesheke/Katima Mulilo route are best described as potholes dotted by some road here and there for the just thirty kilometres past Kazungula town, which is also the Zambia - Botswana border crossing.  Trying to drive to Sesheke is so bad it will take you anywhere between 4 hours to 6 hours to navigate those 100 kilometres. You may or may not have your dignity at the end and your vehicle may be in more than one piece.  If you really must use the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo crossing as of December 2022, then take the 900 kilometre longer detour from Lusaka to Mongu then back to Katima Mulilo. It doesn't guarantee you absence of potholes, but at least the
Post a Comment
Read more