Fill/Stroke.com
Muxtape is back, with a new focus
Muxtape, the ridiculously simple playlist hosting service, mysteriously disappeared a couple of weeks ago, citing “a problem with the RIAA”.
The site came back online last Thursday with a message describing the events, and stating that the site’s format is changing to “a platform for independent artists to distribute their music.”
[On] August 15th, I received notice from Amazon Web Services (the platform that hosts Muxtape’s servers and files) that they had received a complaint from the RIAA. Per Amazon’s terms, I had one business day to remove an incredibly long list of songs or face having my servers shut down and data deleted. This came as a big surprise to me, as I’d been thinking that I hadn’t heard from the RIAA in a long time because I had an understanding with the labels. I had a panicked exchange of emails with Amazon, trying to explain that I was in the middle of a licensing deal, that I suspected it was a clerical error, and that I was doing everything I could to get someone to vouch for me on a summer Friday afternoon. My one business day extended over the weekend, and on Monday when I wasn’t able to produce the documentation Amazon wanted (or even get someone from the RIAA on the phone), the servers were shut down and I was locked out of the account. I moved the domain name to a new server with a short message and the very real expectation that I could get it sorted out. I still thought it was all just a big mistake. I was wrong.
Head on over to Muxtape for the full story.
(Justin Ouellette, famed Muxtape creator, is someone we interviewed in Issue 1, and have previously featured. He’s a good guy, and I have every confidence Muxtape 2.0 will be as compelling as the original.)
Posted by tanner in experimentation, innovation, interwebs, issue 1, music on 29 September 2008.
Leave a comment
