thesixtyone (t61) was a

streaming media Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

website that used

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to organize, promote, and sell music uploaded by artists, many of whom are independent musicians. The site was founded by James Miao and Samuel Hsiung and received early investment from Paul Graham. It was released in alpha from January 2008 and received additional funding from

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

CEO

Joi Ito is a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is a former director of the MIT Media Lab, former professor of the practice of media arts and sciences at MIT, and a former visiting professor of practice at the Harvard Law School. Ito has re ...

and

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for prof ...

, founder of

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

. The site takes its name from Highway 61, a route with deep connections to American music culture. According to the site's "bazaar" where users can purchase songs or mp3 albums uploaded by artists, "thesixtyone's guiding principle is to enable the creative middle class, providing talented artists the opportunity to make a living making music." The site also allows artists to license their music under

licenses and allow free downloads. On January 20, 2010, thesixtyone implemented a new design with emphasis on high resolution photography, location, and lyrics. The new layout sparked controversy among some users, leading them to direct their displeasure on the website's Facebook page. Many of the most active users prior to the redesign also quit using the site. On January 1, 2016, thesixyone cofounder Samuel Hsiung seemingly accepted that the redesign had been a mistake in a site announcement, apologized for recent neglect and reverted to the site design before the controversial changes.Announcement: Thanks for sticking around and the old is new.
Accessed 2016-01-04. In April 2017, the site was updated with a message that thesixtyone was shutting down, and that servers would go offline at midnight on May 1, 2017.

''"To our faithful listeners,''

''We've decided to formally shutdown thesixtyone.com -- our servers will go offline at midnight, May 1st 2017. Artist tipping and music purchases will be functional until then, so please spend any remaining credits by month's end. A final payment will be made to artists following the shutdown. thesixtyone was our baby for most of our twenties. We're incredibly sorry we weren't able to keep things going in the right direction. 2007-2017 Thank you for being a part of it. Farewell,'' ''James Miao & Samuel Hsiung"''

References

External links

archive of thesixtyone.com
a
archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:sixtyone American music websites Internet radio stations in the United States Defunct radio stations in the United States Defunct digital music services or companies