I think the mixtape formula will fade out this year.

[The Elijah]

"Mixtapes" are going to be Free Download only, and albums or at least independant street releases as logan was calling them, distributed properly, like Freedom of Speech and Grime Wave are going to be the way to take the levels up.

I think the whole pressing 1000 cds thing and trying to drop them in Ukrecordshop will be dead, Maybe it is dead already. There hasn't been the same hype for Riko, Trim and Ghetto as there was last year for Jammer, Wiley and Trim when they all came out on the same day.

We are getting quality free releases from people on the regular and artists are finding other methods to pay the bills, and not relying solely on the sales of their mixtape to function. Merchandise may increase, but with more on the market it may encourage originality, or a price decrease to encourage more people to buy it.

Pushing one or two of your strong tunes in a focused way instead of 19 mixtape tunes is the way forward. I was saying to Buckfaster the other day, I would of rather spend money on Ghetto - Top 3 Selected Vocal, Instrumental and Remix and Stageshow Don Vocal and Instrumental as a B side rather then Ghetto Gospel as a whole mixtape project.

Most of the big 10 grime artists will probably use Youtube as a first option rather then channel U to release their video. Look at how many hits Skeptas Over The Top has had. That is more effective and cheaper then a small channel U or Base campaign.

My hope is that alongside these Independant Street Albums we get decent vinyl coming alongside to support them. Hardrive Vol.1 is the perfect example of a CD that needed a vinyl to come out at the same time. I would lose a finger for Reloaded instrumental, or Morph instrumental. If this shift changed artists would think more about the beats they choose as they would have to sell those as well. Freedom of Speech is good, but I couldnt listen to any of them instrumentals on their own. Thats why I enjoy JMEs mixtapes so much because the beats are excellent.

Do you lot think im way of with this one? How do you lot think Grime will change releases wise this year?

I could of made this a blog post. But its good to talk.

[Retrofreak]

A mixtape is a mixtape and an album is an album the only variable is quality imo.

All this talk of Independent street album means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

You either make and promote good products or you don't that's it.

These formats will still be around, but will change as the artists spend more time R&Ding so they can up the levels from previous releases.

Artist development is the key to having better quality music and performances period.

Man's like Ghetto are still in the development stages..hell even Wiley lol

Quality over Quantity is the better maxim ,but there is a trade off.

We cant expect mans to be exhausting their bars on sets and myspace's then complain that their album isn't fresh because they've rinsed their lyrics.

I think constantly doing free mixtape's is a bad idea as there is still time and effort that goes into penning bars for which an artist recieves NO publishing....

just a pat on the back and two weeks worth of Logan hype!

[The Elijah]

If your on the levels, you wont have to do a free mixtape. People will be happy to be pay for your ting.

Better that people hear it then nobody buy it right?

All these people you lot rate, I dont even bother to check more time, I think when the good tunes come, I will hear them. But I still pay attention to whatever these people are doing.

[adidasgrandad]

"Mixtapes" are going to be Free Download only, and albums or at least independant street releases as logan was calling them, distributed properly, like Freedom of Speech and Grime Wave are going to be the way to take the levels up.

I think the whole pressing 1000 cds thing and trying to drop them in Ukrecordshop will be dead, Maybe it is dead already.

i agree. i think this is the year where things become more professional in terms of distribution. for example FOS got sold in hmv, itunes, amazon and bare other places like you'd expect an album to be. i can see same with grimewave judging by the banners iv seen. but the word mixtape, its just that, its a word. doesnt matter what you call it. i think the fact that they are calling them independent street releases just reflects the more professionalism and effort put into them.

[Retrofreak]

A good album or poor album is still that....an album same goes for mixtapes imo.

Making new catogories to file things under isnt gonna fix the problem.

You either make good products and promote them properly or you don't...simple!!

[Carter]

The way JME did the whole mixtape thing was big but everbody else is living in some 50 Cent dream land where they release mixtapes and get signed by Sony because they showed their versatility.......NO SORRY MATE!!!!!

Albums, EPs and Singles are the way to go.....DIY business because we are in the best position now with Logan Sama, Tim Westwood, Kiss 100, 1xtra, MTV Base, Channel U and RWD to make our own product, promote and sell it like professionals in the industry.....1000 copies in UK Record Shop means fuck all to the music industry or anybody not on RWD Forum or Grime Forum.

If I saw somebody who released 3 albums by himself, promoted them on legel radio and had some low budget but decent videos on rotation, I would sign him over Dolla Da Dustman and his 20000 mixtapes that nobody outside of North London has heard

[Hij]

The way JME did the whole mixtape thing was big but everbody else is living in some 50 Cent dream land where they release mixtapes and get signed by Sony because they showed their versatility.......NO SORRY MATE!!!!!

Albums, EPs and Singles are the way to go.....DIY business because we are in the best position now with Logan Sama, Tim Westwood, Kiss 100, 1xtra, MTV Base, Channel U and RWD to make our own product, promote and sell it like professionals in the industry.....1000 copies in UK Record Shop means fuck all to the music industry or anybody not on RWD Forum or Grime Forum.

