Changes

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<td class="photocaption">Michael Robertson, former MP3.com CEO</td>

<td class="photocaption">Michael Robertson</td>

<td class="photocaption">former MP3.com CEO</td>

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Musicians flocked to the site, leading to a concentration of talent, creativity, and a real sense of community. Those who were there in the early days still remember sensing that they were part of something that was on the edge of changing the music business in a profound way.

Musicians flocked to the site, leading to a concentration of talent, creativity, and a real sense of community. Those who were there in the early days still remember sensing that they were part of something that was on the edge of changing the music business in a profound way.

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<td><img src="http://akahele.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mp3comlogo199.gif" alt="" /></td>

<td>http://akahele.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mp3comlogo199.gif</td>

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<td class="photocaption">MP3.com logo, circa 1999</td>

<td class="photocaption">MP3.com logo, circa 1999</td>

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For artists, it was exciting, completely self-empowering, and unlike any other creative experience ever. You could have an idea in the morning, record a demo at noon, send your track to someone halfway across the globe to add vocals or an instrumental part, and put your work up in evening for the world to hear. The management of MP3.com seemed to understand the importance of this vibrant artistic community, in submitting an ad to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences ''Grammy'' magazine in 1998:

For artists, it was exciting, completely self-empowering, and unlike any other creative experience ever. You could have an idea in the morning, record a demo at noon, send your track to someone halfway across the globe to add vocals or an instrumental part, and put your work up in evening for the world to hear. The management of MP3.com seemed to understand the importance of this vibrant artistic community, in submitting an ad to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences ''Grammy'' magazine in 1998:

<blockquote>What the whole world listens to…Future Grammy winners found here</blockquote>

<blockquote>What the whole world listens to…Future Grammy winners found here</blockquote>

<strong>The beginning of the end</strong>

 

==The beginning of the end==

When MP3.com went public in 1999, the stock sale raised over $370 million, which was a record for an Internet IPO at that time. To motivate the musicians on the site, the management began a promotion called ''Pay for Play'' which paid a "promotional fee" to each artist based on their monthly streams and downloads...''Oddly, this was the beginning of the end.''

When MP3.com went public in 1999, the stock sale raised over $370 million, which was a record for an Internet IPO at that time. To motivate the musicians on the site, the management began a promotion called ''Pay for Play'' which paid a "promotional fee" to each artist based on their monthly streams and downloads...''Oddly, this was the beginning of the end.''

Then came the "gamers" or those who "cracked the code": although the MP3.com system examined the IP addresses where the listening and streaming came from (to prohibit people from streaming their own songs), they couldn't examine <strong>all</strong> of the data. People quickly figured out that although their own listens didn't count for themselves, their listens for "friends" did. Around the same time, MP3.com launched a promotion called "New Music Army" which allowed people to make money by promoting other artists. The people who had "rosters" to promote would distribute all of their artists' playlists, which they would encourage recipients to stream several times a week. Many people streamed these playlists on multiple computers all day, with the sound turned off.

Then came the "gamers" or those who "cracked the code": although the MP3.com system examined the IP addresses where the listening and streaming came from (to prohibit people from streaming their own songs), they couldn't examine <strong>all</strong> of the data. People quickly figured out that although their own listens didn't count for themselves, their listens for "friends" did. Around the same time, MP3.com launched a promotion called "New Music Army" which allowed people to make money by promoting other artists. The people who had "rosters" to promote would distribute all of their artists' playlists, which they would encourage recipients to stream several times a week. Many people streamed these playlists on multiple computers all day, with the sound turned off.

<strong>The Script Kiddies made profit a question of ''point and click''</strong>

==The Script Kiddies made profit a question of ''point and click''==

As to be expected, somebody wrote an automatic script which could play all of the songs on a cabal's playlist automatically, but which played them only for the amount of time necessary to get "credit" before going to the next one. There were rumors of entire blocks of computers running playlists automatically at various server locations. MP3.com tried to catch those who were cheating and did manage to ban some of them, but there was no way that they could ban everyone. And since the site traffic soared and ad revenue went through the roof, maybe it wasn't that big of a deal?

As to be expected, somebody wrote an automatic script which could play all of the songs on a cabal's playlist automatically, but which played them only for the amount of time necessary to get "credit" before going to the next one. There were rumors of entire blocks of computers running playlists automatically at various server locations. MP3.com tried to catch those who were cheating and did manage to ban some of them, but there was no way that they could ban everyone. And since the site traffic soared and ad revenue went through the roof, maybe it wasn't that big of a deal?

