Indie record labels may resent MySpace Music

On Friday, Rachel Metz reported with the Associated Press that the ever-popular MySpace.com is getting mixed-responses from record labels in regards to the social network& 39;s recent dive in to the online music industry.

Thursday marked the launch of the "much-anticipated" music service, MySpace Music. In short, the program gives MySpace members (all 120 million of them) access to an enormous inventory of songs for free.

According to Metz, the four record labels MySpace partnered with on this project are Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Inc., Universal Music Group and EMI Music- so the selection of songs specifically reflect the work of musical artists signed by these major labels. Revenue from ads and MP3 sales through Amazon are expected to be split equally among the five parties in this joint-venture.

That& 39;s all well and good- and it certainly guarantees your favorite hit songs will be waiting for you at MySpace Music, but as per usual, it& 39;s the underdog that goes overlooked once again.

You may not remember, but once upon a time when MySpace was just starting to branch out, a good amount of its success was attributed to independent artists and bands; as Metz writes, those musicians and their indie record companies significantly helped "the social networking site rose to prominence in the first place."

Those same groups, although they are under the radar compared to Sony BMG, represent a considerable population of MySpace& 39;s eclectic members. And they& 39;re reportedly unhappy that they were not included by MySpace in this budding Music project.

Charles Caldas, chief executive of Merlin, a London-based music rights licensing agency, expressed his anxiety that these four music label partners will reap the benefits of his company& 39;s indie artists& 39; success, and likewise that companies similar to his own will also go overlooked and exploited.

Responding to this, Tom Anderson- MySpace president and co-founder- stated that the social hub is indeed trying to branch out so that it can eventually include all contributing music labels, particularly the indie ones. "There& 39;s definitely no one on this side that wants this to be a major-label only service," Anderson claimed, citing simply a lack of business agreement between MySpace and Merlin as the primary reason it was not a part of the initial launch.

It& 39;s easy to overlook the little guys in the world of online superpowers and big business deals, but it& 39;s important to remember that this seeming subculture of musicians in fact is among the favorites of many MySpace members. For their sake, and the benefit of the labels, I certainly hope Anderson is genuinely working to forge deals with them all, so that everyone can enjoy their favorite music on this promising platform.