Popular playlist sharing site Muxtape is down and says that it's because of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It might have been inevitable but the news will run chills down the spines of countless music sharers. It's a tragedy, really, and one we hope to see reversed quickly.
Cynics will say they got what they deserved, others will ask why they didn't monetize as quickly as possible and pay internet radio licensing fees. The company says only that "Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA."
Earlier today we wrote about the what the ideal music streaming service might look like. Muxtape may not be the strongest contender but it is widely loved for its simplicity.
We've written about Muxtape a number of times. By allowing users to upload MP3 files and build simple playlists that anyone could listen to through the austere, oversized interface, the site provided a model user experience through simplicity.
We hope that Muxtape will return, we hope that Pandora will survive, but most of all we hope that the music business can find a way to move forward with its fans so that everyone's interests can be served in this crazy new era of post-scarcity digital distribution.
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I've always wondered when this would happen. Sad though.
Posted by: Deepak
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August 18, 2008 6:43 PM
While the news that Muxtape is being taken down by the RIAA is disappointing, it is not shocking. The fact that the RIAA has so much power and yet hasn't really figured out what to do with online music sharing puzzles me. Instead of worrying about how much money they are losing by people sharing music, they long ago should have been building a model that will work for everyone in this brave new(?) frontier.
Posted by: dougcoleman | August 18, 2008 7:07 PM
The RIAA needs to understand that instead of being a bully and screwing over the very fans that help musicians make a living, they should be helping sites like Muxtape flourish because they encourage music discovery. The radio model is broken. Music discovery is dead on the radio. To discover, you need to be able to share, to explore music with friends, etc. I've bought more music because I've heard friends music online or in other places than I have through any RIAA-approved method.
Stupid and counterproductive.
Posted by: adam christensen
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August 18, 2008 7:37 PM
endless loop...until the next site...
Posted by: gman | August 18, 2008 7:45 PM
Here's my theory on the RIAA's master-plan regarding killing Pandora and Muxtape etc:
1) Kill every music discovery engine that isn't owned by a major record label / media corp, who are the only people who can keep them afloat due to the new hefty internet radio fees (hint: Last.fm + CBS = alive & well ).
2) Wait until all major labels have a stable music discovery service in place and independent services are too scared to start up, so that there's only about 4 places to get music.
3) Start charging subscription fees directly to the consumer to use music discovery services OR make advertising to be more like commercial radio (IE: really obnoxious and intrusive).
Basically, they won't give up until the power is back in the hands of the majors.
Posted by: Ron | August 18, 2008 8:22 PM
I am as big a music fan as anyone, and there is no way that I'd even think about doing a music-related startup right now. Why spend any effort trying to build a business that is 100% dependent on an industry that seems to be actively trying to destroy itself? Until there are major changes at the RIAA labels, major innovation in the ways we discover and listen to music will be few and far between.
Posted by: Mark | August 18, 2008 8:39 PM
bloggers and start-ups, rev your engines!
Posted by: Pete Delucchi
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August 18, 2008 8:55 PM
Cut off one head and 8 will take it's place. Good luck RIAA!
Posted by: Tad Donaghe
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August 18, 2008 8:57 PM
That's a bummer. Why don't people host these services in, I don't know, Belarus or Madagascar, so that they're less vulnerable?
Posted by: Darren | August 18, 2008 9:04 PM
Heh, Piracy seems to employ a lot of people over there at the RIAA. Here i was lead to believe it only ruined hurt industries. I would actually be interested in seeing how many jobs are created as a result of piracy. Everyone from the RIAA to the programmers attempting to thwart it to the guys out doing market research about it.
Posted by: Geoff Schultz
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August 18, 2008 9:06 PM
Marshall: have you tried out 8tracks? My first thought when using it was, "this is like a legal version of Muxtape." It's certainly not a 1:1 comparison, but it works.
I recently wrote about it at SitePoint, actually. I think it'd be right up your alley.
Posted by: Josh Catone | August 18, 2008 9:33 PM
don't you just wish you could colletively shake the record industy. They miss the point of music discovery and think its about people not paying for music and not about marketing. You have to wonder if these servies will be able to survive once drm free subscription based music are on upon us.
