Welcome to the third and final part of the ‘How To Make A Mixtape’ series. This series was started because we kept receiving mixtape related questions, from how to make a mixtape, to more complex and specific ones on pricing and releaseing your mixtape. After replying to a few of those questions individually, we decided to create a series of posts where people could get all the answers they need instantly. These posts becase the “How To Make A Mixtape” series, one of which you’re reading now. So far in this series we’ve answered beginner questions like “What is a mixtape”, to more popular questions such as “Can you use other people’s beats on your mixtape” and “How do you make your mixtape stand out from the crowd”. In this final part, we’ll be look at some questions you’ll need to ask yourself when pricing your mixtape, releasing your mixtape, and promoting your mixtape.

While there’s some very useful information in this topic, our previous topics on the subject of how to make a mixtape provide info on the earlier steps on making the ultimate mixtape. So if you haven’t already done so, you may want to check our previous “how to make a mixtape” posts before reading this one:

Other How To Make A Mixtape Parts

1. How To Make A Mixtape, The Ultimate Guide Part One, and
2. How To Make A Mixtape, The Ultimate Guide Part Two.

If you’ve already read those How To Make A Mixtape guides, we can move forward…

Pricing Your Mixtape

When it comes to pricing your mixtape, it’s often good to think about what the purpose of the mixtape is. Do you want to use the mixtape as a way or promoting yourself as much as possible, or are your goals more profit related?

If mass exposure if your main aim, you may want to give out your mixtape for free, or in a no cost exchange (E.G In exchange for an email address, or for a certain amount of promotion to be done by the fan). This type of pricing strategy can help get your music quite widely spread with the right promotion, but also runs the risk of being seen as a lower quality product (As it was free to obtain).

If making profit is your main aim, you will of course want to sell your mixtape. When pricing it you could go one of two routes:

1. You can price it on par with other mixtapes within the genre. This’ll subconsciously give the impression it’s worthy of buying as it’s similarly priced as all the other CDs. You will of course need to back this up with a good product if you want people to choose your CD over the many others on display however.
2. You could under cut the market. The aim here is to make it cheaper then the other CDs available, so people with less cash flow that want a CD will be more inclined to buy your CD over others. Once again, you run the risk of being seen as cheap (In a bad way) and therefore not of a good quality, but with the right marketing you can over come this.

A good strategy I’ve found is to do a mixture of both. You can release a short promo CD for free, then release a bigger paid one soon after. The smaller CD will hopefully get your name out there, then if people like what they hear they will go on to buy your full CD.

When it comes to pricing your mixtape, you also have to think about where you’re selling them. Mixtapes often sell at similar prices to albums in high street stores, but a bit cheaper in underground record shops. If you’re selling them on the streets you can expect to sell them for a fraction of the price, sometimes as low as what you’d get from a sale or return or distribution deal.

Releasing Your Mixtape

The next thing we’re going to look at is releasing your mixtape. There’s no point learning how to make a mixtape if you don’t ever release it, your mixtape will do no good in your bedroom collecting dust! Firstly let me say there is no one correct way of releasing your mixtape. The strategy of releasing a successful mixtape will vary depending on what you want to achieve for this mixtape and what music genre you make music in. There are some general tip that can be used for any type of mixtape however, so today we will look at those.

The first thing you need to think about is what format you want to release your mixtape in. Are you going to press it up and put it out as a physical product? Or are you going to keep it as a digital download only? Physical products have the benefit of making you look more like a serious musician, and give the chance for people who don’t like buying online a chance to get your product. A digital download however can save you money in the sense you don’t have to pay to press up your music to CD. It’s also cheap and easy to have your digital downloads distributed to big sites worldwide using sites like Songcast, so is worth doing even if you do press up a physical copy (Songcast is free to sign up to and will get your music on iTunes, Amazon and other online music stores).

If you’re giving away your mixtape for free I’ll advice you only release a digital download copy. While there may sometimes be reasons to press up copies of a free mixtape (If you want to give some to important industry figures to make a good impression, or you want some freebies for a show etc) you should generally make your fans go to your website and sign up to your mailing list in exchange for any freebies.

So now you know what format you’re going to release your mixtape in, now is the time to get your music to the general public. If you opted to release your mixtape as a physical product, your best bet would be to go through a distribution company. For a cut of the money you make, a distribution company can get your mixtape into shops you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get them into. This includes both physical and online music shops, and good ones can even get your music distributed worldwide. A typical distributor will take at least £ / $1 for each CD they sell for you, and while this many vary, the price is often worth the service they provide. Another benefit of using a distributor is that they can often collect your money from record shops as soon as the record shop have agreed to stock your CD. That means you won’t have to wait till your CDs are sold to customers to be paid.

