In today's world of the "I wanna be a DJ" syndrome, the well established MIX TAPE has become a vital weapon in building ones status and "rep" in the DJ game. On the other side of the coin, the MIX TAPE has always teetered on the edge of existence, due to the record labels that have a controlling hand in this semi-legal form of bootlegging.

When it all comes down to it, the record label plays God over the mix tape industry. The catch is, is that up until now, this industry has flourished across the globe, mainly in the urban music format, especially in hip-hop music. DJ's work hard to get the newest music to drop on their tapes, cause everyone knows, if you've got that hot new shit, you're going to be the first to sell out on the shelves of every mom and pop music store in town. Thus, in a certain way of thinking, the DJ's are the best form of promotion and pre-release "hype" for an artist, especially a new artist that is virtually unknown to the public. Better yet, the record labels don't have to pay these DJ's a cent, merely present these DJ's with the new music to plug. Easy as that!

Now, in the mainstream pop world, this would obviously be seen as a blatant form of bootlegging and abuse of the system. DJ's making money of our copyrighted material? Hell no! However, with urban music still a minority sound on commercial radio and within the media, how else can mass exposure be provided for the music? In addition, this form of exposure is done at the street level, where it hits the listener in a familiar environment, in a form that they can easily swallow. How else is a record labels urban department going to get so much exposure for an artist, with a peanut sized budget and so little to work with. It seems that the MIX TAPE is an easy answer to this dilemma.

Early this month, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the tables turned (no pun intended). In one day, the entire mix tape community was dissected and ceased by the RCMP. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police for all you non-Canucks. In addition to all tapes being pulled from stores, all DJ's with personal reference phone #'s on their tape covers were contacted and hit with fines, some I'm sure more heavily than others. There was some sign of this coming when late last year Canada's biggest DJ crew, Baby Blue Soundcrew, were heavily warned by authorities and certain record label reps.

This has raised a big ruckus among Toronto DJ's, especially those who had a significant investment in this business. It has also set DJ's and local artists face-to-face on the subject of whether mix tapes benefit or detract from the artists' success, especially in financial terms. One local radio show had a discussion on this topic, where a local artist criticized some local DJ's for lowering the sales of his debut solo LP by putting numerous tracks off the album on local mix tapes. In the case of local artists, especially independent ones, loss of a few hundred sales can be harmful, and taken as a significant loss. However, for an independent artist, who may not be known outside of the "underground", this extra exposure can provide a significant boost to their status and to sales.

As for the major labels, this is ultimately where the whistle was blown on the whole mix tape industry in Toronto. Now that hip-hop, R&B, reggae and other forms of urban music have become such a mainstay in the music industry, an emphasis on big scale promotion has significantly increased. This including, advertising in magazines, radio, television, the internet and more. Thus, as we see the urban market growing, practices in urban music have become much more proper and to-the-book. This is where "street" practices such as mix tapes will fall, as to not lessen the reputation of a now mainstream form of music. There are rumours that the dogs were let loose by Universal records, which would make sense since they are a major player in the urban music industry being home to the biggest urban label out Island/Def Jam. As well having just been taken over and amalgamated by Seagram, I'm sure the legal practices at Universal have been elevated to the level of a major corporation.

What comes out of this for the DJ? In my mind, DJ's who chose to continue to do mix tapes will have to work that much harder at it. Many of the big Toronto DJ's has a leg up simply cause of where they were from, the connections they had to radio, the stores that sold their tapes, and to the artists themselves. However, now that there is a level playing field across the country DJ's will have to find alternate means of promoting and selling their tapes. As well, there's the option of doing mix tapes legally by getting permission to use tracks from the labels and the artists themselves. This has been done by a couple DJ's I know personally which they have built a full fledged business out of.

I'm not sure what will happen in other cities across Canada in terms of this business, but Toronto was definitely the heart of the mix tape industry in Canada. What will happen in the U.S.? Is this something to take effect on a global level? Last time I was in NYC, half a stores basement wall was dedicated to mix tapes, by hundreds of different DJ's. Will this practice be put to rest all across the United States? Stay tuned...