The Impact of MySpace Music on Working Musicians

MySpace has just announced its intent to roll out MySpace Music, a social networking site dedicated to the sale of concert tickets, merchandise, and downloads. The 5 million artists represented on their site are supposed to be excited over the prospect of handing over the fruits of their labors in order to receive a piece of the action. I'm certain that this will probably be true, but let's take a closer look at what we know, extrapolate from that, and determine just what realities are about to take place.

We know that MySpace is talking about "content", but everything still looks like product to me. The creators of this content are being glorified on the one hand, while the fact is that they will be part of the assembly line that feeds NewsCorp (owner of MySpace). How can I say this? Easy, just note what goes on in the current Music portion of the MySpace site. A lot of work to qualify your friends, a lot of bulletins that no one reads, a lot of invitations that no one cares about. Yes, the distribution of exposure is a help, but who and how many are getting real benefits? How much have any of you received from MySpace for what you already have done to deliver success and revenue to their stockholders?

Chris DeWolfe, MySpace co-founder and chief executive of MySpace, I am certain, knows, from personal experience, what the common musician, teacher, student, or club owner is going through to survive. Universal, Sony BMG and Warner are participants in this venture. What DeWolfe (and Rupert Murdoch, for that matter) don't know, I'm sure these industry "leaders" can teach him. Speaking of Universal, the stakes must be high for them to set aside their lawsuit against MySpace in order to get a piece of this pie.

These guys are not idiots. MySpace Music is to be launched as a separate entity and will have to justify its existence by pointing to the accountant's bottom line. They have had their thorough analysis and projections, seen what has happened with iTunes, and know that they are losing traction. But what about their record? Aren't these the same guys that have resisted technological change? Aren't they the ones that have put up countless roadblocks to the workings of fact in the real world? How about their anticipation of musical trends or their support of either traditional music or the voices of originality? They are clueless, at best, and the slickest of thieves, at worst.

For every successful act, how many have been turned down, ignored, or signed, left in the can and put on a shelf? Masters of manipulation are intent upon making up for lost time; their marketing belies their blindness. There is no vision, there is no ethic, there is no principle, except the one driven by profit.

In the end, the only way for us to thrive in this jungle of hucksterism is to sort it all out for ourselves, to serve ourselves by serving each other, and to show these opulant opportunists that we actually know what we are doing.