While not all music distribution companies operate the same, many distributors that deal directly with independent musicians work like this:

• Once you have your product, you bring a set amount of pressed up CDs to your distributor.
• You agree a price that you want for each CD.
• The distributor then shows your music to shops and tries to get them to take them in. If the shop chooses to sell your product, the distributor receives money for the product.
• The distributor sells to as many shops as they can in a set period of time. Once the time limit is up they pay you for any CDs they sold, and give you back the ones that didn’t sell.
• If all CDs are sold they may ask you for more copies if there’s demand from the shops.

The other way to get your music into shops is via ‘sale or return’ deals. This is where you give your mixtapes to record shops, they sell however many of your CDs they can in a set period, then pay your for any CDs they sold in that time. Any CDs they didn’t sell they give back to you. Check out our previous topic What Is A Sale Or Return Deal (SOR) And How To Get One for more info on how to get SOR and distributor deals.

How To Promote Your Mixtape

So no you know how to make a mixtape and you’ve got it in shops, there next stage is to promote it. It’s no good having your mixtape in the shops if no one knows it there. Without the knowledge of it’s existence, no one’s going to buy it. It may sound obvious, but I’ve seen too many musicians put months into making a mixtape, get it into shops, cross their fingers and hope it sells. This is not an effective business strategy, and not one I’d recommend to anyone.

There are many ways to promote your mixtape, but often thinking out the box can do wonders your your marketing efforts (We already talked about making your mixtape stand out in part two of this guide). On top of that you should look into doing all the tried and tested marketing methods:

• Live or pre recorded TV or radio shows,
• Performing at live events,
• Getting your music to radio and venue Djs to play,
• Video promotion if you have the budget,
• Magazine adverts,
• Online promotion (Social media, on your own website, call in favours on other websites etc), and
• Flyers (These can be handed out at venues or left places for people to pick up) and other paper based promotion.

I’d suggest you pick a few of these to do rather then attempt all of them. Unless you’ve got a big team and / or budget behind you, it’d probably be best to focus on doing a few of these methods very well.

You should focus most of your promotional efforts pre-launch to raise awareness of your product and build up a want for it, as well as when it’s actually released to make people go out and purchase it. This is the period you’ll get most of your sales, so make as big a noise as you can during this time. The more people talking about it before and during its launch, the more sales you will make.

Having said that, promotion for your mixtape should never stop. Even when initial sales slow down you should at least have adverts for your mixtape on your website, and be promoting it on any radio and TV shows you do. Remember, not every one will have caught your initial launch, so giving new fans a chance to discover your mixtape can mean more sales.

How To Make A Mixtape Conclusion

That’s it for our “How To Make a Mixtape” series, you should no longer be wondering how to make a mixtape, but instead be out there making one instead! I hope you’ve found it useful, please leave any comments or feedback below in the comments section. If you’re currently in the process of making a mixtape, please let us know how it’s going. Similarly if you’ve already released a mixtape and have any advice for our readers let us know. Please share this guide with friends, if any of them want to know how to make a mixtape then forward them this link.

If you haven’t read them already, you can catch our previous posts with more tips on how to make a mixtape below:

How To Make A Mixtape, The Ultimate Guide Part 1,

How To Make A Mixtape, The Ultimate Guide Part 2.

I hope we’ve answered all your how to make a mixtape related questions, good luck with making yours.

Welcome to part two of the ‘How To Make A Mixtape, The Ultimate Guide’ series. This is a three part series detailing good practices and tips on how to make a mixtape and sell it. For those that haven’t read already (Or even if you have but just want to get reacquainted with the basics), you should read:

before you read this. Also once you’ve finished reading this check out:

If you’ve already read that, let’s move on. In part two we’ll be looking at how ethical it is to use other people’s beats for your mixtape, where to get backing tracks for your mixtape, and finally how to make your mixtape stand out from the crowd. So without any further ado, let’s get into it.

Can You Use Other People’s Beats On Mixtapes?

This is still a question without any concrete answers. While everyone has their own opinions on this matter, mixtapes are generally known for musicians vocalizing already well known backing tracks. This practice is very widely accepted, especially in the more urban hip hop and grime music scenes. Many producers and vocalists don’t mind people doing versions of their material as long as they’re not used for commercial release. If you did want to commercially release your version, you’d have to contact and get permission from the original owners of the martial before you could go any further. You’d also have to pay them royalties if you’ll be selling the song.

