6 ms·

Mixwit (YC W08) shuts down

48 points by ALee 18y ago

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
bootload 18y ago
"... We’re very sorry that this has to end. We’re going to try to figure out some way to archive the artwork and playlists, if for nothing at least historic value ..." Try IA ~ http://www.archive.org/donate http://www.archive.org/donate who are always interested in archiving interesting stuff.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
matt1 18y ago
"Until then, enjoy the holidays and please take good care of yourselves, your families, and your friends =)" Is that last part about taking care of your friends a hint at what caused them to shut down? The wording and strange order seems to suggest it, no?
- ivankirigin 18y ago
  It's not about that.
  - brandonkm 18y ago
    They started out "between a rock and a hard place". I'd say thats probably the primary reason. This is unfortunate as I hadn't heard of mixwit until just now.
    - ojbyrne 18y ago
      Actually it says "between rock and a hard place." I think the missing a is significant. Especially because they italicized "rock."
      - rrival 18y ago
        starts inserting random grammar errors and italics in posts and comments to invite intrigue
      - aaronblohowiak 18y ago
        yes, it is funny.
zack 18y ago
Bummer. The music industry is a tough nut to crack. I don't know anyone who's really ever made tons of money on a startup there; tons of legal bullshit. Anyone know if Napster ever did well? I think Shawn Fanning only ever made money on Snocap.
- marketer 18y ago
  Don't you think companies that do face the legal bullshit are already successful? The music market is simply huge, and there have been many successes. There are plenty for music marketplaces, for instance, and while the largest ones are part of big companies who have more leverage to negotiate with the record industry, there are lots of smaller ones out there that seem to be doing fine, like amie street. The original Napster wasn't successful as a business, but it completely changed the way people thought about music distribution on the internet. Some of the core napster employees went on to create imeem, which seems to be doing great. There have been a few great exits - last.fm, broadcast.com, and winamp come to mind, and I'm sure there are plenty of less publicized ones.
- kwamenum86 18y ago
  Napster 2.0 bombed as well. They were starting to gain some momentum with universities for a moment there (my alma mater had a free trial for a semester) but there were too many restrictions on the music and they could not compete with the (sometimes illegal) alternatives.
zack 18y ago
Hopefully they'll give away the source code.
- henning 18y ago
  IANAL and I am not a founder but I thought the source code basically disappears into a black hole, from a reuse/release perspective. You can't use it. That's what happened with a friend's startup that didn't work out.
ALee 18y ago
Correction: Mixwit was Spring 08. [correction again, I was right initially- stupid techcrunch post threw me]
- mhartl 18y ago
  Nope, they were winter. (I was in the same round with them.)
patio11 18y ago
On another software making discussion forum I participate in, we have a saying: don't write software for people who don't pay money for software. I hope I'm not being totally uncouth in suggesting that variants of this remain good advice.
- ericb 18y ago
  What is this other forum? Sounds promising.
  - patio11 18y ago
    The Joel on Software Business of Software forums. http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz Its mostly people with small* businesses selling B2C and/or B2B downloadable software, with some contractors and web app folks mixed in. * For many definitions of "small", including "Oh heck I want to be small like he is small".
- webwright 18y ago
  That would've been really bad advice for some people. There is a lot of successful B2C software out there.
- sown 18y ago
  Devil's Advocate: iTunes made it compelling to buy a 99 cent track instead of downloading it for free. Surely there must be something to it?
  - andr 18y ago
    It wouldn't have worked if iTunes also let you download the music for free.
    - sown 18y ago
      True but a bit torrent client + google means that song is just a few clicks away.
turbod 18y ago
Will be interesting to see what the founders will come up with next... "We’ll return early next year with a new company and new toys."
hualibaobao 18y ago
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paul9290 18y ago
So would the creators advise against creating a music service that uses Seeqpod (or something similar), which operates in a grey legal area?
- radley 18y ago
  Seeqpod is a really great service, but it's high on the music labels' neg radar. It really depends on your long term goals. It was one of many factors in our decision.
Mistone 18y ago
there are lots of vague statements here. Would have like to know what their "rock and a hard place" looked like? what the primary challenges where? and what they've learned for next time? never easy to talk about failures but hugely valuable for the founder and this community.

