Gawker
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justin ouellette
Muxtape creator explains how to be an overnight failure
Justin Ouellette's music trading site Muxtape, shut down after failed talks with the RIAA, the music labels' copyright cops, may not have earned him a fortune. But it has secured him a modicum of infamy. He got invited to speak earlier this week at the WebbyConnect Summit in Laguna Niguel, explaining to others on how to replicate his overnight success with making a website deeply popular with Brooklyn's most outspoken Internet users. As Ouellette elaborates in this interview, the key is to just make up something that people want. Guess what? Just because people want free music doesn't mean you can give it to them. Ouellette never figured that part out.
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Comment by Ted Dziuba: You know what else everybody wants? Money. I have a startup idea: we print money. Anyone want... 2 Responses | Other threads
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copyfight
Judge orders music downloader to pay RIAA $40,500
Arizona's Jeffrey Howell did several dumb things on his way to being ordered to pay the RIAA a $40,500 fine for downloading songs such as "Waiting For A Girl Like You," "Money For Nothing," and "Sweet Child O' Mine" using peer-to-peer file-sharing service Kazaa. The first was downloading Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" when he could have turned on a classic rock station and waited 15 minutes to hear the overplayed song twice. An even bigger mistake was wiping his hard drive after a Judge ordered him not to. But Howell's worst mistake? More »
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Comment by johnnypotatoes: The Electronic Freedom Frontier? Is that a splinter group? 1 Responses | Other threads
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copyfight
Is Opentape a jab at the RIAA?
Following the shutdown of Muxtape, a site for posting online mixtapes, in a dispute with the music industry, someone has launched Opentape.fm, where you can download code to easily create your own Muxtape-like online mixtapes of MP3 files. And if the creators of Muxtape aren't directly responsible, they probably fed Opentape's developers everything they would need. The first clue is that the site is powered by the favored online publishing platform of millennial hipsters, Tumblr. Another clue is that the domain registration information points to 152 W. 57th Street in Manhattan, which just happens to be IAC CEO Barry Diller's address (Justin Ouellette, Muxtape's founder, worked at IAC site Vimeo). Then there are two small hints in the code: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by FaceMelter: This package communicates with the internet via cURL and sends information that identifies the host website. How funny would... 1 Responses | Other threads
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copyfight
Biden wants to spend $1 billion spying on file sharers
The best way to judge a society is to judge how well it takes care of those unable to take care of themselves — like music and film executives, for example. Motivated by profit and self-interest, they have been helpless to stop digital piracy from eroding their relevance and profit margins at home or abroad. Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden to the rescue! Reports PaidContent: More »
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Comment by bourgeoisie: @Rachel Marsden: This article doesn't have anything to do with gun control, but thank you for taking the opportunity to... more » | Other threads
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commenter of the day
Donk In A Box
What can you do when your expensive iPhone with the expensive monthly plan just doesn't work? Class action lawsuit! Class action lawsuit! And that's exactly what one Alabama woman did. Donk In A Box, today's featured commenter, calls the case as he sees it: More » -
commenter of the day
pepelicious
Hipsters must be quite sad that Muxtape is down but we have RIAA to blame. Today's featured commenter, pepelicious knows the other problem with Muxtape though: More »
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Comment by WilliamMarkFelt: @spyUh wow, well you're in luck. At Borders just the other day, I saw just that very thing, right... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Muxtape's spending real cause of music site's shutdown
Muxtape founder Justin Ouellette says he's shut down the mixtape-hosting website because of a problem with the Recording Industry Association of America. A statement from the RIAA itself seems to confirm the story. Bu we hear another reason Muxtape is shutting down is that it got too expensive for Ouellette to keep up. More »
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Comment by socialmediamojo: This makes complete sense, I mean we all know the RIAA is pissed but sites don't shut down until public... more » | Other threads
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digital music
Pandora throws temper tantrum over music rates
