Mixcloud is all about the community. Which is why we like to support each and everyone of our members, whether small or big. Competitions are a great chance for bedroom DJs to stand out and kickstart their careers with some of the biggest names in the music industry.
We know and support a heap of these initiatives however it’s pretty much impossible to add them all to the Competitions page. But that shouldn’t stop you from putting together a competition and host it on Mixcloud. So we’ve put together a little HowTo that will show you how to set up one:
1. Getting started
It’s up to you how you run your competition so it’s important to put in place some simple house rules and include your own Terms and Conditions, keep them in line with Mixcloud’s guidelines.
2. Competition guidelines
Introduce yourselves, explain what the competition is about and let them know what you’re looking for. Here are a couple of pointers:
- Content: decide and state what kind of genre entrants have to mix
- Judging: judge entrants on factors like originality, creativity, number of plays/ favourites, positive feedback, technical ability and honest opinion.
Make sure you clearly outline the logistical details needed to submit an entry, provide details of:
- Deadline
- Length of mix
- Title e.g. ‘Mixcloud DJ Competition’
- Tag it e.g. ‘Mixcloud Competition’ - If you fail to tag it correctly, your entry may be missed.
- Provide your own artwork
- Tracklist
- State eligible country(s)
It’s important that you create a unique tag (e.g. ‘Mixcloud Competition’); this will enable you to easily filter the entrant’s mixes when they’re submitted on the site.
3. Selecting the winner(s)
Thanks to our tagging system it’s really easy to collect all entries under one page (example here). This is why it’s really important to pick a unique tag for your competition – it will ensure that all the contestants using it are unique to your competition.
From the contestants you whittle down, it’s a good idea to either hand pick your winner(s) or have a panel of judges to decide (rather than just relying on number of plays/ favourites). It’s also a good idea to keep entrants up-to-date with the competition once the deadline has passed. Send them an email thanking them for their mixes and explain when the winner(s) will be announced.
4. Promoting your competition
We’re here to help host the contest as a platform, but we can’t promote all contests that take place. Create a page specifically linked to your contest (on your website/through Facebook) and include all the above details regarding deadlines, prizes and other general info about your competition. To really help promote it and to achieve a wide-spread outcome make sure to push it out on all your social media!
Good luck! For some inspiration on how to set out your profile, check out the DJcity Link Up competition which was hosted through the Mixcloud blog.
