Make Your SoundCloud Go Platinum with the Perfect Remix
(By Oliver Cox)
Remixing, by its nature, is a supercharged way of raising your profile. As such, it’s time to create and share the amazing remix that will push your SoundCloud into platinum territory.
A remix has a bundle of advantages: you’ve got a ready and waiting fan-base (the original artist’s) and a ready-made song structure that needs only tweaks from you. So, if you’re a producer or electronic artist, you need to start creating excellent remixes and posting them to your SoundCloud. Be sure, of course, to clear the rights to remix the track beforehand, or use music that’s in the public domain.
To see how this sort of thing is done right, let’s take a look at the producer Zedd and how remixing helped him to build his career.
Learn it from Zedd
German DJ Zedd’s rise to fame was truly phenomenal—he started producing electronic music in 2009, and by 2010 he was working with Skrillex. Obviously Zedd has great producing chops, but he also played his publicity well. Firstly, he won two Beatport remixing competitions, which raised his profile in a way that just producing his own music wouldn’t have.
Look out for these competitions: sites like Beatport run them, alongside artists—check out remix comps for a list of events to enter.
Most importantly, Zedd was thrust all the way to top tier EDM when, according to Sonic Bids, he remixed Dan Thomas’s This Year and sent it to Skrillex. The remix was so good that Skrillex got in touch with Zedd, asking to use the remix in his show that night—this was the start of a collaboration between the two that would help Zedd get signed to a major label soon afterwards.
Zedd’s story demonstrates just how powerful the remix is as a tool for connecting with people, but how can we leverage this for the SoundCloud experience?
Remixing on SoundCloud
According to Sound on Sound, thinking of the artist when you create your remix is one of the top ways to make it really successful. Which artist will be most likely to enjoy a track remixed in your style? How can you remix it to make it most likely that they or another big name will share or otherwise promote it? Let these questions guide which remixes you make and upload to your SoundCloud.
As you can see from the story above, one of the most important parts was Zedd’s interaction with an active and influential producer. A close equivalent in the SoundCloud universe is an evangelist, a user who prolifically shares great sounds among their (many) followers. Track down these users, follow them, like their material and create great remixes; at some point you’ll appear on their radar.
If this sounds complicated (it is) Soundudes can do this for you—the Soundudes algorithm tracks down the best evangelists in your genre and follows them for you, exponentially increasing the chance that your next remix get picked up and become the next sensation.
Otherwise, be sure to tag your track appropriately and offer plenty of information. By placing the name of the artist whose track you’ve remixed in the tags and title, you’ll pick up users who are searching for music related to said artist, who’ll be pleased to stumble upon your work. Remember to find the best groups for remixes and share your creations there.
As you can see, if you play to the advantages of the remix genre, you can really make it work for you. This is specifically because you are working with other artists, as well as their material and fan-bases, and this is one of the sturdiest footholds in the music industry. By understanding how to work with these, with hard work and a little help from Soundudes, you could find yourself on tour with your favorite musician.