Los Angeles - The creator of online mixtape service Muxtape has posted on his website the details of how the site was shutdown at the behest of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last month, at a time when he was in active discussions with the major labels on licensing deals, and how he walked away from the licensing deals and will re-launch the service from scratch as a promotional tool for bands.

Justin Oullette launched Muxtape in March, and was attracting 1.2 million unique visitors a month later.

After several inquiries from major labels, he had his first meeting in May with Universal Music, and in June hired lawyers and began licensing negotiations with all four majors.

Oullette related that the majors turned the talks from numbers "to things like guaranteed placement and 'marketing opportunities'...I had agreed to a variety of encroachments into Muxtape's financials because I wanted to play ball, but giving up any kind of editorial or creative control was something I had a much harder time swallowing."

Then in August, the RIAA took action to have the site removed from its Amazon Web Services host, and he eventually decided to walk away from the licensing deals.

"They had become too complex for a site founded on simplicity, too restrictive and hostile to continue to innovate the way I wanted to," Oullette writes.

Oullette now plans to re-launch the site in a new form that will primarily allow bands to upload their own music to an embeddable player, in what he admits is "a somewhat radical shift in functionality."

"Bands will be able to assemble an attractive profile with simple modules that enable optional functionality such as a calendar, photos, comments, downloads and sales, or anything else they need," said Oullette.

Related Links:
http://muxtape.com

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/muxtape-to-rela.html