[While Cary Clarke takes a much-deserved vacation traversing the
globe, I’ll be filling in for him here at the local music news desk.
—Ezra Ace Caraeff]
It’s hard to make a tangible impact within the instant-gratification
world of Web 2.0 (god, I hate that term), especially when it comes to
anything related to music. Why bother keeping up with the latest
imeem.com or the newest social network
site du jour when, come tomorrow, there will be something new? That is,
of course, unless the whole operation isn’t torn down by the RIAA, Web
Sheriff, or major labels on a desperate digital land grab? Rarely does
anything come around that seems worthwhile—or worth
bookmarking—that is, until Muxtape.com popped up on the blogosphere (a
term nearly as bad as “Web 2.0”) last week.
The creation of former Portlander and current New Yorker Justin
Ouellette, Muxtape is a ridiculously simple concept: Make a mixtape and
send it to your friends. But instead of the old Maxell tapes, or
cumbersome web software with clunky interfaces, Muxtapes are
refreshingly bare bones and simple. The songs appear as easy to
navigate streaming files that you can pause, stop, and skip as you
please. Ouellette describes the allure of the design, “I think it’s one
of those things that fills a void you never knew you had. There are
lots of places to listen to music on the internet, but I think
simplicity is something that’s been lacking in many of them.”
Granted, it’s hard to do justice to the wonders of a digital mixtape
in the space given here, but the site’s launch set off a flurry of
excitement from music fans the world over. Says Ouellette, “I had a
feeling it would be well received, but I wasn’t anywhere close to being
prepared for the actual wave of traffic. I expected to have to upgrade
servers after a month or two, but it wound up being two days later.
Thankfully, the site never actually went down.”
Of course a website that broadcasts and uploads MP3s at the user’s
discretion is open to a wide variety of legal issues. The first of
which is, well, is it legal? Do users have the right to upload
copywritten material without the artist’s permission? And are the songs
played on the respective tapes subject to broadcast royalties? With the
site’s growing popularity, all of these issues will most likely come to
the table at some point, but for the time being Ouellette does not seem
too worried. “I don’t see Muxtape as any different from other internet
radio stations, and the primary goal of Muxtape is to introduce people
to new music.” He adds, “People discovering new music leads to people
buying new music, which is good for label, artist, and listener alike.”
For now, make a mix and send it our way.
Also, one more note: This week marks the start of the KPSU pledge
drive, which runs from April 7-21. To celebrate their 14th year of
existence, the station is holding a series of concerts throughout the
month. See kpsu.org for
more
information.