The Art of the Mixtape: The Most Personal Form of Music Sharing

Written by :Jake Moreland and Autumn Adams

Creative Direction by: Autumn Adams

Modeled by: Cade Johnson, Jada Heard , & Autumn Adams

Photographed by Luke Chipley

Since their conception, the act of sharing mixtapes has been a unique slice of American youth culture. In today’s day and age mixtapes themselves, and the act of making them, have been relegated to the status of an outdated fad or niche art form by many due to the fact that it’s so much easier to whip up a playlist on a platform like Spotify, allowing you to keep your music picks in your pocket wherever you go without all the bulky equipment. Now, it’s easier than ever to send those playlists to others with the tap of your finger on your screen or keyboard, the best part being that you can both listen to the same playlist no matter where you are, without having to make duplicates; no more intermixing earwax by sharing earbuds. So, what’s the point of putting an entire mixtape together? Why go through all the hoops that it entails when it’s so much easier to get with the times and share music the modern way? The answer is simple: the intimacy of it. 

Typically, when you’re making a mixtape for somebody else, you’re not just going through your liked songs and finding stuff that you like and that you’re “pretty sure” they’ll also like. It’s an active search for songs and artists that are unique to the person you’re making it for. Rather than impulsively trying to put your friend on a song you’ve had on repeat for the past week or two, you become purposeful in your search for music since there’s more to its construction than right-clicking and hitting “add to playlist.” You recall the song they played for you one day with twinkling eyes, saying it was “their” brand new obsession; you remember what played on the radio during a drive through a rough storm together; you pick a song or two from an artist you both bonded over during the early days of your friendship; you listen through entire albums at a time, taking single selections from each when you discover or rediscover a song that perfectly encapsulates your relationship with each other. By the end, you have a finely tuned and customized selection of music that took real effort to put together, that is not only uniquely “them”, but also uniquely “you” in the choices you made to express your friendship and appreciation for one another.

While the main focus of creating a mixtape is the choice of tracks that reside on the disc, another key component to making this a truly personalized and special gift for someone is how you choose to decorate your case. Just like the curation of your playlist, the process of making your cover art is intentional and personal. The possibilities for customization are limited only by your imagination; sticker bombing, scribbling random shapes, doodling flowers they picked for you in the park one time, collaging magazine cutouts of their favorite celebrity or artist, covering the front in sea creature stickers to match their love of marine life, or even just putting a printout photo of the two of you from that one unforgettable night out. However you choose to symbolize the tape, it all culminates in the creation of a real piece of art as the face of your one-of-a-kind present. The cover of your case is the first thing your recipient will see, so it has to make a good impression! While not completely necessary, it doesn't hurt to give your mix a creative and fun name to go along with it.

By the end of this arduous process, you’ll have created something more than just a plastic box to stuff on a shelf and forget about. You’ll have crafted a memento that symbolizes your deep understanding of someone in the form of both music and art, showing how far your friendship or love has come and serving as something to look back fondly on as you both grow and change together. So next time you whip up that playlist for a special someone, consider skipping the streaming services and grab a disc burner, blank CD, and maybe even a clear jewel case to go along with it. Oh, and something to play it on.