The Muxtape Controversy

"A physical cassette tape in your hands has such an insistent aesthetic; just holding one makes you want to find a tape player to fulfill its destiny."

- Justin Ouellette, founder of Muxtape.com


If you don't about Muxtape, you should. Here is a short-ass summery courtesy of Wikipedia:

Muxtape is a website that allowed users to upload playlists of MP3s, based on the idea of a mixtape. It was created by Justin Ouellette in March 2008. Initial funding of $95,000 for the site was provided by Jakob Lodwick, Justin's ex-Boss from Vimeo.com, and funding was agreed to via a contract written on a napkin.

Ouellette came up with the idea after being a disc jockey at his university's radio station. The site became unexpectedly popular within two days of its launch. In April, Ouellette estimated the number of users as "ostensibly ... more than the population of Germany, less than the population of Japan", however this fact is not supported by any third party traffic estimates, which show muxtape userbase at being less than 100,000. The site was supported by links to Amazon.com. It had a very simple design and could not be searched within the site. Ouellette explains that the important part of a mixtape, which he tried to preserve on his site, is about discovering new music instead of someone finding music they are already familiar with.

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On August 18th, 2008, Muxtape services ceased to be available, and the main page displayed the following message: "Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.

I wasn't registered with the site, but I did find a lot of good music. I found the site through my favorite independent label, QN5 Music. They had their own muxtape to introduce themselves to those with open ears.

Anywho Justin and his friends are revamping the site, albeit it's going to be strictly bands. Damn you music industry- you're digging you're own grave.