Welcome to MySpace Records
MySpace is opening shop as an indie record store — make that 3 million indie record stores. Using Snocap’s backend, MySpace plans to give all the musical artists on its site the option to set up online storefronts on their profile pages and their fans’ profile pages by the end of the year. Apparently NewsCorp might take a minority position in Snocap (something it recently did with Simply Hired) as part of the deal, according to the WSJ.
This isn’t a challenger to iTunes because the songs will be unrestricted MP3s, therefore leaving out the DRM-obsessed major labels. But it’s a great way to play into the allure of being part of the cool crowd — one of MySpace’s greatest strengths. Bands will be able to set their prices, with MySpace and Snocap each getting a cut. Fans can syndicate the stores on their MySpace pages, but it’s not clear if they will be able to take a share of the revenue as well.
Snocap, Napster creator Sean Fanning’s company, had previously emphasized its tool for identifying content on peer-to-peer networks, but that hasn’t gone anywhere. The company seems to have switched its strategy to selling these distribution tools to indie artists. Other startups in the space include Navio, Musicane, and BurnLounge.
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I wonder if by then they’ll actually have a site that is stable and doesn’t crash on its users when doing routine tasks, like adding friends to their profile, like now… Surely a lot of people serious about selling their tunes online, including indie artists, are doubtful of the ability for myspace to become an organised and trustworthy (from a platform stability standpoint)place for people to shop for tunes…
“This isn’t a challenger to iTunes because the songs will be unrestricted MP3s, therefore leaving out the DRM-obsessed major labels.”
Well, DeWolfe says that it will challenge iTunes – yes, he’s hyping it up, but the aim is to add copy-protected songs from major labels in the near future (Snocap’s technology is capable of that).
Anyway, thanks for the linky love – appreciated. :)
One more nail in the coffin that is being built for this crazy thing we call DRM. My gosh, the landscape for music is changing quickly! (e.g., the Universal announcement, this, etc.)
DRM is not a threat, it is a reality. Anybody who has still not gotten it is living in the Halo which has ended a few years ago.
Nothing is for free. Linux (one wishes), music on MP3, etc… Nothing. If people are downloading such things and getting away then they need to thank their lucky angels. But don’t count on them.
Let’s face the facts here. If we force the economy to give out things for free then we will hurt ourselves in the long run (perhaps not long enough now). So let’s just get the facts straight. People need to be paid to generate content and business need to be paid for delivering them
SG
This is a great idea. Mytuneslive.com wanted to do this, but never got the funding i dont think. Mytuneslive is like myspace, excfept you can upload whateve mp3 files you want.
This could be an abomination. Or not. Who knows?
This moves the bar. There are a lot of things moving the bar these days in favor of the independent musicians out there. Each time the bar moves, there’s another couple of hundred bands out there with real talent that finds that they can hold off on the “record deal” a bit longer.
Ultimately, the major labels are going to have to pay bigger dollars for artist acquisition, and they will have a shrinking market base.
i think it’s a brilliant move. mp3 with no drm is the only choice for an itunes competitor. it plays on the ipod! who else has the clout to push the labels into opening up more content for mp3? itunes will sell a lot of the hit singles on a new album but what about the other tracks? why haven’t they opened these up yet to emusic and other non-drm providers? anything they make on this is gravy. you know why? fear. and the guys who can push it open are myspace.
i’m very impressed with this move. clearly some smart people at the helm at fox.
-david hyman
Woo-hoo music without drm I’m in just bcos!, lol, DRM has been the one reason why I haven’t yet purchased a track online as I play on multiple devices (pc,laptop,phone and car) and the workaround of buring the track to cd then back as unprotected mp3 is wasteful and just adds to the already overflowing landfills. This alone should be good enough reason to outlaw DRM.
Thanks for the link to mytuneslive.com!
I don’t know why someone has not thought of this idea earlier. I can upload my own mp3 files, and listen to it at work or anywhere, putit on myspace or my blog! Its brilliant! ANd no DRM crap
Why do the record companies always make things hard for us consumers?!?!