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Seriously, let’s chat about MySpace. (And no, I don’t mean MY Myspace, I just mean MySpace in general.) Have you noticed how it’s all the sudden everywhere? These things happen fairly regularly… something is introduced, co-opted by a small group, spreads via word-of-mouth, reaches epic proportions, and then, magically and suddenly it seems, it’s everywhere all at once. I saw a MySpace compilation CD in Wal-Mart last week.

And the music aspect is something I want to hit on (in a non-sexual way.) I spent some time reading through their Terms of Service (T.O.S.) a few weeks ago. You know, that big, long list of rules and regulations that you oh-so-carefully labor over before you say “I accept” and start using a website? It started to scare me, and then my friend Charlie posted about it, too, so I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about. Especially the same little nugget Charlie posted on:

By posting Content on any public area of MySpace.com, you automatically grant as well as represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to MySpace.com, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information and content to MySpace.com and that MySpace.com has the right to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. (emphasis mine)

So, in layman’s terms, if you post it on MySpace, they own it. Forever. And you don’t. They can sell it, or do anything else with it, and you’ve given them the right to. Oh, and by the way, if they DO, they get the royalties for it, not you. Your property ceases to be your property according to the MySpace T.O.S.

Granted, if your intellectual property (music, photos, words, etc.) was copyrighted prior to posting on MySpace, you MIGHT have a case, should they ever decide to start enforcing their T.O.S. and using your work for their purposes, but even so… this is scary stuff considering the volume of users who (like most of us) just agree to terms online without knowing what they are.

Suckers. All of us.

Thanks............

I should start read those things then. lol

So wouldn't the logical conclusion be to NOT post your work on MySpace if you want to keep it?

yeah i thought thats what the article was suggesting???

Aah, I see-
it just sounded more to me like whining about myspace keeping your creations.

my mistake.

no no no.. i am against myspace period. its evil and self serving and cheap. like kiddy alters to oneself. i like the idea purely for musicians. if you want to have a profile.. go to college and get facebook. that is professional and alot harder to be abused. it works as great directory to find old friends too.

i wish they would make a southpark episode about it... and completely bash it for 23 min straight.

ouch, thats gotta hurt alot of the small bands on there that use it.

well, you see, i disagree, i come from england and here we have a band called the 'arctic monkeys' and the whole REASON they got big was THROUGH myspace, not only that but they seem to have all they rights to their own music

SHOCK HORROR THIS ISNT A CONSPIRACY!!!

hmm, but what if a band tried to make it big on myspace only to find that their music had been glommed by the company and now they can't get any royalties off of the millions that myspace is making due to their hard work?

south park bashing myspace...i LOVE it!!!!

luck of the draw.

a new website should still be created that doesnt have any potential scheming agenda. which myspace has in writing.

just jesting.

sounds like a bummer...though i don't use myspace...so i'm not really affected too much..

thats a horrendous term to agree to. im gonna warn some bands off putting their stuff on there, although many already have.

to be honest though i think if they did use their material which would in other ways be deemed illegal, and it went public it would probably be a massive blow for myspace, with many bands taking their tracks and profiles off the site.

so i dont think they will ever do anything about it, although myspace is a god awful place anyway hehh

That makes me curious as to what the T.O.S are at here UM?

Thanks for the warning, it's a very good thing to know.

I didn't even think to read what I was agreeing to, it just seemed like a waste of time.

Another point: since MySpace is not a private community (meaning it is not password protected), anything you post there (music, poetry, short stories, whatever) is considered published. You would not be able to sell first rights for your creative endeavor with a traditional medium.

The same thing goes for any other on-line community or webspace that is not password protected.

You have a point there...

youre looking too far into this, myspace isnt an evil corporation out to crush the hopes and dreams of aspiring musicians. if it did have the intentions of stealing all the rights then bands like the 'arctic monkeys' wouldnt exist, or at leas theyre album cover would mention that they are owned or have license to myspace... which incedentially, they dont.

Everyone should read up on Copyright and Intellectual Property Law before posting anything which might have potential value on the internet.

Purplos brought up a controversial point, that since the internet (and "myspace" in particular) is a public domain, there are legal issues involved concerning "published" as it pertains to the internet.

- Michael, and his 2 cents

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I don't know anything about music publishing, but I do have first-hand knowledge of short-story and novel publishing, and I do know that the magazines/publishers that I have checked out can not purchase first serial rights or first electronic rights if your article/poem/story is available to the public on the internet anywhere.

Just sharing what I've found out. People should look into the laws more specifically.

well first off, people posting there music on myspace are looking for exposure right? well, they are getting it

second, if you were a famous musician, you wouldn't be making hardly any money off your albums anyway, you make it from touring.

third, this is pretty standard for all these types of sites.

I deleted my profile when FOX bought MySpace.com

Well, that's just the thing.

The T.O.S are so damn long and ...uhm use complicated vocabulary that us cave dwellers can't really understand.

Like I read that paragraph you posted from the T.O.S and I wouldn't have understood it unless you said what it meant, and you did.
Unless you're a no life or a lawyer or something you're not really going to read all the legal stuff. What I'm getting at is that even if I read the T.O.S I'd probably still be ripped off because I didn't understand it.

After reading that little bit on the T.O.S., it sounds to me like it's actually saying that whatever you post on the site gives them full rights to use it any time and any place they want, and they make most or full profit from the way they distribute it.. I don't think it means they completely own the content posted. MySpace does this to promote bands and fund the site at the same time. While they do get a hefty amount of profit from their own distribution, in the end, the bands end up making more money anyways due to the great amount of promotion the site has given them.

Why do you think FOX bought it?

Myspace is a waste of time. One of the things I don't like about them is that you can't post on there forums for 2 weeks. I wouldn't be surpised if they were taking music rights from bands.

I'd like to know the answer to that as well.

Considering that MySpace is one of the largest networking sites online at the moment I say they got it for revune. Not relly sure how that works though.

So basically, the guideline for the Internet 2.

It dosen't bother me that much, my music is nothing, so they can use it for whatever.

interesting. Not that I think the average person has to worry, but for celebrities (and many of them have a myspace, heh).. that would be worrisome. And then myspace is growing so quickly.



I think when I saw last mornth or the one before it was 76 million and about 3 or 4 ago it was in the lower 60's.

it's kind of funny to think that roughly 1/78th of the world has a myspace. although I guess there's multiple accounts, so genuine users might be back in the 70 millions even.

But the funniest thing is that it shows the possibilities of the internet. You get a good site going and it can just snowball (esp. if it's general interest). There's been multiple knock-offs of myspace made and most of them got popular at least from what I know. Not as popular as the first one, but popular nonetheless.

Ouch... I am an artist with a 'Space'. Luckily I have rough tracks / pre-release stuff for the world to have exploited to them courtesy Tom and the fellas punching buttons over at the myspace universal domination HQ. I'll be more careful.

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