Chilling Effects: Another Mixtape Provider Shut Down

[BigHaus]

A few months ago, the RIAA shut down Muxtape, a very popular and incredibly useful online service that let individuals create "mixtapes" for streaming to others. As anyone with even a hint of business sense would recognize, this was a great promotional tool for musicians. I, personally, ended up buying a bunch of music after hearing stuff from others on Muxtape. But the way some of the big record labels see things, no one should be allowed to innovate without paying the record labels directly for the right to do so.

http://www.bouncefm.com/index.php?op...usic&Itemid=51

[House]

http://deephousepage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183495

In that thread these "mixtape providers" are called "digital pirates"

[TAD]

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

1.
lame
by shmengie - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 10:15am

i learned a long time ago, never let someone else say, 'no' for you. why didn't they just operate normally until such time they received a take-down notice? wouldn't have hurt them (except for hosting fees).

whatever, i never heard of 'em before today anyways.

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2.
What goes around...
by Michael Langford - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 10:24am

They can run around shutting down whatever they want, but they are next. There is no way the current industry model can survive, and when they finally decide to join the present, no one will be there to support them. I will never EVER buy an album or movie that have ANY association with the RIAA, I don't care what they do from this point on. They had their chance, and they completely blew it. Now I would actually do the opposite of supporting their artists, I would willfully work against their success in ANY new ventures. The RIAA is like the charicature of evil big business. I hope they fail, all their artists fail, and the big media companies all fail. And when they are down, I hope a couple hundred class action lawsuits put them in the poorhouse, unable to feed their families. They deserve no less.

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3.
Nice thing about the internet...
by ChurchHatesTucker - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 10:29am

... is that someone will do a free, distributed version of this. (Heck, I could probably do it with some simple scripting.)

Good luck with the Hydra hunt, RIAA.

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4.
by Anonymous Coward - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 10:53am

i keep reading stories like that and keep wondering why ppl don't start setting up there companies outside the US.

look at TPB with all various companies keep trying to sue it and keep sending it take down notices but the laws in Sweden are protecting its going concern.

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5.
by Anonymous Coward - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 11:37am

I am not familiar with the particulars of this site (actually "former" seems more appropriate) and how it stacks up against the facts in Grokster. Anyone have such info?

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6.
Re:
by Mike - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 11:46am

I am not familiar with the particulars of this site (actually "former" seems more appropriate) and how it stacks up against the facts in Grokster. Anyone have such info?

The site uses various search engines to find music that is freely available online, and then lets you create a streaming playlist of them.

It does not create downloads or any permanent storage. It just acts as an interface to stream music that is available elsewhere.

It does not induce infringement, as it does not encourage any downloads or copies being made. It's just a search engine and a player.

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7.
Re: What goes around...
by Anonymous Coward - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 12:04pm

2 things...

(1) Don't lump all the artists together in your hatred of the RIAA. From their point of view (the artists) many have to tow the company line to keep their deal and feed their families and mortgages and big egos I might ad, others are just cowards, but many don't know what else to do. they have been told like many of us that the path to recording artist success is demo, get heard, sign to a label, developed, recorded, packagage sold. They don't know how to leverage new media and are afraid to do so. Just because they are recording artists doesn't mean they are nerds like many of us who sit behind the keyboard and wonder what the fuck is wrong with the rest of the world and why won't they join is in 2008/9.

2. i have heard this argument for the last decade about how the RIAA and the current business models are going to fall and die. But you know what. They haven't. A little battered from the battles, but their still chugging along. So yeah they might fail one day, heaven help us, but it won't be anytime soon. Not that we shouldn't wish for it so we can stop getting spoon fed the same radio hashed crap over and over again. Just don't hold your breath.

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8.
Re: Re:
by Anonymous Coward - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 1:47pm

Thank you. Just a couple of clarifying Qs.

1. Is this search engine along the lines of the Grokster engine, or any other search engine for that matter? In other words, it canvases the internet for possibly relevant information and presents the user only with links to the information. Grokster did this, but it fell on its sword because of facts associated with how it dealt with site users.

2. Can someone very briefly explain what is meant by "create(ing) a streaming playlist"? I know what streaming is. I presume creating a streaming playlist means one can download music, add whatever one thinks is cool (graphics, etc.), and then "host" the result somewhere...though I haven't a clue where that "somewhere" would be beyond the obvious blog page, personal website, etc.

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9.
Re: Re: Re:
by Mike - Dec 19th, 2008 @ 3:00pm

1. Is this search engine along the lines of the Grokster engine, or any other search engine for that matter? In other words, it canvases the internet for possibly relevant information and presents the user only with links to the information. Grokster did this, but it fell on its sword because of facts associated with how it dealt with site users.

It actually feeds off of other search engines. Basically, it sends the query out to existing search engines and shows you the results. So... if you wanted to listen to, say, "It's The End Of the World..." by REM, you would search on that, it would send the query to the various search engines it uses, and then display the results if the song was found.


2. Can someone very briefly explain what is meant by "create(ing) a streaming playlist"? I know what streaming is. I presume creating a streaming playlist means one can download music, add whatever one thinks is cool (graphics, etc.), and then "host" the result somewhere...though I haven't a clue where that "somewhere" would be beyond the obvious blog page, personal website, etc.

No. You cannot download the music. You simply say, yes, that you want to add that song to your playlist. Then you add other songs, arrange the order, and hit publish. Then you get a link to your "mix" which anyone can hit play on and hear the songs, streamed in the order which you put them.

