The Death of Muxtape: Does the RIAA Have the Same Interests as the Major Labels?
Fascinating account from the founder of Muxtupe of his failed attempt to legitimize the playlist service. Apart from the priceless insight into the different approaches of UMG (forward looking, innovative) and EMI (threatening and forceful) the most interesting aspect is seeing how the RIAA acted independently of the majors (i.e. its paymasters) and even counter to their actions. Whilst involved negotiations were advancing between Muxtape and EMI and UMG, the RIAA ordered that Muxtape be taken down for infringement and were oblivious to the license negotiations. In the end the site went down and now will not resurface other than as a tool for artists. So one of the “post-social music” sites that was creating so much buzz (along with Blip.FM and Hype Machine) disappeared and was denied a major-supported legal future due to the trigger happy RIAA. Of course this is just one side of the story, so I’ll keep my eye out for the labels’ side of things. Heck I’ll even keep an eye out for the RIAA’s side of the story.