Wisconsin graduates build business from your old CD collection
“The best way you can ensure you have a great job when you graduate is to create that job.”
That entrepreneurial philosophy has served University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Matt Younkle well. From the chore of clearing off his cluttered bookcase, Younkle created a business venture.
Murfie is a “marketplace for music lovers” says Younkle, a digital reworking of the nearly extinct corner music store.
"I didn’t even have a CD player at my house anymore. I was asking myself, what does it mean to own a CD?" While answering the question of what to do with his CD's, Younkle, like many music-lovers, was caught between wanting to go digital, but still wanting to retain ownership of his music.
He and co-founder Preston Austin found in the answer in Murfie, a CD storing, buying and selling service that bills itself as the "World's largest new & used CD store... with a twist."
Using it is simple — a big part of the attraction, according to Younkle.
"One of the opportunities we saw was the alternatives for selling or trading, or managing your music, was a one-disc-by-one-disc kind of thing. We wanted to make it really easy to send off your entire collection."
Users tell Murfie which CD’s they want to send in, and receive a postage-paid box from the company. Soon, the collection is on its way to Murfie HQ in Madison, Wisconsin, where it will be stored and converted into downloadable files in a personal store, all free of charge.
Your collection certainly won’t be lonely- there are currently over 100,000 titles in their warehouse, and Murfie estimates it is growing by 2,000 discs every day.
Selling is a popular option on the site, a chance to help the unfortunate few who don’t own your original copy of S Club 7's sophomore album (available for $1), and the seller sets the price.
Trading happens, too - Murfie takes a 30 percent cut from sales, but trades are free. The transactions and current ownerships are all logged in a database.
And Murfie is even working to create the vibe of the fast-disappearing corner record store: Instead of a “High Fidelity” wannabe behind the counter spurring musical debate, though, they have a blog. Instead of Friday night acoustic sets, they have a podcast featuring local bands and artists.
“We value the community aspect of music...[we’re] just trying to reveal our personality at Murfie and make connections to other people who are interested in Murfie and musicians.”
Murfie also proudly touts its “tree hugger” status on their Facebook page, and in their name, originally from the acronym MRF, or material recycling facility. Normal curb side services won’t take the jewel cases CD’s come in, but Murfie is able to recycle them in bulk (their last pick up was over 6,000 pounds) and Younkle estimates the company will have recycled over 100 tons by the end of 2012.
Green de-cluttering is an important part of, but of course not the sole purpose behind Murfie.
"One of the neat things about owning a CD is that you actually really own it...With all the music you’re buying online these days, you’re buying a license to listen to the music instead of actually owning the music...I didn’t want to have to give up that ownership right."
Murfie has found a loophole in the blah-blah legalese that big sellers like iTunes and Amazon slip in before you click the “I Agree” box.
When you buy from someone, you download the tunes and ownership of the disc is yours. Even though the disc is not physically with you, the ownership rights are the same- music’s version of having your cake and eating it too.
In the future, Younkle sees Murfie being the “platform by which you can own your media in a purely digital economy. The heart of what we’re trying to do at Murfie is to answer that question, of what does it mean to own something on the Internet or on your hard drive as opposed to a physical book or a physical CD.”
Courtney Eckerle is a Spring 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.