JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum MySpace talking to independents Posted by: "Derek at CD Baby"

I just did some math and added up the entire roster lists for all 4 major label groups. The total came to under 1000 artists across all genres of music.

If we are to believe MySpace Music's claim of 5 million artist pages on their system (which I can't seem to reconcile, but for now we'll work with that number)that means that the major labels (even if all 4 eventually sign on) would represent less than 1/50th of 1% of the artist pages on MySpace Music, yet they will co-own and control it. Do any of the 4,999,000 other artists really believe they'll get a fair shake in payments, promotion and benefits from being on the site? That would take an enormous leap of faith in the labels doing the right thing, something they've never demonstrated to date. On the contrary, they've worked hard to keep indies off the radio, off store shelves, out of promotionally beneficial places, out of corporate controlled music venues and relegated to the shadows of the commercial music industry. Using sheer brute force marketing muscle and other legal and illegal (i.e. payola for example) methods, they've always worked hard to screw the little guy at every turn. Now when they are in their most desperate situation ever, why should the massive numbers from the grassroots indie music community bail them out by helping them make this new model succeed? As far as I am aware, while all these high level negotiations have been going on, there hasn't been any significant outreached to the indie community to make sure the 4,999,000 unrepresented artists have a say in pricing and licensing and merchandising and promotions and a fair share of the ad revenue like the major label artists are getting.

This is a dark day for those who have made MySpace what it is, millions of little guys and gals.

Brian