The Day the Music Died

November 13, 2003 11:17 PM

Cnet has acquired "certain assets" of Mp3.com (read story here).

Please be advised that on Tuesday, December 2, 2003 at 12:00 PM PST the MP3.com website will no longer be accessible in its current form. Also, all content will be deleted from our servers and all previously submitted tapes, CD-ROMs and other media in our possession will be destroyed. We recommend that you make alternative content hosting arrangements as soon as practicable.
posted by Quartermass (28 comments total)

As a longtime user (both for listening to new bands, and for promoting my own),
I am a little bit bummed out about this. Essentially, they are tearing down the old to make way for the "new," and a lot of bands who are no longer together will be washed away.

Though there was a lot of crap on the site, I found more than a few gems in my day .

It also went a long way in helping out bands in my local scene.

.
posted by Quartermass at 11:28 PM on November 13, 2003

Mp3.com has been in a long downhill decline for years. In recent times, it's been difficult even locating truly indie content on the site, and doing so involves battling through pages of ads, and some of the longest-load-time pages I've seen on the net. I'm not really saddened by this change, as the site lost it's integrity and usefulness a long time ago.

Does anyone out there know of any alternatives? A basic, honest site offering an index of artists with free music on the net? It doesn't have to be one that hosts the content, just one that can be as useful at showcasing alternative artists as mp3.com once was.
posted by Jimbob at 11:38 PM on November 13, 2003

www.garageband.com. You can search by genre or city, or browse the charts.

The idea is bands review other bands, so a peer review system. This can work for bands that are fairly mainstream, but for any one else it can be a pain in the ass. Though problematic, it is still pretty good.
posted by Quartermass at 11:52 PM on November 13, 2003

Sounds to me like Cnet is trying to make a profit off a known name to sell some 99 cent downloads. Not a bad idea, but correct me if im wrong when I say that very little of the money still goes to the artist.

I can almost hear the kids yell "but when people were downloading them illegally nobody got any money". Sure. Of course! I guess I was always hoping that the internet economy would open doors for independant art that would reward its makers with great wealth and propsperity.

What seems ironic to me is that the record companies are finding ways to make even more profit than before, which is natural, because its about capitalism. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Btw, I have no idea what Cnet has in mind. Im done blathering on with my pointless opinions.
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:58 PM on November 13, 2003

That's too bad. A few years back I really enjoyed listening to bands on mp3.com but, like jimbob, haven't been impressed with them the last while. Since then, I've switched to some of the online radio stations. I've been to garageband.com but haven't spent a lot of time there-- have to give it a proper investigation.
posted by synecdoche at 12:15 AM on November 14, 2003

Does anyone out there know of any alternatives? A basic, honest site offering an index of artists with free music on the net?

Starpolish.com and sonicbids.com are probably the two I use the most since mp3.com has been in a sorry state for a while. Our band used to use garageband.com as well and I'd highly recommend them as well.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:18 AM on November 14, 2003

Check out my stepsister's old band's page at mp3.com while you can. I set it up for her a little while back.

Young and Pretty

"Back in the Day" is pretty good. Let me know what you guys think.

(By the way, they've since broken up.)
posted by bdk3clash at 12:19 AM on November 14, 2003

Soundclick.
posted by iamck at 12:20 AM on November 14, 2003

Oops, apologies for the above link...here.
posted by iamck at 12:21 AM on November 14, 2003

Are they going to start calling it mp3.com.com?
posted by delmoi at 12:41 AM on November 14, 2003

Why can't I find this anywhere on the actual MP3.com site or the Cnet site? Even clicking on Join Now brings up nothing about it.

