MySpace.com has reportedly changed the small print regarding the posting of music on artist pages following those concerns raised by Billy Bragg.
As you all surely know, any artist registered with MySpace can make up to four tracks available for stream or download via the community site's servers. However, as previously reported, Bragg recently removed preview tracks from his page claiming that the site's terms and conditions essentially gave MySpace the right to re-licence music that had been posted onto their servers.
A posting on Bragg's MySpace page read: "The real problem is the fact that they can sub-license it to any company they want and keep the royalties themselves without paying the artist a penny. It also doesn't stipulate that they can use it for non-commercial use only which is what I'd want to see in that clause. The clause is basically far to open for abuse and thus I'm very wary."
MySpace quickly responded by stating that they had no intention of re-licensing music uploaded to their servers and that their terms and conditions were not designed to allow such things. A spokesman said: "Putting music on MySpace does not give us the right to sell it - the musicians own their content and can do with it as they wish. Obviously, we don't own their music or do anything with it that they don't want."
However, MySpace admitted they would review their small print, and according to Music Week the company have now altered the rules "concerning ownership and use of artists' material" to allay Bragg's fears as to what their t+cs were implying.