Last Friday, MySpace announced they are getting into the music business with a company called Snocap. This service will allow unsigned bands to sell and distribute their music through MySpace. There will be no copy protection on the MP3s, and there will be a small distribution fee that MySpace will collect in the sale.

What kind of numbers are we talking? MySpace claims this will let nearly THREE MILLION unsigned bands to distribute their music through MySpace.

There are a few positives in this for the independant or unsigned songwriter:

Distribution
As this article points out, there are few startups that can take on Apple and iTunes like MySpace, with a built-in registered member list of 106 million users.

Catalog
MySpace claims to have almost 3 million bands showcasing their music online. Granted, the quality and committment of these 3 million artists varies widely, but the numbers are impressive. Most music fans that finally embrace MySpace are usually amazed at the great quality music available out there in the “unsigned” world.

Digital Rights Management
There will be no digital rights management or copy-protection for the MP3s sold on MySpace. This irritates the big labels. But this will work for MySpace because (a) iTunes allows non-secure MP3s to be played on their devices so all MySpace purchased MP3s can be played there, and (b) at the “unsigned” stage of an artist’s career distribution is more important than a few unauthorized MP3 copies.

To say that the state of the music industry is in a state of alarming flux is an understatement of gigantic proportions. We definitely look forward to the shakeouts and breakouts in the coming year.

(via TechCrunch)