Slate: Dump MySpace Music, Bring Back Muxtape

from the i-second-that... dept

As we had suspected, the early reviews of MySpace Music make it sound like a dud. It sounds, not surprisingly, like the focus was on appeasing the big record labels, rather than actually making a service that's fun and easy to use. Farhad Manjoo, over at Slate, makes the argument clear, contrasting MySpace Music to Muxtape, the small indie site that the RIAA shut down when it couldn't own a big chunk of it. As Manjoo notes, Muxtape was fun, it worked well, and people liked it. MySpace Music, on the other hand, is just not that compelling. He notes that it doesn't offer anything other sites haven't offered for a while, and on top of it, makes the whole interface cluttered and confusing, while limiting what you can actually do. Once again, we see the RIAA shut down a useful service and put up a dreadful competitor.

Filed Under: music, online services
Companies: muxtape, myspace, myspace music

The RIAA's Playbook: No New Business Models Without RIAA Ownership

from the it's-that-simple dept

Mathew Ingram covers the details of Muxtape's run-in with the RIAA. As you may recall, last month the rather useful site that let people create online "mix tapes" that could be streamed to others was shut down thanks to the RIAA. The site's founder has now admitted that he tried negotiating with the RIAA, but that it was nearly impossible. The RIAA's representatives started the "negotiation" by saying they were about to shut the site down, and then complained to Amazon (whose S3 service hosted the files) to get access to the files blocked. Now, that concerns me for a few reasons. I had created a Muxtape when it first launched, but it had no RIAA label music on it. So, why would Amazon block access to it?

However, the real point of the post is just to highlight how the RIAA views these things. As has been discussed, the RIAA wants to shut down these types of sites. By now, we've seen the pattern over and over again. The RIAA has always been unable to actually innovate with its own online offerings -- in large part because the record labels still think about how to control the music and how to limit what consumers can do with it. So, instead of learning what's innovative, the RIAA has simply decided on a two pronged strategy: (1) get every new and innovative site shut down and (2) offer them one way to return: if they hand over a big chunk of equity.

Very few people seem to be talking about this, but most of the "agreements" that the big labels have reached with various new and innovative sites have involved handing over equity. Basically, the record labels are using a protection racket system: give us some equity, or we'll shut you down. Of course, all this is really doing is slowing down much needed innovation in the music marketplace. Instead, we get bells and whistles like MySpace Music (owned, in part, by the major record labels), rather than something truly useful and innovative.

Filed Under: bullying, business models, music, negotiations, riaa, startup
Companies: muxtape, riaa

And Another Useful Online Music Service Shut Down By The RIAA

from the one-by-one dept

Ever since it launched, people have waited for the RIAA or its member record labels to go after Muxtape. The site allowed individuals to upload MP3s that they had and create a streaming "mixtape" of music. It was actually a pretty cool way to hear new music from individuals you trusted -- just like sharing mixtapes back in the 80s. You might think that, perhaps, the recording industry would recognize how successful mixtapes were back then in promoting certain bands, and wouldn't freak out about an online version. But, of course, this is the RIAA we're talking about. While the details aren't clear, Muxtape has shut itself down, claiming that it needs to get some stuff sorted out with the RIAA. There is always the possibility that it's doing this to get extra attention, but if we take the company at its word, then it seems likely that the usual pattern is happening. An RIAA label is demanding some ridiculous license fee, and threatening to sue if it doesn't get it. If it's a label like Warner Music, it's probably also demanding equity in the company. Either way, it will be interesting to see if Muxtape ever comes back, and what the details of its "resurrection" will actually be.

Filed Under: copyright, mix tapes, riaa, streaming music
Companies: muxtape, riaa