3rd
Muxtape is probably done.
One of many articles regarding the shutdown.
It’s too bad, I really enjoyed it both for finding new music and sharing mixes (not the mp3 tracks themselves) with others to discover new mixes. This is the age old problem between record labels, artists, and the consumers that support both groups.
Muxtape’s website has said for about a month now that it is “temporarily down” and their blog says that “no artists have complained”, however - the RIAA is specifically a “trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry” which basically means it can act independently of what any artists or labels think as long as it is upholding copyright infringements (which muxtape is in clear violation of).
My main problem that I have had with organizations like the RIAA is that they don’t get the big picture. Content like music and videos are approaching slimmer margins each day because there isn’t a need for the middlemen anymore (or the middleman refuses to addapt). Muxtape has nothing to do with the fact that labels are making less money. Moving music from production to sale is much easier for independent musicians using services like iTunes or Beatport.
Services like Muxtape are mostly used by music enthusiests, not people trying to steal tunes - these people own mp3 players, probably buy frequently on iTunes, have record players, etc. I know this because about 80% of the mixes when using the random function were pretty damn good, not stuff made by wankers.
A better solution to shutting down muxtape would have been to get accurate analytics of what is popular in what areas of the country/world along with cutting in on percentage of sales revenue generated by Amazon affiliate or their music provider of choice. Something tells me that a lot of music on muxtape is Indie - if they had analytics on the listening paterns, major labels could get an inside look at which bands they should be picking up and which ones to ignore AND in which part of the country to do this.
Traditional music (stealing) services like Torrent, eMule, etc give record labels no insight and actually provide the end user with a DRM-free MP3.