The days of marveling over online music service Pandora's ability to know that you hella heart Oakland's own Digital Underground may soon be over. A court decision adored by the recording industry doubled the royalties Web broadcasters have to pay. Radio stations pay nothing to for rebroadcast rights to recordings, but do pay publishers a royalty. Satellite broadcasters pay nearly half what online music providers are charged. Pandora reports that the charges, payable to royalty collector SoundExchange, will amount to $17.5 million of their $25 million in annual revenue. Which would permanently mangle the company's business model, according to CEO Tim Westergren. The flip, convenient thing to do here is to blog about the evils of the rapacious music industry. Sure, SoundExchange is notorious for its long list of artists it can't find in order to pay, while it naturally collects royalties regardless. But after Muxtape's run in with the RIAA today, one has to think there's blame to spread around. What did these music entrepreneurs expect? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by mdoublej: Terrestrial radio stations now have to report to, and pay money to SoundExchange as well for music played over the... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
RIAA "problem" shutters online-music startup Muxtape
Muxtape, a New York-based online-music startup much favored by the Tumblr set, has shut down its website, citing a "problem" with the RIAA, a music-industry organization which polices copyright. Could it have anything to do with the ease with which users can download music files from the site, despite founder Justin Ouellette's efforts to block them? The company blog elaborates, barely: "No artists or labels have complained. The site is not closed indefinitely. Stay tuned."
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By Owen ThomasComment by cooterpunch2: Where am I going to get my electro-wave dance party on now??? [farm4.static.flickr.com] more » | Other threads
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copyfight
Muxtape creator battles Firefox script kiddies while waiting for the RIAA
Justin Ouellette's Muxtape, a site which hosts online mixtapes, is on shaky legal ground — and not just over the way Ouellette left his former employer, IAC-owned video site Vimeo. Making a mixtape for personal use is clearly accepted; but posting it online, for everyone on the Internet to listen to? Unclear at best. Ouellette himself has hinted that he's worried about being sued. On Userscripts.org, a site where people post and discuss add-ons to the Firefox Web browser, Ouellette has been scolding programmers for creating tools that let Muxtape users download MP3 files directly from the site — even as he was claiming that he wasn't worried about copyright issues. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ans: Wait... what was that?... did I just hear the sound of 2,000 ruby coders canceling their muxtape variants and returning... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
Revision3 CEO: Antipiracy group attacked our network
Jim Louderback, the CEO of Revision3, is jumpin' mad. A denial-of-service attack brought down the online-video network over the weekend, and it wasn't the work of a freelance hacker with a distributed network of compromised machines, he writes in the company blog. It was, he says, the deliberate act of MediaDefender, an antipiracy consulting group which works to shut down file-sharing networks. Revision3 uses BitTorrent, a file-sharing protocol, to distribute its own content, and runs a "tracker" server to coordinate those downloads. All of this is quite legal. MediaDefender, it turns out, found a security hole in Revision3's server, and planted unknown files, possibly illegal copies on Revision3's servers, for their own purposes. It's not clear why, but whatever the motive, MediaDefender may have broken several laws in doing so. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by raincoaster: @pdave: Does neither side have a competent lawyer? Contracts to commit/assist in illegal acts are void. Like, duh. more » | Other threads
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copyfight
Ripping CDs still illegal, says the record industry — but not in so many words
Can you legally create MP3s from your CD collection, or not? That's all we want to know. News has circulated since early December that the recording industry believes it is illegal to rip your music library . The genesis of this waas an RIAA lawsuit against a chap for tossing ripped files into his Kazaa sharing folder — not, mind you, for actually ripping the files off a CD. We ridiculed the Washington Post for making this mistake, and were prepared to laugh derisively when it ran a correction. But a Wired blogger argues, at length — 745 agonizing words — that the RIAA still thinks CD ripping is illegal. Here are the 100 most essential words. More »
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Comment by WagCurious: I'm glad you decided to follow this story. This is one of the biggest corporate crimes of our day and... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
Will the RIAA sue you for ripping CDs?
