Mixcloud started in London in 2008 to solve a problem nobody else had bothered with. DJ mixes and radio shows contain dozens of copyrighted tracks, which made them legally impossible to host on ordinary music platforms, and they were scattered across file lockers that deleted them the moment a rights holder complained.
The answer was to licence properly. Mixcloud negotiated agreements with collecting societies so that every play generates a payment distributed to the rights holders of the tracks inside the mix. That is why the site has always behaved differently from its competitors: no download button, and originally no skipping either, both of which were licensing conditions rather than design preferences.
The result is the most complete archive of radio and mix culture anywhere, spanning decades of shows, sets and broadcasts that exist in no other public form. A great deal of it is several hours long, and almost all of it is listened to while doing something else.
Why people want Mixcloud offline
Length and context. A three-hour set is listened to on a long drive, in a workshop, at the gym or while cooking, and those are precisely the situations where a connection is unreliable and streaming is a poor arrangement.
Data is the other half. Streaming several hours of audio repeatedly over a mobile connection is genuinely expensive on a metered plan, and people return to a favourite mix many times rather than once.
And the archive is not guaranteed. Shows are removed when a station closes, an account lapses or a rights claim lands, and some of what is there has no other public existence at all.
Saving a mix or radio show
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1
Copy the Mixcloud address
Take the mixcloud.com address out of your browser, or use the share control under the player. The address includes the uploader's name and the title of the show.
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2
Commit the address above
Paste it into the field at the top of this page, which begins reading it straight away.
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3
Take the audio offered
Mixes are long, so even at a modest bitrate the file will be sizeable. The size is listed before you start.
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4
Load it onto your device
Tap the row when it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone, ready for any music player.
Why there is no download button
The absence of one is not an oversight. It is a condition of the licensing arrangements that make the site legal in the first place, and it is worth understanding before assuming the platform is being obstructive.
| Aspect | How Mixcloud handles it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Plays | Royalties paid to rights holders | Licensed through collecting societies |
| Downloads | Not offered | Outside the terms of those licences |
| Skipping | Restricted for years | Also a licensing condition |
| Track listings | Shown where provided | Identifies who gets paid |
| Mixcloud Select | Paid subscriptions to creators | Direct support for the uploader |
That arrangement is the reason the archive exists at all. A mix containing forty copyrighted tracks could not be hosted publicly anywhere else, and the people who made those tracks are paid each time it plays — which stops happening when you listen to a local file instead.
Mixcloud download questions
Why does Mixcloud have no download option?
Because its licences with collecting societies cover streaming and not distribution. The absence is a legal condition rather than a product decision.
Does downloading stop the artists being paid?
For those plays, yes. Royalties are generated by plays on the platform, so offline listening does not produce them. It is worth knowing rather than glossing over.
How can I support a show I listen to often?
Mixcloud Select lets you subscribe directly to a creator, and most DJs and stations have other routes as well. Playing a mix on the site also generates royalties for the tracks inside it.
How large are the files?
A three-hour set runs to a few hundred megabytes even at a moderate bitrate. The figure is shown before you begin.
Can I save a Mixcloud Select exclusive?
No. Those are behind a subscription that goes directly to the creator.
Will I get the track listing?
No. That is displayed on the page rather than stored inside the audio file.
Does it work with radio show archives?
Yes. Station archives behave like any other upload on the site.
Where does the Mixcloud file save?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
A show I had saved has disappeared from the site.
Shows are removed when accounts lapse, stations close or a rights claim is made. That is exactly why people keep copies.
Is it acceptable to download from Mixcloud?
Keeping a set for offline listening on a commute is a long way from redistributing it. But this is a platform that exists specifically to pay the musicians inside every mix, so if you listen to something constantly, playing it on the site or subscribing to the creator is the arrangement that actually sustains it.