Just as I was about ready to post my long-overdue August monthly mux, I found out that the RIAA had shut down Muxtape. Whaaaa? Yeah, I heard the needle scratch on the record as the tunes came to a halt, too. And then disappointment in the RIAA set in. Is their goal to stop people from discovering and buying new music?

Because of Muxtape, I’ve been introduced to dozens of recording artists I’d never heard of before. I’ve bought several albums, spread the word about new bands on Twitter and to friends, and shown the beautiful simplicty of the Muxtape interface to my students as an example of great web application design. I love that there’s no advertising, no bogus scheme to take my money. It’s just about letting people share music with each other.

What it’s not about is letting us download that music for free. So, how it is that the RIAA sees Muxtape as a threat is a little confusing to me. No artists or labels have complained about Muxtape so far, according to the company blog. If I’ve spent $100 on music because of Muxtape that I wouldn’t have otherwise spent, then I’d say that Muxtape is pretty darn good for recording artists.

So shame on you, RIAA, for slapping down a beneficial service that does no harm and only provides people with new ways to discover great music. Oh yeah, and give me my Muxtape back!

Tagged as discovery, Inspiration, music, Muxtape + Categorized as Inspiration/Listening to music