Music Ally

We’ve been covering the ongoing problems of online mixtape site Muxtape, which is still down following a row with the RIAA. However, a new site offering pretty much the same functionality has sprung up, called OpenTape.

The key difference is it lets users host their own mixtapes, rather than have them hosted on a separate website – with predictable implications for who’s legally responsible for the content. The downside is it’s even more skewed towards, well, web geeks.

The well-connected Valleywag blog reckons OpenTape may actually be the work of the people behind Muxtape, or if they aren’t directly responsible, they’ve helped whoever set up OpenTape.

Is the music industry set to kick off another doomed game of Whack-a-Mole with these mixtape sites, or is there a way the RIAA and labels can work more pro-actively with them? Let us know by posting a comment.

The US Democrats have kicked off their convention in Denver, just after presidential candidate Barack Obama announced that his VP running mate would be Joe Biden.

CNET has been doing some digging into Biden’s voting record when it comes to technology and copyright, and points out that he’s a “staunch ally” of Hollywood and the major record labels when it comes to copyright law – in contrast to the expectation that Obama himself will liberalise US copyright laws if he gets into power.

“Few Americans will cast their votes in November based on what the vice presidential candidate thinks of copyright law. But these pro-copyright views don’t exactly jibe with what Obama has promised; he’s pledged to ‘update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.’”

As the article points out, US voters will probably be more concerned with Biden’s knowledge and record when it comes to foreign affairs, but the music industry will be following the presidential election closely to guess how future US government policy may develop in its area too.

Earlier this week, online mixtape site Muxtape temporarily closed down, blaming a ‘problem’ with the RIAA (although promising to be back up soon).

Now the RIAA has been talking about the problem to Portfolio, giving details of its issues with Muxtape:

“For the past several months, we have communicated our legal concerns with the site and repeatedly tried to work with them to have illegal content taken down. Muxtape was hosting copies of copyrighted sound recordings without authorization from the copyright owners. Making these recordings available for streaming playback also requires authorization from the copyright owners. Muxtape has not obtained authorization from our member companies to host or stream copies of their sound recordings.”

Views differ on the clash, with many bloggers slamming the RIAA for trying to squash a potentially important new music discovery service, while music industry types point out that the site was trying to make its fortune from allowing people to upload and share copyrighted music, albeit by streaming.

What do you think? Should the RIAA have held fire to allow deals to be struck between Muxtape and its labels, or should Muxtape have moved faster to go legit? Post a comment and let us know your thoughts!