Almost every EDM artist, big or small, has tried their hand at making a remix. Taking a song that is recognizable and putting a new twist on it can be fun and enjoyable for the producer and for the listener every once in a while, but is it actually a good way to grow as an artist and get your name out there?
If the song is popular, people could be searching for a remix without even knowing it.
Making a new rendition of a song that already exists and that people are familiar with sounds like a good idea on paper. If someone is listening to a remix of a song that they love, they can sing along to it, even if they have never heard this new version of it before. Listeners often get a fresh breath of air from listening to remixes, and will sometimes appreciate how much work has been put into it (or upset because it “isn’t as good as the original”). When the remix is posted to SoundCloud or YouTube, it already has the title of a song that is high in traffic just because of the original song’s following. This can be great, but it leads to one big problem.
There might be hundreds of remixes of the song already.
Just because it was a good idea to remix a popular song doesn’t mean it hasn’t already been done before. Every time a new song tops the charts, a flood of band covers, vocal acapellas and remixes come along with it. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it makes it much more difficult for yours to stand out, or even be found, especially if you are a smaller artist with no following. People tend to look for producers whose names they recognize, or which song or video has the most plays. Trying to share remixes is harder than it sounds solely because people have heard the song before and even if they are looking specifically for remixes, chances are there is already a remix that has already struck gold and has a big following.
Having a music channel with all remixes and no original content doesn’t show much originality.
Producing JUST remixes is not a good sign as an artist. While a lot of originality and creativity goes into remixing a song, there is already a foundation to work on. Whether it is something as simple as the melody, or as complex as the music theory, it is something that is already out of the way. This doesn’t mean that making a remix doesn’t take any effort – it most certainly does. But to only produce remixes and stick them up online doesn’t look good after a while. Original content shows original ideas, which can be as beneficial, if not more, than just churning out remix after remix.
So yes, creating remixes can be helpful for someone that is trying to get in the producing game. Producing a remix can be beneficial for people who are trying to learn production, as well as the artists who are making a remix just because they really like the song. But keep in mind that hundreds, or even thousands, have come up with the idea to remix the song already. Trying to sift through tons of remixes just to find one in particular from a small artist that has nothing than other remixes under their belt may not be very helpful in the long run.
