Yes, hitting the beach in the summertime is great, there is no denying that. But sometimes, on the weekends, when everyone else is heading West , it's all about driving East and watching the temperature rapidly rise as you venture to a turf-covered parking lot in downtown LA for Little Radio's Summer Camp. Here's a recap...
Muxtape.com, which I posted about a few months ago, was an excellent site that allowed users to create and share their own playlists, or "mixtapes". You couldn't download the music, but you could stream it. The RIAA didn't like this, and eventually they were shut down. The sites founder, Justin Ouelette, details the series of events that transpired between him, the RIAA and the major record labels.
And so I made one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever faced: I walked away from the licensing deals. They had become too complex for a site founded on simplicity, too restrictive and hostile to continue to innovate the way I wanted to. They’d already taken so much attention away from development that I started to question my own motivations. I didn’t get into this to build a big company as fast as I could no matter what the cost, I got into this to make something simple and beautiful for people who love music, and I plan to continue doing that. As promised, the site is coming back, but not as you’ve known. I’m taking a feature that was in development in the early stages and making it the new central focus.
I realize this is a somewhat radical shift in functionality, but Muxtape’s core goals haven’t changed. I still want to challenge the way we experience music online, and I still want to work to enable what I think is the most interesting aspect of interconnected music: discovering new stuff.
In a world where people quickly jump on opportunities to make it big, quickly, I applaud him for his integrity and ability not to lose sight of his initial vision.
Looking forward to the new muxtape...
Latest Comments