Thursday (03/27/08)
Why Muxtape Can’t Fail Even Once It Gets Shut Down 12:06 am
Earlier I linked to Muxtape, the cool new “simple way to create and share mixtapes.” The idea is extremely simple: Create an account, upload some mp3s, then anybody can go to your page and hear your mixtape (or playlist, basically). Sure there’s ways to do the same thing on services like Yahoo! Music, Rhapsody, etc., but this is focused and simple.
Is it legal? Probably not, considering what’s happened with everything from Napster to the recent YouTube lawsuits. Will it last? Again, probably not considering the RIAA. Does it matter? If the creators of it are smart, no. Currently, I can’t find who they (I’m guessing there’s more than one of them…) are, but they’ve just created a brilliant marketing scheme (for lack of a better word).
Their launch post was written yesterday. Since then, it’s been all over Twitter, on 37signals, and yes, it got its own post on Wired.
At this point, it doesn’t matter whether or not it gets shut down. Because in 2 days, it’s managed made a name for itself, and if the creators can keep the buzz until they need to shut it down then they’re set. Actually going to court is probably not extremely likely–companies would likely be fine with it simply shutting down when asked since actually going to court would be far too much work/expensive for something like this, and Muxtape really has no need to fight it. The site itself isn’t even making any money.
But after a hit like this, they now have an opportunity to launch something that will last–they’ve essentially created a platform for themselves. “From the creators of Muxtape” will cause just about anything to fly (at least for a while) at this point, and VCs are going to be more than happy to listen to a pitch.
While it could definitely be cool if Muxtape stuck around, it really doesn’t have to in order for the geniuses behind it to last.
I eat food. I listen to music. I sleep. Sometimes. I drink lots of coffee. I make pretty pictures. I talk to people. I believe in things. I write stuff. I take photographs. I have a laughing addiction. I am human. 
http://jstn.cc/ is the creator of Muxtape.
Muxtape was also covered on Simplicity Rules, which is tantamount to enormous success.
I think it has a chance to stick around. The Flash player hides the MP3 files from the user. It’s still illegal, but it should be less of a bad thing in the eyes of record labels.
If it were my project, a “buy this song/album” link would be my next feature.
@Noah: Ah cool, thanks.
@Adam: I think it probably depends on how popular it ends up getting..Services like that get caught in somewhat of a pickle. On one hand, you’d love to see it grow. On the other hand, if it grows too much you’re just going to end up in trouble.
Awesome idea, hope it doesn’t get crushed by the record labels. At the moment it’s trivial to grab the audio files from their S3 storage though…a malicious person could write a script to trawl the site and grab all the tunes in minutes - will need a lot more obfuscation to prevent that kind of behaviour.
Some great tunes on there already though. One of the greatest things about this kind of sharing is it introduces people to music they would never know about and therefore would never have bought in the first place.
I don’t know. Would you really want to go into business with someone both launched an illegal product and launched said product with NO revenue stream? They have done an amazing job at generating press, but the mob is fickle, and soon the buzz will move on.
I don’t know if they will get shut down, but, at some point, they will probably get sued. The legal process is slow and bulky, so I imagine they will be able to enjoy at least 1 year of service without interruption. That is, assuming they last that long.
In any case, Muxtape has already pegged itself a loser. Much of the initial praise is due to it’s simplicity and focused approach; both of which will fly out the window if Muxtape ever expects to bring in any revenue. I doubt the service will be as nice when the interface is overrun with banner ads and purchase links. In any case, even if they do start running ads, the conversion rates will suck and advertisers will be unhappy. Music is consumed through the ears, and as such, users will be able to use Muxtape without paying much attention to the screen.
Muxtape is a simple and nice service (I could literally build it in under a days time), however, it is bound to hurt the owner/s because there is no underlying business model and the main service is illegal. I wonder what will happen in month 3, when the site has run up a bill of $30k to S3 and brought in $0 dollars. If Muxtape wants to survive, it will eventually have to morph into last.fm. Unfortunately for Muxtape, last.fm already exists.
“I could literally build it in under a days time.”
Bullshit.