So, no, there's no download. There's no hosting that needs to be done.

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10.
Apparently You Haven't Heard
by Mark Regan - Dec 20th, 2008 @ 3:23pm

It is amazing how ignorant you folks are, because obviously you haven't yet heard or learned the lesson: "He who has the gold makes the rules."

The companies involved in music, over time, have become the OWNERS of ALL past, present, and potential music, lyrics, and sound, either by purchasing same from other record companies, patenting technologies, exercising trademark and copyright protections with their battery of "intellectual property rights" specialists, and if a sound comes out of your mouth or your instrument, they are owed royalties.

Already they have put the jukebox industry out of business, forced mom and pop radio stations to sell out, turned television variety and music shows into a vast wasteland, are breaking the backs of the satellite music delivery companies, and control nearly every technical and performers union, and thereby the members who perform or produce nearly all music in the world.

My church's organist recently married and moved out of town. The church already has subscribed to and purchased music rights to play every song in the officially proscribed hymnal. However, when they used modern scanning techniques to digitally scan the notes from the songbook and convert them to MIDI and to be played as a virtual organ through the church's sound system, the hymnal company said that was not a permitted use of their music, and threatened to sue the church and revoke their use of the hymnal if this occurred, so the church had to switch to another music publishing house at a cost of thousands of dollars to tide them over until they could hire another organist.

People are willing to pay for "fair use" of another person's compositions and performances, and studios who produce and distribute the music also deserve fair recompense. But they need to understand that they cannot make it so difficult for their listeners to rent, buy, listen to, or use their products by imposing unreasonable restrictions on the place of sale, type of product, manner of use, cost or fees associated with each "listen" or use, or pack so many unwanted products with it that it becomes unwanted or un-affordable.

If that industry cannot spot a MARKET with potential PROFIT in the download industry, then they need to keep on selling 8 track tape players and 78 RPM records and get out of the way of progress.

None of these giants will sell me a mp3 or avi player loaded with the music that I want. Instead, they want to sell me a fragile, bulky CD or DVD containing lots of stuff I DON'T want in order to get the one song I DO want.

Stupidity was rampant among the rulers who owned all the "gold" in the middle ages, and imbeciles also appear to dominate that same class of folks running our governments and monopoly industries.

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11.
by Anonymous Coward - Dec 21st, 2008 @ 6:30pm

Makes me glad to be a DJ. I stopped paying ASCAP and BMI for royalties after a friend of mine was shutdown for copyright infringement even though he was paying his dues to ASCAP and BMI. Aparently RIAA does not see that as enough anymore. I even canceled all of my subscriptions to RPM and all of the other music pools I was enrolled in and turned to downloading and copying CDs from friends in my DJ association. As far as any of us are concerned... Fuck RIAA. They have no influence over anything we do. Sue us, we will continue as if nothing happened.

Mixing & remixing music is a part of the industry, why can they not understand that? Do they want to kill off the clubs and mobile DJs? We get the music on the air before anyone else can and we do it better than the radios. This is basically an extension of that industry.

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12.
I'm a pirate.
by Robbing Hood - Dec 21st, 2008 @ 7:16pm

It really doesn't matter what the RIAA or MPAA do any more, I simply will not give them money by buying their wares.

Since I will be accused of and lumped in with piracy any way there is no moral reason not to download whatever I want.

Since the RIAA and their ilk are insistent on labeling anything that doesn't generate them immediate funds as piracy--including ripping CDs I own--there is no reason to even try to navigate the increasingly useless and ridiculous legal system and do things 'right' and I refuse to even try any more.

I used to care. I used to scrupulously investigate whether an artist was on an RIAA label before purchasing anything by them. I used to seek out independent artists, to try and do things the 'right' way. Then the RIAA started attacking online radio, stifling podcasts, and claiming even if I ripped a CD I bought brand new I was somehow still stealing from them.

PFFFFT! Whatever. I'm done trying to play according to the rules.

If my corporate masters insist on making a thief out of me, then I'll happily oblige them and save my dollars for other things.

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[House]

Seems to me that the only "chilling effect" is on theives:

iTunes Now Number Two Music Retailer in the US

iTunes Customers Top 50 Million

CUPERTINO, California—February 26, 2008—Apple® today announced that iTunes® (www.itunes.com) is now the number two music retailer in the US, behind only Wal-Mart, based on the latest data from the NPD Group*. Apple also announced that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers. iTunes has sold over four billion songs, with an incredible 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone, and offers the world’s largest music catalog of over six million songs from all of the major and thousands of independent labels.

“We’d like to thank the over 50 million music lovers who have helped the iTunes Store reach this incredible milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We continue to add great new features like iTunes Movie Rentals to give our customers even more reason to love iTunes.”

Last month, Apple launched iTunes Movie Rentals featuring movies from all of the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Users can rent movies and watch them on their PCs or Macs, all current generation iPods**, iPhone™ and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®. iTunes Movie Rentals will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of this month, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV.

iTunes 7.6 is available as a free download at www.itunes.com. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only and are $2.99 (US) for library titles and $3.99 (US) for new releases, and high definition versions are priced just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 (US) and new releases at $4.99 (US). Movie rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac® or Windows require iTunes 7.6. iTunes Movie Rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase.

*Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions. The iTunes Music Store became the second-largest music retailer in the US after Wal-Mart, based on the amount of music sold during 2007.

**Movie rentals work on iPod® classic, iPod nano with video and iPod touch.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/02/26itunes.html