Posted by  Jon Newton in on October 7, 2003 at 7:39 AM
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MP3.com owes musician Steve Cox a huge vote of thanks. Because he saved them from disaster.
Cox sings as the Voice of Golden Eagle and promotes himself on MP3.com, the site bought by Vivendi Universal from Lindows entrepreneur Mike Robertson.
MP3.com had become a shadow of its former self when Vivendi walked in to turn it into a shadow of a shadow. However, Cox uses it and, "When I went to my artist site URL this morning, I saw one of the infamous VeriSign redirects instead of my music, complete with the dreaded message, 'We didn't find: artists.mp3s.com'," he says "There is no Website at this address."
Further investigation showed the site was "almost entirely broken". While the front page was still there, any link that went to the MP3S.com 'sub-domain' was non functional and, "That meant the music charts and ALL streaming music services were down," says Cox.
"As an artist being directly affected by this breakdown my next actions were clear. I picked up the phone and called Network Solutions customer support," he says in a Net post. "Within minutes I used my own credit card to purchase a one year renewal for the MP3S.com domain."
The cost to Cox? $35.
[Everything seems OK today - the painful MP3.com front page is back in its full glory and the links we tried worked. The question now remains: Do we thank Steve for his trouble with a bunch of roses - or ....? - Ed]
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User Comments
 purfus
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 10:22 AM
DAMN.... So close....
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 TheFirstNutZo
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:25 AM
hehe, thats actually funny. I wonder if they'll blame those "damn hackers" who have no respect for intellectual property rights who "tricked" them into letting the domain go..
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 gdZiemann
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:48 AM
Meanwhile, someone at Vivendi, whose job it was to kill off mp3.com, is trying to explain to Mitch Bainwol what happened...
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ZeonMusic
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 12:55 PM
"The plan was going smoothly, I swear! But there's this guy, Steve Cox, and he...."
"Curses! Foiled again!"
Well, well, well, now what?
Zeon
"Live Free or Die!!"
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eatnails
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 2:27 PM
I don't think they 'forgot'. Rumors have been circulating for a few weeks that MP3.com is closing down. On September 13th or 14th, they laid off most of their staff, with only corporate staff (accounting, legal, execs) remaining.
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ZeonMusic
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 2:38 PM
Obviously poor Mr. Cox didn't get the memo.
Zeon
"Live Free or Die!!"
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VoGE
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 5:45 PM
I'm the guy that paid MP3.com's sub-domain bill. I did it for a simple reason. I simply wanted my music back online as quickly as possible.
As I realized what was stopping visitors from reaching my music site (mp3.com/voge) this past weekend, it dawned on me that literally thousands of other MP3.com artists were experiencing that exact same sinking feeling.
I didn't do much. Just paid the $35 renewal fee. But as I thought about it, I realized I had also turned 1,000+ other independent artists back on at the same time.
When was the last time ANYONE bought that much goodwill for $35 US? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Wouldn't you?
...VoGE
www.VoiceOfGoldenEagle.com
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 alcoholicskunk
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 5:58 PM
Well, for some reason I think VOGE is a joke, but if you cared that much about indie artists you could have used that $35 and donated it to dmusic.
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VoGE
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 6:08 PM
Not a joke, but think what you will.
I do agree the whole situation is pretty funny tho. When the whois report showed that domain as expired, I thought I was seeing things!
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goofycaca
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 6:20 PM
That's a shame VoGE. If you are who you claim to be, you could have allowed the page to expire, then reregister the domain in your name, making the site yours and hosting 1000's of indie groups without the oppressive control of Vivendi.
Although the cost of registering and maintaining might have been a bit much. Helping the cause can hurt some times.
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koemoejoe
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 6:42 PM
but he would have been makeing mad money off it
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VoGE
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 9:31 PM
goofy, the domain DID expire. It was on inactive status. That's why it went offline.
I'm a musician, not a Net domain speculator. I had no interest in owning the MP3s.com name even if it was available. I just wanted to get the music back online.
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stilltrying
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 9:49 PM
Yes Thanks Steve cox for what you did!!!! A multi millom dollar corp. and they won't even acknowledge him or thank him or let him have some free exposer. If it's any consolation the ANTI RIAA song called GENERATION D by The We Be Jamin Band is now available on MP3.com. A music web site owned by one of the Major Labels
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7thekid7
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:05 PM
alcoholicskunk,
dmusic is not even in the same league as mp3.com when it come to searching for indie music...not even close!
and voge's music is good
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Jennae
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:22 PM
 dmusic kicks some ass thank you very much and there is tons of great artist here as well thank you again. |
Jennae
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:23 PM
55 points and a member since august2003.. just how much listening to the artist here have you done to make that statement?
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alcoholicskunk
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:27 PM
Alright true... dmusic does not have the level of artists of mp3.com... But if anyone has paying attention.. although those artists are still there.. you wouldn't know it by any of the featured pages. It's just a hub to promote major artists. If you dont' see that than I feel I need to help to.. In fact I need another person to help as well... one to grab around the waste.. and the other to pull the head out of the ass.
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alcoholicskunk
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Date: October 7, 2003 @ 11:29 PM
sorry for the mispelling and the hostility..... I've had a few shots of rum.... if I didn't drink tonight I probably would have spelled better
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alcoholicskunk
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Date: October 8, 2003 @ 12:05 AM
But to be honest I think VoGE is someone here who's just trying to push peoples buttons... My first clue was he just became a member today. Infact I wish I would have thought of it first... I love pushing peoples buttons... even if it's just to to push buttons for the simple fact of pushing buttons.... But that's just my hunch
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VoGE
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Date: October 8, 2003 @ 2:18 AM
I'm here because this site picked up on the story and I was curious and honored!
I support everything Boycott-RIAA.com stands for (and against), and as an indie artist posting my music on the Net for FREE DOWNLOADING, I'm putting my music where my mouth is.
It's all about the music.
...VoGE
www.VoiceOfGoldenEagle.com
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alcoholicskunk
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Date: October 8, 2003 @ 3:45 AM
well shit.... am I enlightenting you or am I a part of some elabrate joke... if you belived that you wouldn't have given one penny to mp3.com... oh well whether it is or not ... I wont' reply again.. cause cause if it's not a joke someone will pick up where I left off.... and if it is.... well I"m done and same thing..... and if it is a joke.. nice job!!!!! like I said .. wish I thought of it
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woodhead
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Date: October 8, 2003 @ 9:49 AM
MP3.com is not what it used to be, let it die, the ppl who own it now turned it in to one big comercial board, not a valid site for any thing any more. It used to rock, was a great place to network and book shows in other towns, but now, it is yuk
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