This week has seen several reports claiming that MySpace Music has so far been a bit of a damp squib. Why? According to boss of independent music licensing company or “the virtual fifth major” Merlin, it’s because there’s scant few indies on the service.Merlin represents labels which represent artists including Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Anthony & The Johnsons, Basement Jaxx, Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, Infadels, Jose Gonzalez, Vampire Weekend and The White Stripes. The organisation has been vocal about what it sees as an unfair position taken by MySpace from day one, when MySpace Music reportedly gave equity to the majors but not to the indies. So we spoke to Merlin boss Charles Caldas to get his view.What’s going on with MySpace Music?The general word on the street is that they’re not setting the world on fire. It’s hard for me to comment because don’t see the numbers, but if it had been such a raging success they’d be shouting it from the rooftops .And you blame this lack of success on the lack of indie content?Given the history and demographics of its users and the fact that its value has been built on diversity and independent artists…to ignore all of that [...]
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