MySpace music challenge to Apple from outer space

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 06 September 2006 05:10

Opinion and Analysis

MySpace is a great social networking site for young people. It is also a great place for up and coming music bands who haven't yet been discovered by music labels to market their talents and sell their music to their growing throng of followers. However, talk that MySpace is actually a threat to Apple's iTunes is in the same league as my mother was an alien from outer space.
To put things in the proper perspective, we need to look at what MySpace plans to offer and what iTunes offers.

The MySpace music store, site, portal or whatever you want to call it, will feature millions of unsigned and unknown would be music artists trying to hawk their wares and get "discovered".

The iTunes music store features hundreds of thousands of downloadable music tracks from known artists who are already signed with the world's leading music labels. Whether you're talking Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay or the Rolling Stones, these are established professional artists with global followings.

The music supplied by the MySpace wannabee music stars may be free in some instances and it may cost money in others, depending the popularity of the artist, but it will not be copy protected with a digital rights management (DRM) system and can therefore be copied and played wherever and whenever the downloader desires.

The music supplied by iTunes is of course heavily protected by Apple's FairPlay DRM and is covered by strict rules of where it can be copied to once it's downloaded. This is a key reason why the major music companies are prepared to deal with Apple and supply iTunes with content, even though they complain and bluster about Apple's pricing inflexibility and bullying tactics

The day a band on MySpace signs with a major recording label - and don't believe that most don't want to - is the day all that band's future music leaves MySpace and goes over to iTunes. Most artists want to be rich, famous and adored, rather than garage bands all their lives.

There is talk that MySpace wants to do deals with music labels. That's fine. With 100 million plus young registrants on the site, MySpace would be an attractive venue for labels to sell their wares. However, anyone who thinks that the music labels would permit their artists' music to be sold without DRM copy protection might also believe in aliens from outer space.