Majors Still Fighting the Music Pirates Arggggh
Muxtape was a short-lived website that enabled users to share mix-tapes of 12 songs or less in a streamable fashion. The site was simple, easy to use and blew up almost overnight with success. As one might predict, the site’s creator was forced to shut down for copyright infringement. The truly odd part of the story is that users couldn’t download the music; this site was simply a way to turn people onto tracks they didn’t own. So in short it was great for everyone. Music was getting exposure and albums were being purchased as a result.
Oddly enough, several major record labels understood the talents of the site’s creator and wanted to usurp his knowledge. While it is still posted on the site, its worth checking out in his own words the story of what happened and where muxtape is going. It’s truly pathetic that the major labels stand by their posture of holding onto an antiquated way of doing business and fail to embrace the work of enthusiastic music lovers who offer free publicity.