iTunes rival MySpace Music launches, indie labels miffed

According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly 80 percent of all online music downloads come from Apple's iTunes. So you can't blame MySpace for wanting to challenge the hundred-pound gorilla. As reported earlier, MySpace has been working on what it sees as a challenger to the Apple dominance, culminating with the launch its long-in-the-works MySpace Music site this past Thursday.

In a joint venture with all four major music labels (EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner), the new site will allow for a number of new features: MP3 music downloads (through a partnership with Amazon.com), free audio streaming, music video playback and the option for MySpace account members to make playlists of up to 100 songs for public sharing. Advertisers can even sponsor playlists for contests and promotions. One interesting feature is it allows music connoisseurs to search for top artists—unsigned or signed to major or indie labels.

But there seems to be one major caveat ceating a rift between MySpace and the indie labels it has so desperately cleaved: each of the aforementioned major labels are equity partners in the website (along with digital media company The Orchard) in exchange for offering their musical catalogues.

The mere fact that MySpace Music started without any input or involvement from the indie labels has raised some eyebrows around the industry. “It certainly makes (MySpace chief executive) Chris DeWolfe’s public statements, that the ‘indie bands are really the heart of MySpace,’ ring extremely hollow,” Charles Caldas, the chief executive for the music licensing agency Merlin, said to The New York Times.

Merlin's discontent is particularly notable because the licensing agency currently houses over 12,000 indie labels. Wired even claims they hold a market share on the level of EMI, one of the four majors. The organization is said to be in talks with MySpace Music (and last.fm) to get its artists represented on the site (as of yet, only artists on one of the four major labels are available, with artists represented by The Orchard soon to come).

To read a rather thorough review of MySpace Music and its myriad of new features, head to Wired.com.

Related links:
News: MySpace, major labels join for online music service
Wired: MySpace takes on iTunes with DRM-free, Amazon-backed site
MySpaceMusic.com

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.