48 points by ALee 18y ago

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

"... We’re very sorry that this has to end. We’re going to try to figure out some way to archive the artwork and playlists, if for nothing at least historic value ..." Try IA ~ http://www.archive.org/donate http://www.archive.org/donate who are always interested in archiving interesting stuff.

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

matt1 18y ago

"Until then, enjoy the holidays and please take good care of yourselves, your families, and your friends =)" Is that last part about taking care of your friends a hint at what caused them to shut down? The wording and strange order seems to suggest it, no?

ivankirigin 18y ago
It's not about that.
- brandonkm 18y ago
  They started out "between a rock and a hard place". I'd say thats probably the primary reason. This is unfortunate as I hadn't heard of mixwit until just now.
  - ojbyrne 18y ago
    Actually it says "between rock and a hard place." I think the missing a is significant. Especially because they italicized "rock."
    - rrival 18y ago
      starts inserting random grammar errors and italics in posts and comments to invite intrigue
    - aaronblohowiak 18y ago
      yes, it is funny.

zack 18y ago

Bummer. The music industry is a tough nut to crack. I don't know anyone who's really ever made tons of money on a startup there; tons of legal bullshit. Anyone know if Napster ever did well? I think Shawn Fanning only ever made money on Snocap.

marketer 18y ago
Don't you think companies that do face the legal bullshit are already successful? The music market is simply huge, and there have been many successes. There are plenty for music marketplaces, for instance, and while the largest ones are part of big companies who have more leverage to negotiate with the record industry, there are lots of smaller ones out there that seem to be doing fine, like amie street. The original Napster wasn't successful as a business, but it completely changed the way people thought about music distribution on the internet. Some of the core napster employees went on to create imeem, which seems to be doing great. There have been a few great exits - last.fm, broadcast.com, and winamp come to mind, and I'm sure there are plenty of less publicized ones.
kwamenum86 18y ago
Napster 2.0 bombed as well. They were starting to gain some momentum with universities for a moment there (my alma mater had a free trial for a semester) but there were too many restrictions on the music and they could not compete with the (sometimes illegal) alternatives.

zack 18y ago

Hopefully they'll give away the source code.

henning 18y ago
IANAL and I am not a founder but I thought the source code basically disappears into a black hole, from a reuse/release perspective. You can't use it. That's what happened with a friend's startup that didn't work out.

ALee 18y ago

Correction: Mixwit was Spring 08. [correction again, I was right initially- stupid techcrunch post threw me]

mhartl 18y ago
Nope, they were winter. (I was in the same round with them.)

patio11 18y ago

On another software making discussion forum I participate in, we have a saying: don't write software for people who don't pay money for software. I hope I'm not being totally uncouth in suggesting that variants of this remain good advice.

ericb 18y ago
What is this other forum? Sounds promising.
- patio11 18y ago
  The Joel on Software Business of Software forums. http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz Its mostly people with small* businesses selling B2C and/or B2B downloadable software, with some contractors and web app folks mixed in. * For many definitions of "small", including "Oh heck I want to be small like he is small".
webwright 18y ago
That would've been really bad advice for some people. There is a lot of successful B2C software out there.
sown 18y ago
Devil's Advocate: iTunes made it compelling to buy a 99 cent track instead of downloading it for free. Surely there must be something to it?
- andr 18y ago
  It wouldn't have worked if iTunes also let you download the music for free.
  - sown 18y ago
    True but a bit torrent client + google means that song is just a few clicks away.

turbod 18y ago

Will be interesting to see what the founders will come up with next... "We’ll return early next year with a new company and new toys."

hualibaobao 18y ago

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paul9290 18y ago

So would the creators advise against creating a music service that uses Seeqpod (or something similar), which operates in a grey legal area?

radley 18y ago
Seeqpod is a really great service, but it's high on the music labels' neg radar. It really depends on your long term goals. It was one of many factors in our decision.

Mistone 18y ago

there are lots of vague statements here. Would have like to know what their "rock and a hard place" looked like? what the primary challenges where? and what they've learned for next time? never easy to talk about failures but hugely valuable for the founder and this community.