Muxtape shut down temporarily

A free music website which allows surfers to upload their own music collections, similar to the days of making mixtapes on cassette players, has been temporarily shut down.

A short message on the Muxtape's homepage reads: "Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA."

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the equivalent of the BPI in the UK, apparently grew concerned with the popularity of the interactive music website.

The site has become hugely popular and has drawn fans from all over the world, including musicians like RZA from the Wu Tang Clan and Alex Hammond Jr from the New York band The Strokes.

A post on the Muxtape blog says that no artists or labels have complained, presumably because users cannot use the service to download music.

"The site is not closed indefinitely. Stay tuned," it added.

Analyst Mark Mulligan of Jupiter Research said that Muxtape should have cleared up any licensing issues before it launched its service.

"Sites like Muxtape illustrate the fact that there are still plenty of sites who focus on building audience first and 'legalizing' later," said Mulligan.

Muxtape was formed in March 2008 by US web designer Justin Ouellette.

www.muxtape.com
www.riaa.com