Posted by: Darren | August 18, 2008 10:33 PM
pisses me off a little, since our label put up muxtapes for promo purposes...but seriously--we knew it was coming. RIAA has to do what it was chartered to do, kinda like a corporation has to ultimately do what it does--increase shareholder value...the foundation is what's flawed, not the execution.:)
Posted by: jon | August 18, 2008 10:52 PM
Josh, thx for blogging about us the other week and the props here. Much appreciated.
I feel a bit badly being a vulture here (esp as I love the simplicity of Muxtape), but if you get a chance you might check out our crew's new venture, called 8tracks.
We've tried to "bridge the gap" in a sense, to offer a useful way for people to create and share online mixes (playlists) while still falling under the compulsory license for webcasting (so artists get paid, and so we don't get sued).
Posted by: David Porter | August 19, 2008 1:38 AM
Firstly, I'm going to say that I really like Muxtape & Mixwit - there is a simplicity to them which I like - they do one thing well, rather than trying to do everything.
I really hope that there's a positive outcome - music discovery services can obviously be used to drive on-line sales by linking out to Amazon, iTunes, emusic, etc, so I really do think it is a case of working out terms, and they really do need to do what's required to encourage innovation in the area.
BUT . . . I don't think this is about piracy this time. I'm guessing it's about unlicensed broadcasting - at the end of the day, there are businesses, like radio stations, that are competing for our attention, and that are paying their royalty payments. If I run a business that is paying the RIAA or MCPS I'm going to seriously question why other people don't have to.
There are legitimate arguments over the scale of those payments (i.e. most songs on Muxtape will have less listeners than even a small college radio station would deliver) and something really needs to be done around internationalisation (a framework exists for exchanging radio play royalties because radio stations already play recordings from other territories).
What I don't think you can say is that 'wahey, it's a Web 2.0 world so all the content I want for my business should be free because software is free'. When people choose free software they look at the licence - they use Apache on Linux rather than a pirated copy of IIS on Windows. Yet somehow this respect for licence terms and copyright goes out of the window when it comes to the content that drives their business.
We all know that connecting users with commercially produced content is far bigger business than connecting user with user produced content, yet everyone wants to pretend that the cost of producing this content is going to be monetized elsewhere - that we are not creating the new channels by which production will be funded.
Posted by: JulesLt | August 19, 2008 1:56 AM
Well, we cannot say that they didn't had it coming, if you allow upload/host of copyrighted material, you are playing with luck.
I am not defending RIAA, I am just saying this wouldn't have happened if muxtape was a service for playlists of creative commons (and other share-friendly licenses) material.
It is sad in a way that I cannot use classic pop songs on a playlist, but I believe we should think forward. If enough people support and create a bigger demand for open creative works, the artists will naturally go in that direction and RIAA, SoudExchange and others will loose power.
I for one do not mind in not having Metallica on my setlists.
Posted by: Fabricio Zuardi | August 19, 2008 5:46 AM
Sorry for Muxtape and Pandora and LOL for RIAA...they are not so smart ;)
The world and history is running fast and they do not understand this very simply fact. RIAA immagination is too poor.
Do you want an example? Tomorrow I, you or someonelse could create a russian version of Muxtape. Immagine RIAA:"Dear Mr. Putin please please shutdown that server" and Mr. Putin:"Ok amerikan guys choose! What do you prefer Helvis Presley or... Georgia?" :)
my two cents
Posted by: Roldano De Persio
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August 19, 2008 7:57 AM
Muxtape was pretty far across the line in terms of allowing people to easily choose what they listen to...shouldn't be a surprise when you're offering something so close to having actual possession of the songs.
Posted by: Q dub
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August 19, 2008 8:54 AM
Unfortunately the upswing of popularity with Muxtape also contributed to this RIAA notice. I tried to spread the word of Muxtape via my blog (google "muxtape facebook" and I'm up there).
What I really would have liked to see is incorporating things like Twitter to create "interactive muxtapes" in which people would send in requests to the owner. I started adding my Twitter info to the title this week only to see it shut down before I could enjoy the experiment.
Hopefully it comes back in some sort of Creative Commons version in which you'll see "My Unsigned Band Mix" rather than "Portishead's New Album Mix". It'll also be interesting to see if people take more of the Seeqpod streaming content search approach in which you could create a playlist, but not actually host any of the data.
Posted by: 7P | August 19, 2008 9:26 AM
another one bites the dust :( bad news indeed
Posted by: Dave Q
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August 19, 2008 11:02 AM