• July 22, 2008
• Blog

Those who know me know that I am passionate about a good mix. I spent hours, days, weeks of my teens and twenties huddled over my stereo, meticulously assembling mix tapes and, later, cd’s for friends, girlfriends and potential girlfriends. If you’ve ever gotten a mix from me, chances are that I like you, a lot. I recently joined a monthly mix club and am excitedly crafting my next mix. Our theme this month is “soundtrack” (I’ll give you a sneak preview: I chose Blade Runner, and the first track is Kraftwerk’s “Neon Lights ”.)

Over the last few years, a whole bevy of online mix utilities have sprung up, allowing and urging users to create their own mixes and posting them for the world to hear. My favorite, because of usability is Muxtape, which we’ve blogged about before. I also approve of Tiny Mix Tapes , and Chad’s favorite, Mixwit.  Beyond being fun and a pleasant way to soundtrack your own life, user-generated content – including music – is always a good thing in this whole web 2.0 world.

It’s not really a big surprise that marketing strategists have caught on to mixes and their ability to communicate two important factors – coolness and community. I got an email from Urban Outfitters today, urging me to check out their new mix. Starbucks has started their own record label, and you can’t get out of one of their stores without running into Mellencamp’s newest release, or a Sonic Youth best of.  But the key thing to making mixes – or any cultural marketing effort – effective is that the content has to be relevant to your listener and customer base.  Ultimately, you have to be prepared to wow them and to really communicate about yourself, just like the kids making mixes on their laptops for their friends.

-Ben