There are some people that don’t want others to use their material without permission though, whether people are making money from it or not. As other people’s beats are copyrighted, using them without permission could lead to a law suit. However, this is very rare if you’re only using their instrumentals for mixtapes. The most I’ve seen happen from tons of mixtapes I’ve seen been released is an angry email being sent by the original producer (They wanted to cash in on the mixtape’s success, but the issue was resolved by the producers tune being taken off the mixtape instead).

While I’d say using other people’s material for mixtape songs is largely safe, you’re still using copyrighted material so do so at your own risk.

Where Can You Get Beats For Mixtapes

Once you know what type of beats you’ll be using for your mixtape (Original or already popular beats) you have to go about getting them. If you’ll be using already popular beats, most of them can be found by doing a quick Google search. You’ll want to search the name of the artist that sings the song, followed by the name of the song and then the word ‘instrumental’. So for example, you may do the search “Rihanna Rude Boy Instrumental”. This search result will turn up places you can get your chosen instrumentals on the internet. Some will have to be paid for, some will be free. I recommend you only download off trusted website though, as illegal websites may have viruses on them which can ruin your computer.

One really good website I’ve found for getting instrumentals is Karaoke Version. This website allows you to CUSTOMIZE and download popular beats for a low price (£1.50 / $1.99 EACH). Say for example you want to download a popular instrumental but didn’t like the horns in the song. No problem, you can easily edit the horns out before you download it. Or don’t like the drums? You can get rid of that too. This of course is a great customization feature and allows you to get your mixtape sounding exactly how you want it.

If you will be using original beats however, you may have to do a bit more searching. You’ll need to find producers who can make an instrumental you like and will be willing to let you use it for your mixtape. If you’re new starting out in music this can be tricky, but not impossible.

One method I’ve found that works is using forums. Forums are a great place for communities to get together and discuss a specific niche, and you’ll often find producers, singers, designers and much more on the more popular ones. So, how do you go about finding these producers?

First you need to find a relevant forum. I suggest you Google search your chosen genre of music followed by the word ‘forum’ which will give a list of the top forums in that genre. Look around the top three for a while, sometimes the producers hang around and post their material in a ‘production’ area of the forum. Other times you’ll have to to a bit more digging. If there’s no select area for producers, try posting a topic saying you’re looking for producers to feature on your mixtape. Leave a sample of your work and a contact email address. This will hopefully have producers finding your post and contacting you if they like what they hear. Note though, it’s always advisable to post a few replies to other topics before you post your own to look like you’re part of the community. You’ll get a much better response if you do this as you won’t look like you’re just spamming the forum.

Another place you can find producers is MySpace. You may already have an idea of some producers in your chosen music genre, but if not, do a bit of research and MySpace message these people. When messaging someone to ask for a beat, make sure you keep the message short and straight to the point. Even if they’re a slightly well know producer they may be getting messages every day, so you’ll need to be able to make your point quickly. You also want to appear professional (No slang or short hand, message fully spell checked etc) and list the benefits of you using their material. Lastly, make sure you give a sample of your material and contact details so they can get back to you if they so choose.

These are some of the main and most effective ways for getting beats for your mixtape, but there are many others so don’t be afraid to experiment with other methods as well.

How To Make Your Mixtape Stand Out

Mixtapes in some genres of music have become pretty much a standard thing. Even if they wouldn’t define it as a mixtape, a demo with 6 or more tracks if basically what a mixtape is all about. So with everyone having or making mixtapes it’s important for you to make yours stand out. But how can you go about doing this? Here are a few ideas:

