Mixcloud VS Mixcrate : Two websites who do the same thing in a slightly different way.

At the momemt I don`t have a premium souncloud account to host my mixtapes. Really, I shouldn`t put anything up on there as the RIAA have got on soundcloud back forcing them to put some kind of software that scans audio files to pick up whether it`s copyrighted material. soundcloud then have to  remove the track, then they let you know. Bye bye stats!!
I will still purchase an account this summer, I mean, come on, I  spend a year  worth subs of souncloud on weed every week .. (cough) .. But anyhow, there are different ways to host and promote your mixes if you haven`t got the cash.

Mixcloud and Mixcrate are the most prominent in hosting DJ mixed sets (and in Mixcloud`s case podcasting too, although Mixcrate really isn`t about podcasting - and neither am I -  so I wont concentrate  too much on that)
Mixcloud:

• Provides no downloads of your mixtape
• Looks mint.
• Has a high media profile. Has industry backing.
• artists get paid when your mix get played
• Full facebook integration. Likes and any tweets of your mixtape builds your profile onsite
• You follow and gain followers.
• If you don`t have an offline following, it`s hard to create one from scratch. You need to get to work!

Mixcrate:

• Provides unlimited downloads of your mixtape (once registered)
• Looks mint, not as good as Mixcloud, but cool enough
• Under the radar, legally in a grey area in terms of copyrighted material
• You can place links on facebook, but you will be redirected to their site if you click upon the link
• No followers, you can `favourite` tracks, which builds your profile - the more you get, the more likely you will get more prominence

Both are free. Both have a community built around them, although, it is a bit like tumblr you find that it`s really hard to get your stuff featured, reblogged etc. You really, really have to work your online skills to get noticed, or have a sizable offline following to get any kind of traction.
I have placed a couple of mixtapes on both  their facebook pages for over a year, and each one  just laid there,  untouched pretty much.
There is another site though, called House-mixes.com. It looks a bit dated style wise. I have no idea why they haven`t given it a facelift, because  it`s popular and  it works really well. What`s also different is, because you haven`t got big name DJ`s on it, there`s actually a real community feel around the site.

I`ve placed mixtapes on there - and I  did nothing to promote them  as I wanted to see how much of the plays/downloads were actually just down to the activity on the site - and within days I got over 200 plays, which suprised me, I just wasn`t used to that kind of reaction, People left comments, followed your profile like you can on soundcloud and mixcloud, you could see who played your track (a premium feature on souncloud)  and you can do facebook like updates on any topic you like.
Again, the look of it isn`t great, if the embeddable player/downloader looked decent, then I would be using that to host my mixtapes on this  blog.
I`m a member of all of them, I think the best way to go about using them is to use mixcloud and provide your own download links via megaupload or mediafire.
However, I have noticed mixrtapes creeping into Bandcamp.  I`ll be releasing an mixtape through there this summer, just to test it out. My gripe is this: I`m not a fan of the bandcamp player. It`s slow as fuck to load up. That`s if it does load up.  Sometimes it will not load up on  firefox browsers when it`s fine in chrome. My studio releases albums through Bandcamp as well as physical CD and half the time our readers of our blog who are firefox users see a blank oblong instead of a player. Not good.