Muxtape was created by
Justin Ouellette in March 2008. Initial funding for the site was reported to be $95,000 and was provided by Jakob Lodwick, Justin's ex-Boss from
Vimeo, and funding was agreed to via a contract written on a napkin. However, Justin Ouellette has since stated that the $95,000 amount concerned funding for more than just Muxtape alone. The original version of Muxtape allowed music fans themselves to upload playlists of
MP3s, based on the idea of a
mixtape. This version was launched on March 25, 2008. Ouellette came up with the idea after being a
disc jockey at his university's radio station. The site became unexpectedly popular immediately after launching, with 8,685 users registered in its first day and 97,748 in its first month. The site was supported by
affiliate links to
Amazon.com. A hallmark of the site was its very simple design. In-site searching of streamable tracks was a feature purposely absent (this feature likely contributed to the litigation brought against the Muxtape-inspired site Favtape). Ouellette explains that the important part of a mixtape, which he tried to preserve on his site, is about discovering new music instead of someone finding music they are already familiar with. On August 18, 2008, Muxtape services ceased to be available, and the main page displayed the following message: "Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the
RIAA." ==Second iteration==