The mix-CD is an indivisible part of dance music’s DNA. For many of us, a compilation borrowed from an older sibling or bought after school was how the love affair began. But does the mix-CD still matter? Is there a future for it? In the first of our ‘2010 In Review’ features, we called on those in the know to weigh in on a year of contrasts.

When inthemix asked its contributors to vote on the greatest compilation of all time, the results were revealing. The flood of responses said at least one thing unanimously: there can be magic in a mix-CD. While the boom years of the ‘90s featured strongly in the final 30, they didn’t make up the whole picture. More recent releases from A-Trak, Joris Voorn and James Zabiela ranked highly alongside epochal volumes like Sasha and John Digweed’s Northern Exposure and Coldcut’s Journeys By DJ. The number one spot was reserved for Sasha’s 2004 labour of love Involver, which – like Richie Hawtin and his game-changing DE9 experiments – took a producer’s approach to the mix-CD.

While DJs continue to push the boundaries of the mixed album, one of the once-unassailable champions of the format was rocked in 2010. Renaissance – the fabled UK institution credited with starting it all by handing Sasha and John Digweed the reins on Renaissance: The Mix Collection in 1994 – went into administration in September. The news brought with it familiar debates about the brand’s slipping relevance and its late shift from progressive house giants to selectors like Gui Boratto, M.A.N.D.Y. and La Roux, but also whether mix-CDs on the whole have lost their lustre. While you’ll find many commentators eager to sound the death knell, of course Renaissance’s shifting fortunes are only one part of the story.

On quality alone, 2010 was a standout year for mixes. One of the consistent success stories is Balance, a series with a catalogue of revered volumes. While its reach is international, Balance’s birthplace was Melbourne in 2001. This year, Agoria and Timo Maas delivered chapters 016 and 017. Despite the glut of DJ mixes available at a click, Balance manages to hold its own. In the same month that Renaissance announced its insolvency, Stomp EQ – the distributor behind Balance – also went under with irreconcilable debts. Former General Manager of Stomp Tom Pandzic, who departed the company in April, resurfaced with a new company Balance Music to save the flagship series. His venture also serves as an Australian home for similarly enduring bastions like Global Underground and Fabric.

So why are these mixes worth believing in? “I still believe that there are fans who will continue to support these brands due to the trust that has been built up over the years with their releases,” Pandzic tells inthemix. “If these labels continue to evolve and produce quality compilations, then there will always be a market.”