Over To You: How Can I Monetise My New Mixtape?

Digital DJ Tips reader Dre Taylor writes: “This spring I will be coming out with a mixtape and I actually want to sell it on iTunes and Amazon to get at least a little money back, because I’ve invested a lot into it, but all this copyright stuff is confusing me. The mix is exclusive remixes of top songs. Will they allow this, and if not, what are my other options? I at least want to sell my mixtape for $1, as I’ve worked so hard to put it together I want to at least gain a little cash back from it. Please help me.”

Digital DJ Tips says:

Even if you’ve made your own re-edits or remixes of songs for your mix, it is still is covered by the original songs’ copyrights, and you can’t upload mixes to these services to sell containing such material. If you just want to get your music out there, Mixcloud is a good place to upload to. If you want to get some money back, there are two services I know of. Beatport has service that allows you to upload and start selling your mixes (it’s called Beatport Mixes). Also, you can do something similar with a new service just launched by The Future FM.

However, bear in mind that the chances of you making much money from uploading an unknown mix to the internet are low – frankly you’d be better using your mix as a “calling card” and trying to get paid DJ gigs through it.

Have you ever managed to successfully (and legally) sell a mix online? Are there other services we haven’t covered? What would your advice to Dre Taylor be? Please share your thoughts in the comments.