How to share music (the complicated way)
Because creating a playlist on Spotify is way too easy.
I’m back into the habit of creating playlists of music I enjoy and, since I like to make things more complicated than necessary, instead of just sharing a playlist on Spotify or Apple Music, I’m recording mixes that I share online. Yes, it’s a lot more complicated, but also more fun. This is how I do it.
I purchased this small DJ controller, the Numark DJ2GO2 Touch. It’s tiny and it feels like a toy, but it has all the features I need and I didn’t want to spend more money (yet) on something a bit more professional like a Pioneer. This is connected to my Mac mini, where I use Mixxx, an open-source DJ software. After trying some other apps, I found that Mixxx was perfect for my needs and it worked with the Numark controller out of the box. That’s pretty much the whole setup. With Mixxx I can play my local files (I think it works with Tidal too) and record the session in an MP3 file that I can share online. And that’s the other part of the process.
The platform where I started sharing my mixes is Mixcloud. It’s nice because it’s just made for that and there’s a supportive community. The free plan allows you to upload up to 10 shows, and if you want to share more or if you want to do live sessions you need to purchase a plan. That wouldn’t be a big deal, but the other issue that I found is that it’s a closed platform and people can only listen to your shows in their app or website. There’s not an option to share an RSS feed like a regular podcast. And that’s why I kept looking for something else.
If I wanted to give people more freedom about how to listen to my mixes, I needed a podcast, and the best place I found to host that for free is iVoox. There are a lot of podcast hosting companies out there, but I like iVoox because they have an agreement with SGAE, a Spanish organization similar to ASCAP that represents authors and publishers. That means that, in theory, the podcast is free to use copyrighted music and it shouldn’t be taken down. But ask me again in a few months so I can confirm this.
Once the mixes are uploaded, sharing them in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the other podcasts apps is easy. You just have to sign up on all these platforms and provide them the RSS feed from iVoox. As long as you don’t change that, it’s a set-and-forget process.
And that’s pretty much it! If you are curious about the music I’m playing, feel free to take a look at the music section of this website.