Aus Indies Brand The New MySpace ‘An Insult’

Independent record labels associations have this morning gone on the attack against the recently launched 'new' MySpace, as they claim the once-pioneering social network has locked out independent music from the service and is allowing severe copyright breaches.

Merlin, the global rights licensing agency which brokers deals on behalf of its independent label members and calls itself the 'fourth major', has not had its licensing deal with MySpace renewed under the new ownership but claimed last week that there was still music from over 100 of its labels – including Domino and Beggars Group – on the site.

MySpace argued that the offending streams were likely uploaded by users, and they would remove them at the labels' requests. Merlin have branded that stance – where the onus is on copyright owners to identify breaches – as a “regressive and outdated approach”

This morning Nick O'Byrne, General Manager of the Australian Independent Record Labels Association [AIR], joined with other global independent music stakeholders in a chorus of dissent towards the service from the Midem music industry conference in Cannes, France.

“Given MySpace's history with independent music and the company's rhetoric about its reincarnation as a platform for musical discovery, the current situation with regards to licensing independent music is insulting to our sector,” he said. “Their refusal to deal with independent labels respectfully implies that they see independent music as less valuable than that of the majors which has resulted in them re-launching an inferior music platform to consumers.”

The 'new' MySpace – which has ownership interests from the three major labels – has been designed to resemble a social music streaming site, and launched with the release of Justin Timberlake's comeback song Suit & Tie. Timberlake is a senior consultant on the service.

Rich Bengloff, President American Association of Independent Music [A2IM], was also vocal in attacking MySpace, saying that his association are “dismayed and disappointed that MySpace's response to the message that we were delivering was defensive and lacked a meaningful commitment to treat independent labels and our artists with the respect that our community's contribution warrants.”

He continued, “The last several years have seen the launch of a number of fantastic digital music platforms that understand and appreciate the contributions of independent artists and labels with more than just words. It is troubling that the new MySpace seems to be following the practices of so many failed services that made the mistake of not understanding the importance of independent music to their own peril.”

Beggars Group founder and influential indie voice Martin Mills added that, “We would expect a service that is selling itself on the discovery and promotion of new musical talent would understand the value of the music that independent labels release, and we would also expect that a service that is jointly owned by the major labels would respect our rights rather than hide behind the DMCA in exactly the same manner as pirates and companies like Grooveshark, but it appears that neither of these assumptions are true and that the new owners of Myspace just see independent music as a free ride.

“We hope they are willing to learn more about the music industry and become partners for all independent labels rather than an adversary.”

Representatives from MySpace have been contacted for comment. Under the new ownership, MySpace no longer has an Australian office.