Mixtapes and How They First Began

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How the internet made mixtapes popular

One thing that has made music very popular today is the internet. If the internet was not around, would these music compilations be as popular as they are now? Would they be as easy to find as they are on the internet? DJs first released their music compilations of unreleased music or soon to be released music from popular music industry artists on cassette tapes. Mixtapes became very popular in the 90’s. One of the best DJs of that mixtape era was DJ Clue. In the 90’s, these compilations were typically released on cassette tapes. Most, if not all originated in New York City, where hip hop was very popular. Due to the popularity of these compilations in New York City, it became known as the ‘Mecca’. In order to obtain one of these mixtape gems, one would have to travel to New York City to purchase a copy. Mass distribution came about when local mom and pop shops would buy them in bulk at wholesale prices and sell them under the table. These compilations in the 1990 were still scarce because not many businesses knew how to obtain wholesale. Because of this, bootleg copies were very common as it was the easiest method to obtain these gems. Bootleg copies are when someone has a real copy or master copy of the DJ’s mixtape compilation and then dubs their own copies to sell or give away. Many people would not to travel to New York all the time just to buy these products since they were released very frequently. This would be very time consuming for anyone that did not live close to New York. The easiest way was to know someone that could make you a copy of the one they had.

Mixtapes became very popular on the internet at the beginning of the turn of the century, right around 2002. It was very easy to go on a website and place an order for these products because the turn around time was very quick. You would have them in your mailbox within the week. This method allowed for worldwide distribution. Many people liked the ease of going on an internet site to pick out which songs they wanted to purchase. This method is still used today to distribute hard copies. Eventually everyone caught on and the next step was digital downloads. This is the quickest way as you can download the mixtape in mp3 format within minutes depending on your internet connection speed. There are many many websites that allow you to download mp3s for free in mp3 format, although many of these sites display ads that can ruin your mixtape downloading experience. Some of these ads can contain malware that will infect your computer and steal your personal information without you knowing it. There are very few sites that offer ad free downloading. The sites that offer ad free downloads are the best.

References:

http://www.buymixtapes.com/official.php

http://www.buymixtapes.com/home.php