• Get Your Mixtape Everywhere
  If you want your mixtape to stand out and get noticed, you’ll need to make sure your mixtape cover is seen everywhere. Repetition is a very powerful thing, and even if someone sees (But doesn’t notice) your mixtape the first few times, if they keep seeing the cover they will eventually. Subconsciously they will have built up an interest in your mixtape, and are more likely to at least look into what it’s about. One way of getting your mixtape everywhere is by using an online distribution company such as Songcast. Songcast distribute your music into all the biggest online stores (iTunes, Amazon etc) as well as some more niche online shops. Getting an account with Songcast is currently free, so sign up and have a look round.
• Mix Your Mixtapes
  This may sound obvious, but you can mix your mixtapes to make them stand out from the crowd. Many mixtapes are structured in the same way as an album, tune after tune with a small gap in-between each one. Not many people actually make the songs blend together, so doing this will differentiate yours. This will make your CD sound like it’s flowing better, and sound like an overall experience rather then a bunch of songs put together. Be warned though, this’ll make it harder for Djs to use selected tracks easily. A solution for this however is to put all of or the most popular songs unmixed at the end of the CD. This’ll make everyone happy. You can also just send the unmixed tracks to Djs directly if there’s no more space on your CD.
• Create A Talking Point
  One great way to making your mixtape stand out it by doing something unique, but not just with your music. How about you call your mixtape something that can’t help but be noticed, or give away freebies to anyone that buys it? UK rapper Bashy is a great inspiration when it comes to making his mixtapes stand out, boosting awareness by getting everyone to talk about them. He did this by: 1: Calling one of his mixtapes “Ur Mum Volume 1”, a provocative title which had people talking about it well before it’s release, 2: Giving away a free lolly pop attached to the side of his second mix CD “The Chupa Chups mix CD”, and 3: Calling his third website “Bashy.com” to promote his new website. Ideas like this can really get people talking about your mixtape and want to give your music a listen, so think about how you can differentiate your mixtape to create a buzz around your product.
• Remix The Backing Tracks Of Already Known Songs
  Many mixtapes use well known songs with the musicians vocals, but why not remix the backing track too? A website I mentioned earlier in this post (Karaoke Version) allows you to do just that, taking out any bits of the track you don’t like. Give it a go.
• Do A Mixtape Series
  Many people release mixtapes with too many songs on them. They fill their mixtape up with thirty songs / the full 80 minutes of a CD and don’t come with any other material for a very long time (If at all). What people don’t realise is you need to build up momentum in your music career, you can’t just release one mixtape and expect you’ll make a name for yourself just from that. You need to be consistent and release regular material, if you’re constantly in people’s faces they’re more likely to take notice. Release just one CD is not doing a lot to stay in the spot light. As it takes a lot of time to record a 80 minute CD (Which is why people take so long to release their follow up if they haven’t stopped recording by then), why not make those tunes into three separate 25 minute CDs? Or two 40 minute CDs? That way you’ll have material to follow up with every say three months and stay in the public eye. And just for the fact you’re releasing regular material people will talk about you.
  Remember, even if you’re first mixtape doesn’t take off that well but your second and third one do, there’s always the chance of re-releasing the first one to make further sales. People may even order your first CD without any promotion so they can hear how you started out or just get more of your material.
  If you do decide to do a mixtape series, make sure you keep all the mixtape names the same, differentiating them by adding ‘volume 1′ and ‘volume 2′ etc at the end. This will give your brand continuity and allow people to more easily recognise your material.
• Get Established Features
  While this isn’t exactly an original idea, it is effective. If you get a musician everyone want to hear on your mixtape, everyone will have a look even if to only see that musician. If your vocals on the song are good enough, there’s a good chance you’ll convert some of the feature’s fans in to your own. And being associated with a top act also raises the way people see you.
  While it’s not always easy to get an established act on your mixtape, once you get the first one it’ll be easier from there (Providing you have enough talent). You can then name drop (This may sound ‘un-cool’ but it is a method that can work very well) and use that name to get other big names to work with you. There’ll always be people who’ll think “He worked with him, I guess that means it’ll be a good idea for me to work with him too”, and the more established musicians you work with the more that will be willing to collaborate.

Parts one and three of the ultimate mixtape guide are now out, so check them out via the below links for some more great mixtape tips!

Well, that’s about it for part two of the ‘How To Make A Mixtape, The Ultimate Guide’ series, in part three we”ll be giving tips on pressing up your mixtape, releasing your mixtape and pricing your mixtape.

Make sure you sign up to email updates at the top of this page to be sent part three directly to your email inbox once it’s available. Alternatively, sign up to the RSS feed below to be notified whenever we have a new post. As always, I’m looking forward to reading your comments.

Here at Independent Music Advice, we like to listen to what you as the reader wants. We’ve had many people arriving at our site looking for advice on making mixtapes, but not really finding what they were looking for. Having a quick google search myself, I found there are no real resources showing musicians what to think about when making mixtapes. So we decided to write one!

Over the next three posts we will be looking at some of the most searched for mixtape questions we’ve had! If there’s anything else you want to add or ask, please do so in the comments section.

Once you’ve read this, one please also check out:

for more mixtape tips and advice.

What Is A Mixtape

While mixtapes were originally tapes which compiled people’s favourite songs together, the modern meaning is quite different. Mixtapes are now widely used as a tool for promoting a musician prior to a album or single release. They can also be used to raise awareness of a musician, keeping them in the public eye. While mixtapes are mostly popular in the hip hop and grime music scenes, many other music genres make demos that can typically be described as mixtapes.

