.svg){kind=small}
For the first time ever, you can upload original short-form audio to Mixcloud! This is big news for us and has been a hotly requested update from our community.
We know that a healthy music ecosystem involves both music creation and curation. In the past we focused on curation, but so many people have wanted to upload their own music to Mixcloud that we wanted to accommodate and nurture that form of creativity as well.
We also know that it would be useful for you to be able house all your content in one place. Starting now, if you produce music you can upload your own original productions alongside radio shows and DJ mixes. This makes Mixcloud the only platform that offers live streaming, long form audio, and now short form tracks. Gone are the days of managing your across so many platforms, Mixcloud is where you can share more of your music in the right place.
In this article we will walk you through how to upload your first track on Mixcloud, what types of music we accept and also what’s available to you on a basic free tier, and as a paying Pro subscriber. But before we get started, it’s worth mentioning that Mixcloud Tracks has been launched in beta, and so we’re experimenting and would love your feedback.
How to Upload
Tracks sit alongside your long-form shows under a separate tab on your channel. If you’ve uploaded shows to Mixcloud, the process is the same forr tacks. But if not, here’s a rundown:
- Click “Create” (the top-right corner) and scroll down to “Upload”
- On the upload page (pictured below) choose “Upload Track”
- Select and name your file
- Accepted file types: M4A, MP3, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, AAC, OGG, MP2, WMA)
- Choose an image, add up to five genre tags, and write a brief description of your track
- For Pro subscribers, you can schedule or make your track exclusive on this page
- Read the criteria, terms and conditions, and click publish!
Unlike your long-form shows, tracks need to meet a certain criteria to be uploaded to Mixcloud’s server.
For licensing reasons, creators are unable to upload tracks that are copyrighted to another artist or rights holder. When you upload a short-from audio track to the platform, you’ll be prompted to confirm that your track meets the following criteria:
- It’s not a remix, re-sample or cover of another track
- It’s not signed to a major record label (i.e Warner, Universal, Merlin.. etc)
- That you own (both) the mechanical and performance rights for the track
Some of these restrictions may be surprising to you, considering that there are so many DJs and tastemakers on Mixcloud, however these rules ensure content on Mixcloud remains legal, and play a part in our ongoing mission building toward a sustainable ecosystem for all music creators.
First off, what is Tracks for?
Only your music. That means, original productions you own the rights to (yes, just you.) This can be self-released work or in-progress projects you want feedback on. For now, the range for short form audio is 30 seconds to 15 minutes, anything longer and our system will assume it’s show.
While the feature is still in beta, there are few restrictions that affect the distribution of your music. For one, tracks are not downloadable, and there is no way to sell your music through Mixcloud. Unfortunately, distributing tracks on third-part services like Distrokid is also a no-go.
What is Tracks NOT for?
Mashups, covers, remixes — or any music that includes copyrighted material you don’t own the rights to, like commercially released music or another artist’s music. Our fingerprinting system will supervise all the tracks to make sure they comply with the criteria described above and any upload that’s flagged by our system will be blocked.
Read more about the terms and conditions here. If you need a refresher on copyright law, check out this article.
Finally, watch this space!
This is one of the most exciting features to become available onMixcloud since we released live streaming. It’s the first of many steps towards building a creator toolkit that meets all the needs of a modern music creator from monetization to distribution, we’re here to support you at every stage in your career.
What are you waiting for? Start uploading today.
Live stream without takedowns, earn money and share your music in HQ audio - Upgrade to Pro today.