==The sausage factory, version 1.0==

==The sausage factory, version 1.0==

Finally, people figured out that you didn't actually have to make music to get into the game. You could simply record your girlfriend moaning erotically, or you could mindlessly convert to mp3 format any MIDI files found on the web and upload those. And by this point, it didn't really matter. Nobody was listening anyway... at least, not many people. In November 2000, Salon.com wrote an article entitled <a href="http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2000/11/30/download_trading/print.html">Whoring for Downloads</a>, which spoke of a woman who traded downloads of her song for a porn video on adult sites, and another woman who described her "song" ''90 seconds of ecstasy'' as:

Finally, people figured out that you didn't actually have to make music to get into the game. You could simply record your girlfriend moaning erotically, or you could mindlessly convert to mp3 format any MIDI files found on the web and upload those. And by this point, it didn't really matter. Nobody was listening anyway... at least, not many people. In November 2000, Salon.com wrote an article entitled [http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2000/11/30/download_trading/print.html Whoring for Downloads], which spoke of a woman who traded downloads of her song for a porn video on adult sites, and another woman who described her "song" ''90 seconds of ecstasy'' as:

<blockquote>"90 seconds of my ecstasy as I make myself come. This is the real thing! When I scream as I come loud with the mic near my face, you can even hear the sounds of my breasts slapping against each other and I go wild with pleasure."</blockquote>

<blockquote>"90 seconds of my ecstasy as I make myself come. This is the real thing! When I scream as I come loud with the mic near my face, you can even hear the sounds of my breasts slapping against each other and I go wild with pleasure."</blockquote>

This was rather far from the actual act of making music, but it did indeed get lots of streams and downloads. What used to be vibrant artistic community became a mindless factory of worthless content which was mainly comprised of <a href="http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2007/02/036_4_Super_Robot_Deluxe_-_Delicious_Bobotronic.mp3">porn</a>, machine-generated copies of public domain material, and <a href="http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/LG/Background/Background_-_Alien_Abduction.mp3">some of the most mind-bogglingly bad music ever produced anywhere</a>. Much of the music became so bad that Time magazine featured <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,128113,00.html">a story on the phenomenon in their May 27, 2001 issue.</a>

This was rather far from the actual act of making music, but it did indeed get lots of streams and downloads. What used to be vibrant artistic community became a mindless factory of worthless content which was mainly comprised of [http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2007/02/036_4_Super_Robot_Deluxe_-_Delicious_Bobotronic.mp3 porn], machine-generated copies of public domain material, and [http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/LG/Background/Background_-_Alien_Abduction.mp3 some of the most mind-bogglingly bad music ever produced anywhere]. Much of the music became so bad that Time magazine featured [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,128113,00.html a story on the phenomenon in their May 27, 2001 issue.]

==The disillusioned ''old guard''==

==The disillusioned ''old guard''==

The artists who were there at the beginning and who were there during those very exciting first few months took these developments badly. There was a great sense of something unique (perhaps unique in the history of Western music) that had gone terribly wrong and a sense of being caught in the middle of a boring and pointless game.

The artists who were there at the beginning and who were there during those very exciting first few months took these developments badly. There was a great sense of something unique (perhaps unique in the history of Western music) that had gone terribly wrong and a sense of being caught in the middle of a boring and pointless game.

One of the the most evocative and direct responses to this situation is a song by the artist Dyonisos <a href="http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=105722&amp;songID=719567">''Play my song list again, my friend''</a> which sums up the aggressive atmosphere, the drama, and the endless quest for "more hits! more hits!" -- not musical ''hits'', but simply hits on the play buttons on the artist pages, like so many mice running through a maze and hitting a button to get a reward. In other words, the tool became the master and the original usefulness of the tool became an activity which replaced the entire point of the exercise. What should have set musicians free became a depressing prison, where one spent one's days promoting music to people who weren't listening, except if you clicked their buttons.

One of the the most evocative and direct responses to this situation is a song by the artist Dyonisos [http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=105722&amp;songID=719567" "Play my song list again, my friend"] which sums up the aggressive atmosphere, the drama, and the endless quest for "more hits! more hits!" -- not musical ''hits'', but simply hits on the play buttons on the artist pages, like so many mice running through a maze and hitting a button to get a reward. In other words, the tool became the master and the original usefulness of the tool became an activity which replaced the entire point of the exercise. What should have set musicians free became a depressing prison, where one spent one's days promoting music to people who weren't listening, except if you clicked their buttons.

==Reality rears its ugly head==

==Reality rears its ugly head==

==The end of the world's largest archive of free online music==

==The end of the world's largest archive of free online music==

Finally, Vivendi (the owner of UMG) had enough and sold the entire operation to CNET. <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/15/hungover_cnet_wakes_up_next/">As Andrew Orlowski put it in his Register article</a>, this was a bit like waking up in bed with someone that you don't remember going home with... and CNET decided to do the sensible thing and wipe the servers clean. Thus ended the largest collection of online music ever amassed in one place. While I find the comparison a bit exaggerated, I found the fact that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3.com">Wikipedia's article about MP3.com</a> links to the article about the ''Destruction of the Library of Alexandria'' to be a fitting tribute to the spirit in which the site was founded.

Finally, Vivendi (the owner of UMG) had enough and sold the entire operation to CNET. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/15/hungover_cnet_wakes_up_next As Andrew Orlowski put it in his Register article], this was a bit like waking up in bed with someone that you don't remember going home with... and CNET decided to do the sensible thing and wipe the servers clean. Thus ended the largest collection of online music ever amassed in one place. While I find the comparison a bit exaggerated, I found the fact that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3.com Wikipedia's article about MP3.com] links to the article about the ''Destruction of the Library of Alexandria'' to be a fitting tribute to the spirit in which the site was founded.

==And the beat goes on...==

==And the beat goes on...==