To make it clear:

• A mixtape does not have to be in tape format. It is most popularly presented in CD or digital download format.
• While they can be, mixtapes don’t have to be ‘mixed’. Many are in fact a group of songs put together with a small gap in-between like a regular album.
• While you can use original production for your mixtapes, many people choose to use established instrumentals and save the original material for their album and single releases.
• Mixtapes are generally at least least six tracks long, but some can fill up a whole 80 minute CD.
• Although often sold, mixtapes are generally used as promotional products. They’re used to raise awareness of a given musician, sometimes before an album launch.
• Mixtapes aren’t expected to be at the same quality level as albums, so musicians often use them to get material to the public without worrying about using expensive studios and top quality packaging.

Why Make A Mixtape?

There are many reasons people would choose to make a mixtape instead of a single or album, but here are the main ones:

• Collecting Beats Tend To Be Easier.As many people vocal other people’s instrumentals for their mixtapes, finding backing tracks that are suitable to use can be a lot easier. You don’t have to deal with lazy producers that take ages to get anything to you, you can simply find a instrumental you like online and instantly download it. As many musicians listen to other music in their chosen genre, it can be easy to draw up a list of backing tracks you want to use due to the fact you’ve heard and enjoyed them already. This can cut a lot of time of the planning process.
• People Who Haven’t Heard You Before Are More Likely To Listen.One of the main selling points for making a mixtape is that people will be more likely to give your music a chance. It can take people a few times listening to a new song before it actually registers with them, especially if it’s a musician that’s new to them. If however you’re a musician and you’re vocals are over one of their favourite songs, you’re more or less guaranteed to have their attention immediately! This is not to say they’ll end up liking your vocal (You will of course need to make your version enjoyable), but you should get more people giving you that initial chance.
• Subject Matters Are Easier.Some people choose to base their version of a song on the original, keeping the same theme and same vocal styles (E.G. The voice or flow of the original vocalist, similar catchy bits, same subject matter as the original etc). This saves time on constantly thinking up new concept ideas, and allows you to save your original ideas for your singles or album.
• Mixtapes Are Cheaper To Produce.As mixtapes aren’t expected to be of the same quality as albums, you don’t have to put the same amount of time into it as you would producing an album. And if you’ve ever read more then one post at Independent Music Advice, you’ll know that time is money. Many people don’t use adilibs when making their mixtape, this saves on studio time and therefore money. Many musicians also don’t use top end recording studios when making mixtapes, allowing cheaper studio costs but still a good level of production.Another way some musicians save money when putting out mixtapes is the packaging. Some choose to go for slim line CD cases rather then the more expensive jewel CD cases used for albums. This means the CD is still protected against damage, but for a fraction of the cost.One thing I’ll say about making mixtapes on the cheap however is this: Don’t sacrifice the quality so much that your music becomes un-listen-able. Although you should make small cut backs so your album looks and sounds better then your mixtape (This’ll make people want your album even if they already have lots of your mixtape songs), you need to remember the mixtape is what pre sells the album so needs to sound good in its own right. If you make a poor mixtape, chances are people won’t buy your album.

How To Make Money From Mixtapes

How do you make money from mixtapes? Well, you make money from mixtapes in the same way you’d make money from a single or album; By selling them. You can get your mixtape in shops worldwide, from the smaller underground record shops, to the major high street music outlets. You should also get your mixtapes on popular websites such as iTunes and Napster. The best way of doing this is via a distribution website called Songcast (This website is free to sign up to so I suggest you sign up and have a look around). Some people also choose to sell their mixtapes in person on busy high streets, setting up base near popular shops within their music genre.

It’s also a good idea to sell your mixtapes at any live shows you do, especially if you’re the headline act. If this is the case, people will be attending the show to see you, and many will want to take home a souvenir of the occasion. And what better to give (Sell) them then your mixtape?

Depending on the content of your mixtape (And if you use other people’s instrumentals or not) you may be also able to claim royalties from your mixtape plays. If one of the songs from your mixtape gets played on legal radio for example, if the production and vocals are original you can claim royalties for it. If the production is not original and you haven’t got the owner’s permission to use the instrumental however, you won’t be able to claim money from royalties (And they may even be able to approach you and ask you for money).

Parts two and three of the ultimate mixtape guide are now out, so check them out via the below links for some more great mixtape tips!

That’s it for part one, in part two (Of three) we’ll be asking if you can use other people’s beats on your mixtape, we’ll be looking at where you can get beats for your mixtapes from, and finally looking at ways to make your mixtape stand out from the crowd.

Make sure you sign up to email updates at the top of this page to be sent parts two and three directly to your email inbox. Alternatively, sign up to the RSS feed below to be notified whenever we have a new post. As always, I’m looking forward to reading your comments.