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Muxtape Facing Potential Lawsuit

Rounds of legal speculation have started in the RIAA's reported case against Muxtape. The popular make-your-own mixtape site was recently shut down in an attempt to deal with alleged copyright infringement issues.

"I think they have a strong legal defense," Fred Von Lohmann, a senior attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Rollingstone.com. "The problem is if they might not have the money to go to court and take on the RIAA."

According to Von Lohmann, legal costs could add up to as much as $2 or $3 million. He continued, "Muxtape is not a direct threat. It’s streaming. The good news in the last year they’ve shown a willingness to work out deals rather than destroying these sites."

Muxtape founder Justin Oullette hasn't responded to comment requests just yet. A spokesman for the RIAA has weighed in on the matter, however, saying, "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."

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
08.20.08