always try to go with something else / siempre intenta ir con algo más

"i love music" it begins. "the desire to share it is innate and crucial for music itself. When we find a song we love, we beckon our friends over to the turntable, we loan them the CD, we turn up the car stereo, we put it on a mixtape."

Justin tells the story of how he made muxtape , how it became popular and of course how the anti-piracy people came knocking on his door. it´s interesting how, as he says, people tend to think muxtape was "flying under the radar". but the truth is, there´s no flying under the radar anymore, it´s imposible. we forget big companies, major labels, corporate mazingers are ultimately people, with computers, just like us.

Justin tells the story of how lawyers saw things differently, from “Muxtape is 100% legal and you’re on solid ground,” to “Muxtape is a cesspool of piracy and I hope you’re ready for a hundred million dollar lawsuit and a stint at Riker’s.”

Justin tells the story of how musicians and smaller labels were hiped about muxtape, excited about it´s possibilities. "Smaller labels wanted to feature their content in other creative ways. It seemed obvious Muxtape had value for listeners and artists alike".

Justin tells the story of meetings in Universal and EMI, and how he had to make a decision, shut down entirely, ban major label content or get licensed.

Justin tells a long story of negotiations and lawayers and suits.

Justin chooses, fuck major labels. Muxtape is going to be for bands. "The new Muxtape will allow bands to upload their own music and offer an embeddable player that works anywhere on the web, in addition to the original muxtape format. Bands will be able to assemble an attractive profile with simple modules that enable optional functionality such as a calendar, photos, comments, downloads and sales, or anything else they need. The system has been built from the ground up to be extended infinitely and is wrapped in a template system that will be open to CSS designers".

a great story. muxtape was built on sharing and this letter is proof of that spirit and that it´s still alive. that Justin is of this age and that he thinks in the now. how many things can we learn from this? From strategic planning to smaller, everyday ways of doing, being.

good luck Justin. everything´s gonna be alright.