The Washington Post has reported that the RIAA views the ripping of CDs to MP3s as illegal. Not quite so. The RIAA isn't thrilled with the practice, but that's not why they're suing Jeffrey Howell. His offense against the recording industry was "putting those ripped files into a shared Kazaa folder," notes Techdirt. You know, the sort of thing one would do if he would want to participate in file sharing.
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Comment by cidman2001: Wow...a picture is worth a thousand words! Is it mere irony that the main picture accompanying this piece is a... more » | Other threads
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digital music
Does EMI no longer believe in suing its customers?
Reuters is reporting that EMI, one of the world's four big music-label groups, wants to cut its funding to industry lobby groups, including the RIAA and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. EMI's "looking at ways to 'substantially' reduce the amount it pays trade groups," as a source puts it to the wire service. This is exactly the kick in the seat of its pants that the music industry needs. More » -
digital music
How record labels can cash in on digital sales
Colombian rock star Juanes sold more than 6 million songs during his new album's digital prerelease. The sales set a record, according to Universal Music, which distributed the songs via legitimate Internet and mobile vendors. People actually paid for music. Good for Juanes; better, hopefully, for the digital consumer. It's not that music execs are wholly clueless. For a hits-driven industry, sales speak much louder than anticopyright zealots' rhetoric. it's that they haven't had enough success stories like this one to persuade them to buy into the digital marketplace. -
copyfight
College campuses protest RIAA, not war
Who says todays kids aren't politically motivated? Demonstrations and protests are growing across American campuses. Today's youth feel a need to do something. And that something, of course is ... protest our involvement in Iraq? Peace for Myanmar? The environment? Don't be silly — today's college students are up in arms over their "right" to free music. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by KinetiQ: I live in Pittsburgh where a group staged a month-long hunger strike in front of the Army recruitment office to... more » | Other threads
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quotable
Why did the jury in the RIAA file-sharing case return a $222,000 judgment against Jammie Thomas? "We wanted to send a message that you don't do this, that you have been warned," said one juror. Mmm, yes. That'll stop the pirates. The more likely lesson they'll draw? Don't get caught. [Threat Level]
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Comment by Blackjack: I'll take this one for $1000, Alex. "What is an example of morons being picked to serve on juries?" more » | Other threads
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since you asked
The RIAA's $220,000 Playlist: Just As Crappy As You Might Expect
One of our commenters asked about the songs that the major labels focused on in their successful lawsuit against Jammie Thomas; we found it (courtesy of Threat Level) and it's reprinted after the jump. Behold, the songs that you may want to take out of your shared-music folder pronto: [Idolator]
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By mjohnstonComment by Hyman Decent: @xjerryx: After the backlash Lars Ulrich got, I doubt any recording artist will side publicly with the RIAA, even if... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
The RIAA wins a round
Jammie Thomas, the woman who file-sharers and legitimate music purchasers alike hoped would end the tirades of the Recording Industry Association of America was found guilty of copyright infringement and slapped with a $222,000 fine. Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas, the first file-sharing case to actually go to trial, was a rallying point for anyone wishing to listen to music without automatically being deemed a criminal. The case revealed that the industry's lawsuits were, for the most part, a big, costly, unsubstantiated waste of time. But, alas for Thomas, not in this case. The victory will no doubt help the RIAA scare more people it accuses of file sharing into settling out of court. (Photo by Martin Belam) -
copyfight
Butt pirates battle Internet pirates
All-male porn peddler Titan Media has sued to shut down an "online gay porn piracy ring." Titan is suing 22 defendants working on a half-dozen blogs. In this arena, for a change, the porn world is behind the curve, not on the cutting edge of tech. While the RIAA and MPAA have huge budgets and companies like MediaDefender and BayTSP to do their antipiracy dirty work, those companies don't "want to be known in the porn space," according to the CEO of BayTSP. As a result, sex sites must do their own dirty work. More »
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Comment by Trackback: Vivid Entertainment announced yesterday its intention to sue the popular free porn video aggregator site PornoTube.com. Company president, Steve Hirsch,... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
