Mixtape Society Unites and Excites

Music lovers add variety to their libraries in new clubJohn FlynnTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 31, 2013“When was the last time someone made you a CD?” asks Matt Lester, founder of the SCU Mixtape Society. Lester has started a new club on campus dedicated to sharing music the old fashioned way — personalized mixes exchanged on CDs.The society meets every Sunday night for 15 to 20 minutes to swap customized mixtapes with one another. Members bring a CD, place it in a bag and then take turns choosing CDs at random from the bag. Then they find who made the CD they chose, and discuss the choices on the playlist with them.Members compile mixes of their favorite songs, and instead of rolling eyes when another member does not know a band, they explain the  tunes. The meetings are relaxed and characterized by curiosity and enthusiasm for new music. Lester started the society in order to combine his joy of sharing music with the personal touch that only a hand-prepared mixtape can provide. Although the Mixtape Society could have used Dropbox or some other file sharing website to complete this task, Lester felt that without the human face-to-face interaction between members, sharing music was not quite as special.“You get the personal touch, too (as opposed to Dropbox),” said Ryan Rishi, a member of the society. “You get to know the other person.” For members, it is appealing to have a conversation and connect with other people over music, especially in the impersonal file sharing age. Music interest can reveal a lot about a person’s character, and a whole playlist can give a brief, but detailed, glimpse into their life and personality. When a person shares the music they love, the receiver listens to it with them in mind, and can enjoy it  on a deeper level, knowing what it means to somebody else.The mixtape has begun to die off in recent years, its decomposing matter fertilizing the growth of iTunes, Spotify and Pandora. But it still reigns supreme when  providing the personal touch to a collection of music. Sacrificing the classic  signature of mixtapes for convenience is something that has become prevalent in our digital culture. The SCU Mixtape Society feels that spending 15 minutes a week is more than worth the commitment to share their love of music — love that is shared one CD at a time. Contact John Flynn at jfflynn@scu.edu.