Monday, September 04, 2006

MyRecordShop

From today's New York Times article "MySpace Music Store Is New Challenge for Big Labels ":

MySpace, the online community site owned by the News Corporation, said on Friday that it would sell music through a partnership with Snocap, a technology company started by the creator of Napster, Shawn Fanning. When the online store opens this fall, it will allow bands andlabels of any size to sell songs online for whatever price they want.

At first glance, I see a number of good things about this:
  1. Poetic justice for the Napster guy
  2. Small, unsigned bands can sell their music; maybe not acutally make a profit since Snocap takes forty-five cents per song. (According to the article, iTunes takes thirty-five cents, but the file is sold in its proprietary format, boosting sales of its device.)
  3. Purchases can be made using PayPal, which includes the teen and twenty-something demographic
  4. It's competition.

Granted, MySpace, as noted in the above quote, is owned by a huge media conglomerate. And EMI are apparently "in talks," so there is a chance the majors will hop on this bandwagon (they'd be characteristically foolish if they didn't). But MySpace offers an option for musicians, and options and choices are always good. Something to keep track of.

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