Digital Design Blog

Muxtape and the Future of Music

Who would think that uniquely digital re-invention of the much beloved (and seriously antiquated) mix tape would be setting the music blogsphere atwitter in 2008? It’s called Muxtape and it’s a ridiculously simple site built around music sharing and discovery. Created by former Vimeo/IAC developer Justin Ouellete, the site allows users to create their own mixes — typically 12 songs — upload the files, sequence the songs and post.

Muxtape has the same aesthetic as The Hype Machine, one of the best MP3 blog aggregators around. However, it exceeds based on sheer simplicity and the end-user experience of joyful random discovery. End users can flip through the Muxtapes randomly (by design) and play an entire mix or sample single songs.

For those who grew up on mix tapes, like Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore who wrote a book on the topic, it’s a thrilling experience — and one that iTunes, Last.FM and many others haven’t yet matched.

Surely some will ask what’s the monetization scheme here? Or, more succinctly, what’s the impact for cash-strapped artists? There’s no answer for that yet, but clearly Muxtape is yet another bold, simple step for the distribution and consumption of media across the web — and a heck of a lot more fun.