The Story of Muxtape: What really went down : Earz Magazine

The Story of Muxtape: What really went down

October 3, 2008 · Words: Martin S ·

Justin Ouellette– the owner of Muxtape– has finally broken the silence on what really went on since the RIAA decided they couldn’t live in the same world as his music sharing service.

Ouellette has described how he almost signed a licensing deal with the majors to keep Muxtape alive, how it would have meant comprimising the core values of the service, and how, despite this, the RIAA eventually forced his web host (Amazon) to ditch Muxtape from their servers.

More importantly, he describes what the future holds for the site. Right now Justin is busy converting Muxtape into what sounds like a promising artist-based platform for hosting and marketing music, which sounds a bit like Myspace with out the advertising and crap.

Excerpt from “The Story of Muxtape“:

Around the same time I got a call from the VP of anti-piracy at one of the majors. After I picked up the phone his first words were, “Justin, I just have one question for you: where do I send the summons and complaint?” The conversation picked up from there. There was no summons, it was an intimidation tactic setting the tone for the business development meeting he was proposing, the true reason for the call. Around the same time another one of the big four’s business developers reached out to me, too.

I spent the next month listening. I talked to a lot of very smart lawyers and other people whose opinions on the matter I respected, trying to gain a consensus for Muxtape’s legality. The only consensus seemed to be that there was no consensus. I had two dozen slightly different opinions that ran the gamut from “Muxtape is 100% legal and you’re on solid ground,” to “Muxtape is a cesspool of piracy and I hope you’re ready for a hundred million dollar lawsuit and a stint at Riker’s.”

In the end, Muxtape’s legality was moot. I didn’t have any money to defend against a lawsuit, just or not, so the major labels had an ax over my head either way. I always told myself I’d remove any artist or label that contacted me and objected, no questions asked. Not a single one ever did. On the contrary, every artist I heard from was a fan of the site and excited about its possibilities. I got calls from the marketing departments of big labels whose corporate parents were supposed to be outraged, wanting to know how they get could their latest acts on the home page. Smaller labels wanted to feature their content in other creative ways. It seemed obvious Muxtape had value for listeners and artists alike.

Read the full “Story of Muxtape”

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