mnmlist: Daddy or Chips is Dead: The Demise of the Bedroom DJ

Cover art for Daddy or Chips is Dead MixEverything ends.

Newer visitors may be unaware of my once regular forays into digital DJing. This hobby happily exists alongside the rest of my digital life; it’s fun, scratches a creative itch and requires me to learn new things.

The fact that the results have been downloaded thousands of times and fuelled house parties in Mexico, debauchery in Dublin as well as workouts in London is intensely gratifying and reward enough.

It’s generated sales and exposure too for some of the artists whose work I used. Sure it’s anecdotal, but I’ve had people online and in real life tell me how they went on to find out more about acts and buy their music as a result of hearing it one of the mixes. A few of the artists have been in touch to say thanks too.

It’s a labour of love for me ,as I’m sure it is for the thousands of people like me. Technology has made it very easy for the bedroom DJ to source music, mix and then share the results. While we’re here, Digital DJ Tips is a fantastic resource for the bedroom DJ.

But tech is also making it easier to be shut down.

Why is this? Well, a mix contains copyrighted material. If I put make material available for distribution on sites such as Mediafire or Soundcloud, I am exposing them to risk. So they have have procedures in place to take copyrighted material down as soon as they learn of it. This helps them stay on the right side of the law.

The music labels (as well as film studios and games creators) don’t want to lose revenue through pirated copies of their products. The hosting companies (the ones who wish to be legit) don’t want to be caught hosting this material. And given how easy it is to find almost anything online for free, it’s entirely understandable why these parties have to do what they can to protect their assets.

Am I breaking the law when I share a mix? Technically, yes, but as yet there’s no easy way for a DJ set to be distinguished from a commercially available Hed Kandi compilation (and thus potentially costing that company a sale). All must be taken down.

Over the last year, I’ve been playing cat and mouse with these services. I upload a mix; it’s taken down. I re-upload; it’s taken down again. It has become a bit of a chore trying to make sure that links are checked, replaced, tested. I don’t blame Mediafire or Soundcloud; they are just protecting their interests.

There are some legitimate ways to share though. Mixcloud allows you to upload and stream a mix legally. Online music retailer Beatport is experimenting with Mixes, a way for DJs to sell their mixes (as long as the individual tracks were bought at Beatport).

I’ll keep an eye on these services, but for now, Daddy or Chips? is dead*.

In the meantime, sign up here and I’ll make sure you know about new mixes and if I find a better hosting solution:

Tracklist

  1. Duke Dumont feat. A*M*E * Need U (100%)
  2. Yousef * Beg (Hot Since 82 Future Mix)
  3. Tube & Berger * Surfin (Nice7 Remix)
  4. Solange * Losing You (Cyril Hahn Remix)
  5. Salt N Sugar & Tech D * Oasis (Vocal Version)
  6. Maya Jane Coles * Easier to Hide
  7. Tube & Berger and Milan Euringer  * Lovebreak
  8. Pillow Talk  * Soft (Life And Death Remix)
  9. Zoo Brazil feat. Rasmus Kellerman * The Dark End
  10. Katy B x Geeneus x Jessie Ware * Aaliyah
  11. WhoMadeWho * Inside World (Detone Mix)
  12. Alex Niggemann * I Don’t Care (Salvatore Freda Remix)
  13. Sharam Jey & LouLou Players * Hum Hum
  14. Ben Pearce * What I Might Do (Club Edit)
  15. Lindstrøm & Todd Terje * Lanzarote
  16. Luciano * Rise Of Angel (Andrea Oliva Remix)

Download Daddy or Chips is Dead on Mediafire (one last time!) or Pod-o-matic. You can stream it on Mixcloud.

* “Dead’ in a Marvel superhero kind of way…