Here's another article, a little clearer on the deal:

MySpace, record cos. launch new service
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080403/ap_on_hi_te/myspace_online_music

Here's an interesting pullquote:

"MySpace, which boasts more than 110 million monthly users, has more than 5 million profile pages showcasing major label artists, independents and unsigned acts. All those artists would eventually be able to take advantage of MySpace Music's offerings, the company said."

Emphasis added. Of course we don't know yet what those offerings are, or if they're worthy anything to us...

Originally Posted by Brian Austin Whitney

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?


Disagree with your interpretation here, Brian. Indies and unsigned acts may make up the majority of profiles, but there's no way they draw the majority of traffic. How many independent artists does it take to equal the traffic of the one Nine Inch Nails profile?

This is exactly why these sites are negotiating with the major labels first. They need those 1000 big-name artists to add legitimacy and draw the BIG traffic numbers they need to generate the revenue they need to operate.