The Lowdown
It’s a no-frills, free to use alternative to full-featured streaming services like Mixify. We recommend that you give it a go to see if you like what the site has to offer, especially if you aren’t using a music broadcast service for your DJ sets.
First Impressions / Setting up
Beatbravo is a rather minimal online broadcast service that integrates with your DJ software for live streaming of your DJ sets. It allows you to stream directly from Traktor Pro, Virtual DJ 7 or Mixxx, all without having to install additional software. It treads on territory that feature-packed services such as Mixify occupy, but the simplicity of Beatbravo may just be what it needs to separate it from the rest.
The Beatbravo page is a simple, clutter-free one. There are no fancy subscription plans, no add-on purchases and no ads. There’s only one account to sign up for, and it’s free!
In Use
After signing up, you’re sent to the set-up wizard which takes you through the process of integrating Beatbravo with your DJ software (in this case, we used Traktor). It’s just a matter of downloading the configuration file, importing it, enabling broadcast and you’re good to go! My Windows machine takes longer to boot.
Beatbravo fetches data from your software, in my case Traktor, as you perform your DJ set. It gets the title and artist name of the songs you play, timestamps them, and then stores them along with a recording of the entire set. You can then choose to archive this set, which lets it appear on your profile page for other people to listen to later.
Beatbravo only broadcasts audio, but you do have the option of streaming video on your profile page while you perform through Ustream. Your video broadcast will replace your avatar on your public profile.
Conclusion
With Beatbravo being a relatively new service, the first question that comes to mind is: “Will it stick around?” Having to juggle with a lot of social media sites as it is and with more popular streaming services out, it might be difficult to make a case for Beatbravo, but if you aren’t subscribed to Mixify and the like, you might want to give it a shot. It’s quick to set up, easy to use and totally free, so I’d recommend you give it a go and decide for yourself whether or not you like the platform.
At the moment, the jury’s out for us – often there’s nobody at all playing live when you visit the site, which just like an empty club, is a sign that something needs to kickstart the place before too long.
