Please enjoy the digital version of our 2021 mixtape, featuring amazing young artists from around the country, and awesome new gear from our very generous sponsors this year.

Instead of a traditional holiday gift guide, we thought, “What if we showed off the gear we were digging this year in the best way possible, by making some new music with all of it?”

So, we enlisted the help of a killer crew of musicians, paired them with MI and instrument manufacturers who graciously donated the gear, and had them each record an exclusive track using one of the featured products.

Why just list a bunch of recommended products when you can actually hear them in action?

A limited edition, physical cassette release will also be available, and we must take a moment to thank our title sponsors AKG and JBL for making this project possible.

• AKG is internationally known as one of the biggest players in the world of sound. The company was founded in 1947 and within months, the first AKG microphones were being used in radio stations, theatres and Jazz-Clubs. After more than 70 years of innovation, AKG will continue to be world famous for its high-quality microphones and headphones within the professional audio-world

• At JBL, audio technology is at the core of everything they do. For 70 years they have employed the best methodology and tools. Never straying from this exacting formula, their journey has produced a prolific list of audio achievements, groundbreaking technologies, revolutionary advances in the art and science of professional audio, many patents, and many awards.

Along with our premier partners AKG and JBL, each of the sponsors below donated an instrument or piece of gear to be used by an artist on the compilation (products are listed in parenthesis next to the corresponding song they’re featured on).

• Cloud Microphones -- www.cloudmicrophones.com
• Focusrite -- focusrite.com/en
• Novation -- novationmusic.com/en
• Sennheiser -- en-us.sennheiser.com
• Arturia -- www.arturia.com
• Ultimate Ears Pro -- custom.ultimateears.com/pages/ue-pro-iems
• KORG -- www.korg.com/us/
• KRK -- www.krkmusic.com
• Vox Guitars -- voxamps.com/type/guitars/

Again, each artist was given a new piece of gear to help record an exclusive track for the tape, so we owe a HUGE thank-you to each of our sponsors for generously donating products to make this tape happen!

Physical cassettes will be distributed by Performer, the mixtape's sponsors listed above and through the artists' social channels -- so stay tuned to snag a copy.

Learn more at performermag.com/music-news/stream-performers-class-of-21-mixtape-now/

**Photo credit: "Mixtape challenge photoshoot" by the.barb is licensed under CC BY 2.0