By Jason Epstein
VOTE FOR MIXIFY FOR BEST IN DISCOVERY HERE
Mixify is a DJ-centric web community that is hyped as a “never-ending electronic music festival where DJs live stream from around the world while chatting with friends.” The site allows users to host their own electronic dance music (EDM) parties, make their own mixes, learn DJ techniques, socialize, check on what is currently charting and even buy and sell user-made music. SoundCtrl writer Jason Epstein spoke with Mixify CEO and Founder David Moricca about electronic dance music, Mixify’s passionate fan base and what’s coming next.
SoundCtrl- EDM has been a hot topic in music over the past year. What inspired Mixify and what problem does it seek to solve for the EDM community?
David Moricca - As a team, we started noticing this “EDM” explosion well before the articles started flowing out. We learned it old fashioned way – through some user insights from the first product the company created called BreakoutBand (an online music creation site).
Within the EDM space, we identified the live experience as one of the more digitally unaddressed aspects of the genre. We found that many dance artists, labels, promoters and venues were looking to engage their fans in a deeper way digitally around live streaming, but the current options available to them were limited. Most of the audio streaming options were not very fan-friendly, while video streaming had a plethora of its own challenges– namely, audio quality, scalability, cost and brand control. Most importantly, video streaming created more of a passive consumption experience for the fan.
With Mixify, the idea was to innovate around live streaming and create the concept of the digital event and digital festival. As an audio streaming platform at its core, the sound quality of a Mixify stream is really high – good enough to power a real party. Additionally, the artist can bring in their own custom visuals for their events on Mixify – the very same visuals that fans would be seeing in a live environment. We tied this all together through a virtual venue with real-time chat, so fans and artists could have this shared, active social experience. The combination really works.
SC – Mixify has evolved quickly since launching in Mid-November, 2012. How do you prioritize the product development for the platform?
DM - We are really fortunate to have a passionate and growing community of up and coming DJs who use Mixify regularly and serve basically as an extension of our product team. Some of our members have even established their own forums, like the Mixify Community Group and Mixify Mafia Group on Facebook where they support each other as DJs but also provide us an ongoing product feedback and idea loop. In fact, hundreds of these types of users have been using our mobile app in beta over the last several weeks, allowing us to fine tune it. Similarly, fans who tuned into our RISE Digital Festival last month helped us identify the big opportunity for Mixify to be used as a second screen experience for parties in a physical setting. With this kind of passionate DJ and fan community, we are able to appropriately prioritize our feature development.
Our bigger partners also give us great feedback and insight into what is important to them. Oftentimes, we need to balance the needs of larger established partners with up and coming DJs…but so far, so good.
SC – What can we expect to see coming next from Mixify?
DM - From a product perspective, we are extremely excited about the new features in development that are all about widening distribution and enabling DJs, promoters, labels and venues to monetize on the platform. First, we are weeks away from launch of our Android and iPhone mobile app, which will enable to fans to tune into the livestream and chat on the go. Second, as we have seen more fans use Mixify on the second screen, we are making some interface enhancements to accommodate a wider, bigger screen experience for fans partying with Mixify in a physical space. Third, we are adding a monetization feature that enables artists to ticket their events or add a VIP tier where they offer fans something special (unreleased tracks, private digital events, tickets for upcoming tours).
From a partner perspective, you will see Mixify launching more digital festivals, recurring series and live stream events with a broad range of big-name artists, labels, venues and festival companies. Details coming!
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