Month: October

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MySpace Music shows a turning point for the recording industry. The four major labels and MySpace, a News Corp. subsidiary, are taking part in this joint venture of a brand new music service and business model. This is the culmination of over 18 months of research in business models and digital music strategy for the labels. During that time, the majors signed deals to open the door for ad-supported free streaming, digital rights management (DRM)-free music sales, and reduced licensing costs while getting revenue share and/or company equity in return. The new model is meant to be more of a template for future agreements, rather than an experiment. Many indie labels are upset with MySpace. They were not included during the launch of the site, mainly because theyre still working out their agreements with MySpace. This is because many of the indies are fighting to get company equity like the majors have, but it is off the table in the discussions. They are still discussing the terms of ad revenue from streaming and purchased music and video. The focus on major labels could also be a problem because the vast majority of artists on MySpace are unsigned or on indie labels. The Orchard and major label-owned indie distributors have licensed their catalogs to MySpace Music in time for launch.