Major Overhauls in store for indies at MySpace Music

By Don • Apr 4th, 2008 • Category: Songwriting News

MySpace is gunning for iTunes, and they are bringing independent artists with them.

In an interview with Digital Music News, MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe said “”[Independent labels] will definitely be involved in it. We are actively reaching out to different groups that are representing independent labels.” He went on to say, “Independent artists are what helped us get started.”

Three major labels: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG are on board, with EMI being one of the big holdouts. When asked about EMI’s reluctance to participate, DeWolfe suggested journalists contact EMI directly.

No more specifics were addressed, such as cost per download, subscription options, etc.

There have been more than one failed attempt to ramp up MySpace into a major player in the online music space, and with over 30 million unique monthly visitors and over 5 million registered profiles they are certainly in a good spot if they push the right buttons with their members AND the artists.

Here are some thoughts from around the web:

ReadWriteWeb.com: Josh Catone wonders where the long-tail is.
CNET’s CrossFade Blog: Matt Rosof wonders if the independents will be hurt at the expense of the majors.
Lefsetz Letter: Bob says, “If this had happened even one year ago, it would be considered a big deal. But at this point, with iMeem streaming music, with music available free, with major labels having less power than ever before, it merits little more than a shrug.”

What do you think? With major label backing, a huge user base, and an entrenched music section do you think MySpace can become a major player in Digital Music?

Don is the founder, writer and editor of BloggingMuses.com
Contact Don | All posts by Don

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2 Responses »

  1. […] is Myspace going to compete with “i-rule the music world”? Bob Baker talks about other important […]

  2. Myspace’s move shows how myspace is having trouble innovating these days, the move is in many ways an exact copy of what imeem did a year ago, converting hostile legal actions by record labels into deals which let them provide music to users.
    I’ll wager that the first thing we’ll see is a direct clone of imeem’s ad-supported music model merged with a clone of itunes for music sales.

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