File-sharing lawsuits are mere shock and awe
The record industry, according to a Sony executive testifying in the court case of Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas, is losing millions taking alleged file sharers to court for crimes whose damage it can't assess. So, let's review: The record industry can't identify who's sharing files, can't account for how much an incident of piracy costs them, and can't explain to its customers why it's suing them. Is this any way to run a business — by bluffing?(Photo by P.B. Rage)
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Comment by macbeach: If I ran Sony, I'd just fire everyone and start over. It's like an entire company composed of Steve... more » | Other threads
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digital music
RIAA schooled on piracy-busting tactics
The Recording Industry Association of America — known throughout college campuses for blanket accusations of music piracy and legal scare tactics — will have to curb its wanton copyright-infringement lawsuit-slapping ways. The RIAA uses a "making available" clause in copyright law that allows it to quickly target anyone it suspects of copyright infringement. If you have a file-sharing client and copyrighted media on your machine, you've helped spread illegal files, the RIAA's lawyers reasoned. But last month, a federal judge from the southern district of California threw out this legal theory — and put the music industry's strategy in jeopardy. More »
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Comment by sample032: I assume that the judge is a US circuit court, not a CA court, as a CA judge wouldn't have... more » | Other threads
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digital music
Who knew sharing music was illegal? Not the Santangelo family
Patricia Santangelo made headlines as the first person to go to court with the RIAA instead of timidly settling charges of copyright infringement. In April, her lawsuit was dismissed. But instead of quietly forgetting the entanglement, the RIAA decided to go after Patricia's children, Michelle and Robert, for alleged illegal file-sharing. Now for the fun twist. The Santangelos are looking to name Kazaa operator Sharman Networks and AOL, the family's Internet service provider, as third-party defendants in the case Elektra v. Santangelo. More »
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Comment by elvenjewel: @sample032: Well THAT was dumb. Now that you've said that, somebody will get the bright idea to try it... more » | Other threads
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wild prognostication
The future's five enemies (and how to beat them)
NICK DOUGLAS — Wasn't it sci-fi author William Gibson who said "The future is here, it's just unevenly distributed among pithy sci-fi authors"? The future is indeed inevitable, but before it brings us a 24/7 carnival of worldwide post-scarcity, cyborg bodies, and Starbucks on Mars, it must fight enemies like the following five: Baby Boomers, the movie industry and music industries, cell providers, the government, and Web 2.0. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by SumitraMenon: Web 2.0! Man i hate it. I happened to read strategist Sramana Mitra's definition to Web 3.0 and was pretty... more » | Other threads
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thoughts on music
RIAA response to "Thoughts on Music"
Mitch Bainwol, head of the RIAA, responded to Steve Jobs's "Thoughts on Music" by way of thorough agreement. No one seems to have the full Bainwol letter online, though the substance depicts Bainwol as more than happy to endorse Jobs's thought-experiment of licensing Apple's Fairplay DRM to all the world. Of course, Jobs only mentioned that possibility in order to strike it down as impractical. Bainwol dismisses such concerns, purring, "We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen." Beware the record man — he speaks with forked tongue. More »
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By Chris MohneyComment by helio9000: The only problem is that Steve's explantion is bunk. DVD Jon pointed out that the Play For Sure deadend hasn't... more » | Other threads
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wifi
Blogger breakdown: How to get buzz
- The skeptic at Dead 2.0 asks Valley vets whether a blogger can become a media star. VC Paul Kedrosky says, "media businesses are generally crappy businesses, with rare obvious exceptions." [Dead 2.0]
- Om Malik notes that small towns can get municipal wifi too — especially when one router on Main Street can reach the town limits. [GigaOM]
- Tech biz writer Eric Sink explains how to market a product. Simple advice like "go for the niche" and "don't spam the top bloggers," which some marketers still need to be told. [Eric Sink]
- Clearing out your hard drive after the RIAA charges you for file-sharing, and you could automatically lose your case. [Internet Cases]
- Did you know that the startup sound in Windows Vista is a hot-button issue? Now that you do, has a small part of you died? [Scobleizer]
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