Blex's Page of Good Mp3 - In Retrospect ...

    The story of Blex's Page of Good Mp3 begins on 5/16/1997. I was 17 years old and soon to graduate high school. At that time, there was no such thing as peer-to-peer file transfer, torrent downloads, or iTunes. The MP3 format of audio distribution basically did not exist. The format was new and mostly an underground phenomenon with songs being distributed and transferred primarily through modems and high-speed college internet connections. Sitting at home on my old Packard Bell computer, I downloaded a few songs and listened to them on Winplay3 (the only MP3 player that was available at the time). As a disillusioned teen with a large amount of free time and facing the uncertainty of life after high school I developed an idea to create a web page that listed links to where MP3 files could be downloaded. Thus, was born, Blex's Page of Good Mp3. The underground (IRC, newsgroups, & private FTP) world of MP3 was littered with a thing called "ratio" sites. A "ratio" site worked in a way that if you wanted to download 5 songs you had to upload some songs first. In my mind, this was a nuisance that only made the site owner's MP3 collection grow while down loaders of songs  needed to wait to get the music they enjoyed. Soon, I amassed a handful of links to sites that were not "ratio" sites. The idea popped in my head to create the ultimate web page for "leechers" (people who did not want to upload before downloading). I advertised my web site location that was hosted on my local ISP (www.cybrzn.com/~blex/mp3). I listed only sites that had a "leeching" environment. Soon, word spread like a wild fire, the availability and access to get free MP3s then took off due to the "free" attitude of illegal music distribution. Through the rest of 1997 and January of 1998, the site grew at an unprecedented rate. People continually e-mailed me their FTP sites which contained free MP3s to download. Leechers visited my site continually and the MP3 form of free music distribution went from the underground to mainstream. The "ratio" attitude was a thing of the past. Finally, the MP3 and digital music came to the masses!

    Then, on February 6th, 1998, sporadic FTP site owners contacted me and informed me they received cease-and-desist e-mails from Jim Griffin of Geffen Records. The e-mails contained threats of punishment by the law for copyright infringement. To protect the site owners, I knew there was only one thing to do, remove the links to obtain free MP3s. I labeled the month of February 1998 "Black Friday" as it was a sad day for digital music lovers world-wide.

    From 5/16/1997 until the eventual removal of the site (I switched to a different local ISP in 1999 & the URL changed to www.webcntrl.com/blex/mp3), over 2 million people visited the MP3 page to obtain free music of the bands they love. The majority of which would end up purchasing new albums and going to concerts to pay respects to the music they love.

    When I look back on the days that I ran my web page, I now laugh at the immaturity, lack of professionalism, and anarchist-like attitude I had towards the world. My goal when I made the web page to "change the world" for the better. As I got older, I've been able to realize the impact my web page had. It might not have been as "legendary" as I've made it out to be. But, it was a beginning "seed" that was planted in the early infancy of the growth of MP3 music. In hindsight, when the page was started on 5/16/1997, "leech" FTP sites with MP3s were extremely rare. However, when the page ended on 2/6/1998, one final outcome in the world was that "leech" and "free" was now the norm. Thus, mission accomplished!

    In December of 2002, I obtained a Bachelors Degree in history. I came to notice there was one "common denominator" in the world over the past 15+ years. That was that our current era has an unbalanced and extremely centralized amount of wealth in the hands of the few (less than 1% of the population controlling nearly everything). The result, a middle class that survives a lifetime on debt and small wages, global poverty for billions of people, and unnecessary global wars due that benefit the rich which the masses suffer. The root-cause, oligarchy of global wealth leaving the masses to struggle financially to make a living compared to the bourgeoisie elites.

    In relation to the MP3, the impact arguably has been felt world-wide. Illegal MP3 downloading comes down to a simple question for many middle-class American internet regulars over the past 15+ years. That question, "Why pay for music when you can get it for free in MP3 form?" The answer, basic sociology and Marxism, "Why not?" The large majority of the population spends their entire adult lives paying off debt, buying things on credit, and existing in a world of perpetual advertising from birth to death.  In a just society, people would reward artists by purchasing their albums and providing them any type of financial assistance necessary. However, with such an inequality of wealth in the world, people simple cannot pay their respects. Simply put, they don't have the money to do so. Illegal MP3 distribution is not a problematic cause. Rather, it is an effect of global financial inequality.

    It is my hope, that the history of Blex's Page of Good MP3 will provide a spirit and legacy that will carry on to a just society world-wide.
A world where greed and exploitation of the ill fortuned does not exist. A society by the people, for the people, and of the people instead of by the rich, of the rich, and for the rich!

Contact me for questions, comments, or to tell me I'm a dirty socialist dreamer (which I am proud to admit that I am) !!