If I saw somebody who released 3 albums by himself, promoted them on legel radio and had some low budget but decent videos on rotation, I would sign him over Dolla Da Dustman and his 20000 mixtapes that nobody outside of North London has heard

Me and Carter agreeing 100% on something.

*Steps Back In Shock*

[Carter]

LOL.........

The mixtape thing is bullshit anyway all of the tracks are original songs, some have a couple of freestyle but they are still albums....Devlin Tales From The Crypt sounds like a debut album, with better packaging, its would have been a great product

[Hij]

LOL.........

The mixtape thing is bullshit anyway all of the tracks are original songs, some have a couple of freestyle but they are still albums....Devlin Tales From The Crypt sounds like a debut album, with better packaging, its would have been a great product

Yeah, although the artwork doesn't always relate to the quality of the music inside, it could have done with something better.

[The Elijah]

i hate the way artists make average tunes 4 mixtapes

[Retrofreak]

LOL.........

The mixtape thing is bullshit anyway all of the tracks are original songs, some have a couple of freestyle but they are still albums....Devlin Tales From The Crypt sounds like a debut album, with better packaging, its would have been a great product

Agreed.

[Xtra P]

Sometimes artist call there albums "mixtapes" to avoid sample clearance

[Random Impulse]

Sometimes artist call there albums "mixtapes" to avoid sample clearance

...tiz true..

[The Elijah]

Sometimes artist call there albums "mixtapes" to avoid sample clearance

half truth.

the mixtape thing is just to turn over money quickly. It hasn't been used very well so far I think. I think promotional efforts behind most mixtapes bar JMEs and Skitz, Ghetto Gospel and a few others were shoody

['nuum general]

I think the problem with the mixtape format is that everyone feels compelled to make it 20 tracks long. you get the feeling with most mixtapes that on quite a few tracks the artist is going through the motions to add a few extra tracks on, rather than take the axiom or cloud 9 route of putting 9 decent tracks out and leaving it at that.

The other point is that there are no singles released in grime nowadays. Whether this is because artists think fans are happy with a radio rip off logans show i don't know but certainly i feel there is a need for the big tracks to be released along with the instrumental. This would aid up & coming djs and in the longer term probably help improve the rave scene

[pcollins]

yeh the mixtape thing seems a bit counter productive. didnt trim say he was putting in 50% -70% effort on soulfood and if he isnt signed after hes done 6 hes going to quit grime? wouldnt it of been better putting all that effort into one album of amazing songs rather than 6 mixtapes ofaverage ones?

[The Elijah]

yeh the mixtape thing seems a bit counter productive. didnt trim say he was putting in 50% -70% effort on soulfood and if he isnt signed after hes done 6 hes going to quit grime? wouldnt it of been better putting all that effort into one album of amazing songs rather than 6 mixtapes ofaverage ones?

nail

[adidasgrandad]

yeh the mixtape thing seems a bit counter productive. didnt trim say he was putting in 50% -70% effort on soulfood and if he isnt signed after hes done 6 hes going to quit grime? wouldnt it of been better putting all that effort into one album of amazing songs rather than 6 mixtapes ofaverage ones?

waste of his time if you ask me. should have just released one really fucked cd then waited to see how that went...would have saved him loads of money from pressing cd's as well.

[Danny Trejo]

I just think overkill's the undoing of the whole mixtape concept. When there was only the odd release every now and again, I'd end up buying some random weird mixtape from UKRS. I even bought Tiny Dee's, ffs.
Thing is now though, every MC I've ever heard of (and a load I haven't) have tapes on their myspace, UKRS, avalanche, whatever. I just can't be bothered with a lot of it. When Griminal's sick on radio and all that and he's got a free one out, why would I pay for Ears' tape? I haven't even heard a song, when was he last on radio? Never.

I think the bigger artists will still sell, and the quality stuff, the people who put in work. Like the OGs tape, yeah it was delayed, but they were on radio constantly, the lead single was big, and they did well. I bought it.

People just need to step up their work ethic.

['nuum general]

I just think overkill's the undoing of the whole mixtape concept. When there was only the odd release every now and again, I'd end up buying some random weird mixtape from UKRS. I even bought Tiny Dee's, ffs.
Thing is now though, every MC I've ever heard of (and a load I haven't) have tapes on their myspace, UKRS, avalanche, whatever. I just can't be bothered with a lot of it. When Griminal's sick on radio and all that and he's got a free one out, why would I pay for Ears' tape? I haven't even heard a song, when was he last on radio? Never.

I think the bigger artists will still sell, and the quality stuff, the people who put in work. Like the OGs tape, yeah it was delayed, but they were on radio constantly, the lead single was big, and they did well. I bought it.

People just need to step up their work ethic.

good point, a lot of people seem to make a cd, release it then go on logans to promote it then dissapear again (eg seb zero). I'd like to see mcs going radio more regular, even if its just once a month. Also putting out a couple of singles whilst their making the cd would keep the interest there rather than them dissapearing of the map for a year