Newly-launched MySpace Music may be the major music labels' last best shot at remaking the industry to fit 21st-century expectations of access to content, but the site's relationship with the independent music community is already murky. One key indie distributor, The Orchard Enterprises Inc. [ORCD] is participating in the joint venture, but others such as IODA are still absent, and the CEO of negotiating body Merlin expressed regret that MySpace Music launched without content from the labels it represents.
At heart, MySpace Music is a playlisting service, so it's somehow appropriate that Justin Ouellette, the founder of shuttered playlisting site Muxtape LLC, aired his frustrations with the majors in a tell-all statement on the day MySpace launched. Especially popular among independent music fans during its short life, Muxtape was simple: the site allowed users to upload a dozen songs and share them easily. If it seemed cavalier about legalities, well, wasn't everyone, especially the most successful online music innovators? And besides, as long as the artists weren't complaining, shouldn't people be allowed to share their songs?
Ouellette writes that his dealings with the majors and the RIAA were variously hostile and productive, but ultimately an RIAA complaint to the site's host, Amazon.com Inc., prompted him to pull the plug -- first temporarily, then permanently. In its place, Muxtape will soon launch a service for artists to upload their own music onto profile pages and embeddable playlists -- not too unlike what bands might have expected from MySpace in its formative years.
The new Muxtape is in private beta, Ouellette says, and could be launched within weeks. At least one report says Vimeo LLC co-founder Jakob Lodwick has taken a stake in Muxtape, but the identities of the company's investors remain unknown. And as for Muxtape's original idea, it thrives today in the form of Freestyle Labs' Favtape and the open-source OpenTape, as well as the YouTube-sourced MixTube. -- Paul Bonanos
See statement from Muxtape creator Justin Oullette
See Aug. 19 post about Muxtape from Tech Confidential
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