Muxtape Farwell

Muxtape founder, Justin Ouellette, has posted a blog entry on the main page of the Muxtape website. Muxtape as we know it is no more. It was shut down by Amazon (who hosted the site) after receiving threatening letters from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). Muxtape had a simple premise – allow users to assemble playlists of their favorite songs from song files located around the internet and share them with friends. Perhaps one of the most simple forms of music discovery.

Here are some highlights from the blog entry that highlights the demise of the site even while Justin was negotiating licensing terms with the major labels:

“I love music. I believe that for people who love music, the desire to share it is innate and crucial for music itself. When we find a song we love, we beckon our friends over to the turntable, we loan them the CD, we turn up the car stereo, we put it on a mixtape. We do this because music makes us feel and we want someone else to feel it, too.”

“In the end, Muxtape’s legality was moot. I didn’t have any money to defend against a lawsuit, just or not, so the major labels had an ax over my head either way. I always told myself I’d remove any artist or label that contacted me and objected, no questions asked. Not a single one ever did. On the contrary, every artist I heard from was a fan of the site and excited about its possibilities. I got calls from the marketing departments of big labels whose corporate parents were supposed to be outraged, wanting to know how they get could their latest acts on the home page. Smaller labels wanted to feature their content in other creative ways. It seemed obvious Muxtape had value for listeners and artists alike.”

“And so I made one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever faced: I walked away from the licensing deals. They had become too complex for a site founded on simplicity, too restrictive and hostile to continue to innovate the way I wanted to. They’d already taken so much attention away from development that I started to question my own motivations. I didn’t get into this to build a big company as fast as I could no matter what the cost, I got into this to make something simple and beautiful for people who love music, and I plan to continue doing that. As promised, the site is coming back, but not as you’ve known. I’m taking a feature that was in development in the early stages and making it the new central focus.”

So good job RIAA. You eliminated one of the most successful ways for people to learn about new bands and share music with their friends. Perhaps its not good for you because you get paid when albums sell. But maybe it is good for the artists who develop a stronger fan base that will pay to see them play in their local town.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com