LOS ANGELES - Napster founder Shawn Fanning's legal peer-to-peer network Snocap today announced the signing of an agreement with social networking site MySpace. The deal will allow music artists to sell their music directly through MySpace music pages.
MySpace has entered into a first e-commerce deal that will ensure that it can sell tools to artists that allows them to set prices for their songs, which will be sold in the MP3 format. "Up until now bands faced the challenges of content availability, technology and distribution," MySpace president Tom Anderson said.
"This music service enables artists and labels to oversee their own commercial and distribution platforms while lowering the barriers for all bands to sell music directly to their fans in a way that's easy and totally legal." Fans can also use HTML codes to place their artists' music stores on their own page.
MySpace has an estimated 100 million users and is visited by 50 million on a monthly basis. MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe told Reuters that the aim was to become the top online music store. "Everyone we've spoken to definitely wants an alternative to iTunes and the iPod. MySpace could be that alternative," he added. "A band in Iowa can now reach out to fans in Los Angeles. They can actually sell their music on MySpace in an area where their fans congregate in a very contextual manner."
However analysts feel that the provision for only MP3 music and absence of DRM may hamper wide acceptability. The music stores are expected to launch in the US by the end of the year.
