Muxtape Shut Down by RIAA Issues
Muxtape, our favourite office music mixtape source here at NP (and Wired’s too apparently), has been shut down by the RIAA.
The popular mix sharing site Muxtape has been taken offline so that administrators can “sort out a problem with the RIAA,” according to a note that appears on the site.
As of yesterday, none of the mixes were available to be streamed and no new mixes/muxes could be created.
Muxtape fans can derive some hope from the fact that Muxtape’s note predicts the outage will be only “for a brief period,” but for now, mixes created on the site are unavailable and new mixes cannot be made.
Despite the digital mixtape sharing site’s early proclamations of industry and label support, apparently, they’re no longer being given the “free pass” around legal and copyright issues surrounding the songs uploaded to the site by users.
However, the labels represented by the RIAA no longer appear willing to give the site a free pass. When users upload songs to Muxtape, they’re technically infringing on the copyright holder’s exclusive right to make a copy of the song. And when Muxtape streams the songs to other users, it’s liable for streaming royalties.
Let’s hope Mux and the RIAA come to a mutual understanding, as it would be a real shame (as we watch the collapse of Pandora), to lose another great music discovery service to the minefield of copyright legislation.
Tags: Culture | Music | copyright | Media | United States | legal | Site | Digital | Share | RIAA | royalties | streaming | songs | offline | mixes | culturite | mixtape | muxtape
