Muxtape

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Muxtape is a website that allows users to upload playlists of MP3s, based on the idea of a mixtape. It was created by Justin Ouellette in March of 2008^[1].

Ouellette came up with the idea after being a disc jockey at his university's radio station. The site became unexpectedly popular within two days of its launch. In April, Ouellette estimated the number of users as "ostensibly ... more than the population of Germany, less than the population of Japan", however this fact is not supported by any third party traffic estimates, which show muxtape userbase at being less than 100,000^[2]. The site is supported by links to Amazon.com^[3]. It has a very simple design and cannot be searched. Ouellette explains that the important part of a mixtape, which he tried to preserve on his site, is about discovering new music instead of someone finding music they are already familiar with.^[1]

Past legal issues involving music sharing sites and programs lead many observers to predict that Muxtape will eventually run into legal troubles with the music industry. However, Ouellette states that Muxtape is different from the likes of Napster: "Its intended purpose is to introduce you to new music that you would then hopefully go and buy."^[1] He reports that he has spoken with many record labels who are excited about Muxtape's ability to bring new music to consumers.^[3]. Some individuals predict that if muxtape gains significant momentum it is unlikely to be shut down by legal pressure; it is more likely to have changes forced upon it as it becomes a legal licensor of the music on the site^[4].

Muxtape is the latest in a long line of websites which permit users to create online playlists, either from user-uploaded tracks or selected from a library curated by the site. Other websites which deliver the same core functionality among other features are imeem, projectplaylist, mixwit, finetune, seeqpod and anywhere.fm.

[edit] Data Loss

On Wednesday, May 21, 2008, Ouellette reported on the site's blog that it had suffered a site error due to a section of malfunctioning code. Originally mistakenly reported as the malicious activity of a hacker, the site's backup database had not been updated in three weeks, and the damaging code had overwritten approximately 85% of new songs posted in that time, which were unrecoverable. Material posted before that point was successfully restored.