Love is a mixtape, so they say. But for Vans x Midi Festival 2012, your mixtape is more of a risk than a love letter. Working with China’s favorite semi-legal streaming service Xiami as well as Sina Weibo and Renren, Vans敢放 is a new breed of social mixtape, where users are making it for themselves, their friends, and that cute girl from 2nd period chemistry class.
A simple (and completely Chinese) interface that lets users login with either their Xiami, Sina Weibo or Renren accounts. Once you’re in, you pick songs according to 5 questions posed by Vans:
1) The song you could play over and over again for the rest of your life
2) Your secret guilty pleasure song
3) The song you practise a lot but wouldn’t dare sing in KTV
4) A song that you want to recommend to someone you know (they give you the option to @ anyone on Weibo), that they wouldn’t think of listening to given the choice
5) A fantastic song that someone hasn’t listened to yet (you can also @ the person)
All each user has to do is type the song title, and Xiami’s vast databases do the rest. While choosing the perfect track for each question, they can also see “celebrity” picks for that specific question.
Once your mixtape is complete, you have the option to publish it to the website, share it on Weibo and Renren, and invite friends to participate. There is a list of “hottest” mixtapes as voted up by fellow users and opportunities to win prizes simply by participating. All in all, a pretty cool initiative by Vans and Midi to add a level of audience participation to an otherwise static festival environment.
Links away (all Chinese):
Vans敢放 homepage
Most popular mixtapes
Prizes