FTA:

“Music royalties are a thing of the past.
Traditional radio is a thing of the past.
I know, no one is going to give them up. But the system of calculating royalties in a digital world is insane and will not hold up.”

He makes a great point – the whole argument isn’t even relevant anymore…

It is now easier, and faster to go on the pirate bay and get any album you want, than going to iTunes and purchasing it. Believe me, it’s drastic.  The majority of kids who are in that coveted teenage demographic don’t lie.

Do you know how many publishing houses that are out there?  Just under a THOUSAND by my count.  I have never been given a satisfactory explanation to justify why that number makes sense.  This number should merge or shrink significantly in order for the industry to move forward as free internet radio becomes more prevalent.  Artists are going to be forced to earn revenue from alternate avenues in order to survive.

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So Muxtape has returned without licenses but are coming out with an API…

Looks like Justin Ouellette and Luke Crawford took one look at the big 4, turned around and looked at Twitter, and here is the outcome.  Having gone on trips seeking licenses from labels, I know how tedious it can be.  Not that it is rocket science, but its simply not financially realistic for someone in Muxtape’s position to pay the advances necessary to run such a barebones and simplistic site.

Although only time will tell if it can survive without licensed music (yes guys, the majority of that indie/electronic music you listen to requires a license), the fact that they’re releasing an API will allow it to be used in ways user see fit to develop upon it.  Stick a widget in a blog, track what playlists your song is being played in, mine it for data, use it to the band’s benifit, etc.  I foresee a hybrid between The Sixty One and the old Muxtape.

They mention adding the ability to sell tickets, purchase tracks for download, and create and sell merchandise. Yeesh.  Thats quite an undertaking from a site that thrived on being as dead simple as possible.  Like any tech evangelist wills say – “do one thing, and do it well“.  Should be interesting to watch Muxtape’s evolution here, and with all their ambition, I wish them the best.  I think the best thing they could do would be to thrive as dead simple online mix tape creation platform without licensed content – something that is much easier said than done.

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