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The Muxtape Buzz — How Long Will It Last?

Fri, Mar 28, 2008

Category: Celeb 2.0, Digital Media, Launches

Muxtape Home Page

Recently launched Muxtape, has been all the buzz on Twitter the past couple of days. Considering the site just announced its launch March 25, the amount of muxtapes being created was phenomenal. In fact yesterday, I saw a few tweets stating that the service wasn’t allowing any new signups.

Well, I got in there today, and though I haven’t started my muxtape yet, my playlist is set and ready for upload. I just gotta figure out which one of my most played genres I feel like sharing with folks.

What is Muxtape exactly?

It’s a simple, elegantly designed service for sharing music. Upload files and make a playlist, then share with friends. The Ajax interface is one of the best I’ve seen. It’s not Ajax for the sake of Ajax. It’s Ajax because it works.

The site received so much attention in it’s first two days that the server was down for a little bit. How these folks got the server power behind this endeavor is beyond me. And how long the virtual mixtape service will last before the RIAA comes a knocking, is also unknown. There’s no way this can be legal. The Industry isn’t getting money for this. While a listener won’t be able to download tracks, the issue of payment for streaming will loom.

Mixaloo Home Page

That’s where Muxtape differs from Mixaloo. I first became acquainted with Mixaloo as a Facebook App. With Mixaloo, you’re not uploading your own music, you’re making your playlist form what’s already available. The collection is nothing to sneeze at though, the site acquired “three-and-a-half-million songs through deals with major record labels.” So Mixaloo isn’t just a cool concept, it’s got a business model built in. Mixaloo sells tracks, and individuals make money if someone purchases a track from discovering it through their playlist.

You can bank on more of these services cropping up soon, as the music industry grasps at straws for solutions to its impending debacle. In other words — FAIL!!! Of course Long Tail solutions that service the customer, instead of working against them — like Warner’s Jim Griffin’s proposed “music tax,” wherein a music-listening, downloading, sharing, fee will be bundled into consumer’s ISP charges. Can you imagine Comcast charging you a random $5 as a “music tax” bundled in your Internet bill? What if you don’t even listen to music on the Internet? RIDICULOUS. But that’s another story for another post.

What we were talking about here were cool little services that enable you to share your favorite music with your friends. And while Muxtape and Mixaloo aren’t the first in this arena, they certainly won’t be the last. My favorite used to be Webjay, until Yahoo! gobbled it up and rolled it into its Yahoo! Music Jukebox.

In the meantime, go make yourself a Muxtape, before it’s all over or some major player turns it into something a lot less fun. Just keep in mind, there are a few restrictions:

Users may not upload multiple songs from the same album or artist, or songs they do not have permission to let Muxtape use. Individual users may not create multiple muxtapes. Accounts not meeting these restrictions are subject to termination without notice.

That’s a low barrier to entry, isn’t it?

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This post was written by:

Lynne d Johnson - who has written 25 posts on Black Web 2.0.

Lynne d Johnson is the Director, Social Media for FastCompany.com, a leading website and community for people passionate about business ideas that also offers the complete content of Fast Company magazine. She also writes Digital Media Diva, a technology blog following web, media, and consumer trends for FastCompany.com, and has also recently contributed to TheDailyVoice, techPresident, Black Web 2.0, and Rushmore Drive. As a consultant Lynne works with technology and Web clients in the areas of content, community, and brand strategy. Lynne also serves on the Board of Directors of the Literary Freedom Project, a nonprofit arts organization, which seeks to empower communities of color through literature, creative thinking, and new media. Prior to joining Fast Company, she was the General Manager, New Media for VIBE, SPIN, and VIBE Vixen where she she managed marketing, editorial, production, business development, and sales operations for the magazines’ websites and mobile properties. Her personal blog, Lynne d Johnson || music, media, my life, which launched in July 2001, is the recipient of the 2006 Black Weblog Awards Black Blogger Achievement Award.

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  • blackweb20
    Hmmm, their restrictions may be a problem for me personally. I most definitely will need to upload more then one song form one artist and the one muxtape is very low especially when you start to think about how mixtapes were actually used when they were cassette tapes before they basically became what we know as playlists today.
  • How will they make money and now get shut down by the RIAA? It's cute idea but at the core of the business should be about sharing music.

    http://streetforce1.muxtape.com
  • Mixaloo! I've been waiting for a service like this. Bout time someone made it possible to sell your mixes onlines
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