Brian, I don't understand what you're proposing (other than to get really angry!). This deal is going to either happen or not regardless of all this fuming.

The economics seem really simple to me. MySpace needs major label artists to stay legal and drive ad revenue. The major labels need MySpace's audience to sell ringtones to.

You can argue that it was indie artists that "built" MySpace but you'd have a tough time convincing me when ordinary people far outnumber musicians on MySpace.

That's a big difference. If indie artists are so valuable, why isn't Soundclick as popular as MySpace? Why isn't Garageband as popular as MySpace? Maybe it's because the real value in MySpace is that ANYONE can have a page, not just artists. And I'm willing to bet that the majority of people visiting MySpace are NOT visiting indie artist pages. They're visiting their own pages and their friends' pages, and maybe a handful of artists, both major and indie.

Otherwise, what do you propose we do? Expecting a mass indie exodus from MySpace isn't going to happen. The people who leave will be replaced with people who don't see it as much of a problem.

Besides, if we all leave MySpace then we'd REALLY have no say in the direction of the site.