Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saying goodbye always feels so wrong...

...

In my first month of blogging I posted about a website, Mixwit dot com, that allowed users to create their own 'mixtapes' of songs. Songs that when all perfectly selected, matched, and sequenced by a listener meant something special to them, something the creator would want to share with others.

They even went so far as to use images of the old cassette tape to visualize the mixtape format.





Recently they announced in emails to users and on their website:
We regret to announce that Mixwit is shutting down before the end of the year. Our thanks go out to everyone for your participation and amazing creativity.

We’ve put a year of work into Mixwit so this choice wasn’t taken lightly. I won’t go into the details of our situation but state simply that we boldly marched into in a position best described as "between rock and a hard place." We’re very grateful to be have been part of the mixtape revival of ‘08 and are satisfied to be able to to bow out while things are still good.


As expressed elsewhere, it seems to be yet another instance of the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA, acting to hinder innovation in the delivery of online music. Damn them to hell.


It is sad to lose an 'always there for ya' and talented friend. That is how I will feel when Mixwit finally say goodbye.


...tom...
.

1 comment:

JLK said...

Yeah, apparently they're cracking down on that stuff right now. I've been using playlist.com which basically lets you do exactly the same thing, but now certain websites won't let you embed the playlist because it's in copyright violation. The artists don't get paid every time you listen to the song, so myspace and other sites are apparently "taking a stand."

This whole thing pisses me off because you used to be able to record songs when they played on the radio and listen to them whenever you wanted, and no FBI agents came banging on your door. No wonder they got rid of the cassette.

I get really mad about this issue, because even the music I buy on itunes often has restrictions that won't let me convert it to mp3 - I'm like "I BOUGHT this shit, and you're telling me I still can't do what I want with it??"

I hate the music industry. I really do.