Well, its finally arrived News Corp. launched its MySpace Music late last night, and with EMI on board. This now means all four of the major labels have inked deals with the joint venture, which comes as a bid to compete with the leading digital music provider iTunes. However, as previously reported, not all the indies are so happy about the newfangled MySpace Music.
Martin Mills, chairman of Europe's largest independent label collective Beggars Group, recently knocked News Corp.s new music service, criticizing it for not involving more independent labels, which he says played a critical part in MySpaces initial success.
In a statement, Mills had this to say about MySpace Music:
It is both disappointing and astonishing that MySpace, built on the music of independent artists and labels, should, now [that] it has the majors as partners, choose to launch without those that have been at its heart, and whilst treating independents as second class citizens.
The service's independent content, sadly, appears to constitute only the independent distribution arms of the majors by virtue of their deals with their parents, and the orchard.
We, however, believe that independent music and artists are worth every cent as much as that of the majors, and will not be supporting this potentially exciting new service until we see fair play.
While several indies have risen the possibility of anti-trust allegations against MySpace and MySpace, in a statement to Exclaim!, the company said: "MySpace Music welcomes indie artists and is not blocking content from them or other labels. Our goal is to provide the indie community with powerful tools and monetization channels to enable them to access revenue streams previously unavailable.
Martin Mills, chairman of Europe's largest independent label collective Beggars Group, recently knocked News Corp.s new music service, criticizing it for not involving more independent labels, which he says played a critical part in MySpaces initial success.
In a statement, Mills had this to say about MySpace Music:
It is both disappointing and astonishing that MySpace, built on the music of independent artists and labels, should, now [that] it has the majors as partners, choose to launch without those that have been at its heart, and whilst treating independents as second class citizens.
The service's independent content, sadly, appears to constitute only the independent distribution arms of the majors by virtue of their deals with their parents, and the orchard.
We, however, believe that independent music and artists are worth every cent as much as that of the majors, and will not be supporting this potentially exciting new service until we see fair play.
While several indies have risen the possibility of anti-trust allegations against MySpace and MySpace, in a statement to Exclaim!, the company said: "MySpace Music welcomes indie artists and is not blocking content from them or other labels. Our goal is to provide the indie community with powerful tools and monetization channels to enable them to access revenue streams previously unavailable.
