Muxtape, the love-child of the Internet and 80s cassette mix tapes, has had its plug pulled by the RIAA. Currently, visitors to the site are greeted with a brief statement that Muxtape will be "unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA."
An RIAA spokesperson confirmed to Ars that it was indeed responsible for the site ceasing operations. At issue is Muxtape's hosting and streaming of MP3s, which the RIAA says violates the record labels' copyrights. "For the past several months, we have communicated concerns to Muxtape on behalf of our members," the spokesperson told Ars. "Muxtape has not yet obtained authorization from our member companies to host or stream copies of their sound recordings."
Launched this past spring, Muxtape takes the idea of mix tapes (those of you born prior to 1990 are likely to recall the cassette, a magnetic tape used to store and play back analog music in a sequential manner) and moves them online. Instead of recording songs off of the radio, LP (another old analog music format), and CD onto cassette tapes and giving them to your SO or BFF, Muxtape allows users to upload playlists of MP3s which are then accessible to others... or were.