We’ve been amazed at the reaction to our Spotlights feature so far. It’s shown us how much people value their favorite Mixcloud creators and want to pay their appreciation forward. Reports are flooding in from users everywhere as they discover creators they would’ve otherwise missed.
Spotlights is a feature designed to help smaller creators get more recognition whilst helping listeners hear more mixes from a wider range of creators. Algorithms often struggle to do this in the same way that people can recommend great creators off the top of their heads.
When you spotlight a creator, all your followers are notified, so they get to enjoy the same creators you’ve been loving recently. Furthermore, everyone you spotlight receives a notification, giving your favorite creator a small thanks for the music.
If you’re unsure of where to start, don’t worry. Plenty of users have been electrified to the point of stasis with excitement over the feature. So here are five ways others are using the feature to help you get the most out of it.
Leave a personal note
If you were to tell a friend in person about a DJ you loved, would you just say their name? No, you’d tell them why they had to hear them!
So tell your followers why they should be listening to your recommendation. This is your opportunity to really help people understand what you’re into and connect with you before finding another great creator. When it’s time for them to spotlight their own creators, they’ll be more likely to spotlight you because of your well-thought-out recommendation.
Update Spotlights periodically
Who to choose? It’s the drama of MySpace’s Top 8 all over again. But fear not! The good news is that you can change your Spotlights whenever and however many times you want. Spotlighting your favorite creators on Mixcloud could be a fun monthly or weekly thing you do to support your fellow creators and inspire your followers. Or you could be like Mummy Music and do it every day!
As music curators, our job isn’t just about sharing new music in mixes; it’s about putting people on to other creators as well. You’re sharing other sources of inspiration and joy. So keep them fresh.
Time Spotlights with your uploads
As Spotlights notify your followers, it’s a good idea to think about how this works alongside your show upload schedule. My advice would be to update your Spotlights after an upload. That could be an hour or a couple of days, you decide. This gives your followers a couple of notifications for attention and then notifies the creator you spotlight too. You’ll have something fresh for them to listen to when they arrive on your profile. Which is why you should always remember to say something nice in the notes.
Publish a Post
Creators have been writing Posts to tell their followers about their Spotlights in greater detail than the personal note. It’s another opportunity to connect with the people you’ve chosen by tagging them in the Post; they may get back to you in the comments, and who knows what could happen from there. They might end up spotlighting you because you’re both fans of the same sound.
It’s just a great place to discuss your inspirations with your followers. You might learn something new about who you’re spotlighting and the music they share.
Share to social media
The feature generates a custom video with audio, which you can share with your people on Facebook, WhatsApp, X or anywhere once downloaded. This’ll intrigue your off-platform followers and bring them on the platform to enjoy the music you love.
Get started with Spotlights directly from the Home page.