Muxtape, a startup that quickly became a favorite of the Tumblr-set, has taken a nose dive, thanks to the machinations at RIAA. There are lot of folks bemoaning the loss of the service. To them, I have one word: 8Tracks.
I talked to the New York-based startup’s founder, David Porter, formerly of Live365, a few weeks ago and he walked me through the service. I have been using it sporadically and, well, it works better than Muxtape. (Thrillist thinks so, too — take their word over a Web geezer like us.) Essentially, 8tracks allows you to upload your own tracks and create a mix. Of course, you can create mixes from a library of tracks uploaded by others. Drag, drop, play!
How long before RIAA calls on these guys? They have applied for a small webcaster license, but that won’t be enough if the company gets popular. Peter Kafka says they they will “end up having to pay the same rates as the big guys, which basically translates to about 2 cents per listener, per hour this year, and will jump to 3 cents next year.” Porter remains undeterred!
Another great music service I came across recently is soundcloud.com. Although it was more geared for professionals, there was some fantastic music there.
It’s so dangerous to be an innovator in the music industry these days. Everybody is getting buried by the damned greedy RIAA. Getting a little tiring seeing all this internet creativity being quashed because a dying industry wants to leech as much money out of the internet as possible.
I’ve always liked Mixwit better than Muxtape. It’s got a bit more depth, as well as some amazing artwork.
RIAA will take this 8Tracks down as well. Muxtape atleast was protecting the artists by encrypting the songs and providing an Amazon link for the song. I heard so many songs which I would never heard through the local radios here. It is sad the big greedy guys are taking the favorite properties in the web such as Muxtape, Scrabulous and so on. RIAA would rather see us pay $20 for the CD.
Please spread the word about SaveMuxtape.com – Together we can help bring the website back.