p2pnet - rss feed: MySpaceMusic (shudder)
p2pnet news | Advertising:- MySpace Music (shudder) is on the way —- with cash registers at the ready.
It’s like back in 2003 when everybody and his brother was launching MP3 sites hoping to penetrate the wallets of online music lovers once Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG and their various enforcement units around the world had crushed the upstart P2P file sharing community.
Of course, it never happened and it never will and now the Big 4 and their adherents are struggling desperately to find another way to milk us.
They’ve dumped DRM, kind of, and opened their catalogues, kind of, but they haven’t done anything about lowering their wholesale prices or halting their attacks on their own customers.
But you know eventually some way, somehow, music downloading and sharing will be ‘monetised’ and cany MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch (right) plans to be there when it happens.
MySpace Music will be jointly operated by Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group, with EMI, notably absent.
Could that be because Douglas merrill, EMI’s new boss, has publicly stated he doesn’t think suing the people who keep one in business is a particularly good idea?
Not according to The Register.
“The fourth, EMI, is expected to sign on any day,” it says “In exchange for litigation being settled, rights for the streaming and commercialisation of recordings will be granted.”
Wowee and hubba hubba.
Murdoch’s newest venture is slated to “roll out” over the next few months, will offer ‘free’ ad-supported streaming audio and video files, DRM-free MP3 downloads, and ringtones, “along with a host of e-commerce offerings from brand merchandise to tickets,” says MediaPost.
“MySpace Music will span the entire MySpace network, including its Music home page, artist profile pages, and individual member profiles,” it says. “Members will be able to personalize their music content, create playlists, stream songs from their profiles, and link to the work of favorite artists.”
But, “What a pity that while raging against the (dying) major record label, keyboard warriors are content to see them gain more power over creators than ever before,” says The Register. MySpace announced its lmusic service, “with barely a peep of protest”.
If the Net, “really is a brave new world for songwriters, composers and performers, where’s the upside?” - wonders the story, adding >>>
Strike One:
Major labels will jointly own the new service. There’s no stake for the indie sector which invests in the “Long Tail” - as much as 40 per cent of the market - or the collection societies who represent composers. That returns a degree of control over distribution and exposure back to majors that most people assumed the internet has destroyed. It’s a major coup.
Strike Two:
By excluding societies, majors control the accounting and therefore the royalty split. Instead of negotiating a more equitable deal, composers and songwriters can now expect to see rates driven down.
Strike Three:
In a move that will dismay managers, MySpace Music will take care of sponsorship opportunities for artists. These will be handled by News Corp-owned Jamba.
Strike Four:
Billy Bragg recently drew attention to the fact that while music adds tremendous value to a site, this is only realised when the site cashes out (like Bebo). By ensuring they own equity in the service, only the majors will see the benefits.
Unfortunately, the people with the ‘Smash The RIAA’ bumper stickers are so busy fighting for the right not to pay for music, they don’t notice when the major labels succeed in a historic power grab.
Stay tuned.
particularly good idea - Don’t sue, new EMI boss tells Big Music, April 3, 2008
The Register - MySpace Music leaves creators cold, April 4, 2008
MediaPost - MySpace Music Transforms Social Network From Promotional To Commercial, April 4, 2008
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe
to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.phpNet access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
April 5th, 2008 at 12:05 am
This is what fascinates me about p2pnet.net:
You CLAIM to be “music lovers”, and that p2pers would GLADLY pay musicians — IF the price is “fair” (whatever that means) — but then, any attempt by anyone to “monetize” (charge for) music or movies or anything like that online, and we get this same basic whimpering.
p2p advocates already HAVE access to the entire recorded output of every medium in human history, and due to the incomprehensibly huge amount of p2p traffic of all kinds the threat of “enforcement” lawsuits is so vanishingly small that nobody in their right mind could POSSIBLY be scared by it.
But somehow, any attempt to creat alternatives which DO NOT involve “free” content and screw-the-artists, and we get this type of thing.
Sad. If p2p advocates REALLY cared about the artists as much as they claim, their mouthpieces such as this blog wouldn’t sneer at “monetized” ventures of this kind, but would WELCOME them as yet another outlet.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
not you again