Muxtape relaunching soon, in the service of bands (how golden ideas turn into dirt)

An update on Muxtape was just published on their site, Muxtape. This is a must-read if you want to know what's still wrong with the recorded music industry, and why almost every effort at innovation seems doomed for failure (or is deemed illegal). 1.5 Billion people on the Net, 3.3 Billion on mobile phones (soon to be on the Net, too, by default), and all of them dying for a way to get their music that suits them rather than the industry. And yes, they will pay if and when they see value. This new toll-booth may have to be positioned a bit later than we're used to be, but payments there will be - both in cash as well as in attention (see my previous post on this).

My previous Muxtape-related posts are here, on my Media Futurist blog. It amazes me how much Justin's story is similar to my own experiences with Sonific, my last digital music startup, and how much it matches with the stories I keep hearing from dozens of brave if maybe somewhat 'fresh' digital music entrepreneurs every single day: you bring golden ideas to the record industry and they will act like it's an evil ripoff scheme. The result: people go somewhere else with their ideas, and innovation happens outside of Music-Industry1.0 - at Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Myspace, Last.fm, Amazon and... Google! Give it another 12-18 months, and all that's left to say will be 'told you so'.