The once-vital MP3.com has been going downhill for a long time, especially since its acquisition by Vivendi Universal (whose primary motive was probably to kill the thing anyway). Its one remaining important asset--the world's largest archive of true indie music legally downloadable for free--is apparently to become a victim of the hapless VU's selling off "certain assets" (seemingly no more than the domain name and any shreds of remaining "brand equity") to CNet.
MP3.com archives to be scrubbed So. Is obliterating more than a million recorded songs, many of which no longer exist anywhere else, a good idea? No doubt many of these songs are unlistenable dogmeat, but many others are important artifacts of a pivotal time in the development of popular music.
I wish I could say there was something we could all do about it, but the execution notice was so sudden and so close to the final date that friends of music everywhere seem stunned into submission. There is a potential White Knight in the form of Brewster Kahle (as detailed in the linked article), and another has come forward today (Primetones), but in the absence of public pressure there seems little chance that the disorganized and dispirited VU will respond other than by scrubbing the MP3.com disk farm a week from today. No doubt they have something really important to use the storage space for, like lists of downloading lawsuit targets.
If anyone is into lost but noble causes, try taking a few moments to send VU a nastygram.
Corporate phones and addresses Investor Relations email addresses--impersonate a shareholder today!
