The New Dawn On Compilation Series

Promotional image of the new to launch ‘SoundTourism’ compilation series

Who remembers the great compilation series from back in the day? Mix compilations have always been a part of electronic music. It was a showcase of DJ-skill, record selection and flow. For the listener a flawless mix was a journey and for 70–80 minutes you didn’t need to change your CD. Mix compilations have been the background for work, study and driving long distances for quite some time.

Trance Compilations
When Trance became popular, at the end of the Nineties, a lot of DJ’s and labels released their own compilation series. Trance was a genre perfectly suitable for compilations, because most tracks were long and evolving, and one of the main skills of a Trance DJ was to transition as long and as flawless between two tracks as possible, to make it sound like a whole. Mix compilations were the closest you could get to a live DJ performance, which helped in skyrocketing the popularity of Mix CD’s.

Most of you probably remember the Ministry Of Sound CD’s, the Gatecrasher series, Global Underground or the In Trance We Trust Compilations. Individual DJ’s like Armin Van Buuren (Universal Religion and the still going A State Of Trance series) released their own compilations as well, and some of the most noticable ones were the Magik series by Tiësto, who also started the now legendary In Search Of Sunrise compilations.

Whatever people say and think of Tiësto these days, as a fan of Trance music, the series mixed by Tiësto always were something to look out for. The man was brilliant in creating a flow with his choice of records, and every mix compilation he did was an experience in itself.

Modern Day Mixing
The demand of new music has increased a lot over the years, especially since streaming music makes it very easy to find something new every day. 20 years ago, purchasing a CD would have cost you €10–20 at least, and regardless of your spending power, you cherished a CD, listened to it multiple times and over a long period of time too.

Streaming is cheap, even free a lot of times, and sometimes music seems to be more expendable to current listeners. However, blaming them is one thing, but streaming services and artists offer something new every day. Algorithms on YouTube and Spotify always find something new to discover, and often distract you from your actual search, while DJ’s flooding the internet with fresh live-streams on sites like Mixcloud, Twitch and YouTube on a daily basis. Both feed into the same development and mindset, to discover something new every day.

The End Of The Compilation
In a way this development has put a nail in the coffin of Mix Compilations, especially because the medium of a CD has become absolute. DJ mixes are available now on services like Spotify as well and one could wonder why anyone would want to release a mix compilation still.

Thankfully, some still release the occasional mix CD, and among the most noticable ones are the A State Of Trance series by Armin as mentioned earlier, the In Search Of Sunrise series (now mixed by different DJ’s) and the Pure Trance compilations by Solarstone.

The Use Of A Mix CD
So, why would someone still do that? What’s the use of a compilation on CD anyway? Actually, there’s several reasons and these are also the main reasons for us as a label to start a brand new compilation series.

1. A mix compilation takes time and effort. The selection of tracks and their order is well thought out, because it will be the flow of the mix forever. Sure, an occasional (live) DJ mix can be a journey experience, but they are often mixed on the spot, or have been prepared in a few days, which makes it much harder to hit the nail on the head when it comes to flow and flawlessness.
2. Compilations give every artist and track their space. Not one track will be mixed in and out quickly. All tracks are part of the story and help the story to evolve.
3. The CD format forces choices. A DJ can only select up to 80 minutes (or 2x80 on a double CD) of music to showcase. This makes the selection process much harder, while a live-stream can be extended to play some more tracks.
4. Compilations are documenting a certain point in time. It’s an overview of the music available at that certain point. Spotify playlists change all the time, and live-streams often contain the latest releases as well and can be easily adjusted.
5. In a world where everything is digital, in the cloud and useless without an internet connection, it’s nice to have a tangible product. A CD you can feel, you can smell the ink of the nice looking cover art and you can take it with you anywhere (if you still have some kind of CD-player). Also, it’s the best of both worlds because most CD compilations are available on streaming services as well.
6. Revenue on a CD is higher, let’s be honest. Selling a physical release (CD/vinyl) can truly make a difference. Especially while currently no live performances are allowed. One CD compensates for at least 5000 streams on Spotify. Just one! Would you listen to a track or album 5000 times to support an independent artist or label? Even if you would, it would cost a lot of time and you probably would lose count anyway. Buying a CD to support them is much easier.
7. A compilation can represent a brand and a DJ. It makes things recognizable, and sparks expectation. Which we see as a good thing. Listeners look forward to the next one because they expect a certain standard. It’s up to a DJ or a label to not disappoint the listener.

Starting The SoundTourism Series
We could probably think of a dozen more reasons, but these are the main reasons behind the launch of a new compilation series on our label. From this year onward, we will release the ‘SoundTourism’ compilation, annually. The compilation is mixed by our label founder Marco Svarda, who was a fan of mix compilations on CD’s and always wanted to start one himself.

The ‘SoundTourism’ series are similar to e.g. In Search Of Sunrise, and intend to build a journey from chilled progressive trance into club music divided over two CD’s. With music being approached as disposable, we feel there’s still a lot of music fans who actually like to have a tangible product, and we like to believe we can find enough support to justify pressing a CD.

SoundTourism is the first compilation we start, but with a lot of talented DJ’s involved with the label in some way we certainly hope there’s more to come. There’s a new dawn for compilations and we hope to do our part in helping to rediscover this great way of presenting music.

For the producers who read this, we have made it possible to become part of the SoundTourism compilation. If you want to know the conditions, read this article.