Possible hoax?
posted by gfrobe at 1:15 AM on November 14, 2003

You mean apart from the link to the press release in the initial post?
posted by influx at 1:21 AM on November 14, 2003

Yeah, apart from that one. I go to MP3.com and click on press releases and it's not there either

It's probably legit but just strange that there are no links to it anywhere on the site.
posted by gfrobe at 2:53 AM on November 14, 2003

If the new MP3.com is anything like CNet's editorial standards, then they won't be making much money.
posted by benjh at 3:49 AM on November 14, 2003

Zebox
posted by Satapher at 4:38 AM on November 14, 2003

I hope somebody comes forward and offers to purchase the music. If I were a company that made money on the net I'd at least look at it. Expecting to make billions off of this acquisition would be fool hardy of course, but there would be some good positive publicity associated with it. Maybe Apple could get their hands on it and make it part of the iTunes music store. It'd be a logistical nightmare I suppose, since they'd have to get contracts with all of the bands, many of whom may no longer exist. It also might also make Apple Records really gnash their teeth and bring out the lawyers, since Apple Computer would then definitely be in the music business.
posted by substrate at 4:44 AM on November 14, 2003

Are they going to start calling it mp3.com.com?

Brilliance.
posted by yerfatma at 4:59 AM on November 14, 2003

I just hope someone can sort mp3.com out. I appreciate it's free to use (with 3 song limit) - I've used it to upload my own songs for the last 5 years - but it really has become so awkward to navigate for the end-user since they commercialised it. It's just tricky to navigate around and find music. They push the charts too much. Hope they can simplify it for the end-user.

Still, I found some great music on mp3.com
posted by SpaceCadet at 5:22 AM on November 14, 2003

Why not use something like BitTorrent to reduce bandwidth costs?
posted by Eloquence at 5:33 AM on November 14, 2003

Crap, I was just about to release my 3rd CD on MP3.com. Anyone know of a similar CD program, I don't want to burn 1000 coasters just to hand a few out to friends.
posted by Outlawyr at 6:01 AM on November 14, 2003

Eloquence: BitTorrent is a bit unfeasable for a site with a large number of relatively small files for download. It sucks up a ton of CPU, and since the 'official' server would have to act as a seed, it'd have to run a client process for every single file on the site. Even if they were spawned only when there were people there to download, it'd take a lot of horsepower that'd probably be more expensive than big dumb bandwidth. BitTorrent is perfect, though, if you have a small number of very large files.
posted by zsazsa at 6:25 AM on November 14, 2003

A little hosting here, tracks behind a password protection folder, and a paypal link to charge a nominal fee to cover the bandwidth - Your Own MP3.com
posted by benjh at 7:13 AM on November 14, 2003

gfrobe:

On the front page go to near the bottom - go to the SOFTWARE box => Software community => Sophie's Corner

I received an alert via e-mail. To link it, I had to dig a little. Perhaps they only want this to get out a bit at a time? Did any other Mp3.com'ers get the email as well?

One thing I want to say - though mp3.com was going down the shitter, and they were notoriously hard to deal with (changes on your artist site could take over a week to process), they did deliver the goods in many ways.

Secondly, they had a great selection of "big" artist downloads for no charge, thus making them legal tender.
posted by Quartermass at 7:30 AM on November 14, 2003

MP3.com made sense a few years ago, but most musicians are probably web-savvy enough now to make it obsolete. But still, wiping out all of the content seems a bit extreme.
posted by tommasz at 9:24 AM on November 14, 2003

Outlawr, try mixonic.

I'm selling my first CD through them. Currently waiting for the sample (they shipped last Friday) to arrive.
posted by Foosnark at 9:35 AM on November 14, 2003

Outlawr - look at CD Baby. That's the only place I buy music these days. Those guys are great. GREAT!
posted by willnot at 10:04 AM on November 14, 2003

amen to benjh. it's not really that hard, is it? there's a significant initial investment, i suppose, but is it *that* much of a barrier these days to make "mp3.mycrazyband.com"?

disclaimer: i work for cnet, but have no idea what the plans are for mp3.com. if forced to speculate, i'd bet against a 99-cent download store. those stores seem doomed to me. at least i hope that's not what we're doing. in my wildest dreams, we'd be using mp3.com to start an internet-only music service for hosting and promoting independent music. i'd also bet that's doubtful.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:21 AM on November 14, 2003

Thanks Foosnark, http://mixonic.com/ is perfect! Exactly what I was looking for.

Willnot, CDbaby.com is for those who already have a CD made. I want them to handle making the CD so I can get some sleep at night. But thanks for the idea.
posted by Outlawyr at 11:05 AM on November 14, 2003